My Synth Does WHAT? More Easter Eggs! Pt.2

We've covered synth easter eggs before; hidden modes and features - obscured to delight synth owners or even gently "hold back" features that weren't quite ready for prime time. Today, we're going to start our look at some less obvious, but very useful features.

Nord Modular G1 DC Output

Nord's 1997 virtual modular still surprises me to this day - a polyphonic, fully modular playground where you can try out anything. 

Want to set up a 2 operator FM synth and put a load of crazy stuff in between the operators? (noise? bit-crusher? filters?) Go ahead! Want to clock a sequencer from a master oscillator and, in playing with those insanely fast sequencer steps, create crude digital waveforms? Be my guest!

It's a walled garden though, albeit a pretty one. The G1, unlike later instruments, can only send MIDI from the front panel knobs, not notes from the sequencer, not CC's from the scores of LFO's and not any sort of CV gate...well at least we thought so!

You see, it turns out that the G1's headphone output is DC coupled! Any CV-head will know that DC coupled signals are the lifeblood of modular synthesis. Most non-modular synths (and indeed most audio devices - iPhones, MP3 players) feature at their outputs, AC coupled signals instead. AC works well when listening to audio, but isn't ideal for LFOs or slow modulation (nerd alert: AC coupling functions like a one pole highpass filter and anything below say, 20hz will have a hard time getting through!)

So, old red's unusual setup allows for two streams of CV (stereo, see!) to be fed to other modular gear. The voltage range isn't great, admittedly - a mere 1.8v, though it can be doubled to 3.4v with a little G1 magic:

I assume you'd then use Audio outputs 3&4 for any accompanying internal synth sounds. What a machine eh? 1997!

Join me next time for more mind-bending surprise features, bye!

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