Disclaimer Novation has taken all possible steps to ensure that the information given here is both correct and complete. In no event can Novation accept any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage to the owner of the equipment, any third party, or any equipment which may result from use of this manual or the equipment which it describes.
Circuit Mono Station has been designed to let you create music fast: you can create riffs, patterns and longer sequences quickly and easily, with the fat and expansive sounds that only true analogue sound generation can provide.
Introduction and Getting Started chapters, you’ll next find a more detailed description of how to use the sequencer aspects of Circuit Mono Station. As with other Novation synth User Guides, we’ve then included a “Synthesis Tutorial” (see page 59) which explains the principles of sound generation and treatment that are the foundation of all synthesisers.
What’s In The Box Circuit Mono Station has been carefully packed in the factory and the packaging was designed to withstand rough handling. Should the unit appear to have been damaged in transit, do not discard any of the packing material and notify your music dealer.
Power Requirements Circuit Mono Station should be powered from AC mains via the AC adaptor supplied. It cannot be powered from a computer or other device via a USB connection. The AC adaptor supplied with the unit is a 12 V DC, 1.25 A type, and can operate on mains voltages from 100 V to 240 V, 50 or 60 Hz.
English Glossary Some of the terms used in this manual have a specific meaning as applied to Circuit Mono Station. Here is a short list: Term Button Definition When the sequencer is running, the “current” note is indicated by one pad illuminated white: this Step, the Cursor current position in the pattern, is referred to as the cursor.
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English Term Button Definition The View that is used to assign synth notes to pattern Note View Note steps. Paraphonic Mode Shift + Scales Normal mode (default): Only Osc 1 triggers the VCA. Paraphonic Mode Both Osc 1 and Osc 2 trigger the VCA. A specific synth “sound”: defined by a set of values for Patch all synth parameters.
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English Term Button Definition Shift + Power Setup Page Allows control of MIDI clock and TX / RX settings. Normal operation is suspended while the Setup Page is open. Smooth Shift + Mod Applies to the Modulation Sequence: interpolates between successive assigned values to produce a gradual transition.
English HARDWARE OVERVIEW Top View – controls Master controls: Volume – controls the overall level at the audio outputs. Tempo – lets you set the BPM (tempo) of the sequence. Hold down Shift to re-assign it as a Swing control, which will alter the timing between steps to change the ‘feel’ of a pattern. Tap –...
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English Grid controls: 32-pad playing grid – a 4 x 8 matrix of rubber pads; internally illuminated with RGB LEDs. Many Views ‘split’ the grid horizontally into two 2 x 8 matrixes, but some divide it into logical areas with different functions. Most of the remaining buttons switch the 32-pad grid into a specific .
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English Clear – allows deletion of individual Pattern Steps, Patches, Patterns, Sessions or automation data. Save and Sessions – let you save your current Session, or open a previously-saved one. You can also use Save to store Patches independently from Sessions. Shift –...
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English Synth controls: Apart from the MASTER section, the upper half of Circuit Mono Station’s control surface has the controls for the mono synth engine. OSCILLATORS section: Range – steps through the base pitch ranges of the oscillator selected by Osc 1 or Osc 2 in octaves.
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English FILTER section: Shape – this button steps through three filter characteristics: low-pass (LP), band-pass (BP) or high-pass (HP). Slope – toggles between two filter slopes: sets the slope of filter outside the passband to 12dB or 24dB per octave. Frequency –...
MIDI data. Also used for firmware updates. Note – Circuit Mono Station’s USB port does not carry either DC power or audio. – power input socket. Circuit Mono Station requires 12 V DC at 1 A. Connect the AC adaptor supplied to this coaxial socket.
(Headphones) – connect a pair of stereo headphones to this 3.5 mm TRS jack socket. The headphone amplifier can drive +10.5 dBu into 150 ohms. Kensington security slot – secure your Circuit Mono Station to a suitable structure if desired. Please see http://www.kensington.com/kensington/us/us/s/1704/kensington-security-slot.aspx...
English BASICS Powering the unit on Circuit Mono Station must be powered from the supplied AC adaptor. Connect the adaptor to the DC input socket and plug the adaptor into the AC mains. Connect the main output to a monitoring system (powered speaker or a separate amplifier and passive monitor) or, if your prefer, plug in a pair of headphones at the front of the unit.
We recommend that you spend some time listening to the factory demo Sessions, which have been designed specifically to illustrate the various features available in Circuit Mono Station for sound and Pattern creation. Select different Sessions and spend some time listening to them: we are sure you will be both impressed by the range of sonic possibilities and curious as to how Circuit Mono Station was programmed to create them.
Loading and Saving Sessions When you power Circuit Mono Station on, the Session played will be the last one used when it was powered off. The first time you power it on out of the box, it will play Session 1, which will contain one of the demos described above.
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IMPORTANT – ENABLING SAVE By now you will probably have read the Getting Starting Guide shipped with your Circuit Mono Station, so will be aware that Session Saving is disabled, but in case you haven’t, we’re repeating it here: The Save function is deliberately disabled before shipping from the factory to prevent accidental erasure of the demo Sessions.
English Starting from Scratch Once you’ve experimented with the factory demos for a while, you will probably want to create a Pattern from scratch. Select Sessions and select an empty memory slot. Now select and Osc 1. When Note View you press Play you’ll see the white pad (the play cursor) progressing across the 16 steps of the Pattern display.
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English For a conventional piano keyboard, press and hold Scales and then press Pad 32 (the bottom right one), which will turn red. This gives the keyboard Chromatic scaling, and the layout differs from that in the other scales: Synth keyboard PLAY Pattern display Chromatic scaling offers all twelve notes in the octave;...
In normal (default) operation only Oscillator 1 triggers the VCA. We call this mode Paraphonic Mode 1, and it is the mode you will use when playing Circuit Mono Station in live performance or for recording. This mode is confirmed by the Scales button...
Mod Seq) is a very similar process to programming other per-Step attributes, such as Gate length, Velocity and Glide. A really powerful feature of Circuit Mono Station though, is that you can make the Mod Seq data available to other compatible equipment (e.g. Eurorack modules) with the Aux CV output.
Pads 9 to 16, then 1 to 8. When Circuit Mono Station is powered up and an empty or new Session selected, Middle C will normally be the lowest note of the two octave keyboard (Pad 9). It is possible to alter the keyboard ‘layout’...
English Expanded Note View To obtain a keyboard with a wider range, hold down Shift and press Note ; Note now illuminates white. This View is , and removes the pattern display in the Expanded Note View two lower rows of the grid, replacing it with keys for the next two lower octaves of the selected scale.
English Scales Circuit Mono Station is extremely flexible in how it lets you configure the note pads in the playing grid to suit many musical genres in key or scale. There are two aspects to specifying how the note pads are laid out: the scale and the root note.
English Scale selection In Scales View, the bottom two rows allow selection of one of the 16 available musical scales. These are listed in the table below, with the notes that each scale includes when the lowest note in the scale is C: Scale Natural Minor ✓...
English by pressing Note again, the upper two rows in Note View now When you exit Scales View contain the notes in the selected scale, over two octaves. There is one exception to this – Chromatic scale. With this scale selected all 12 notes in the scale are available, which means that only a one-octave keyboard is possible to accommodate them.
In this case, some notes in the pattern as it was created may not exist in the new scale. In such a case, Circuit Mono Station makes an intelligent decision as to which note to play instead, which will normally be either one semitone above or below the original note.
Patches, so choose one you’re not likely to need. In any event, the factory Patches can be easily reinstated using Novation Components. Full details about saving Patches and using Novation Components can be found later in this Guide.
Steps for Oscillator 2. Step editing Step editing operations in Circuit Mono Station may either be done with the pattern running (i.e., in Play mode), or not running (i.e., in Stop mode). Circuit Mono Station gives you the means of adding or deleting individual notes in a pattern without needing to worry about accurate timing, as editing is step-based and doesn’t require...
English The pads for the steps which have notes associated with them will be illuminated bright blue. One step pad will flash white/blue: this shows where the pattern had reached when it was stopped. This is shown in the first diagram below. However, when you press Play again, the pattern will always restart from Step 1.
Guide. Clear and Duplicate Circuit Mono Station’s Clear and Duplicate (Shift + Clear) functions can be applied to Patches, Patterns and Sessions as well as the individual steps in a Pattern. Here we are concerned only with Clearing and Duplicating steps.
In Live Record, Velocity values are assigned to each step as you play the performance pads. Note that Velocity values are associated with the Pattern step, not with the note. Circuit Mono Station lets you change the Velocity value of a step to any of 16 values, after , which is selected by pressing Velocity you’ve created a Pattern.
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English , the two lower rows of the grid represent the pattern steps. In the 16-step Velocity View example shown above, Steps 4, 12 and 16 are brightly lit, indicating that these steps have notes associated with them. One pad in the Pattern step display will flash alternate white/blue: this is the step whose Velocity value is being displayed.
Gate value; if you hold a pad down for longer, the Gate value will be higher. A Gate value of 16 means that notes at that step will sound continuously for the entire pattern. Circuit Mono Station lets you change the Gate value of a step after you’ve created a pattern. This is done in...
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English The two upper rows of the grid make up a 16-segment “bargraph” meter; the number of pads illuminated white is the Gate value for the selected step. In the example shown above, the Gate value is 2: the remainder of the Gate value display is unlit. You can change the Gate value by pressing the pad in the Gate value display rows that corresponds to the Gate value;...
English Glide You can add pitch glide (portamento) to any or all of the steps in a Pattern. It can be added to the Pattern Steps for either Oscillator independently. Adding Glide to a step means that the note assigned to the step will initially not be played at its normal pitch: it will ascend or descend to its normal pitch over a period determined by the Glide Time setting.
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English You can assign a Glide Time to a Step in either Play or Stop modes. The Pads for the Steps that have notes assigned to them will be illuminated brightly; to add Glide, press and hold the Step Pad and press the Pad corresponding to the required Glide Time. When the Pattern runs, you will see that the Glide Time value is now indicated for that Step by the Glide Time Pad illuminating brightly.
English The Modulation Sequencer The Modulation Sequencer (Mod Seq) is a “virtual” third Track that can record a Modulation parameter value for each Step in a Pattern. The Track is saved to the Pattern along with the Tracks for Osc 1 and Osc 2, and in all other respects is handled simply as an additional sequencer track.
English To reset the Mod Seq value to zero at a particular Step, hold Clear and press the pad in the Pattern Step display for the Step; the Mod parameter display on the upper two rows will go dark. Remember that Mod Seq will have no effect on the sound unless it is assigned in the Modulation Matrix, and the Depth control is turned up or, in most cases, down (either way, the LED should be lit orange).
Osc 1. Pattern Settings Although the default length of Patterns in Circuit Mono Station is 16 steps, you can change the length to a something shorter. This is done in...
English Pattern direction The default Pattern direction is “forwards”, indicated by Pad 13 being brightly illuminated. The selected Pattern will always start at Step 1, proceed to the last Step defined in Pattern Length (the default being Step 16) and then repeat. Three other options are available: •...
English In exactly the same manner, you can also alter the length of a Pattern by moving the start Step to a later point. To do this, hold down Shift, and press the pad corresponding to the new start point. As described above, the “earlier” step pads will then either be unlit (no notes assigned) or dim red (note assigned).
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Pattern, whichever occurs first. With Random direction, the tempo change will occur when the number of steps in the Pattern has been played. Sync Rate selection is especially useful when slaving Circuit Mono Station to a source of external tempo clock.
Osc 1 Patterns, eight Osc 2 Patterns and eight Modulation Sequencer Patterns within one Session. The true potential of Circuit Mono Station begins to be realised when you start to create interesting variations of a Pattern, save them, and then chain them together to be played out as complete sequences of up to 256 (16 x 16) steps.
Pattern Settings View point at which the sequencer was stopped by pressing Shift and Play together. Circuit Mono Station also offers Instant Pattern Switching. While in Play mode, if you hold down Shift while selecting a Pattern, the new Pattern will begin to play immediately instead of waiting for the current Pattern to complete.
English Duplicating Patterns , the Duplicate function can be used to perform a simple copy-and-paste Patterns View function, letting you copy a Pattern from one memory to another. This is a very useful feature, as it lets you use an existing 16-step pattern as the basis for another, slightly different one: it is often easier to modify an existing Pattern to be how you want it than create a new one from scratch.
Patches View remain unaffected. If the Pattern contains notes which are already in the highest octave that Circuit Mono Station can generate, they will remain unaffected by an upward Pattern Octave shift; the same applies to the lowest notes and a downward octave shift. If this is the case, the Oct button will light red...
English Mutate Mutate is an interesting feature that shuffles the notes making up a Pattern or a Pattern Chain (if one is currently defined). The effect of Mutate is to reassign the notes in a Pattern to different Steps, while retaining the Pattern Length, Sync Rate and other Pattern parameters. The same notes are played, but because the reassignment is a shuffle action, they will be in a different order and with different timing, though the overall Pattern tempo is maintained.
Tempo and Swing are closely related and the methods of adjusting them are very similar. Tempo Circuit Mono Station will operate over a wide range of tempos. The tempo can be set by the internal tempo clock in the range 40 to 240 BPM (with a default tempo of 120 BPM), or, if you are working with other MIDI devices or a DAW, by an external MIDI clock source in the range 40 to 240 BPM.
English Tap Tempo If you want to match Circuit Mono Station’s tempo to another piece of music and you don’t know its BPM, you can use Tap Tempo. Simply tap the Tap button in time with the track you’re listening to - use ¼ notes (crotchets). You need at least three taps for the tempo to change to your manual input, and the BPM will then be calculated by averaging the last five taps.
English Swing sync In addition to setting a Swing value manually with the Tempo control, it is also possible to set a global Swing Sync Rate. This acts as a “range” control, and defines the tempo interval by which the Swing parameter will shift alternate notes. The default value is a semiquaver, i.e., one Step (though in practice, a Swing of a whole tempo interval is not achievable due to the restricted range of the Swing control).
In order for the knob movements to be replayed, you must drop out of Record Mode before the sequence loops right round, otherwise Circuit Mono Station will overwrite the automation data with that corresponding to the new knob position. Provided you do this, you’ll hear the effect of the control adjustment being replayed when the sequence next loops round, at the point in the pattern where you turned the control.
This section covers the general principles of electronic sound generation and processing in more detail, including references to Circuit Mono Station’s facilities where relevant. It is recommended that this chapter is read carefully if analogue sound synthesis is an unfamiliar subject.
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English Tone Musical sounds consist of several different, related pitches occurring simultaneously. The lowest is referred to as the ‘fundamental’ pitch and corresponds to the perceived note of the sound. Other pitches making up the sound which are related to the fundamental in simple mathematical ratios are called harmonics.
English providing changes in the character of the sound which can evolve over time. Because LFOs’ and Envelopes’ only purpose is to control (modulate) the other synthesiser sections, they are commonly known as ‘modulators’. These various synthesiser sections will now be covered in more detail. The Oscillators And Mixer The Oscillator section is really the heartbeat of the synthesiser.
English Volume Triangle Waves Triangle Wave Harmonic Volume Volume Triangle Wave Harmonic Square Wave Harmonic These contain only odd harmonics. The volume of each decreases as the square of its position Volume in the harmonic series. For example, the 5th harmonic has a volume 1/25th of the volume of the fundamental.
A Ring Modulator is a sound generator that takes signals from two oscillators and effectively “multiplies” them together. Circuit Mono Station’s Ring Modulator takes the waveforms from Oscillator 1 and Oscillator 2 as its inputs. The resulting output depends on the various...
It is also possible to slightly detune one Oscillator against the other, which creates a very warm, ‘fat’ sound. Circuit Mono Station’s Mixer allows you to create a sound consisting of the waveforms of Oscillators 1, 2 and the Sub Oscillator, a Noise source, the Ring Modulator output and an external audio input, all mixed together as required.
There are three basic filter types, all of which are available in Circuit Mono Station: low- pass, band-pass and high-pass. The type of filter most commonly used on synthesisers is low-pass.
In addition to the traditional low-pass filter type, there are also high-pass and band-pass types. Cut-off Frequency On Circuit Mono Station, the Filter type is selected with the Shape switch Volume A high-pass filter is similar to a low-pass filter, but works in the “opposite sense”, so that it is frequencies below the cut-off point which are removed.
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Cut-off Frequency English Volume With a band-pass filter, just a narrow band of frequencies centered around the cut-off point is passed. Frequencies above and below the band are removed. It is not possible to fully open this type of filter and allow all frequencies to pass. Frequency Cut-off Frequency...
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VOLUME KEY "ON" KEY "OFF" English VOLUME TIME A string section emulation only attains full volume gradually when a key is pressed. It remains at full volume while the key is held down, but once the key is released, the volume falls to zero KEY "ON"...
It can be used to create sounds that have a “fade-out” quality. Circuit Mono Station has a single Envelope Generator for controlling signal amplitude. It has a dedicated set of ADSR controls, and is always applied to the amplifier to shape the volume of each note played, as detailed above.
(Patches) and creating new ones. There is no substitute for ‘hands on‘ experience. Experiments with adjusting Circuit Mono Station’s various controls will eventually lead to a fuller understanding of how the various synth sections alter and help shape new sounds.
Patch. “Pot pickup” on Circuit Mono Station is set Off at the factory*. See page 85 for details of how to select it. Note that the setting of Pot Pickup is saved at power-down, so if you prefer to have it On, it will remain On.
English In addition to being able to transmit MIDI data, Circuit Mono Station is also equipped with standard CV + GATE outputs which can send analogue note data to other compatible equipment. The CV and GATE outputs are separate 3.5 mm jack sockets on the rear panel.
English The Oscillator section Circuit Mono Station’s Oscillator section consists of two identical primary oscillators, plus a “sub-octave” oscillator which is always frequency-locked to Oscillator 1. The primary oscillators, Osc 1 and Osc 2, share a single set of controls; the oscillator being controlled is selected by the Osc 1 and Osc 2 buttons .
Oscillator Sync Oscillator Sync is a commonly used technique of sound modification which you are likely to be familiar with if you are already a synth user. On Circuit Mono Station, Oscillator Sync is enabled by pressing Osc 2 while holding Shift down.
English The Mixer section Input level controls x6 OSC 1 Osc 1 FREQ OSC 2 LOCK Osc 2 SUB OSC OUTPUT NOISE Noise RING MOD Ring 1*2 EXT IN Audio In External Input sensitivity (Shift + Audio In) The outputs of the various sound sources can be mixed together in various proportions to produce the overall synth sound, using what is essentially a simple 6-into-1 mono mixer.
By default, the Filter Section affects all the signals fed to the Mixer Section. An unusual feature in Circuit Mono Station is that you can choose not to apply the filter to Oscillator 2 and/or the Noise signal with the Bypass button .
English Filter Shape The filter may be configured to have a low-pass (LP), band-pass (BP) or hi-pass (HP) characteristic with the Shape button . The Slope button sets the degree of rejection applied to out-of-band frequencies; the 24 dB position gives a steeper slope than the 12 dB; an out-of-band frequency will be attenuated more severely with the steeper setting.
English Resonance The Resonance control adds gain to the signal in a narrow band of frequencies around the frequency set by the Frequency control. It can accentuate the swept-filter effect considerably. Increasing the resonance parameter is very good for enhancing modulation of the cut-off frequency, creating a very edgy sound.
VOLUME SUSTAIN The Envelope section Circuit Mono Station generates an envelope each time a note is played, which can be used to ATTACK DECAY RELEASE modify the synth sound in various ways. The envelope controls are based on the familiar ADSR TIME concept.
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(as with many real instruments) can be very effective. With the slider set to the mid-position the Release Time will be approx. 360 ms. Circuit Mono Station has a maximum release time of over 10 seconds, but shorter times will probably be more useful! The relationship between the parameter value and the Release Time is not linear.
English The LFO section Circuit Mono Station has a Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) whose output may be routed to various parts of the synth using the Modulation Matrix (see page 81). With fairly slow settings of Rate, it can typically be used to modulate oscillator frequency to give a vibrato effect or amplitude for a tremolo effect.
– or “modulating” - another, in as many ways as possible. Circuit Mono Station provides considerable flexibility of control routing in the form of the Modulation Matrix Section. The available modulating sources...
English Matrix assignment The Modulation Matrix supports up to four modulating sources to be routed simultaneously to up to eight controlled destinations. This implies 32 possible assignments, each with a different level or “amount” of control. The four modulating sources available are: •...
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English Depth effectively defines the “amount” by which the controlled parameter varies when under modulation control. Think of it as the “range” of control. Depth is also “bi-polar” and thus determines the polarity of the control – positive values will increase the value of the controlled parameter and negative values will decrease it, for the same control input.
Level. The Type button selects one of three analogue distortion types, simply referred to as I, II and III: Type I uses the distortion circuitry found on the Novation Bass Station II synth • • Type II: classic fuzz distortion •...
You can choose to transmit and/or receive MIDI Note data, MIDI CC (Control Change) data and MIDI clock independently. When Circuit Mono Station is shipped from the factory, it is set to transmit AND receive all three classes of MIDI information. This flexibility allows you to integrate Circuit Mono Station with other hardware in exactly the way you need.
Note that these buttons also effectively control selection of the analogue clock input. If Clock Tx is on, Circuit Mono Station is the clock master and its internal clock will be available as MIDI Clock at the rear panel USB and MIDI OUT connectors, and also in analogue form at the CLOCK OUT connector.
Pad 24, which will be lit Yellow, either dim (off) or bright (on). IMPORTANT For any changes made to System Settings View to be retained, Circuit Mono Station must be powered off by the rear panel power switch in the normal way. Disconnecting the...
Sessions. There are some rules governing how Circuit Mono Station responds when you change from one Session to another. If you’re in Stop Mode (i.e., with the sequencer not running) and change...
Bootloader Mode In the unlikely event of a problem with your Circuit Mono Station, it may become necessary to enable Bootloader Mode. This is strictly an “engineering mode”, and all normal unit functions become inoperative. You should not use Bootloader Mode without instructions to do so from Novation’s Technical Support team.
English Section Parameter Initial Value Envelope Attack Decay Sustain Release Mod Matrix Envelope destinations LFO destinations none Mod Seq destinations none Velocity destinations none Envelope > Amp Depth All other Mod Matrix routings are ‘off’ Misc Patch level Octave tranpose Session loading problems Circuit loads the last selected Session when it is powered-up.
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