music quantisizer - analogue/digital converter + transcoder + digital/analogue converter = control of musical scales

music quantisizer elektor october 1983 The theory of electronic music synthesis is largely based on the characteristic of 1 V/octave, which has been used so much over the years that it is now almost universally accepted as the standard. This characteristic defines the relationship between a musical unit (the octave, which is the interval between two frequencies, one of which is twice as large as the other) and an electrical unit (the volt). Because the octave is composed of twelve equal semitones, the volt is also divided into 12 equal fractions. In this way a specific voltage always exists for each note in every octave. This control voltage then feeds various synthesizer modules (principally VCO and VCF) in steps of 83.33 mV, or multiples of this "step". The quantisizer described here is used to produce control signals which agree with this characteristic given a signal that is not broken up into steps of 83.33 mV, no matter what its origin! That means that the tonal range which ...