CV, I don't use it. Am I missing out?

[TritoneAddiction]

I'm not a technical guy at all and the wiring in the back of the rack gets me confused pretty quickly. The whole CV thing looks like a new little world in Reason that I haven't dared to explore yet. I understand if fiddling around with technical stuff is interesting and fun to some people. I'm not one of those people, that's for sure.
So I'm wondering, am I missing out on any unique sounds that can't be done with normal automation? If not then I think I'll stick to my automations.

[Exowildebeest]

Basic CV isn't really difficult, and in many ways it isn't that different from automation, so don't be afraid

Try hooking up an LFO to the pan of a little Line Mixer device, you'll be able to easily hear what it does. Or better yet, hook it up to a Combinator knob that is assigned to something inside the Combinator - you'll be able to see the knob move to the LFO. That'll teach you the immediate basics of CV.

CV very useful in sounddesign, and doing things while you're still making your main loop and don't want to go to sequencing/automation just yet. Swirling panning and filter cutoff modulation that you want continuously on a certain sound are cases where CV is faster and easier than copying automation all over your track, for instance. Also, CV LFO's (and custom CV generators like Shape RE) can make things that are VERY difficult to draw as automation

[TritoneAddiction]

Ok. Thanks for the reply. I'll probably look into it then, maybe watch a couple of youtube tutorials too.

[Yonatan]

Same here, I only do CV-routing if I really have to, for a RE to work as suposed.
I think the CV-thing inside Reason is both what makes some attracted to it and
staying with it, but also something that I could imagine keep some other users
from going into Reason as they might feel that they have to enjoy routing
to become a real Reason user. I try to learn more now and then, but I often
find the CV-routing an obstruction, especially with all the CV REs out there,

I have a hard time understanding what differs them from one another.
It´s like you have to be initiated into that world. Some have done it for
years and years so it has become second nature, but I am quite new,
and more fokusen on making musik than making complex gadgets.
But I do enjoy when other thecnological users do share some
practical and useful complex combinators that I easily can use
as an fx, even if I know not what the heck has been routed.
But the best way to learn CV is to look into combinators and
study what has been done. But one have to love it, to be good at it,
and you also have to learn something, to know if you might love it.

[Tincture]

CV is great for when you think something sounds too static or boring. Just try hooking up an LFO or a velocity out or whatever to a filter cut-off or Rez or width control or pan or whatever it has inputs for and just mess around. Mostly it'll sound worse but when it sounds better it'll sound novel and stand-out

[submonsterz]

if you have ever used midi and cc`s then its not so different as such . its just as said above a sometimes easier option than automating on the sequencer
but ill ask any one to tell me anything cv can do what cant be done via the midi way and automation in any other daw ...

[Tincture]

if you have ever used midi and cc`s then its not so different as such . its just as said above a sometimes easier option than automating on the sequencer
but ill ask any one to tell me anything cv can do what cant be done via the midi way and automation in any other daw ...

But with Reason it's all saved in one neat file that never crashes...

[Benedict]

Yes you are missing out. Stop scaring yourself and start using it.

[joeyluck]

Do you own Pulsar? This is why I wish Pulsar was free to new users all the time.
It's a great, simple, attractive and well-presented way to become familiar with CV.

But, Little LFO which is similar is now free! So check that out!
And then send CV from it to other things in the rack.

Like Exowildebeest mentioned, send an LFO to something. Working with an LFO is probably the first thing some should do when steeping into the CV waters. Have fun!

[Chritet]

With CV you can create a sort of modular synth with good RE


Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Tapatalk

[rcbuse]

I'm not a technical guy at all and the wiring in the back of the rack gets me confused pretty quickly. The whole CV thing looks like a new little world in Reason that I haven't dared to explore yet. I understand if fiddling around with technical stuff is interesting and fun to some people. I'm not one of those people, that's for sure.
So I'm wondering, am I missing out on any unique sounds that can't be done with normal automation? If not then I think I'll stick to my automations.

I think the real power of CV comes when you put your devices inside a combinator and then use the combinator programmer to route CV signals to automation targets. I created a video demo for the Shape RE that shows this (Shape Maximum Modulation and Shape Demo), but really you can apply this technique to anything that generates CV. I highly recommend using Malstrom as LFO generator, MOD A and MOD B are always sending CV data and it has more shapes than the other stock instruments.

[Jmax]

Do you own Pulsar? This is why I wish Pulsar was free to new users all the time.
It's a great, simple, attractive and well-presented way to become familiar with CV.

But, Little LFO which is similar is now free! So check that out!
And then send CV from it to other things in the rack.

Like Exowildebeest mentioned, send an LFO to something. Working with an LFO is probably the first thing some should do when steeping into the CV waters. Have fun!

Thanks for the tip I checked out the Pulsar props vid on youtube.

So it looks like the LFO to the combinator is all controlled by Pulsar to what ever you attach it to.

Could you also attach the Pulsar CV to like a delay or other effect?
And say your attaching a CV from one instrument to another. Which CV controls which? Sorry I'm a total knob at it as well.

[Benedict]

It is all so easy. Turn two devices around in the Rack. You will see some CV Outs and some CV Ins. Any Out can be connected to any In. Many Ins have a Level Control to control how much modulation goes through. That is it.

Start with the simple stuff like using a CV from Pulsar, Matrix or Thor to control the Filter of a Synth. Once you see how easy that is the reast if just logical applications of that same principal.

[JNeffLind]

I'm with you Tritone, but after reading some of these responses I may have to dabble a bit. I just have such a long list of things I need to get into with Reason that it's hard to prioritize.

[TritoneAddiction]

Thanks for all your answers. Looks like I'm gonna have to check this CV thing out. I'll start slow so my brain doesn't freak out

Sometimes I feel it's a bit ironic that I've chosen Reason as my DAW as I don't enjoy the wiring and the techincal opportunities it offers. But what I do like about Reason is that it feels very playful, not so serious as some other DAWs I've seen. It helps me feel creative when making music.

Going back to the CV topic.
I don't own Pulsar. I've got the Little LFO though, basically I downloaded it because it was free. I still haven't actually used it yet, maybe it's time...

[ebop]

CV is awesome.

I only wished you could see how the CV output (eg LFO) affects the target input (eg pan) visually without having to set it up through a combinator to see the pan knob moving. I like to be able to visually see how the target is being modified. It's great that REs like robotic bean's ones and D-filter etc show how parameters are being modified just by hooking CV up to them directly.

Is there a reason for this? Or am I missing something?

[ScuzzyEye]

Is there a reason for this? Or am I missing something?

Because CV isn't actually moving the knob. It's offsetting the knob's value. In many devices it's possible to set a knob to its max value, and still raise the internal value higher by applying a positive CV value. You have to think of the final value of the user input as knob + CV, not just knob or CV.

[ebop]

Is there a reason for this? Or am I missing something?

Because CV isn't actually moving the knob. It's offsetting the knob's value. In many devices it's possible to set a knob to its max value, and still raise the internal value higher by applying a positive CV value. You have to think of the final value of the user input as knob + CV, not just knob or CV.

Ok thanks Scuzzy, I think that explains why sometimes the knob doesn't go to the respective min and max when routed through a combinator CV input and values are set at the min and max. So the effect of the CV input is to 'offset the value' of the target by an amount determined by the CV input amount? Guess my point is just that without seeing the target knob or slider move it's hard (for me anyway) to see what the CV input is actually doing. That's why I route my CVs through a combinator to see the knobs and sliders actually moving in real time.

[ScuzzyEye]

Ok thanks Scuzzy, I think that explains why sometimes the knob doesn't go to the respective min and max when routed through a combinator CV input and values are set at the min and max. So the effect of the CV input is to 'offset the value' of the target by an amount determined by the CV input amount? Guess my point is just that without seeing the target knob or slider move it's hard (for me anyway) to see what the CV input is actually doing. That's why I route my CVs through a combinator to see the knobs and sliders actually moving in real time.

Likely when the knob isn't going to the max when automated via CV to a Combinator, it's because the CV values aren't hitting the max.

If you see the knobs moving it's delivering exactly the same effect as straight automation would. With some devices it's possible to do other things with CV that automation doesn't do. Having the knobs moving also wastes CPU resources. Though that can likely be negated by folding the device or hiding them inside the Combinator.

[Jmax]

It is all so easy. Turn two devices around in the Rack. You will see some CV Outs and some CV Ins. Any Out can be connected to any In. Many Ins have a Level Control to control how much modulation goes through. That is it.

Start with the simple stuff like using a CV from Pulsar, Matrix or Thor to control the Filter of a Synth. Once you see how easy that is the reast if just logical applications of that same principal.

Sounds easy enough

[Iapetus 9]

CV for me is the selling point for Reason. Everything else is just workflow preset land. Pulsar is permanently attached to Sub and Mal in my rack.

[Benedict]

This article may help you feel more comfortable with CVs (and general synth programming)

http://benedictroffmarsh.com/2015/09/01 ... aking-art/

[dvdrtldg]

Visual cues can also help in understanding what's going on. A CV signal sent straight to the back of a device might sound cool, but still mystify in terms of what's actually happening because there's no visual feedback

Put your instrument/effect into a combinator, connect your CV out to one of the combinator inputs, and then send that in the mod matrix to whatever parameter you want to modulate. Same result as going straight into the back of the device, except now you can see the knob/slider move

Also, get hold of a device like Skope or Skope M4, and send your CV signals through that. It's great to be able to watch the waveforms as you mess around with them

[tumar]

CV for me is the selling point for Reason. Everything else is just workflow preset land. Pulsar is permanently attached to Sub and Mal in my rack.

Unfortunatelly new RE romplers have almost no CV (IDT), Softube too.

[ScuzzyEye]

Put your instrument/effect into a combinator, connect your CV out to one of the combinator inputs, and then send that in the mod matrix to whatever parameter you want to modulate. Same result as going straight into the back of the device, except now you can see the knob/slider move

As I was pointing out, it's not necessarily the same result. This gives the same result as automating the control. CV to the back of a device offsets a knob from it's current position. It's possible to have automation and CV acting on a knob at the same time.