Pitch to CV, and related.. TECHNICAL!

.

Well, this technical thread has become too technical for me, but before it disappears off into the technical stratosphere I will mention that it has suggested something to me that might be of practical benefit to owners of etherwave pros and plusses.

IF pitch to CV does not work well in the lower registers, AND if you are using the pitch CV to generate a tone on a synth and are not using the theremin's audio output at all, THEN there is a way to avoid using the lower registers but still have the full range of pitches available to you.

I'll take it step by step...

1. Let us suppose the lowest note required is A0, and the highest note required is A7, and that this is the same as the range of notes available on the theremin, but that control voltages cannot be reliably generated from the lowest two octaves - A0 to A2.

2. Increase the size of the pitch field, so that the lowest note available to the player is one which the pitch to CV circuitry can handle reliably. A2.

3. The pitch CV out of the theremin will now generate voltages between 2 and 7. But we want 0 to 7 volts.

4.1 Subtract two volts - now we a have a range of 0 to 5.

4.2 Multiply the voltage by 1.4 - now we have the desired range - 0 to 7 volts - A0 to A7.

5. Ta-da!


I imagine the electronics required to do step 4 is straight forward and could be incorporated into a little box with two sockets marked "CV in" and "CV out" and two knobs marked "shift" and "stretch" (subtract and multiply) to dial up whatever range of notes you require.

I also imagine it could be used to place whatever range of notes is required within the most playable (i.e. most nearly linear) part of the pitch field. (I presume that increasing the size of the pitch field does not adversely affect the linearity.)

.

 

.

Wow!

Do you think you ought to tell people* what it does**?

Maybe you could call it The Shift 'n' Stretch - or The Rescaler?


* I mean people who have or make theremins with CV rather than people who read technical threads on Theremin World.

** I mean how it can be useful to a musician.

.

 

Dear friends,

you are aware of the discrepancy between "real" audio out and the shifted/stretched pitch CV out?

.

Fred, thank you for your increasing gentleness during the last days! I really don't understand what happens. Perhaps I didn't manage to express the real meaning of my question:

If one tunes his theremin in order to have a 5 octave pitch range, like Gordon suggested, and does a conversion from this 5 octaves to a pitch cv which covers a range of 7 octaves thanks to shifting/stretching, the pitch of the external synth or vco driven by this cv will not be the same as at the audio out of the theremin. So I wonder if it will make sense to play together the theremin with a synth or vco driven by this cv. I fear that the result will not be very musical.

I don't know if expressing such concerns in form of a simple question, preceded by a polite "Dear friends" has something offending in it which would justify the tone of your reply. In every case, it was not intended to be so.

If my remarks or concerns are unwanted here, please tell it, so that I will be able to target the activities of my rare spare time to people who may be able to estimate it.

[i]"Fred, thank you for your increasing gentleness during the last days!"[/i]

Thierry - I am sorry! You are right - we do seem to have got into a bit of a silly dog-fight recently, and I am at least guilty of a percentage (50%? More?) of that..

For me, it started with what I saw as a needless 'swipe' at me regarding programming methodology.. This has been followed by several "Dear Friends" postings which, yes, have "wound me up" a bit because of their content and (more importantly) lack of content.

But, the bottom line I guess, is that it is MY responsibility to deal with MY "wind up" factor, and I should not allow this to carry over in my replies to you..

I also think there is some dissapointment on my part - We have had a friendly relationship, and I have enjoyed discussions with you and looked forward to collaborating with you, formally or informally... I respect your knowledge and skills, and certainly regard you as an equal - we have different areas of expertise, but we are both damn good! From MY perspective (and this MAY just be a big misunderstanding) It was you who first started taking swipes.. These have increased to the level reached in this thread, and I have reacted. Perhaps, as I said, there has been a misunderstanding - and Perhaps we can get to the bottom of it by email correspondence..

Fred.

>>EDIT:

My personal advice.. Rather than asking a question which is not a 'real' question, but one which is an 'intro' for a following posting, rather make a posting like:

"Dear Friends,
If one tunes his theremin in order to have a 5 octave pitch range, like Gordon suggested, and does a conversion from this 5 octaves to a pitch cv which covers a range of 7 octaves thanks to shifting/stretching, the pitch of the external synth or vco driven by this cv will not be the same as at the audio out of the theremin. So I wonder if it will make sense to play together the theremin with a synth or vco driven by this cv. I fear that the result will not be very musical."

This would remove any "wind up" factor - You have stated what you wish to convey, without "baiting" anyone, and the facts could be assessed - You would need to make such a posting anyway, in reply to any response to your "question".. You would save on the limited available postings in a thread, and everything would be problem free! ;)