Ableton Forum

I was watching and interview with Soulwax talking about their live set-up, specifically sequencing the Korg MS-20. My question is how would you go about / what equipment would you need in order to sequence the MS-20 through Live via midi? I understand the basics of sending and receiving midi through usb, but how do you send the information into an old analog synth?

Sorry if this is an amateur question, and hopefully its not a waste of time, but I'm very curious to understand how this works.

Any help is much appreciated!
Many thanks!

Midi CV converter.

wbatts20 wrote:but how do you send the information into an old analog synth?

The signal gets converted with a MIDI>CV converter, from MIDI to electricity..
Older analog synths have 2 types of control signal inputs: Gate, for note on/off and CV, for pitch..

Previously I used a Doepfer MCV4 to play my MS20..
http://www.doepfer.de/mcv4.htm

I now use a Kenton USB Solo..
http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/ ... solo.shtml

Kenton's converter are more expensive. But really powerful. For instance, i got some synth wich would need some calibration. Within the Kenton converter you can virtualy do this.
I got a pro 2000 and i can sequence and synchronize 5 synths...

Also Volta from motu do the job.
http://www.motu.com/products/software/volta

also expert sleepers silent way : http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/silentway.html

can send cv/gate signals from your soundcard. it only works by default with soundcards with DC coupled outputs (MOTU and one or two others) but with a wee bit of soldering up of magic cables it can work with non-DC coupled cards too. i've got it 75% working with my ms10, just need that final push to get the gate working, which i believe is down to adding a resistor to one of the cables.

if someone could post the exact way to plug and set up ms-20 with volta or silent way, and to get it working in few steps without issues, that would be fantastic...Couldn't find a lot of detailed infos about that on the web...

rabouille wrote:if someone could post the exact way to plug and set up ms-20 with volta or silent way, and to get it working in few steps without issues, that would be fantastic...Couldn't find a lot of detailed infos about that on the web...

you better first find out how much volt the output of your audio card has..
my MOTU UltraLite for instance only goes to I believe max 3,4 volt, while a lot of the MS20 parameters need +5 volt, so you won't reach the full range of control..

Poster wrote:

rabouille wrote:if someone could post the exact way to plug and set up ms-20 with volta or silent way, and to get it working in few steps without issues, that would be fantastic...Couldn't find a lot of detailed infos about that on the web...

you better first find out how much volt the output of your audio card has..
my MOTU UltraLite for instance only goes to I believe max 3,4 volt, while a lot of the MS20 parameters need +5 volt, so you won't reach the full range of control..

I own motu Ultralite too.... should work with volta though

the only detailed description i could get on a forum was that:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/viewt ... 3&start=30
"it works with the second, adjustable vco in (total in or vco freq in). volta has no s-trigger so u'll have to use volta EGs for amp & filter (the ESP of the ms can convert a v-trigger into a s-trigger, but only into s-trigger not "s-gate"). the knob to adjust the cv in (mg/t.ext or eg/ext) has to be all the way up to 10 to get a working calibration. while calibration, one has to open up the amp with the modwheel to ensure feedback to volta (unfortunately the ms have no osc outs). it's a bit tricky, but i got it working when i tried it, and it's a lot of fun to have velocity / aftertouch / stepsequencer with the ms. "

but wasn't able to get it working with volta, calibration failed every time i tried....

Poster wrote:

rabouille wrote:if someone could post the exact way to plug and set up ms-20 with volta or silent way, and to get it working in few steps without issues, that would be fantastic...Couldn't find a lot of detailed infos about that on the web...

you better first find out how much volt the output of your audio card has..
my MOTU UltraLite for instance only goes to I believe max 3,4 volt, while a lot of the MS20 parameters need +5 volt, so you won't reach the full range of control..

check out this thread:

http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewto ... 1c3a3368d7

there's a voltage doubler circuit that's easy to build that should help you get more pitch range etc. i've got pitch working nicely over about 5 octaves* using a presonus firebox, just haven't quite got the gate working right.

for gate to S-trig conversion, i've been pointed to this:

http://www.doepfer.de/faq/gen_faq.htm#S-Trig

i haven't tried this yet, but it may be the answer!


* i'm using the FREQ IN on the MS10 for the pitch CV, which is Octave/Volt, rather than the VCO CV IN, which is Hz/Volt - it gets me a better pitch range. not sure what the options are on the MS20, but Silent Way can send both Oct/V and Hz/V.

^ I use a Kenton..