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Volta - Voltage Control Instrument Plug-in

Calibration

Volta's unique oscillator calibration feature listens to the output of your oscillators and calibrates pitch tracking to ensure precise tuning.

Volta displays at a glance how many octaves of pitch tracking you're able to obtain with your oscillator/interface combination.

In addition to providing perfect tracking, when you hit a C3 on your keyboard, you get a C3 out of your oscillator.


Volta calibration

You can use Hz/V or V/oct tuning standards. This setting is per oscillator output, so you can seamlessly integrate Hz/V and V/oct gear as a single instrument.

Once your calibration is complete, Volta can be set to auto calibrate. Oscillator drift is a thing of the past.

See how easy it is to calibrate

Watch this short demonstration of the few easy steps to calibrate an oscillator:




Once you perform the initial calibration manually, you can tell Volta to auto-calibrate.

Accurate pitch tracking

Volta can control any instrument with a control voltage (CV) input. Maximum output voltage varies from interface to interface. Therefore, accurate pitch tracking with Volta requires calibration. Here is a list of oscillators we've tested that pass Volta's calibration procedure. This list is by no means complete, but should serve as a guide. We'll add more products as we test.

  • Analog Systems RS95
  • Arp 2600
  • Buchla 259e
  • Buchla 261e
  • Cwejman VCO-2RM
  • Cyndustries Zeroscillator
  • Doepfer A-110
  • Livewire AFG
  • Modcan Dual Oscillator 46A
  • Modcan Oscillator 01A
  • Moog 901B
  • Moog 921B
  • Moog FreqBox
  • Moog Voyager
  • MOTM 300
  • Oberheim SEM
  • Paia 9720
  • Plan B Model 15
  • Roland System 702
  • Serge NTO
  • Serge PCO
  • Sequential Pro One
  • Synthesizers.com Q106
  • Synton Fenix
  • TipTop Audio Z3000
  • Voyager Old School

Due to the large number of device/inteface combinations, and the vintage nature of some products, MOTU can not guarantee a device will pass calibration.

Notes on specific models

Buchla 200e - Buchla modules only respond to positive voltage ranges. For this reason it is recommend to use interfaces with extended voltage range like the 896 and 896HD to achieve a usable tracking range. In addition, modulation sources also need to be positive only, so bi-polar Volta sources such as LFOs can not be used with Buchla modules currently. Due to the 0/+5/+10v triggering specification the 200e series uses, the Ultralite-mk3 is capable of opening the 292e, but modules like the 281e will not respond without additional processing via a module like the 256e.

Roland System 700 - The Roland 702 oscilators will calibrate and track with Volta, but the System 700 wants to see +12 triggers. Triggers from volta must be amplified for the System 700 to respond.

Korg MS-10/20/50 - While Volta supports Hz/v scaling, the Korg MS-10/20/50 will not pass calibration without a additional bias voltage. This issue, plus the fact that these Korg models wish to see a 0 to +8v range means these monosynths are not supported at this time. It is reported the Korg MS-10 will calibrate using the FREQ input, however.

Yamaha CS-series - While Volta supports Hz/v scaling, the Yamaha CS-series synths will not pass calibration without a additional bias voltage. For this reason, these monosynths are not supported at this time.

Minimoog (original) - Volta does not currently support S-Trig gate signals to control the VCA.

Monosynths - Volta's calibration works best with modular oscillators, but can also be used with mono synths. Use a simple waveform from a single oscillator, like a sine or triangle, open the filter, turn off pitch modulation and ensure the signal coming from the mono synth is clean and of sufficient level. You'll also need a way to open the VCA so volta can calibrate. Once a calibration profile is saved, you can save it as a Volta preset for future use. Here's a movie that demonstrates monosynth calibration with the Moog Voyager.

(Double click movie to begin playing)

Download full-resolution movie (25.4 MB)

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