You just blew my mind.
I did a very quick test here (perk of WFH days) and this seems to be true for the for the VC input knob on the oscillator side (left) of the DSG on Carnivore, but maybe not on the right side? I will try with more detail later on tonight.
Either way, maybe I just need to switch to using one of the DUSG mkii as the second oscillator. Thanks so much for the tip!
Yes I’ve found that too with those ‘mini DUSGs’. DUSG XL makes for a good oscillator though.
Another useful not-enough-VCAs hack: If you’re using a unipolar sound source then you can use the lower slope gen as your envelope and pass the sound through the Trough section.
Yeah, I saw this up thread in another comment and it was a life saver. (Also, super cool to think about why this works. I feel like these modules better encourage me to try to understand what is going on for real.)
Another VCA question / observation: using one half of DUSG XL as a VCA (trough approach or directly) sounds great. Using the smooth section of the Carnivore I find that it’s super quiet. Anyone else have a Carnivore and use it this way experience the same?
Over the last few weeks I’ve made this little beast:
Which is a small microcontroller with some add on circuitry:
The system uses the same PWM technique that @lsky was using, but with proper filtering of the PWM, buffering of the signal though opamps – and some low level tweaks in software to get the PWM to work well.
Here’s it being a sine LFO:
Here’s a short Instagram video snippit of my performance with it last week: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEcoaPXB3Sv/
I’m running a MIDI looper on it - where I play on MIDI drum pads into it … then loop that out as CV and triggers to the Serge. But the same hardware, and the basic code that drives the outputs could be put to any use you’d like…
If a few folks here were interesting in make these, then I’d be into starting a new thread for it - putting together my schematics and code - and helping people through building and coding them.
This is superb! I was planning to build something similar with a teensy, but this looks pretty special, and I’d love to learn how you applied filtering.
It looks like a Feather M0, an OLED “wing,” and dacs? Are you maybe using Arduino, CircuitPython, or C?
(Also, excited to maybe use this on my sidrax!)
I’ve just received this BOG panel and I’d like to rewire the molex connector to a Neutrik NC4 MX 4-pin XLR for power supply.
Can you give me an advice on how to wire them?
(I also realized that there are only 3 cable instead the usual 4. Is this something to concider?)
PS. Sorry for the bad pictures
Rather then re-wiring, I would make an XLR > molex cable and plug that into the panel.
The 4th wire is a second ground connection I believe, so maybe it’s ok without it?
R*S suggest in this document (pdf) the following:
As far as understand from that doc, If I make an XLR > MTA-156 cable, I just wire pins 1-4 to both connectors?
Judging by the photos, you’ve only got 3 wires – one black and two yellow (+/- 12v). The second (unused) interior wire is ground. I agree with @emenel – make a jumper/converter cable with decently thick wires.
I believe most Neutrik jacks have the pins labeled, which should be helpful, but I cannot stress enough the importance of checking your voltage/polarity before connecting it all up. The labels on the power distro board (synth side) should be accurate, so you can use those as a guide for which wires are +12 and -12. Check the XLR power supply’s polarity and solder up your adaptor, then test it before you plug it in to the synth.
I guess the “measure twice, cut once” principle in carpentry also applies to PSUs…
ok thnx for the advice!
The labels on the power distro board was covered and not readable.
However I found this from CGS site which makes things clearer now…
let me know what you figure out. would be awesome if you could do a little step by step walk through because I always wonder about this when I look to buy used panels with molex or other connectors, but I only have XLR power connectors
Yeah. This isn’t a complicated process by any means, but you have to double/triple check that you are wiring the right connectors to each other.
I second this.
Don’t trust the labels and don’t trust the Random Source pin description. DIY stuff could be built in any configuration. Instead, measure the voltages.
You can trust the labels on the actual PCBs (not the power distribution). Make sure that the +12V output of your PSU goes to the right place on the PCBs. Do the same for the 0V and -12V.
Measure with paranoia, then power up with confidence!
Whoever used yellow wire for +12 and -12 is a dope.
While I don’t necessarily agree with your conclusion about the person, I’ll agree that usually -12 is blue, and the decision to use yellow for both is not a very good one.
Sorry I was a bit harsh. Building those cgs panels is a epic job and that one looks very neat.
I’ve been searching the internet inside out tonight to try and find more on this! Apart from you sharing this photo I haven’t found anything 
Glad I’m not the only one that’s excited though 
I was hopping for something with a WAD, like an “Animate” panel.
Or with some processing, like ResEQ.
This looks like between La Bestia II and Mantra (without the 8-seq).
Although another voice panel, is a very powerful combination of modules.
Is Special Oscillator an NTO with a wavefolder?
