English Novation A division of Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. Windsor House, Turnpike Road, Cressex Business Park, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP12 3FX. United Kingdom Tel: +44 1494 462246 Fax: +44 1494 459920 e-mail: sales@novationmusic.com Web: www.novationmusic.com Trademarks The Novation trade mark is owned by Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. All other brand, product and company names and any other registered names or trade marks mentioned in this manual belong to their respective owners.
English CONTENTS COPYRIGHT AND LEGAL NOTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Key Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 About This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
English The Modulation Sequencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Smooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Recording a Pattern in real time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Pattern Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
English The Envelope section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 The LFO section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 LFO Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 LFO Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
English INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing this Novation Circuit Mono Station, the next-generation sequenced monosynth. Circuit Mono Station is a powerful, but extremely compact electronic musical instrument combining two established Novation products: the original Circuit groovebox and the Bass Station II analogue synth. Circuit Mono Station gives you classic analogue synth sounds, two interacting step sequencers plus a modulation sequencer and full automation of almost all synth functions.
English Key Features • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Combines Bass Station II analogue synth with Circuit step sequencer 32-button multi-colour grid for playing and displaying information Split grid displays sequence steps and notes simultaneously 3-track sequencer: two oscillators plus modulation Velocity-sensitive pads Paraphonic operation allows the two oscillators to be independently sequenced 64 synth Patch memories, pre-loaded with factory sounds Tempo range from 40 to 24
English Abbreviations, conventions, etc. Where top panel controls or rear panel connectors are referred to, we’ve used a number thus: 6 to cross-reference to the top panel diagram, and thus: 1 to cross-reference to the rear and side panel diagrams. (See “Top View – controls” on page 13 and “Rear View – connectors” on page 18). We’ve used Bold text to name physical things – the top panel controls and rear panel connectors, and smaller Bold italics to name the various Views that the grid can display.
English Registering your Circuit Mono Station It is important to register your Circuit Mono Station on-line using the Product/software Registration details at Step 4 of the Getting Started Guide.
English Glossary Some of the terms used in this manual have a specific meaning as applied to Circuit Mono Station. Here is a short list: Term Button Cursor Dual View Expand View Fixed Gate View Glide View Osc 1 + Osc 2 Shift + Note Shift + Velocity Gate Shift + Gate Global View Doubles the number of performance pads from 16 to 32, increasing the pitch range from two to four octaves. Allows the velocity response of the grid pads to be disabled.
English Term Note View Paraphonic Mode 1 Paraphonic Mode 2 Button Note Shift + Scales Patches Both Osc 1 and Osc 2 trigger the VCA. A Global View which allows synth Patches to be loaded or saved. A cyclic set of Patterns played continuously one after the other. Pattern Chain A View that allows editing of a Pattern. The Pattern's steps are always visible in these views. Note, Velocity, Gate, Glide and Pattern Settings View are all Pattern Edit Views.
English Term Setup Page Smooth Button Shift + Power Shift + Mod Seq Circuit’s operating mode when the sequencer is not running. Stop Mode Shift + Tempo Shift + Tap Synth Controls Tracks Velocity View View Applies to the Modulation Sequence: interpolates between successive assigned values to produce a gradual transition. Collective name for the button group comprising the Note, Velocity, and Gate buttons. Step buttons Swing Sync Allows control of MIDI clock and TX / RX settings.
English HARDWARE OVERVIEW Top View – controls 21 20 22 29 40 2 39 1 38 3 18 19 16 17 5 8 23 24 25 26 27 28 34 30 33 31 12 32 35 13 37 36 5 15 9 6 10 11 7 4 Master controls: 1 Volume – controls the overall level at the audio outputs. 2 Tempo – lets you set the BPM (tempo) of the sequence. Hold down Shift to re-assign it as a Swing control, which will alter the timing between steps to change the ‘feel’ of a pattern. Tap – lets you set the tempo “manually”, by tapping the button.
English Grid controls: 4 32-pad playing grid – a 4 x 8 matrix of rubber pads; internally illuminated with RGB LEDs. Many Views ‘split’ the grid horizontally into two 2 x 8 matrixes, but some divide it into logical areas with different functions. Most of the remaining buttons switch the 32-pad grid into a specific View. Each View provides information about and control of a particular aspect of the Track, Pattern, timing, etc. Most buttons have both a momentary (long press) and a latching (short press) mode.
English 13 Clear – allows deletion of individual Pattern Steps, Patches, Patterns, Sessions or automation data. Save and Sessions – let you save your current Session, or open a previously-saved one. You can also use Save to store Patches independently from Sessions.
English Synth controls: Apart from the MASTER section, the upper half of Circuit Mono Station’s control surface has the controls for the mono synth engine. OSCILLATORS section: 16 Range – steps through the base pitch ranges of the oscillator selected by Osc 1 or Osc 2 5 in octaves. For standard concert pitch (A3 = 440 Hz), set to 8’. Waveform – steps through the range of available oscillator waveforms – sine, triangular, sawtooth and pulse.
English FILTER section: 30 Shape – this button steps through three filter characteristics: low-pass (LP), band-pass (BP) or high-pass (HP). 31 Slope – toggles between two filter slopes: sets the slope of filter outside the passband to 12dB or 24dB per octave. 32 Frequency – large rotary knob controlling the filter’s cut-off frequency (LP or HP), or its centre frequency (BP). 33 Resonance – adds resonance (an increased response at the filter frequency) to the filter characteristic.
English Rear View – connectors 10 9 8 7 6 4 5 3 2 1 LINE OUT – the main (mono) audio output on a ¼” TRS jack socket. Max. output level is +10.5 dBu. The output is pseudo-balanced (ground compensated) and may be connected to equipment with either balanced or unbalanced inputs. 1 AUDIO IN – a line level input allowing an external audio signal to be added to Circuit Mono Station’s output (via Mixer level control 27 ). 2 MIDI IN, OUT and THRU – MIDI connectors on three 3.5 mm TRS jack sockets.
English Front and side views 12 11 (Headphones) – connect a pair of stereo headphones to this 3.5 mm TRS jack socket. The headphone amplifier can drive +10.5 dBu into 150 ohms. 11 Kensington security slot – secure your Circuit Mono Station to a suitable structure if desired. Please see http://www.kensington.com/kensington/us/us/s/1704/kensington-security-slot.aspx for further information on how to use this feature.
English BASICS Powering the unit on Circuit Mono Station must be powered from the supplied AC adaptor. Connect the adaptor to the DC input socket 10 and plug the adaptor into the AC mains. Connect the main output to a monitoring system (powered speaker or a separate amplifier and passive monitor) or, if your prefer, plug in a pair of headphones at the front of the unit. Long-press the Power button 10 to turn Circuit Mono Station on: this will re-load the Session that was in use last time the unit was on.
English Getting started We’ve pre-loaded 16 demo Sessions into the Session memories to give you an idea of how Circuit Mono Station works. Press the Play button 11 ; you should hear the first demo Session. If it’s not already lit, press the Osc 1 button 5 ; Circuit Mono Station is now displaying Note View for Oscillator 1.
English You should also observe the LEDs associated with the various synth controls: with most of the demo Sessions, you will see these changing in brightness as the Session plays, indicating that the controls were adjusted in real time as the Patterns were programmed. This is Circuit Mono Station’s Automation at work - a very powerful feature. Later in the manual, we explain in detail how each of these Pattern and synth features can be programmed or configured.
English IMPORTANT – ENABLING SAVE By now you will probably have read the Getting Starting Guide shipped with your Circuit Mono Station, so will be aware that Session Saving is disabled, but in case you haven’t, we’re repeating it here: The Save function is deliberately disabled before shipping from the factory to prevent accidental erasure of the demo Sessions. The Save button 14 will initially be unlit, and before you can save any Sessions of your own, you will need to unlock the Save function.
English Starting from Scratch Once you’ve experimented with the factory demos for a while, you will probably want to create a Pattern from scratch. Select Sessions and select an empty memory slot. Now select Note View and Osc 1. When you press Play you’ll see the white pad (the play cursor) progressing across the 16 steps of the Pattern display. Now you can add synth notes. The upper two rows of the grid represent a music keyboard, the lower two show you where you are in the sequence.
English For a conventional piano keyboard, press and hold Scales 8 and then press Pad 32 (the bottom right one), which will turn red. This gives the keyboard Chromatic scaling, and the layout differs from that in the other scales: C# D# F# G# A# A B Synth keyboard C D E F G C PLAY Pattern display Chromatic scaling offers all twelve notes in the octave; to accommodate them, the keyboard “size” is reduced to one octave.
English Synth section - basics The two synth oscillators – Osc 1 and Osc 2 - have distinctive RGB colour coding for the pads, which is reflected in other Views and in LEDs elsewhere on the control panel, so you always know which oscillator is being adjusted. Osc 1 uses purple and Osc 2 uses green. On the playing pads, the high and low C notes in each octave show a different shade than the intermediate keys.
English When creating Patterns, it is obviously helpful to be able to hear each Oscillator’s contribution while programming. For this reason, Circuit Mono Station has a secondary mode, Paraphonic Mode 2. This is selected by pressing Shift 15 and Scales 8 together: the Scales button will now illuminate bright white. In this mode, Oscillator 2 triggers the VCA as well as Oscillator 1, so you can turn the Osc 1 Mixer level control down and hear all the notes in Oscillator 2’s Pattern.
English The corresponding Note View for Oscillator 2 can be obtained by pressing the Osc 2 Part button 5 : Osc 2 selected Osc 1 Osc 2 Mod Seq Oct J Oct K Clear Save Sessions Osc 2 keyboard PLAY Pattern display The Osc 2 level control in the Mixer section 24 must be turned up and Paraphonic mode 2 selected (by pressing Shift + Scales) in order for Oscillator 2’s notes to be audible. Note that the Scales button is illuminated bright white when Mode 2 is active.
English Expanded Note View To obtain a keyboard with a wider range, hold down Shift 15 and press Note 6 ; Note now illuminates white. This View is Expanded Note View, and removes the pattern display in the two lower rows of the grid, replacing it with keys for the next two lower octaves of the selected scale.
English Scales Circuit Mono Station is extremely flexible in how it lets you configure the note pads in the playing grid to suit many musical genres in key or scale. There are two aspects to specifying how the note pads are laid out: the scale and the root note. Up to 16 musical scales are available: these include those common in western musical styles such as major, natural minor, pentatonic and chromatic as well as more unusual scales (or modes) such as Dorian, Lydian and Mixolydian.
English Scale selection In Scales View, the bottom two rows allow selection of one of the 16 available musical scales.
English When you exit Scales View by pressing Note again, the upper two rows in Note View now contain the notes in the selected scale, over two octaves. There is one exception to this – Chromatic scale. With this scale selected all 12 notes in the scale are available, which means that only a one-octave keyboard is possible to accommodate them. The upper two rows in Note View now have the same layout as in Scales View. In Expanded Note View, a two-octave keyboard is presented with Chromatic scale selected.
English In Note View, each of the two upper rows (or each of all four rows in Expanded Note View) will now sound the notes of the G major scale, running from G to G’ (where G’ denotes a note one octave above G). The same principle can be applied to re-scale the synth note pads in the Note Views to any desired root key. If you have already created a pattern including synth notes, you can change the keynote to transpose the pattern, even while the pattern is playing.
English The currently-selected Patch will be applicable to the whole of the current Session: you can’t use different Patches for different Patterns in the same Session. However, Circuit Mono Station’s extensive range of synth parameters should render this irrelevant in most cases. Once you’ve made changes to one of the factory Patches, or created a new one from the initial Patch, you can save the result in one of the memory locations.
English Programming a Pattern To program a synth Pattern in Paraphonic Mode 1 (the default), first select a Patch as described in “Selecting Patches” on page 33. Enter Note View for Oscillator 1 (press Note and then Osc 1 if not already selected). To assign a note to a Pattern step, press and hold the pad for the step – it will turn red – and simultaneously press the pad for the note to be assigned, which will also turn red while it is being pressed.
English The pads for the steps which have notes associated with them will be illuminated bright blue. One step pad will flash white/blue: this shows where the pattern had reached when it was stopped. This is shown in the first diagram below. However, when you press Play again, the pattern will always restart from Step 1.
English Inserting notes You can add synth notes to a pattern by selecting the step where the note is to go by holding down the pattern pad for that step, pressing the required performance pad, and then releasing the pattern pad. You don’t have to press Record. Now when you run the pattern, you will find that the note has been added.
English Duplicating Steps Pressing Shift + Clear 15 and 13 enables the Duplicate function, which performs actions very similar to “copy-and-paste” for Steps. In Note View for any of the Tracks – including Mod Seq - you can use Duplicate to copy the note at a step, complete with its various attributes, to a different step in the Pattern.
English In Velocity View, the two lower rows of the grid represent the pattern steps. In the 16-step example shown above, Steps 4, 12 and 16 are brightly lit, indicating that these steps have notes associated with them. One pad in the Pattern step display will flash alternate white/blue: this is the step whose Velocity value is being displayed. The two upper rows of the grid make up a 16-segment “bargraph” meter; the number of pads illuminated white is the Velocity value for the selected step.
English Fixed Velocity You may sometimes prefer to disable Velocity; then the notes comprising your synth sequence will have a more “mechanical” feel to them regardless of how you hard you actually strike the pads. Circuit has a Fixed Velocity function, which sets Velocity at a value of 96. Fixed Velocity is enabled by pressing Velocity 6 while holding down Shift 15 . Fixed Velocity is confirmed by the Velocity button illuminating white while Shift is pressed.
English The two upper rows of the grid make up a 16-segment “bargraph” meter; the number of pads illuminated white is the Gate value for the selected step. In the example shown above, the Gate value is 2: the remainder of the Gate value display is unlit. You can change the Gate value by pressing the pad in the Gate value display rows that corresponds to the Gate value; that is, the number of pattern steps that the note at the step should sound for.
English Glide You can add pitch glide (portamento) to any or all of the steps in a Pattern. It can be added to the Pattern Steps for either Oscillator independently. Adding Glide to a step means that the note assigned to the step will initially not be played at its normal pitch: it will ascend or descend to its normal pitch over a period determined by the Glide Time setting.
English You can assign a Glide Time to a Step in either Play or Stop modes. The Pads for the Steps that have notes assigned to them will be illuminated brightly; to add Glide, press and hold the Step Pad and press the Pad corresponding to the required Glide Time. When the Pattern runs, you will see that the Glide Time value is now indicated for that Step by the Glide Time Pad illuminating brightly. You can add Glide to other Pattern Steps in the same way.
English The Modulation Sequencer The Modulation Sequencer (Mod Seq) is a “virtual” third Track that can record a Modulation parameter value for each Step in a Pattern. The Track is saved to the Pattern along with the Tracks for Osc 1 and Osc 2, and in all other respects is handled simply as an additional sequencer track. The data recorded in Mod Seq is available to the Modulation Matrix as one of its four sources (Seq).
English To reset the Mod Seq value to zero at a particular Step, hold Clear 13 and press the pad in the Pattern Step display for the Step; the Mod parameter display on the upper two rows will go dark. Remember that Mod Seq will have no effect on the sound unless it is assigned in the Modulation Matrix, and the Depth control is turned up or, in most cases, down (either way, the LED should be lit orange).
English Notes recorded “live” in this way will be quantised in time to the nearest step of the sequence. They will also have values for Gate (how many steps the note sounds for) and Velocity (volume proportional to how hard you strike the pad). Gate View and Velocity View both display their respective values to an accuracy of 96 levels (see page 38). Now you can add notes from Oscillator 2 to the sequence.
English Pattern direction The default Pattern direction is “forwards”, indicated by Pad 13 being brightly illuminated. The selected Pattern will always start at Step 1, proceed to the last Step defined in Pattern Length (the default being Step 16) and then repeat. Three other options are available: • Backwards (Pad 14) – the Pattern will start at the last defined Step, and play backwards to Step 1 before repeating.
English In exactly the same manner, you can also alter the length of a Pattern by moving the start Step to a later point. To do this, hold down Shift, and press the pad corresponding to the new start point. As described above, the “earlier” step pads will then either be unlit (no notes assigned) or dim red (note assigned).
English The Sync Rate settings are based on semiquaver Steps; that is, sixteen semiquaver beats to a bar in 4/4 time. At the default sync rate setting of 1/16, the Pattern will be played at the BPM rate set by the Tempo control 2 . Selecting a Sync Rate of 1/8 by pressing Pad 3 will play the Pattern at half the tempo or at double the tempo by selecting 1/32. The Gate times for each note are correspondingly adjusted to maintain the correct relative musical intervals.
English STORING PATTERNS Each Circuit Mono Station Session has memory space for storing multiple Patterns per Track: you can save sixteen Osc 1 Patterns, eight Osc 2 Patterns and eight Modulation Sequencer Patterns within one Session. The true potential of Circuit Mono Station begins to be realised when you start to create interesting variations of a Pattern, save them, and then chain them together to be played out as complete sequences of up to 256 (16 x 16) steps.
English To select a different Pattern for any Track, simply press its pad. You can do this in Stop or Play Modes; an important feature of the pattern sequencing is that if you select a Pattern while another is already playing, the first will play to the end of the Pattern before the new Pattern starts playing. This gives you a smooth transition between Patterns. In this case, the pad for the newly selected track will flash quickly while it is being “cued”, until it starts to play.
English Duplicating Patterns In Patterns View, the Duplicate function can be used to perform a simple copy-and-paste function, letting you copy a Pattern from one memory to another. This is a very useful feature, as it lets you use an existing 16-step pattern as the basis for another, slightly different one: it is often easier to modify an existing Pattern to be how you want it than create a new one from scratch.
English The Pattern View example above shows a possible arrangement of Patterns for a 4-pattern (64-step) sequence. We are using four Osc 1 Patterns (Memories 1 to 4), two Osc 2 Patterns (Memories 2 and 3) and two Modulation Sequence Patterns (Memories 1 and 2). When you press Play, each track will loop round its own chain of Patterns. The longest chain is Osc 1 – this defines the overall length of the sequence, in this case, 64 steps.
English Mutate Mutate is an interesting feature that shuffles the notes making up a Pattern or a Pattern Chain (if one is currently defined). The effect of Mutate is to reassign the notes in a Pattern to different Steps, while retaining the Pattern Length, Sync Rate and other Pattern parameters. The same notes are played, but because the reassignment is a shuffle action, they will be in a different order and with different timing, though the overall Pattern tempo is maintained.
English TEMPO AND SWING Tempo and Swing are closely related and the methods of adjusting them are very similar. Tempo Circuit Mono Station will operate over a wide range of tempos. The tempo can be set by the internal tempo clock in the range 40 to 240 BPM (with a default tempo of 120 BPM), or, if you are working with other MIDI devices or a DAW, by an external MIDI clock source in the range 40 to 240 BPM. To display the current BPM of the internal tempo clock, “nudge” the Tempo control 2 slightly.
English Tap Tempo If you want to match Circuit Mono Station’s tempo to another piece of music and you don’t know its BPM, you can use Tap Tempo. Simply tap the Tap button 3 in time with the track you’re listening to - use ¼ notes (crotchets). You need at least three taps for the tempo to change to your manual input, and the BPM will then be calculated by averaging the last five taps.
English Swing sync In addition to setting a Swing value manually with the Tempo control, it is also possible to set a global Swing Sync Rate. This acts as a “range” control, and defines the tempo interval by which the Swing parameter will shift alternate notes. The default value is a semiquaver, i.e., one Step (though in practice, a Swing of a whole tempo interval is not achievable due to the restricted range of the Swing control). Press and hold Shift 15 and Tap 3 simultaneously to see Swing Sync View.
English Automation of Knobs and Sliders While a Pattern is playing you can, of course, tweak any of the synth controls to modify the sound. Circuit Mono Station features Realtime Automation Recording, which means you can add the effect of these tweaks to the recorded pattern by entering Record Mode (by pressing Record 11 ) while moving the knobs or sliders.
English SYNTHESIS TUTORIAL This section covers the general principles of electronic sound generation and processing in more detail, including references to Circuit Mono Station’s facilities where relevant. It is recommended that this chapter is read carefully if analogue sound synthesis is an unfamiliar subject. Users familiar with this subject can skip this section and move on to the next.
English Tone Musical sounds consist of several different, related pitches occurring simultaneously. The lowest is referred to as the ‘fundamental’ pitch and corresponds to the perceived note of the sound. Other pitches making up the sound which are related to the fundamental in simple mathematical ratios are called harmonics. The relative loudness of each harmonic as compared to the loudness of the fundamental determines the overall tone or ‘timbre’ of the sound.
English providing changes in the character of the sound which can evolve over time. Because LFOs’ and Envelopes’ only purpose is to control (modulate) the other synthesiser sections, they are commonly known as ‘modulators’. These various synthesiser sections will now be covered in more detail. The Oscillators And Mixer The Oscillator section is really the heartbeat of the synthesiser. It generates an electronic wave (which creates the vibrations when eventually fed to a loudspeaker).
English Volume Triangle Waves 1 3 5 7 Harmonic Triangle Wave Volume Volume 1 Triangle Wave 1 Square Wave 3 5 7 2 3 Harmonic 4 5 Harmonic These contain only odd harmonics. The volume of each decreases as the square of its position Volume in the harmonic series. For example, the 5th harmonic has a volume 1/25th of the volume of the fundamental.
English If the width of the pulse waveform (the ‘Pulse Width’) is altered dynamically in the modulation matrix, the harmonic content of the waveform is made to constantly change. This can give the waveform a very ‘fat’ quality when the pulse width is altered at a moderate rate. A pulse waveform sounds the same whether the duty cycle is – for example - 40% or 60%, since the waveform is just “inverted” and the harmonic content is exactly the same.
English The Mixer To extend the range of sounds that may be produced, typical analogue synthesisers have more than one Oscillator (Circuit Mono Station has three, though only two have individual controls, the ‘sub’ Oscillator being fixed in frequency at two octaves below Oscillator 1’s frequency). By using multiple Oscillators to create a sound, it is possible to achieve very interesting harmonic mixes.
English The Filter The synth section of Circuit Mono Station is a subtractive music synthesiser. Subtractive implies that part of the sound is subtracted somewhere in the synthesis process. The Oscillators provide the raw waveforms with plenty of harmonic content and the Filter section subtracts some of the harmonics in a controlled manner. There are three basic filter types, all of which are available in Circuit Mono Station: lowpass, band-pass and high-pass.
English The diagram below shows the response of a typical low pass filter. Frequencies above the cutoff point are reduced in volume. Cut-off Cut-off Frequency Frequency Volume Volume Cut-off Frequency Volume Frequency Frequency Cut-off Cut-off Frequency When resonance is added, the frequencies around the Frequency cut off point are boosted in volume.
Cut-off Frequency English Volume With a band-pass filter, just a narrow band of frequencies centered around the cut-off point is passed. Frequencies above and below the band are removed. It is not possible to fully open this type of filter and allow all frequencies to pass. Frequency Cut-off Frequency Volume Frequency Envelopes And Amplifier In earlier paragraphs, the synthesis of theCut-off pitch and the timbre of a sound was described.
English VOLUME KEY "ON" KEY "OFF" VOLUME TIME A string section emulation only attains full volume gradually when a key is pressed. It remains at full volume while the key is held down, but once the keyKEY is released, the volume falls to zero KEY "ON" "OFF" TIME fairly slowly.
English Release Time Adjusts the time it takes for the volume to fall from the Sustain level to zero once the key is released. It can be used to create sounds that have a “fade-out” quality. Circuit Mono Station has a single Envelope Generator for controlling signal amplitude. It has a dedicated set of ADSR controls, and is always applied to the amplifier to shape the volume of each note played, as detailed above.
English Summary A synthesiser can be broken down into five main sound generating or sound modifying (modulating) blocks: 1. Oscillators that generate waveforms at a various pitches. 2. A Mixer that mixes the outputs from the Oscillators together (and add Noise and other signals). 3. Filters that remove certain harmonics, changing the character or timbre of the sound. 4. An Amplifier controlled by an Envelope generator, which alters the volume of a sound over time when a note is played. 5.
English CIRCUIT MONO STATION – SYNTHESISER SECTION Sound modification Once you have loaded a Patch you like the sound of, you can modify the sound in many different ways using the synth controls. The various individual synth controls are dealt with in greater depth a bit further on, but a few points should be discussed here: LED parameter indicators All the “analogue” controls in the synth section – that is, the knobs and sliders – have an associated “null” LED.
English In addition to being able to transmit MIDI data, Circuit Mono Station is also equipped with standard CV + GATE outputs which can send analogue note data to other compatible equipment. The CV and GATE outputs are separate 3.5 mm jack sockets on the rear panel. Note data is always present when a Pattern is playing, and the CV output will transmit the pitch values of Oscillator 1. This means you can control the pitch of an external synth (e.g.
English The Oscillator section 18 19 16 17 Circuit Mono Station’s Oscillator section consists of two identical primary oscillators, plus a “sub-octave” oscillator which is always frequency-locked to Oscillator 1. The primary oscillators, Osc 1 and Osc 2, share a single set of controls; the oscillator being controlled is selected by the Osc 1 and Osc 2 buttons 5 .
English Oscillator Sync Oscillator Sync is a commonly used technique of sound modification which you are likely to be familiar with if you are already a synth user. On Circuit Mono Station, Oscillator Sync is enabled by pressing Osc 2 5 while holding Shift 15 down.
English The Mixer section 23 24 25 26 27 28 Input level controls x6 OSC 1 Osc 1 FREQ LOCK OSC 2 Osc 2 SUB OSC Sub OUTPUT NOISE Noise RING MOD Ring 1*2 EXT IN Audio In External Input sensitivity (Shift + Audio In) The outputs of the various sound sources can be mixed together in various proportions to produce the overall synth sound, using what is essentially a simple 6-into-1 mono mixer. Each of the six sound sources has its own level control ( 23 to 28 ).
English External Input The Mixer section has an external audio input. You can connect another audio source here - for example, the output from another synth module - and use Circuit Mono Station’s envelope, filter and mod sections to treat it. You can even connect the output of Circuit Mono Station to itself: this “recursive” connection can produce some extreme and startling effects! The external input is a standard ¼” jack socket 2 on the rear panel.
English Filter Shape The filter may be configured to have a low-pass (LP), band-pass (BP) or hi-pass (HP) characteristic with the Shape button 30 . The Slope button 31 sets the degree of rejection applied to out-of-band frequencies; the 24 dB position gives a steeper slope than the 12 dB; an out-of-band frequency will be attenuated more severely with the steeper setting.
English Resonance The Resonance control 33 adds gain to the signal in a narrow band of frequencies around the frequency set by the Frequency control. It can accentuate the swept-filter effect considerably. Increasing the resonance parameter is very good for enhancing modulation of the cut-off frequency, creating a very edgy sound. Increasing Resonance also accentuates the action of the Frequency control, giving it a more pronounced effect.
TIME English KEY "ON" KEY "OFF" At the maximum value (100%),VOLUME the filter frequency moves in semitone steps with the notes – i.e., the filter tracks the pitch changes in a 1:1 ratio (e.g., when playing two notes an octave apart, the filter cut off frequency will also change by one octave). When set Off, the filter TIME frequency remains constant, whatever note(s) are played.
English 29 Circuit Mono Station has a dedicated slider control • • • • 29 for each ADSR parameter: Attack – sets the note’s attack time. With the slider at its lowest position, the note attains its maximum level immediately a note is triggered; with the slider in its uppermost position, the note takes over 5 seconds to reach its maximum level. Midway, the time is approx. 250 ms. Decay – sets the time the note takes to decay from its initial level to that defined by the Sustain parameter.
English The LFO section Circuit Mono Station has a Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) whose output may be routed to various parts of the synth using the Modulation Matrix (see page 82). With fairly slow settings of Rate, it can typically be used to modulate oscillator frequency to give a vibrato effect or amplitude for a tremolo effect.
English The Modulation Matrix The key to versatility in a synthesiser lies in the ability to interconnect the various controllers, sound generators and processing blocks such that one block is controlling – or “modulating” another, in as many ways as possible. Circuit Mono Station provides considerable flexibility of control routing in the form of the Modulation Matrix Section.
English Matrix assignment The Modulation Matrix supports up to four modulating sources to be routed simultaneously to up to eight controlled destinations. This implies 32 possible assignments, each with a different level or “amount” of control.
English Depth effectively defines the “amount” by which the controlled parameter varies when under modulation control. Think of it as the “range” of control. Depth is also “bi-polar” and thus determines the polarity of the control – positive values will increase the value of the controlled parameter and negative values will decrease it, for the same control input.
English The Distortion section Distortion is applied separately after the Filter section. There are only two controls: Type and Level. 37 36 The Type button 36 selects one of three analogue distortion types, simply referred to as I, II and III: • Type I uses the distortion circuitry found on the Novation Bass Station II synth • Type II: classic fuzz distortion • Type III: a combination of types I and II The Level control adjusts how much distortion is applied to the post-Filter signal.
English SYSTEM SETTINGS Global settings for Circuit Mono Station are made using System Settings View. This lets you configure MIDI operation and set MIDI channels, enable Pot Pickup and set the analogue clock output rate. System Settings View can only be opened at power-up: press hold Shift 15 down while pressing the Power button to open the View. The View changes (re colours) according to whether Oscillator 1 or Oscillator 2 is selected: the graphic below shows that for Osc 1.
English Similarly, MIDI Clock Tx and Rx are controlled by the blue-lit pads at the right-hand end of the bottom grid row. Note that these buttons also effectively control selection of the analogue clock input. If Clock Tx is on, Circuit Mono Station is the clock master and its internal clock will be available as MIDI Clock at the rear panel USB and MIDI OUT connectors, and also in analogue form at the CLOCK OUT connector.
English An external analogue clock signal in the voltage range -0.5 V to +5.5 V may be applied to the CLOCK IN connector 5 . An input below 1 V will be seen as ‘low’ and an input above 2.3 V will be seen as ‘high’ and a clock event is triggered by a low to high transition. The input clock rate is fixed at 2 ppqn. Pot Pickup The operation of Pot Pickup is described at page 71. It is enabled in System Settings View with Pad 24, which will be lit Yellow, either dim (off) or bright (on).
English SESSION SWITCHING A basic overview of loading and saving Sessions can be found at page 22. This chapter looks at some additional aspects surrounding the use of Sessions. There are some rules governing how Circuit Mono Station responds when you change from one Session to another. If you’re in Stop Mode (i.e.
English APPENDIX Firmware Updates Go to components.novationmusic.com and follow all instructions. Bootloader Mode In the unlikely event of a problem with your Circuit Mono Station, it may become necessary to enable Bootloader Mode. This is strictly an “engineering mode”, and all normal unit functions become inoperative. You should not use Bootloader Mode without instructions to do so from Novation’s Technical Support team.
English Initial Patch Parameters The list below gives the parameters of Init Patch: Section Oscillator Parameter Initial Value Osc 1 range 8' (A3=440Hz) Osc 1 fine Osc 1 coarse Osc 1 waveform Osc 1 Shape (Pulse Width) Osc 2 fine Osc 2 range Osc 2 coarse Osc 2 waveform Osc 2 shape (pulse width) Osc 1/2 Sync Mixer 0 (centre) saw 0 0 (centre) 8' (A3=440Hz) 0 (centre) saw 0 Off Osc 1 level 100 Sub Osc level 0 Osc 2 level Noise level Ring mod level External signal level Filter 0 (centr
English Section Envelope Parameter Initial Value Decay 70 Attack Sustain Release Mod Matrix 100 10 Envelope destinations Amp Mod Seq destinations none LFO destinations Velocity destinations Envelope > Amp Depth All other Mod Matrix routings are ‘off’ Misc 0 Patch level Octave tranpose none none 1 100 0 Session loading problems Circuit loads the last selected Session when it is powered-up.
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