Moog MAVIS Specification sheet

Mavis
Patching with Intention
Get started with patching techniques,
explore deeper synthesis concepts, and
understand full patchbay functionality

Patching with Intention | 2
Patching with Intention
There are many ways to approach patching a
synthesizer like Mavis. There’s no “wrong” way
to do it, and often randomly patching inputs to
outputs can lead to wonderful, unexpected results.
Other times, however, you may want to
patch with some intention. Perhaps you have
a sound in mind that you would like Mavis to
approximate, or an idea may strike you while
falling asleep: “I wonder what would happen
if I patched the VCO to the Filter Cutoff...”
We hope that this guide will help you better
understand how to patch Mavis and learn
interesting new techniques for patching it
as you get to know the instrument.

Patching with Intention | 3
Initialized Patch
Before getting started, match your Mavis to the
initialized patch settings above. You should be able
to press one of the keyboard keys and hear a note.
Find full patch point descriptions on pages 11-14 to
reference as you move through the patching exercises.
Each section in this guide builds upon the last, so
explore them in sequential order for best results.

First Steps | 4
First Steps
Some typical patch configurations
are already available to you
through Mavis’s internal routing.
As a short exercise, let’s recreate
one of those using the patch bay.
Say you would like a nice little trill with each
note. You can achieve this by patching the
LFO to change the VCO’s pitch.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Connect the LFO output to the 1V/OCT input
and then press a key on the keyboard to
trigger a note.
The LFO, however, swings from -5 volts
to +5 volts—resulting in a trill spanning 10
octaves! Since that is likely too extreme for
most uses, Mavis has an attenuator, which
is like a volume knob for a control voltage.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Patch the LFO output to the ATTN (+5)
(attenuator) input and then patch the
ATTN (attenuator) output to the VCO’s 1 V/
OCT input.
With the attenuator knob fully clockwise
you will hear the same 10-octave trill, but
as you lower the attenuator knob that
range will diminish until there is almost no
modulation.
NOW YOU HAVE 3 KNOBS THAT SHAPE
THE TRILL/VIBRATO EFFECT:
ATTENUATOR: Controls the interval of the
trill (i.e. modulation depth)
LFO RATE: Controls the speed of the trill
LFO WAVE: Moves from a vibrato (triangle)
eect to a trill (square)
This patch, however, is already present in
Mavis’s internal routing. After unpatching
everything, all you need to do is set the
VCO MOD MIX knob fully clockwise to LFO
and the PITCH MOD AMT knob will set the
depth of the modulation.
→Let’s now use the patch bay to do some
things you can only do through patching.

Tremolo and Vibrato | 5
Tremolo and
Vibrato
Unpatch any cables and match the
settings to the initialized patch.
Then raise the PITCH MOD AMT
knob slightly so you hear a nice
trill. It might be interesting now to
hear what happens if the LFO gets
faster as the pitch gets higher.
The KB CV output sends out a voltage based
on the key pressed—the higher the key, the
higher the voltage. Each key corresponds
to a precise voltage to recreate a chromatic
scale.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
If we patch the keyboard output KB CV
to the LFO RATE input, we can raise the
frequency of the LFO at the same time that
we raise the pitch.
A related eect to vibrato (which moves
the pitch up and down) is tremolo (which
moves the volume up and down).
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Patch the LFO output to the VCA CV input.
Now you can hear the volume move up and
down in time with the LFO—even when no
key is pressed. This is because now the LFO
signal is controlling the volume instead of
the envelope generator.
By turning the filter CUTOFF knob completely
counterclockwise we can then silence Mavis
when no key is pressed.
TRY THIS
With the VCF MOD MIX knob set to EG and
VCF MOD AMT fully clockwise, the filter now
acts as something similar to a low pass gate,
with the envelope shaping both the filter
and the amplitude of the signal, while the
LFO adds a tremolo eect with the VCA.
→Play with the envelope parameters and
LFO RATE to explore this sound!

Exploring the Sample & Hold Circuit | 6
Exploring the
Sample &
Hold Circuit
For a more advanced exercise, let’s
investigate the Sample and Hold
(S+H) section. Unpatch any cables
and match the panel settings to the
initialized patch.
A sample and hold circuit takes two inputs:
an input to be sampled (S+H) and a gate
(S+H GATE). Whenever the GATE input
receives a gate pulse, the voltage in the
S+H input is held at the S+H output until a
new gate comes in.
On Mavis, the S+H input is normalled to
the VCO, meaning that the VCO is already
connected to the S+H input without the
need for a patch cable. If anything else
(say, the EG output) is connected to the
S+H input, the normalled connection is
overridden. Normalled connections are
indicated by parentheses on the Mavis
patch bay: the VCO is normalled to the S+H
(VCO) input and the LFO is normalled to
the S+H GATE (LFO) input.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Connect the S+H output to the 1V/OCT
input and press and hold a key down.
You will hear a new pitch in time with the
LFO. If the VCO WAVE knob is rotated to the
square wave you will hear only two pitches
since the square wave being sampled only
oscillates between two voltages. If the VCO
WAVE knob is turned to sawtooth you will
hear random voltages, as the sawtooth wave
sweeps continuously between +5 and -5
volts and (typically) at a rate much faster
than the LFO.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Rather than having to press a key, we can
instead use the LFO to trigger a new note
each time the S+H circuit is triggered by
connecting the LFO to the GATE.
Now the LFO is connected to the GATE
triggering a new note with each LFO pulse via
a patch cable, and the LFO is also connected
to the S+H GATE through normalization.

Exploring the Sample & Hold Circuit | 7
Now you will hear a procession of distinct
random notes. Remembering back to our
first patch, you will probably note that,
again, the range of notes is quite wide–far
too wide for some musical purposes.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Use the attenuator to narrow that range.
Patch the S+H output to the ATTN (+5)
input. And the ATTN output to the 1V/OCT
input.
Finally, we may want to break up the rhythm
a bit and get some more motion in our patch.
By patching the S+H output to the LFO
RATE, the S+H will change the rate of the
LFO. Higher S+H values will turn the LFO
rate up while lower values will turn it down.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
We can use the MULT to patch the S+H
output to two places at once.
The MULT is a simple utility allowing you to
patch one output to multiple inputs. Patch
the S+H output (post attenuator) to the
MULT input, and then patch MULT 1 to the
1V/OCT and MULT 2 to the LFO RATE.
→Now you will hear that as the pitch of
the oscillator goes up, so does the rate of
the LFO–resulting in quicker notes as the
pitch increases!

Expanded Wave Folding | 8
Expanded
Wave Folding
Mavis is the first of the Moog synthesizers
to include a wave folder. A typical
component of the “West Coast” synthesis
approach, the wave folder uses distortion
to add harmonics to a signal where a filter
removes harmonics from a signal. Unpatch
cables and match the panel settings to the
initialized patch.
When a signal gets distorted, it gets
amplified past a threshold whereby the
tops and bottoms of the wave or any parts
of the signal above (or below) stay at that
threshold instead. This adds the pleasing
harmonic overtones characteristic of
distortion.
Wave folding pushes the same concept
a little further. Instead of the tops and
bottoms simply staying at the threshold,
they are folded back–the threshold acts a
little like a mirror, reflecting those peaks
and troughs back on themselves. This
technique also adds harmonic overtones,
but of a dierent timbral quality than
distortion. Increasing the folding amount
simply amplifies the signal even more,
causing deeper reflections of the peaks
and troughs.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Let’s play a little bit with wave folding by
patching the VCO into the FOLD IN input.
Open the VCF CUTOFF knob fully clockwise
so you can hear the folding more clearly.
Now by rotating the FOLD knob you will
hear the oscillator begin to distort and fold
over on itself. Try changing the VCO WAVE
between saw and square and listening to
how that aects the FOLD.
You’ll notice using a square wave that the
wave folding has a much more subtle eect.

Expanded Wave Folding | 9
Looking at our wave folding diagram, you’ll
notice that the square wave is already fully
“squared o” and distorted. Sending this
to a wave folder yields more subtle eects
than with saw or triangle waves, whose
linear shapes result in more “teeth.”
While there is no voltage control of Mavis’s
wave folder, you can use the LFO and
the ONE+TWO mixing section to achieve
something similar.
Typically, audio oscillators are centered
around zero volts. Therefore, since the ceiling
and floor thresholds are always symmetric,
the waves distort or fold symmetrically.
However, if we shift the entire wave up or
down, the wave folder will now distort the
top and bottom of the waves dierently.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Patch the LFO to input ONE (-5) of the
mixer and the VCO to input TWO of the
mixer. Finally, patch the ONE+TWO mixer
output to the FOLD IN input.
With this configuration, you can explore
wave folding even further—playing with
the VCO WAVE and LFO WAVE shapes, the
ONE LVL (which scales the LFO shifting
amount), and the FOLD knob.
By adding the LFO to the VCO, we are
actually shifting the VCO signal up and down
in time with the LFO. When the LFO rises
positively, the VCO signal is shifted in the
positive direction and hits the top mirror of
the wave folder, folding the positive peaks.
When the LFO falls negative, the VCO
signal is shifted in the negative direction
and hits the bottom mirror of the wave
folder, folding the negative troughs.

Further Exploration | 10
Now that you have some intuition for how
Mavis’s patch bay can be used, feel free to start
exploring it on your own. Remember: there is no
wrong way to patch—it’s all music at the end of
the day.
Either begin from a sound that grabbed you
while working through this guide (this being an
analog semi-modular synthesizer, it will never be
quite the same), or just start making connections
and see what happens.
Over the next few pages is a list of Mavis’s
inputs and outputs (organized left to right by
row) and some beginning ideas for how they
can be used. Let your imagination and your
ears be your guide.
Further Exploration

Inputs | 11
Inputs
FOLD IN (R1, C1)
Input to the wave folder. Plugging any signal
in here will patch it through the wave folder
(FOLD knob) and then directly to the filter.
Experiment with both the VCO and LFO
(at audio rate) patched here, and play with
their respective waveshapes and the FOLD
knob to explore the timbral possibilities of
wave folding.
1V/OCT (R2, C1)
Controls the frequency of the VCO. 1V/OCT
means this input is scaled such that every
volt will correspond to a doubling of the
frequency (i.e. a change of one octave). Patch
an LFO (through an attenuator) here for
vibrato or the S+H for random pitch changes.
PWM (R2, C2)
Controls the pulse width of the VCO’s pulse
wave. Patch the S+H here for random pulse
wave fluctuations.
ONE (-5) (R2, C3)
Input one for the mixer. The signal patched
here will be attenuated by the ONE LVL knob
and available at the ONE output and mixed
with TWO at the ONE+TWO output. Patch
any audio or control signals here and another
to TWO to add those signals together. You
can add the VCO + LFO for a two-oscillator
synth, the EG + LFO for wobbly envelopes,
or the S+H + EG for random note strengths!
The (-5) indicates that a negative five volt
oset is normalled to this input, allowing you
to shift the signal in TWO down five volts
with nothing patched to ONE.
Listed in order left to right by row;
R (Row) and C (Column)

Inputs | 12
LFO RATE (R3, C1)
Controls the frequency of the LFO. Patch
the KB CV here to control the LFO rate with
the keyboard or the S+H to get random
LFO rate changes.
CUTOFF (R3, C2)
Controls the filter’s cuto frequency. As
with PITCH MOD and PWM, the EG and
LFO are already available for modulation,
but patch the S+H here for random cuto
fluctuations or the VCO for audio rate filter
modulation.
GATE (R4, C1)
Triggers the EG with a rising edge gate
signal. Patch the LFO here to cyclically
trigger the EG, or the S+H to sporadically
trigger the EG. You can also use this input
with an external keyboard to trigger the EG.
VCA CV (R4, C2)
Controls the VCA. The EG is pre-patched
here (and can be removed with the VCA
MODE switch), but patch the LFO through
an attenuator here for tremolo or the S+H
for notes of random velocity.
TWO (R4, C3)
Input two for the mixer–added to input one
at full strength.
S+H (VCO) (R5, C2)
The signal to be sampled by the Sample
+ Hold circuit when a gate is registered at
the S+H GATE input. The VCO output is
normalled to this input. The saw wave VCO
is a good choice since, at audio rate, it can
provide an even range of voltages to be
sampled, while the pulse wave can restrict
the sampled voltages to either the high or
low voltage values of the VCO signal. You
can replace the VCO with the VCA output
for more flavors of randomness, while
replacing with the LFO or EG will provide
slower signals to sample.
S+H GATE (LFO) (R6, C2)
A gate high here will sample the signal in
the S+H input and hold that sampled value
available at the S+H output. The LFO is
normalled to this input, but a short attack
envelope can also be used as a gate here.
ATTN (+5) (R6, C3)
Input for the attenuator module. The signal
patched here will be attenuated by the
ATTENUATOR knob and available at the
ATTN output. Use this to scale LFOs or S+H
signals, or to give channel two of the mixer
its own attenuator knob. The (+5) indicates
that a positive five volt oset is normalled
to this input, allowing you to shift the ONE
input up five volts by patching the ATTN
output to TWO when nothing is patched to
the ATTN input.
MULT (R8, C1)
Input for the MULTIPLE utility. Patch any
signal here to get two copies of that signal
at MULT 1 and MULT 2 outputs.

Outputs | 13
Outputs
Listed in order left to right by row;
R (Row) and C (Column)
/VCA (R1, C1)
Output of the VCA scaled by the VOLUME
knob. Mavis’s main output, which can
be sent to mixers, audio interfaces, or
headphones. Be sure to turn the VOLUME
knob down before connecting this output
to anything!
KB CV (R1, C2)
Outputs a voltage corresponding to the key
pressed on the keyboard, scaled by the KB
SCALE knob, and slewed by the GLIDE knob.
This output is already patched to the VCO
pitch, but you can also use it to control the
LFO rate (faster LFOs with higher pitches),
the filter cuto (higher pitches open the filter
further), or VCA (higher notes are louder).
ONE (R3, C3)
Signal at ONE input scaled by ONE LVL
knob. Use to attenuate any signal and patch
to any destination.
VCO (R5, C1)
VCO signal, oscillating from –5 volts to +5
volts (10V peak to peak), at a frequency and
shape determined by PITCH, VCO WAVE,
PULSE WIDTH, and any modulation. You can
use the VCO to do audio rate modulation
of any of Mavis’s parameters, or patch it to
FOLD IN to explore wave folding.

Outputs | 14
ONE+TWO (R5, C3)
Mixed output of ONE input scaled by ONE
LVL and TWO input at full strength. Use
to add two signals and create interesting,
compound audio or modulation signals.
LFO (R6, C1)
LFO signal, oscillating from –5 volts to +5
volts (10V peak to peak), at a frequency
and shape determined by LFO RATE, LFO
WAVE, and any modulation. The LFO is
internally routed to many parts of Mavis,
but you can also use it as an S+H input,
patch it to the VCA for tremolo eects, or
patch it to the GATE to continually trigger
Mavis’s EG.
EG (R7, C1)
Envelope signal triggered by GATE and with
a shape determined by the EG parameters
(Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release). Like the
LFO, it is internally routed to many parts
of Mavis, but you can also use it as an
S+H input or patch it to the LFO RATE to
increase and decrease the LFO rate over
the course of the envelope.
S+H (R7, C2)
Output of Sample + Hold circuit. With
normalled signals and VCO set to SAW
WAVE, this will output pseudorandom
voltages at the rate of the LFO. You can
use this to inject randomness anywhere in
Mavis, from the VCO (1V/OCT) to the filter
(CUTOFF), VCA, or the LFO RATE itself.
ATTN (R7, C3)
Attenuator output. Outputs signal at ATTN
input scaled by ATTENUATOR knob.
MULT 1 (R8, C2)
First output of MULT. Exact copy of signal
input to MULT input.
MULT 2 (R8, C3)
Second output of MULT. Exact copy of signal
input to MULT input.

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