Specifications

BV512 VOCODER
218
Controlling the Hold function
As described see page 214, pressing the Hold button on the front panel
“freezes” the current filter spectrum until you deactivate it again. This can be
used for creating sample & hold-like effects, stuttering or garbled vocoder
sounds:
• Connect e.g. the Gate output on a Matrix device to the Hold input on the
back of the BV512. By playing back a gate pattern on the Matrix, the Hold
function will repeatedly be turned on and off according to the programmed
rhythm in the pattern. Hold will be active for the length of each gate signal.
• Automate the Hold function with the main sequencer, either by recording it
or by drawing in its controller lane.
• If you route MIDI to the BV512 you can control the Hold function in two ways
by default: By pressing a damper pedal connected to your MIDI controller or
by playing the note C4. In both cases, the Hold function will be momentary -
Hold is on until you release the pedal or key.
Using the individual band level connections
As described on page 215, the individual band level connectors on the back are
CV output and input jacks. The upper row sends out the CV signals from the en-
velope followers for the different frequency bands, while the lower jacks are CV
inputs for controlling the individual bandpass filters (breaking the internal con-
nection from the envelope followers). There are several interesting things you
can do with these connections:
Crosspatching frequency bands
By connecting outputs to inputs in alternative configurations, you can drastically
change the result of the vocoding. For example, you could have low frequencies
in the modulator signal give high frequencies in the vocoded sound and vice
versa. Note:
• In 4 band and 8 band mode, only the 4/8 first output/input pairs are used.
• In 32 band mode and FFT (512) mode, each connection corresponds to two
or several frequency bands.
This means that connecting an output to the input with the same number is
not the same as using the internal signal path (no CV cable connected). You
can hear this quite clearly in FFT (512) mode: connect all outputs to the cor-
responding inputs and gradually remove the CV cables while listening to the
vocoder sound - the sound will progressively get more detailed.
Extracting CV from the vocoder
You can connect an individual band level output to any CV input on any device.
This means you can use the vocoder as an envelope follower, having elements in
the modulator sound control a parameter in another device, e.g. an effect. Note:
• The Attack and Decay settings on the BV512 panel affect the envelope fol-
lowers, and thus the rise and fall times of the CV signals from the individual
band level outputs.
• If you are using the vocoder in a mode with many bands, but want a broader
frequency range to generate the CV signal, you can merge several band out-
puts into one CV signal - use a Spider CV Merger & Splitter device.
Controlling vocoder bands from an external source
Connecting a CV source to an individual band input breaks the internal connec-
tion from the corresponding envelope follower. This way you can “manually” con-
trol the vocoder filters. Some applications:
D Connect the CV outputs for one or more envelopes in the carrier de-
vice to individual band inputs.
When you play the carrier instrument, one or more of the bandpass filters in
the vocoder will automatically open, adding an extra attack to the sound.
Useful if you really want to “play” the carrier, rather than just hold a chord.