ELTA music SOLAR 50 User manual

USER
MANUAL

Welcome to the world of SOLAR 50
SOLAR 50 is the unique analogue performance oriented
electronic music instrument that is designed for creating movie
soundtrack, atmospheric sound, microtonal music, background
music and super polyphonic electro symphonies. Variations of sound
you can create with «SOLAR 50» are really great. Solar 50 is inspired
by early electronic musical developments of the last century,
particularly Leo Theremin's instrument called “Harmonium” and
other weird Soviet synths like ANS.
No midi, no presets, no volt-octave. Only experimental,
sensitive approach and spontaneous sounding.
SOLAR 50 consists of 10 voices, each voice has its own
volume. All voices are divided into groups of 5 units for the right side
and for the left side and mixed by the MAIN MIXER where the Knob
01-05 sets the volume of 5 left voices and the knob 06-10 sets the
volume of 5 right voices. Also, there are external audio input and
volume PIEZZO knobs on the MAIN MIXER. All audio signals go to a
12 dB analog lter from POLYVOX synthesizer, which is controlled by
voltage. From the lter, audio signals enter the eector (with
cartridges) which is controlled by CV as well - the same circuit is
used in ELTA music CONSOLE pedal. Here, the BLEND knob sets the
eect level. The VOLUME knob sets the overall volume WET OUT. To
process a pure voice signal by external eects, there are DRY OUT L
and DRY OUT R which are clean outputs for both groups of voices.
When being used, these outputs are dropped out from the general
mixer and no longer go to the lter and to the eector. Then you can
return one of the processed channels to EXT AUDIO input so you can
create stereo sounds. In this case the contact microphone inside the
keyboard always goes to the lter and to the eector by default. It
also controls the ENVELOPE follower / Gate detector, or you can
choose to connect an external microphone, electro-musical
instrument or guitar.
ABOUT

BLOCK DIAGRAM

VOICE DIAGRAM
photo-sensitive detector

VOICE
Each voice consists of 5 simple sawtooth generators that do
not have a logarithmic or linear voltage control like standard VCOs.
There is only a pitch knob - TUNE. 1st generator has a tuning knob
from 30 to 100 Hz; 2nd generator - from 80 to 245 Hz; 3rd - from
140 to 435 Hz; 4th - from 315 to 990 Hz; 5th - from 975 Hz to
3075 Hz; It covers the approximate range of 8 octaves from B 0 to
G 7. Each of the 5 generators in the voice can be turned o or on by
MUTE buttons allowing you to create dierent variations of chords,
triads, two-sounds or to use one generator. You can modulate the
pitch of the oscillators using the MOD buttons by sending any CV
source to the input of CV MOD or by using a light-sensitive eye that
changes the frequency of the oscillators. Surrounding lightning also
inuences on a photo-sensitive detector of the instrument, when
activating a MOD BUTTON on any generator, the frequency (pitch)
of a generator changes depending on the level of surrounding
lighting The PITCH knob transposes down all 5 voice generators at
the same time. After half the stroke of the knob, generators start to
modulate each other creating FM synthesis eect. Voices are
triggered by a touch control keyboard, each sensor corresponds to
its own voice, giving out a 5 volt gate that starts the Attack/Release
envelope, opening VCA in a voice. You can use external CV sources
to trigger voice, envelope control, or VCA. You can use the envelope
output to trigger next voice or modulate a voltage of the lter or the
eector.

VOICE
photo-sensitive detector
GATE external +5v
HOLD gate on
ATT attack control
RLS release control
MUTE on/o osc
TUNE frequency osc
PITCH transpose all osс
MOD on/o modulation osc
CV mod external CV with amount control 0...+10V
ENV in (VCA in) external CV sources 0...+10V
ENV out envelope out 0...+6V
12345 indication osc status

CONTACT MIC/ENVELOPE FOLLOWER
External mic/guitar
or mic internal
•Audio amplier with 1M input impedance, up to 40dB of gain. This
large gain ranges covers everything - from the amplication of line-
level instruments, to the magnication of tiny sonic details captured
by external contact microphones. MIC/GUITAR 6,3 Jack connector
•External input bypassing the built-in contact microphone.
•Envelope follower with attack and release and Envelope CV output
•Gate detector with 3 sensitivity levels (THS switch) and +8V gate
output.
•Three indicator LEDs: amplier clipping (white), envelope follower
level (red), gate detector activity (green).
Contact mic
piezzo
Built-in (internal) contact microphone (PIEZZO) soldered right
under the sensor keyboard, turning the case of SOLAR 50 into a
microphone. A large palette of organic, physical sounds can be
produced by scratching, tapping, and more generally by collecting
any acoustic waves using the built-in eector with the cartridges.
Amplication stage suitable for external contact microphones,
electro-acoustic instruments like guitars, or plain line-level
signals. With its built-in envelope follower and gate detector, it
can also be the gateway between external audio sources and CV.

MIXING / FILTER
SOLAR 50 consists of 10 voices, each voice has its own volume.
All voices are divided into groups of 5 units for the right side and
for the left side and mixed by the MAIN MIXER where the Knob 01-
05 sets the volume of 5 left voices and the knob 06-10 sets the
volume of 5 right voices. Also, there are external audio input and
volume PIEZZO knobs on the MAIN MIXER.
01-05 L - groups volume of 5
left voices
06-10 R - groups volume of 5
right voices
EXT. - external audio
PIEZZO - contact mic volume
external mic/guitar or internal mic
All audio signals are fed to
a 12 dB analog low-pass
lter from the POLYVOX
synthesizer, which is voltage
controlled. The Polyvox lter
uses two classic Soviet chips -
UD1208 to create a unique
and iconic lter tone. FREQ - cuto control lter
Q- resonance amount
CVfreq - CV cuto, input
minijack and amount CV
LOW-pass lter

EFFECTOR/CONNECTORS
Audio signals enter the eector (with cartridges) which is
controlled by CV as well - the same circuit is used in ELTA music
CONSOLE pedal. Here, the BLEND knob sets the eect level. The
VOLUME knob sets the overall volume WET OUT. X, Y, Z
parameters controlled by CV 0...+10V. Each eect has its own
parameters on the X, Y, Z knobs. (Look into cartridge manual).
Each cartridge has three eects. To use it just insert cartridge any
side into the slot and press reset/load button. 1-2-3 program
selector - switches active eect from the cartridge.
cartridge SLOT
1-2-3 eects selector
RST - reset, load cartridge
FX cv-parameters
POWER ON/OFF - power supply socket and power on / o button
EXT AUDIO -external audio signal ( synthesizer, drum machine, others)
On the mixer, the EXT. control.
L R out dry - Sound of voices, no lter and no eector. It's much
cleaner and louder. Stereo panning of voices.
WET OUT - Filtered and eected voices. Mono output.
MIC/GUITAR - Connecting external microphones, piezo, guitar and
other weak signal devices. On the mixer, the PIEZZO control.

KEYBOARD/LFO
Touch-sensitive keyboard generates +5V when you put your
nger on a sensing element, turning on the amp envelope in the
voice. The numeration of sensing elements corresponds to the
numeration of voices on the instrument panel. You can also trigger
a sensitive element with a cartridge set to it. Try to experiment with
it!In addition, SOLAR 50 has two extra sensing elements with
individual outputs +5V. You can connect them to modulate voices or
to control the eector parameters, creating interesting sounds.
On the board of SOLAR 50 there are 2 independent LFOʼs with a
waveform adjustment from square to triangle and the knob set in
the middle position adjusts the mix of both triangle and square
waves.

SPECIFICATION
_+
www.eltamusic.com
[email protected]
Solar 50 team
Idea, development, engineering and production: Arseny Tokarev
Design: Arseny Tokarev, Timur Bekov, Viktoriya Anufrieva
Enclosure construction and PCB: Ilya Sidorenko, Grigoriy Ryazanov
Translation and editing: Nikolay Poletaev
User manual: Evlash Sergey, Arseny Tokarev
Special thanks to Ivan Dorn
10 voices, 50 sawtooth oscillators, 120 control pots, 50 cv
miniJacks 5 in/out Jacks, 113 switches, 10 photo-sensors, cartridge
eector, Polyvox lter, sensor keyboard.
External input 2V
External guitar/mic input 1M input impedance, gain 40dB
DRY outputs 4V
WET output 2V
The range of input and output CV 0.....+10 V
Power Supply 24 VDC 1A ( + center)
Size 500 mm length / 300 mm width / 26 mm height
Weight 5 kg
The kit includes SOLAR 50, power supply 24vdc, 5 minijack patch
cord, 3 cartridges, user manual.

Designed by Tokarev Arseny
Made in Moscow, 2020