Setting and playing chords from "chord select" cv

You shared in this thread that you can’t reliably send a chord select cv at the same time as a trigger gate...but that is how notes get timed with music. If that timing is off, it's not a solid result. So it sounds like it is a matter of either speeding up the reading of the Chord Select cv to be able to reliably change with a gate, or slightly delaying a trigger used with the Chord Select.

As for using midi control with the mod wheel to control the chords. I could do that, but at that point I could just connect the keystep pro a polyphonic synth that takes midi. I would believe the value proposition of the Poly Cinematic is that someone could play chord progressions via cv, fully within a modular rack.

The timing on the poly cinematic is solid so delaying any triggers is definitely off the menu. We could drag the chord select voltage a bit but that would only reliably play the previous chord. In your use case it sounds like a direct midi control would be a better option to play the chord progressions, have you tried with the mod wheel data instead of cv to select chords?

I guess that is what I'm trying to describe. The latency only affects the Chord Select functionality, correct? Seems like it wouldn't matter what type of signal comes into the Chord Select (noise, velocity, stepped voltage, etc) or how many voices it is using - it still receives it's timing from a centrally located trigger input. So why not add the micro-offset to the trigger's input only when sensing input from the Chord Select? I could see that type of buffer management to be a bit of a pain, but it could be a potential solution.

Inversely, when in input is received from the Midi In or V/Oct, the trigger timing can switch back to normal if desired. ...Unless there is a use case where someone would use V/Oct at the same time as Chord Select...to which point the logic should probably still add the micro-timing adjustment since Chord Select is in use.

At any rate, it seems like there could be some programming logic to manage that super minor timing adjustment within the module. That's my only pain point with it, and I wouldn't have figured out how to compensate for that trigger inconsistency had I not come to the forum. It's a KILLER module. If that timing adjustment could happen within the module...for me it would save rack space and elevate it to what will probably be one of my most used modules! Truly unique in the marketplace!

When just controlling a single V/Oct note the latency of the pitch doesn't matter because the note is being continuously updated, but this is not the case when selecting discreet chords that could contain multiple voices. Its difficult to land on a solution that would work for all users, such is the nature of modular synths, there are folk who would connect a noise source to select chords randomly and ones who would connect the velocity to it, or like yourself to connect stepped voltages from a sequencer. Nevertheless the issue is something I'm giving some thought to and I'm open to suggestions.

Hi Jason - So I've worked out selecting notes via the Chord Select input like a champ - thank you for your help. However, I'm still hung up on the required delay between the trigger and chord select in order to trigger it reliably. It seems like this type of millisecond or micro-offset isn't a standard feature for many sequencers...and finding a dc coupled delay that doesn't take up a bunch of rack space is a challenge as well. I eventually found a janky way to achieve it with my Zadar, using the phase control for a delayed signal, but it feels like there could be a better solution.

In a future update, could this be programmed into the module? I assume the module/ardueno/chipset is listening to all inputs. I also assume the chord select input is the only input that requires the micro-timing offset from the trigger in order to work reliably. Couldn't an input from the Chord Select act as a toggle for a micro-timing offset for signals received from the Trigger input? Then in theory, any inputs from Midi In and V/Oct could toggle it back to normal timing. Offhand, I can't think of any use-cases where inputs from the Midi In and V/Oct activity would be used at the same time as the Chord Select.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this and consideration!

Jeremy

Ok, got it - thank you for the clarification. I believe my Intellijel Steppy has a delay feature. I'm not familiar with it, but I can explore to see if it'll fit this purpose.

So in theory, if one of my sequencers has a delay feature, instead of running one sequencer for controlling gate and chord selection for the Poly Cinematic, I would still need 2 separate sequencers: One for pitch (controlling the chord select) on normal clock time, and one for gates that has a slight offset delay. Is that how you are showing it in your demo videos? Or do you have one module that can output the two?

Thanks in advance for your response.

The offset is a delay, not an attenuation so I don't think your suggestion would work. I'm not sure how you're setup but if you can't delay from your sequencer (recommended) then you'd need a DC coupled delay, there are a few mentioned in this thread

Hi Jason - Thank you for the clarifications! Knowing the chords can change roughly every 8 semitones is super helpful.

One last question - For the timing offset, would I just use an attenuator on either the trigger input or the chord select input to create that couple milliseconds offset? I don't think I've ever needed to attenuate the clock before, so I just want to clarify that is the right way to do it.

SUPER excited about getting this module going in my system. I've been wanting a way to do lush pads via modular for some time now. Thank you so much for your help!

Hi Jeremy

Starting from the Botton C, the chords change roughly every 8 semitones.

The offset doesn't need to be very long, a couple of milliseconds should be enough in either direction.

Ok, the offset catch makes sense. So I should treat it a little more like a slow sample and hold, where I'm choosing the chord sample (1-8) ahead of time enough to let it wait for the note. I noticed sometimes just when I thought I found the pitch sequencer note for the next chord that it wouldn't change reliably. So that bit of advice is helpful. I would imagine that a fast changing chord melody may have limitations then? Any technique advice for offsetting time?

As for the chord select cv, it sounds like once I find the right note/octave in the pitch sequencer module, that the note will always be the same for the chord change. Is this correct? The pitch sequencer modules I know about (at least the ones that use note values as increments) all seem to start with C. I'm hoping there is a standard note sequence that captures the 8 notes spread across the 0-5 volts. Please let me know if you happen to know what this would be. Otherwise maybe the offset catch will help me find the spots a little easier.

One last clarification - Once I find the 8 notes across the 0-5 volts that trigger the chords, then I can use those to set the new chords in stead of the mod-wheel?

Thanks in advance for all of your help in trying to figure this out! Your time is much appreciated!

Jeremy

The chord select cv has 8 zones spread evenly over 0- 5 volts. In terms of notes and v/octave that might sound quite arbitrary because it’s not set up to be used exclusively with keyboards. The other catch you might be experiencing is that you can’t reliably send a chord select cv at the same time as a gate, the reason for this is that the voltage is changing as the note starts so the selected chord may not be the one you intended. To avoid this the chord select cv should be offset in time so it is changing between notes, this won’t affect chords already playing. I hope that helps.