How important is after touch?

[EricBarker]

Eric, does your Poly D send a smooth aftertouch message through MIDI? If so, you could use aftertouch to smoothly bring in a sine wave from another keyboard or module. 8-10 Hz sine/tri wave will give you a violin-like vibrato when patched into the Pitch CV. I've been gigging a Moog with this modular-style trick for several years. No issues.

 

Alternatively, you could send the aftertouch MIDI signal from your PolyD into MainStage and use MIDI FX: MODIFIER to convert aftertouch it into CC1: Modwheel. Then send it back to your Poly D. There might be a bit more lag with this approach.

 

Hope this helps. Please keep us posted.

 

I've thought about this, but with some differences. Not only does it send AT via MIDI but by CV! It's designed to be routed back through to another source. I've even tried it with global pitch, and it works, but it's not LFO-modulated pitch. I was wondering if someone makes a very tiny LFO module, just a triangle wave with a rate control, with a CV input to modulate the amplitude, and and output. That would be the holy grail. I can see myself building up a small pedal board soon (I already have delay and chorus pedals). I'd rather not use MIDI, as that would probably require routing through another full board, and I'd rather just keep it simple. Heck, if I could find something small enough to tuck under the lid, that would be amazing! I'd even consider modding the unit and build it inside, though power is obviously an issue. The PolyD is 12V, where most modules/pedals are 9V, otherwise I could just use an octopus-style wall-wart splitter and power both (like I do with my pedals).

 

I'm not a eurorack guy, but this strikes me as a euro-type question. Anyone know of any extremely simple and small LFO modules out there that would work like I described?

[Tusker]

As you mentioned, the trouble with euro rack modules is that you will need get power to the module (s). A portable lunch box might work. Going outside eurorack, the Moog CP251 has an LFO in it. I believe a couple of the moogerfoogers also have LFO outs, but you would need a VCA to attenuate the LFO with your aftertouch CV. It adds up pretty quickly, and you get more points of failure, which for me is the biggest issue. If you are already committed to a pedal board, maybe that's a non-issue. For me, I had secondary outs in my Yamaha, which was always in my rig, so routing that audio to the Moog's Pitch CV was just one audio cable. Later it was child's play to rig up an extra audio out from MainStage ES2. It could be more complicated for you if you are currently using headphone outs from the Mac. I get what you mean about keeping it simple. Pedalboards are fun. Hopefully others will chime in soon with more ideas for you.

[Markyboard]

This is just one of many small eurorack cases with built in power supply.

 

 

Tons of eurorack LFO modules and VCO modules that also work as LFOs. These will do exactly what you"re looking for. IMO once you start looking for a small stand-alone box to 'enhance' a synths functionality eurorack is the better way to go. Think of it as a tool box. It doesn"t have to be this monstrosity thing.

 

(Edit) Tusker beat me to the punch...again

[EricBarker]

As you mentioned, the trouble with euro rack modules is that you will need get power to the module (s). A portable lunch box might work. Going outside eurorack, the Moog CP251 has an LFO in it. I believe a couple of the moogerfoogers also have LFO outs, but you would need a VCA to attenuate the LFO with your aftertouch CV. It adds up pretty quickly, and you get more points of failure, which for me is the biggest issue. If you are already committed to a pedal board, maybe that's a non-issue. For me, I had secondary outs in my Yamaha, which was always in my rig, so routing that audio to the Moog's Pitch CV was just one audio cable. Later it was child's play to rig up an extra audio out from MainStage ES2. It could be more complicated for you if you are currently using headphone outs from the Mac. I get what you mean about keeping it simple. Pedalboards are fun. Hopefully others will chime in soon with more ideas for you.

Ouch, this is way more complicated than what I was hoping. Ideally, a little box with a 9V battery would have been the ticket. Otherwise, I'll probably just skip it altogether. I'd love to be able to do AT vibrato on the PolyD, but maybe it's not in the cards