Kilpatrick Audio K3021 Master VCO User manual

K3021MasterVCO
UserManual
DownloadaPDFversionofthemanualhere:K3021-master_vco-manual.pdf
NotethatPDFmanualsareautomaticallygeneratedfromwebpages.Linksandembeddedmediawillnotbeaccessible.Forthefullexperiencevisit
ourwebsite:www.kilpatrickaudio.com
Introduction
WhenwereleasedtheoriginalK3020DualVCObackin2011peoplewereamazedbythesoundandflexibilityofthemodule.Theuniqueblend
circuit,stabilityandexcellentPWMsectionbecameafavouriteamongstseriousmodularplayers.Butunfortunatelyallgoodthingsmustcometoan
end.SomeofthecomponentsusedintheK3020arenolongeravailable.Aswell,modernplayersnowrequestmorecompactmodules.Thusthe
K3021wasborn!TheK3021MasterVCOaimstorecreatetheflexibilityandexcellentsoundoftheK3020inasmallandaffordablepackage.We
hopeyouwillenjoytheK3021MasterVCO!
Setup
TheK3021MasterVCOrequiresonly+12Vand-12V.Makesureyouuseagoodpowersupplythatisnotoverloaded.Thevoltagesshouldmeasure
ascloseto+12Vand-12Vaspossible.
TheeasiestwaytogetstartedistojustlistentotheoutputfromtheBLENDOUTjackandadjustthetuningcontrols,WAVEswitchandBLEND
OFFSETcontroltocheckoutthevariouswaveforms.
AllsignalsontheK3021usearangeofabout-5Vto+5V.(10Vpeaktopeak)TheexceptionistheSYNCINjackwhichrequiresasharppositive
goingvoltagetotrigger.
JacksandControls
TuningandRange
Thefineandcoarsetuningcontrolsareusedtotunethemodule.TheCOARSETUNEcontrolhasarangeofmostoftheoutputrangeofthemodule,
andtheFINETUNEoperatesoverabouthalfanoctave.
TheLFOputstheK3021intolow-frequencyoscillator(LFO)mode.Byusingtheblendandpulsefunctions,verycomplexLFOwaveformscanbe
produced.TwoLEDsbesidetheBLENDLEVELcontrolshowwhethertheinternaloscillatorcorevoltageisrisingorfalling.Thiscanbeusefulwhenin
LFOmode.
CVIN,FMINandFMLEVEL
TuningCVvoltagesgointotheCVINandFMINjacks.TheCVINjackisinternallycalibratedtorespondexponentiallywith1voltperoctaveand
shouldworkwithMIDItoCVconvertersorothersourcesofmusicalpitchvoltage.TheFMINjackrespondslinearlyandcanbeusedforspecial
effects,vibrato,andsoon.Itispossibletostoptheoscillatorwithalowenoughvoltageonthisjack.TheFMLEVELcontrolattenuatestheFMIN

signal.Itshouldbeturnedallthewaydownwhennotinuse.
WAVESwitch
TheWAVEswitchselectswhichwaveformisusedasthesourceofsoundwithintheK3021.Youcanchoosebetweensine,triangleandramp
waveforms.TheseareoutputontheBLENDOUTjackandarealsousedtodrivethePWMcircuitsinternally.
PWM/PULSEControls
ThePWMcircuitintheK3021isspecialinthatthereareactuallythreecompletePWMunits.ThePULSEswitchselectswhichcombinationofthese
unitsaremixedtogetherusinganXORfunctiontocreateuniqueandcolourfulwaveforms.Youcanchooseone,twoorthreepulseswiththePULSE
switch.
ThePWMOFFSETcontrolaffectsthepulsewidthandshapeofthepulsewaveforms.Notethatinsomepulsemodestherearespotswhereverythin
/barelyaudiblepulsesaregeneratedinthecentreofthecontrolrange.Thisisnormal.
ThePWMINjackandPWMLEVELcontrolallowsanexternalsignaltobeusedtoadjustthePWMoffset.ThePWMLEVELcontrolattenuatesthe
externalinput.
ThePULSEOUTjackproducesonlytheoutputfromthePWMcircuits.TheBLENDOUTjackcanproduceamix,orblendofthePWMoutputand
WAVEoutput.NotethattheWAVEselectionaffectsthePULSEoutputbecausethechosenwaveformisusedastheinputtothePWMcircuits.
BlendControls
TheblendcircuitisauniquefeaturethatallowstheK3021tomixbetweentheWAVEandPULSEoutputs.ThemixturecomesoutoftheBLENDOUT
outjack.Thisapproachallowsexcellenttimbralvariationwithouttheneedforafilter.
TheBLENDOFFSETcontrolaffectstheoverallblendbetweenWAVEandPULSE.Counter-clockwiseproducesWAVEoutputandclockwiseproduces
PULSEoutput.
TheBLENDINandBLENDLEVELcontrolsallowanexternalsignaltobeusedtovarytheblendmixamount.UsetheBLENDLEVELcontrolto
attenuatetheinputsignal.TheBLENDLEVELcontrolshouldbeturneddownwhennotinuse.
HardSync
TheSYNCINjackisusedtohardsynctheoscillatortoanothersource.Arapidlychangingpulseorrampwaveformisneededtoreliablyresetthe
oscillatorcore.
AudioandControlVoltages
KilpatrickAudiostrivestomakeproductswiththemostconvenientanduniversalvoltagestandardspossible.Webelieveintheapproachthat
everythingshouldbeabletopatchintoeverythingandthereforeallourmodulesarebasedaroundthemostuniversal-5Vto+5Vrange.Pulsesand
gatesare0Voff/+5Von.Pitchvoltagesrangefrom-5Vto+5Vandusethestandardized1voltperoctavescaling.Audio,LFOandenvelope
voltagesalsorangefrom-5Vto+5V.Thisgivestheabsolutebestcompatibilitybetweendifferentmoduletypes.Ournon-Eurorackproductsalso
followthissamesystem.
WheneveryouseeanoffsetcontrolononeofourmodulesthatismixedwithaCVinput,thereisaneasywaytopicturehowitworks.Simply
imaginetheoffsetcontrolsettingthevalueoftheparticularfunctionwithnoinputsignal.(ora0Vinputsignal)PuttingaCVsignalintothe
correspondinginputjackwillsimplyaddorsubtractfromthisoffsetsetting.Someinputshaveattenuatorcontrols(wecallthemLEVEL)thatallow
youtoscaletheinputsignal.Thissimplyscalesdowntheinputsignalbeforeitcanaffecttheinternalcircuitry.
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Feelfreetocontactusformoreinformation,toreporterrorsorunclearsections,ortorequestspecificinformationbeaddedtothismanual.