Controlling VCOs

[Scott013]

I don't really understand voltage controlled osciallators, I don't know how exactly they are controlled. Can any keyboard be used with a VCO or do you need to build/order something special (that's what I'm guessing). I think I have also seen MIDI to CV converters, are they very good? Would you recomend any?

Thanks!

[zipzap]

Hi
A oscilator is a circuit that produces a certain waveform at a certain frequency. you can have osc with fixed frequency/waveform, for example a quarz-osc for the clock signal in a quarz-watch.
a vco has an input for frequency controll. Depending on the voltage on that input the pitch goes up or down.
In well build vcos an increasment of 1v on the input will cause tihe frequency to double (=1 octave).
in all of my vcos it doesn´t...
midi wont work here, its just digital code. it has to be transformed, using a midi-cv converter. eg doepfer, kenton. if you only want to play your synth a simple one with 1cv and 1 gate (to trigger adsr) outs is enough.

[dnny]