PolyDAC (X) Manual
Elby Designs – Laurie Biddulph
Kariong, NSW 2250, Australia
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Introduction
The PolyDAC(X) is a powerful and flexible 4-note polyphonic MIDI to CV converter that
was originally designed by Paul Maddox with assistance from Tony Allgood who also
initially marketed the product.
The PolyDAC (X) has the following outputs:-
•4 off GATE outputs, factory adjustable from 5V to 15V,
•4 off NOTE outputs, calibrated to 1V/Octave, and
•4 off VELOCITY outputs, scaled over the range 0V to 10V
•1 off PITCHBEND, -1V to +1V
•1 off MODULATION WHEEL, 0V through to 10V
•1 off AFTERTOUCH, 0V through to 10V
•1 off SUSTAIN, switches from 0V to 10V
•4 off CV outputs, 0V through to 10V.
Two control knobs are also provided:-
•TUNE, a global tuning control for all NOTE outputs
•BEND, controls how far the PITCHBEND will go.
Finally, 4 switches provide the following functionality:-
•RETRIGGER - when set to ON, if a new note comes in whilst an old one is held,
then the GATE will `dip’ briefly resulting in a new `trigger’ signal
•MODE – selects one of three modes of operation for the PolyDAC(X):-
oPOLY, this gives you MIDI to CV conversion for 4 voices, each with its own
Note CV, Velocity CV and Gate. Also generated are CVs that correspond to
PitchWheel, ModWheel, AfterTouch, Sustain and four user-definable MIDI
CCs.
oMONO 1, This mode gives you a monophonic MIDI to CV converter. The
four voices all play the same note/gate allowing for some monster stacking of
oscillators. It also has a choice of Retrigger mode and features a 16 note
deep note stack. It has CV outputs for PitchWheel, ModWheel, AfterTouch,
Sustain, as well as four user-definable MIDI CCs.
oMONO 2, This mode gives you four channels of monophonic MIDI to CV
conversion. The 4 channels all being consecutive (eg, 4, 5, 6 and 7). In this
mode the PitchWheel, ModWheel, AfterTouch, Sustain and four user
definable MIDI CCs are controlled by the MIDI channel assigned to voice 1
only. Retrigger sets retrigger on or off for all four channels. Each channel has
its own 16 note deep note stack.
•IGNORE/STEAL - A choice within POLY mode allows note steal or note ignore for
new notes once all 4 voices are in use. With note steal mode on you can also turn
Retrigger on or off, which will retrigger the gate for the new note.
•ASSIGN – this allows you to assign MIDI CC’s to the 4 CV outputs.
