DEGREE

Manual (wip)

  1. 1V/O Output (0..+6V) - Volt per octave output for each channel

  2. GATE Output (5V) - Each channel outputs a gate signal. How/when that trigger occurs depends on each channels active MODE

  3. CV Input (+/-10V) - Quantizing external CV into 1v/o signals :: VCO Frequency detection for auto-calibration

  4. Bender Output (+/-8V) - raw CV output of a Bender component

  5. Channel Selection - Selects a channel to be altered via the Freeze, Reset, Clear PB, and Clear SEQ pads. You can select multiple channels at once.

  6. Channel Selection (ALL) - Holding down this touch pad selects all channels at once

  7. FREEZE - While this pad is touched, “freezes” all voltage outputs and sequences in their current state

  8. RESET - on touch, resets all 4 channels sequences to step 1

  9. STEPS - hold this down to enter the “Sequence Length” UI. More on that later…

  10. RECORD - when touched, record arms / disarms all channels. LED ON == armed :: LED OFF == disarmed

  11. Scale Selection Toggle Switches - each switch has three positions for adjusting each scale degree

  12. Mode Button - toggles between MONOPHONIC MODE and QUANTIZER MODE

  13. Slew Control - controls how much slew/portamento/glide is applied to the 1v/o OUTPUT

  14. Octave Selection - Each channel outputs 4 octaves of 1v/o. These 4 capacitive touch pads represent which octave is currently being output.

  15. Scale Degree Selection - 8 capacitive touch discs per channel control which degree in the scale is either being output (in monophonic mode) or selected for quantization (quantizer mode)

  16. CLOCK Input - When using the Sequencer Modes (see below), you can externally clock the module. Each clock signal advances the sequence by 1 Step. There are 96 PPQN per step.

  17. CLOCK Output - For each internal clock signal step

  18. Global Gate Output - Sums all Gate events into one output

  19. Global Bender Output - Sums all Bender events into one output

 

Introduction

DEGREE is a performance oriented VCO controller designed around custom manufactured illuminated capacitive touch pads. The modules main purpose is to control the pitch of 4 independent VCOs by interacting with the touch pads.  Additionally, the module can auto-calibrate your VCOs 1v/o tracking, quantize incoming CV, output gate/triggers, apply analog slew/portamento, and has 4 custom “Bender” components for classic synth pitch bend effects.

The module is internally clocked with a resolution of 96 pulses per quarter note (PPQN), allowing you to record sequences of touch events / pitch bend action and play them back in real-time.

 

Each channel consists of the following hardware:

  • 8 illuminated capacitive touch pads for scale degree selection

  • 4 illuminated capacitive touch pads for octave selection

  • Tactile Mode button for toggling between MONOPHONIC/QUANTIZER modes

  • Toggle switch for activating / deactivating the pitch bend

  • Slew control via slide potentiometer

  • 1V/O Output

  • +-8V Pitch Bend Output

  • Gate/Trigger Output

  • CV Input jack

  • Bender component

  • 16 LEDs indicating sequence length and position

At any given time each channel operates in one of two modes. MONOPHONIC Mode, and QUANTIZER Mode.

Monophonic Mode

This is the most basic of modes. For each channel, only one scale degree can be active at a time.

The only input the module takes is that of your fingers. Touching any of the touch pads pads immediately outputs the respective scale degrees voltage to that channel's 1V/O output.

Additionally, when a touch pad is touched the corresponding channels GATE output is set to HIGH (+5V), and on release set back to LOW (0V).