NIME 2018

CTRL: A Flexible, Precision Interface for Analog Synthesis
by John Harding, Richard Graham & Edwin Park

This paper provides a new interface for the production and distribution of high resolution analog control signals, particularly aimed toward the control of analog modular synthesisers. Control Voltage/Gate interfaces generate Control Voltage (CV) and Gate Voltage (Gate) as a means of controlling note pitch and length respectively, and have been with us since 1986 [2]. The authors provide a unique custom CV/Gate interface and dedicated communication protocol which leverages standard USB Serial functionality and enables connectivity over a plethora of computing devices, including embedded devices such as the Raspberry Pi and ARM based devices including widely available ‘Android TV Boxes’. We provide a general overview of the unique hardware and communication protocol developments followed by usage case examples toward tuning and embedded platforms, leveraging softwares ranging from Pure Data (Pd), Max, and Max for Live (M4L).