New Eurorack Maker - L.C.F. Industries

L.C.F. Industries Arp-8 Published on Apr 16, 2014 Ethermask·2 videos

via L.C.F. Indusries - Three modules: ARP-8 arpeggiator, MIDI to CV, & 16-SEQ sequencer.

This is the first L.C.F Industries post.

"Something was missing from my growing modular. I couldn't figure out what it was. Then after playing with a Polysix for a while it hit me; An arpeggiator!

So using the MIDI-CV Converter I made, I started playing around with the code a bit. And then a couple of hours later I came up with a pretty decent arpeggiator. It didn't have much control (only the two switches) but it worked! So the next step was to expand on it but still keep it as small as possible.
Octave knob: Selects between a 1-4 octave range
Rate knob: If synced with a MIDI clock, it will divide the tempo accordingly;
1-1
1-2
1-4
1-8
1-8T
1-16
1-16T
1-32
V/Octave Out
Hz/Volt Out
Gate Out
Clk In: Bypasses MIDI-clock messages and uses an external clock source.
Directional switch: Up, Down, Up/Down
Sync Switch: If no external clock source is available (MIDI or analog), flipping to the FREE position will prompt it to use it's own internal clock. Use the Rate knob to increase the speed.
Arp / Mono Switch: Turns the arpeggiator into a simple single-channel MIDI-CV converter."

MIDI to CV Converter

"I've seen a couple of DIY MIDI-to-CV converters but I wanted to make a more simplified one for my rack. At first it seemed like a daunting task but it was really quite easy.

MIDI channels 1 and 2: CV, Gate, Mod Wheel, and Aftertouch
Mono/Poly switch: Changes the second channel to a second output for channel 1.
Retrig/Legato switch
Clock Out: Right now it runs at 16th-note divisions from the MIDI clock and only outputs when it receives a Song Start message from the DAW. I might change this later but it works for me now.
Reset Output: Sends a pulse everytime a Song Position Pointer message is received. Works great with the sequencer I made.
Pitchbend: CV outs; -/+2 semitones"

16-Step Sequencer

"Features
Three position switch for each step: On/Off/Tie
Range Switch: 2-5 octave
Step knob: Dial in steps between 2-16
*Various step-directions: Fwd / Bck / Ping-Pong1 / Ping-Pong2 / Random
Internal clock with pulse width knob
Hold and Reset buttons
Portamento
Quantizer On/Off switch with scale selector
Major
Minor
Pentatonic
Whole Step
Chromatic
CV Out, Reset, Gate out, Clock In, Clock Out, Transpose In, Hold

Now, I'm trying something new that I haven't seen in other sequencers. It started out as a visual aesthetic that I wanted to add to the sequence direction but it turns out to be really useful when experimenting with a sequence. Plus it looks really cool!

When the Direction selector is set to one of the first four directions the sequence is linear, meaning it will advance +/-1step (1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Or 16,15,14,13, etc). The next four directions from the Direction selector will be the same as the first four, as far as a direction goes, but it is no longer linear. It will jump steps but still follow the same path (1, 9, 2, 10, 3, 11, etc. Or 16, 8, 15, 7, 14, 6, etc).

The Direction selector has the following choices
Directions 1-4: Linear
Fwd
Bck
Ping-Pong 1
Ping-Pong 2

Directions 5-8: Jump back and forth 9-steps
(1, 9, 2, 10, 3, 11, 4, 12, 5, 13, 6, 14, 7, 15, 8, 16)
Fwd
Bck
Ping-Pong 1
Ping-Pong 2

Directions 9-12: Jump and reverse
(1, 16, 2, 15, 3, 14, 4, 13, 5, 12, 6, 11, 7, 10, 8, 9)
Fwd
Bck
Ping-Pong 1
Ping-Pong2

Direction 13:
Random"