CV/gate
CV/gate (control voltage and gate) and trigger are analogue methods of controlling various parameters in electronic musical instruments.
For example a keyboard controller for a synthesizer usually works by some combination of control voltages to signal which key is pressed down, trigger to signal the exact instant at which a key is pressed down and gate to signal the length of time a key is down.[1]
Control voltage
Unlike electronic instruments such as organs, pianos, theremins, and so on, which also generate and/or modify their sounds electronically but manually control their sounds through keys, pedals, stop tabs, knobs and so on, synthesizers are designed to be controlled both manually and by voltages. For example vibrato may be obtained by using a low-frequency sine wave to control the pitch of the oscillator. Using a signal to control something in this fashion does not make a difference to the signal. A voltage is a voltage; there are control voltages only where there is equipment designed to be voltage controlled.[1]
Gate
An electronically gated device will begin to operate when a voltage at the proper input goes from zero to some positive value and will continue to operate only as long as the voltage stays at or above that value.[1]
Gate is a positive going voltage and is also known as V-Trig (voltage trigger). Almost all all modern synthesizers use V-Trig. The S-Trig (switch trigger) switch to ground signal is not much used any more.[2]
Trigger
An electronically triggered device will begin to operate when a voltage at the proper input goes from zero to some positive voltage and immediately comes back to zero.[1]
See also
References
Further reading
External links
- Gates and Triggers tutorial at Synthesizers.com
- Synth Secrets, Part 7: Envelopes, Gates & Triggers, Sound On Sound, Nov 1999 (archived)
- Modular Synth Basics #02- CV, Gate, Trigger & MIDI, YouTube
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