De Modules Notes

Malekko Richter Megawave

Wiard 300


Richter Megawave

Wiard Megawave




MEGAWAVE CONTROLS OVERVIEW

The Megawave features 2,560 waveforms arranged as 10 ROMs of 16 Banks per ROM, with 16 Waves per Bank, providing many of the available preset Wiard Miniwave ROM waveforms. ROMs, Banks and Waves can all be selected manually or scanned with control voltage (e.g., with a sequencer, envelope, joystick or random voltage generator), and each CV input has a fine control EXT pot.

Wiard Megawave overview


INPUT/OUTPUT RANGE SELECTOR SWITCH:

The Megawave functions in two different modes (0-10v or +/-5v) set by the “Range” selector switch. Depress for +/-5v mode.

In the control voltage range, it can act as a control voltage quantizer (into 16 pre-programed music scales) or as a virtually unlimited source of smooth and stepped control voltages. In 0-10 volt mode, the input accepts 0-10 volts and Wave selection follows the sum of the manual and external wave select voltages, without regard to the input signal. The module output is between 0 and 10 volts depending on the number stored at the ROM address pointed to by the input voltage.

In the audio range the module can function as a waveform wavetable playback device or as a nonlinear distorter to add harmonics to a sine wave. It can also process any audio signal pre-amplified to the +/- 5 volt range. In +/- 5 volt mode, the input accepts +/- 5 volts and Wave selection is only updated at the zero crossings of the input waveform. If the input is a raising sawtooth and the internal waveforms are developed with that in mind, the wave will only progress at the zero crossing points and remove “clicking” from the wavetable sweep. The module output is between -5 and +5 volts depending on the number stored at the ROM address pointed to by the input voltage.

INPUT WAVE TYPE SELECTOR SWITCH:

The Input wave type selector makes it possible to pair the Megawave with oscillators which produce ascending or descending sawtooths (such as that produced by the Richter Oscillator).

CV IN FOR WAVE, BANK, ROM SELECTION:

The input voltage ranges for the external Wave, Bank and ROM select are always 0-10 volts. Fine tune your input with the EXT control knobs.

INPUT OFFSET ADJUSTMENT:

In +/-5v mode, the Input Offset is designed to adjust for optimal audio input to achieve minimal distortion based on the VCO used.

INPUT GAIN ADJUSTMENT:

In 0-10v mode, the Input Gain adjustment ensures accurate quantizer functions tracking. Also acts as an input gain.

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Notes and Info:

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Waveforms per ROM:

Fichier:Megawave waveguide rev 1 3.pdf

Scale Quantizer

0-10 volts input gives 5 octave of output. Wave control selects among 16 scales available. 

Finally sat down and figured these all out. To replicate the results, tune your osc. to C at 0v going into the megawave.

Bank 0-11 Each bank's starting note is a chromatic step upwards starting with C at bank 0 and B at bank 11. The wave specifies the scale as follows:

0 - major
1 - dorian
2 - phrygian
3 - lydian
4 - mixolydian
5 - natural minor
6 - harmonic minor
7 - melodic minor
8 - freygish
9 - acoustic
10 - major pentatonic
11 - hirajoshi (pentatonic)
12 - CDG
13 - CFG
14 - CGA
15 - CGBb

For 12-15 the "scales" are just 3 notes. I've just marked what the notes are for bank 0, they're transposed just like everything else for the other banks.

In case you're curious, some of this took some internetting on my part, as I hadn't heard a couple of these before...

Bank 12-14 These banks sort of do the inverse of the first set of banks. In this case the wave selects the starting note chromatically starting with C at wave 0, C an octave above at wave 11, and all the way up to the next E at wave 15.

The bank specifies the quantization as follows:

12 - octaves
13 - octaves and fifths
14 - CDGA (at wave 0)

Bank 15

This bank has some misc stuff in each wave, I've put the starting notes in parenthesis:

0 - chromatic (C)
1 - whole tone (C)
2 - whole tone (C#)
3 - diminished triad (C)
4 - diminished triad (C#)
5 - diminished triad (D)
6 - diminished triad (D#)
7 - arpeggiation of C minor triad
8 - 15 are musical sequences


not sure about the following :

Wave Number:
0 Chromatic 12 notes per octave (4 steps per note)
1 Diatonic Major (C-D-E-F-G-A-B) Eight per octave (6 steps per note)
2 Diatonic Harmonic Minor (C-D-D#-F-G-G#-B) Eight per octave (6 steps per note)
3 Diatonic Natural Minor (C-D-D#-F-G-G#-A#) Eight per octave (6 steps per note)
4 Diatonic Dorian Mode (C-D-D#-F-G-A-A#) Eight per octave (6 steps per note)
5 Diatonic Phygian Mode (C-C#-D#-F-G-G#-A#) Eight per octave (6 steps per note)
6 Diatonic Lydian Mode (C-D-E-F#-G-A-B) Eight per octave (6 steps per note)
7 Diatonic Aolian Mode (C-D-E-F-G-G#-A#) Eight per octave (6 steps per note)
8 Whole Tone (C-D-E-F#-G#-A#) 6 notes per octave (8 steps per note)
9 Pentatonic (C#-D#-F#-G#-A#) 5 notes per octave (10 steps per note)
10 C Major (C-E-G) 3 notes per octave (17 steps per note)
11 A minor (C-E-A)
12 G Major (D-G-B)
13 F major (C-F-A)
14 D major (D – F# – A)
15 Octaves one note per octave (46 steps per note)

Grant: Notes on the Megawave.

Back in history there was a device in the Digisound 80 called the “VCDO” or Voltage Controlled Digital Oscillator. This was a CEM3340 run into the low radio frequencies and diving a 5 bit counter (32 byte waveforms) and there were 4 banks of 8 waves.

I realized that a raising sawtooth into an analog to digital converter could work as an address generator. And the Waveform City was born. Darwin Grosse kindly wrote the Wave256 software and authored the first ever wavetable called “Darwin's House” which contains the now famous “foxbat” and “neckbrace” waveforms.

At some point we realized that offering the waveshaper from the Waveform City by itself would be a cool module and could be used as a processor and quantizer and Morse code repeater for you steampunks.

Like an angel descending from Heaven, John Blacet volunteered to put them into production and about 800 are in the field under the name Mini-wave.

Bruce Duncan has a version also.

In the meantime Dave Hylander volunteered to make an expansion board for the Mini-wave to hold 9 extra EPROMs. He also very cleverly used a 10 segment LED drive as a voltage controlled ROM select.

Then Matthew Davidson of “Volta” fame, decided to write 5 ROM wavetables for the expander.

And Paul Maddox made the Monowave wavetable available.

John Blacet was given first right of refusal, he declined and sends his best wishes for the Euro version.

What's new in the Megawave?

Well to start, it contains two thousand five hundred and sixty waveforms.

We brought the input gain and offset controls to the front panel and added overflow and underflow indicator LEDs and and Inverter for descending sawtooths like the Oscillator. It should be usable with any VCO sawtooth except a Buchla 258 (which has a unique waveform where the sawtooth has a “divet” in it).

By far the largest number of complaints was, well let's just say musicians in general don't read binary. So we put some nice big blue 0 – 15 indicators on the front. Bye-Bye Binary.

I want to personally thank Joshua Holley, Thomas Holley, John Blacet, Dave Hylander, Darwin Grosse, Matthew Davison and Paul Maddox for their hard work and kindly sharing their contributions with the world.

10 Wavetable ROMs in MEGAWAVE Total: Two Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty Waveforms. By order and author: All wavetables used with permission.

Wavetable Author

Miniwave Grant Richter Socket Rocket Grant Richter PPGVS (Author Unknown) Darwin's House Darwin Grosse Monowave Paul Maddox Bosch Gardens Matthew Davidson Morphine Matthew Davidson Vector 1 Matthew Davidson Vector 2 Matthew Davidson Scale Quantizer Matthew Davidson

Essential Contributors: John Blacet and Dave Hylander, without whom this would not exist. Final Engineering Team: Thomas Holley, Joshua Holley, Grant Richter

Have Fun!

NV:

The Miniwave addresses the particular ROM wave using an ascending saw – this means you can run any audio-rate waveform into a Miniwave and it will “track,” but with varying timbres. For example, running a pulse wave into a Miniwave won't change much – it may get a bit grittier or whatever, but generally it will be very subtle if noticeable at all. Triangles and sines will yield more significant timbre variations, but a sawtooth is the ideal waveform if you're hoping to use the Miniwave as a wavetable oscillator and not just a timbre modifier. So generally the closer the input is to the edge/ramp of a saw the closer the output will be to the programmed waveform.

The Miniwave (and Megawave by extension presumably) can also process CVs. The Miniwave had a 0-10v/+-5v switch which allowed you to select an optimal input range for processing CV or audio – I'm assuming that since they brought the Miniwave PCB's Offset/Gain controls to the panel of the Megawave the two switches up top now offer different functionality. I'm guessing the Descending/Ascending functionality Josh mentioned has to do with the way the waves are addressed, meaning you could switch the addressing between an ascending saw (the Miniwave's standard) or a descending ramp. This would also effect how it sounds as a timbre modifier, especially for complex sources like samples or drum machines.

Being able to cycle through all of the ROMs is a huge improvement over the Miniwave, as before you could only swap between two ROMs at a time and only via a physical switch. You could replicate the Megawave functionality by using the two Hylander Expander and CV PCBs plus an extra panel to house the new functions – in other words, an extra $150 or so and a good deal of DIY. Then you would need to buy the extra ROMs as well, which went for about $20-$30 each – in other words, another $200-$300 on top of all that. Some ROMs are more impressive/dramatic than others, and having them all at your fingertips like the Megawave is a big plus. Chances are people will each find their favorite few out of the bunch as they use it and gravitate towards them for particular uses.


Stuff to try

Miniwave Table Tilting

https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30241&start=all&postdays=0&postorder=asc

saw->VCA->in=

Audio rate CV of inputs FTW!

love note to miniwave

http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8541

dude:

i wish i could simulcast my modular right now. and i need to go to bed to get some sleep. i won't be able to sleep over this thing though. life the universe and everything. the answer (currently) is: 2 lfos>miniwave bank/wave cv. miniwave audio out>diode filter being modulated by mankato as lfo. period. endless hours of enjoyment.

Smooth transitions

Smoothingnessitude thread:

KS, yes, moving from wave to wave via CV is smooth for *some* banks of *some ROMs (Morphine for every bank, others not so much). And the Vector 1 and Vector 2 are aligned for wave AND bank. You can joystick around the 16×16 matrix and it's smooth in every direction.

Wave guide resources:

wave256:

http://www.sonicspot.com/wave256/wave256.html
http://www.sonicspot.com/wave256/wave256.zip

Guides:

Socket Rocket Final Manual (10 Meg pdf file) Fichier:Socrock manual.pdf
Monowave Fichier:Monowave-guide.pdf
Miniwave Fichier:Miniwave manual.pdf