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Wow- cool story- thanks- some serious tech creation- would be interested in hearing the results- thanks for writing. Cliff ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Zvonar" <zvonar@zvonar.com> To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2001 2:10 PM Subject: Re: CV > At 2:37 PM -0600 12/13/01, jim palmer wrote: > >anybody really think this is off topic? > >i would like to hear about your use of cv. > > Back in the early 1980s I was touring with the singer Diamanda Galas, > performing in quad with backing tapes and live effects processing. I > had a pair of DDLs, a Harmonizer, and a digital reverb at the mixing > console, and she sang into a collection of mics that were routed > variously to the quad system and to the processors. > > Since she wasn't too thrilled to surrender all control over the > effects processing to me, we started developing ways for her to > control the levels of the effects returns. At first we did this with > just the reverb, by sending the reverb output signal down the > microphone snake to the stage, through a pedal, and back to the > mixer. This was problematic due to degradation of the signal and > pickup of noise, so we had a VCA box made. This meant that just the > supply voltage went down the snake, through the pedal, and back. No > noise problems. Unfortunately this device wasn't too road-worthy, so > when it came time to replace it we did a deluxe version. > > I approached SMS, a synthesizer company in San Francisco known for > their high-quality analog modules (As Chris Muir liked to say, "SMS - > When you don't care how much it costs"). Using their 6-channel VCA > circuit as a basis, we designed a 12-channel VCA array in a solid, > 2-rack box, along with a small remote that could be mounted on a > microphone stand and operated by Diamanda as she performed. The > remote had six knobs and six momentary buttons, each of which > controlled a separate control voltage signal. As in the prior device, > the common source voltage was sent up the mic snake, where it was > split into twelve branches that were scaled or gated and then > returned through the snake to the VCA box. This meant that 1 + 12 = > 13 control voltages were routed through the snake, and we used seven > channels of the snake for this purpose. The VCA box and remote each > had a short multi-cable with seven XLR connectors on the end, so the > connections were both robust and standard, AND we didn't have to > schlep our own proprietary snake around on tour. The VCA box also had > some nifty features such as manual override, LED displays of the > current CV levels, and very flexible patching of the control voltages > (which allowed ganging together of multiple channels and inverse > control inputs to allow crossfading). > > The system worked flawlessly most of the time. The two notable > exceptions came during what was perhaps our most over-the-top gig, in > London during the winter of '85. We'd been performing throughout > Holland and in Rome without a problem, but when we got to the venue > in Deptford the VCA box simply did not work. Naturally I had no > schematics, nor did I have much skill as a repair tech, but I popped > the lid and peered inside. I didn't see anything obviously burnt out > or flopping around loose, but I did notice a single IC, all alone on > a daughter board sitting above the main VCA cards. "Hmmm" I thought, > but closed up the unit in momentary despair. Fortunately the venue > was within a quarter mile of one of the primary electronics repair > shops used by major British bands, so we brought the box to them. > Within an hour or two they had it working. Despite the lack of > schematics, they had simply popped the lid, had seen the lonely IC, > said "Hmmm," and and replaced it. > > The second problem came during the performance itself, a > collaboration between Diamanda and the percussion ensemble Test > Department (sort of left-wing political punk predecessors to Stomp). > Acting on her usual premise that more is always better, the diva had > rented an additional four effects processors and wanted eight > microphones. I did manage to convince her that more open mics meant > more feedback, especially in the sound field produced by five > muscular skinheads pounding on oil drums with axe handles and > whalloping a huge boiler suspended by chains, all of which junkyard > instruments were also miked. We pared it down to the usual four mics > and set up the remote to act as a crossfade controller for pairs of > channels on the VCA box. This worked fine in principal, but the > microphone stand we mounted the remote on turned out to be a very > flimsy boom stand and the boom (with remote) went flopping over in > the middle of the performance. This was especially hilarious because > Test Department's record company Some Bizzare [sic] had rented a > remote truck to do a multichannel recording intended for album > release. The subsequent mix session is an epic tale unto itself, but > suffice to say the performance was unsuitable for commercial release. > -- > > ______________________________________________________________ > Richard Zvonar, PhD > (818) 788-2202 > http://www.zvonar.com > http://RZCybernetics.com > http://www.cybmotion.com/aliaszone > http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=rz >