This module provides a five channel visual display of control voltages changing over time.
It is rather like an oscilloscope / signal analyzer but is designed to operate at much lower frequencies – so is useful for looking at signals generated by envelope generators, LFOs, sequencers, clock generators etc.
Because it can display up to five separate signals at once it is particularly useful for understanding what’s happening inside patches with complex timing relationships.
The individual channels are color coded and have independent vertical magnification and positioning knobs labeled MAG and POSITION.
Useful preset setting for these knobs are available by pressing the ROWS and OVERLAP buttons.
The ROWS settings space the five signals out vertically and reduces the magnification so that all five signals fit on screen in a vertical arrangement for easy comparison. The OVERLAP settings set all the positions to the center and the magnification is set so that -5V to +5V signals occupy the whole vertical space of the display.
The TIMEBASE knob is rather like a zoom control and sets the amount of time that the horizontal display window shows. This can be set to anything between 5 milliseconds and just over 3 seconds. Note that on longer timebase settings there is a significant delay between display updates while data is recorded.
The SYNC IN socket can be used to automatically set the timebase. The module measures the time between trigger pulses received and uses this as the timebase period. This is very handy for looking at a particular zone of activity.
The FREEZE button freezes the display so that you can examine the image at your leisure.
Adjusting the controls introduces certain artifacts in the display. Please wait until the next display refresh for an accurate result.
Availability
The CV Watcher module is part of LSSP XL and the Adroit Toolkit. It is also available as an individual module.