Related Manuals for Motas 6
Summary of Contents for Motas 6
- Page 1 User Guide document version 1.22 (non-printed) for firmware version 0602010E March 30, 2020...
-
Page 2: Table Of Contents
Contents Foreword Proper use and maintenance. Document conventions Introduction Top and rear panel Quick-start Control Overview Parameter pages Parameter page display overview Modulation. MIDI / CV Modulations Low-Frequency Oscillator (LFO) waveforms Global Low-Frequency Oscillators (LFOx) Dedicated Low-Frequency Oscillators (LFO) Envelope Generators (EG) Parameter pages - in depth 10.1 Master Pitch... - Page 3 10.6 Low-pass filter 1 10.7 High-pass filter 10.8 Low-pass filter 2 10.9 Output stage Patch summary Load, save and copy 12.1 Load patch 12.2 Save and erase patches 12.3 Copy/Reset/Randomise Vector morphing Arpeggiator 14.1 Main arpeggiator settings 14.2 More arpeggiator settings.
- Page 4 17.6 Morph/patch change 17.7 CV/Gate inputs 17.8 CV/gate offset and scaling. 17.9 Tuning 17.10 SysEx data backup 17.11 NRPN control + SysEx 17.12 System settings 17.13 Custom settings 17.14 Calibration 17.15 Calibration values 17.16 System status 17.17 Version info Real-time patch change recording Signal path diagram (simplified) Glossary.
-
Page 5: Foreword
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that this guide is as accurate as possible Motas Electronics Limited will not be liable for any erroneous information. This manual may be updated at any time without prior notice. Please check the website for updates. -
Page 6: Proper Use And Maintenance
Please read the following instructions care- sound. Any other use is prohibited. Motas Electronics fully and keep them with the apparatus. Do not op- Limited is not liable for damages due to incorrect use. -
Page 7: Document Conventions
Document conventions You will find many screenshots taken from throughout this guide. An example is show below: The following document formatting conventions are used: • Link (blue text) is a weblink or a link to another part of this document. •... -
Page 8: Introduction
• Three independent analogue filters (VCFs) with flexible justable resonance to self-oscillation (with selectable 1, 2, routing: 3, 4, 5 and 6-pole outputs), a 2-pole high-pass filter and a second 4-pole low-pass filter with adjustable resonance to – Low-pass resonant filter (6-pole with selectable out- self-oscillation. - Page 9 Integration with external software Free software including DAW plugin software is available Dedicated analogue rotary potentiometers are used to download from https://www.motas-synth.uk/downloads. to access the basic analogue parameter pages and to al- This allows live control between and your low fast ’tweaking’ in real-time. In addition...
-
Page 10: Top And Rear Panel
[ USB type-B ] headphones out (2 channel mono) power supply in [ Stereo 6.35mm phone socket ] [ 2.1mm. 12V DC, centre positive ] main audio out (mono) power on/off push switch [ Mono 6.35mm phone socket ]... -
Page 11: Quick-Start
4. Plug in the 12V DC power supply into connection 5. Turn on using the power button The display will show the start-up image. 6. Press (in the group) and then the monitor right arrow button . The display will change... -
Page 12: Control Overview
Control Overview To access the settings (parameters) that determine the sound its own ’page’ shown on the display. These are explained you turn a rotary knob corresponding to the setting in detail in chapter 10. To access a particular parameter that you want to change. -
Page 13: Parameter
Parameter pages The sound generated by is controlled by triangle waveform the settings on 33 parameter ’pages’ – each parameter has volume level its own ’page’ shown on the display. These are listed below sawtooth waveform and explained in detail in chapter 10. To access a particu- volume level lar parameter page turn the appropriate rotary knob square waveform... -
Page 14: Parameter Page Display Overview
Page title Each page has a ’destination’ i.e. what aspect of the syn- • Low-pass filter 2 pages: thesizer it controls, and this is labelled at the top left of cut-off frequency and the display. In this case it is input routing options - the cut-off frequency of low- lpf-1... - Page 15 Current preset has 5 preset patches. The current patch for editing is shown as a number in the bottom left corner (patch 1 in this case). In addition a corresponding preset LED will be brightly lit. When the arpeggiator or pat- tern sequencer changes the played preset patch the LED for that preset will be dimly lit, whilst the patch for editing will still be brightly lit.
-
Page 16: Modulation
’drone’ sound patch. 9.1 MIDI / CV Modulations There are 6 possible MIDI / CV modulation sources: MIDI Each and every parameter page has dedicated modulation note-on value (or CV pitch), MIDI velocity (or CV velocity) control amounts from 9 sources: and 4 globally assigned MIDI or CV modulation sources. - Page 17 Each modulation source has two amount settings. The first (primary) sets the amount of the modulation signal to add or subtract to the parameter page basic offset e.g if set on the parameter page it would lpf-1 :cutoff directly increase or decrease the cut-off frequency of low- pass filter 1 as the modulation signal increases or decreases.
-
Page 18: Low-Frequency Oscillator (Lfo) Waveforms
Velocity modulation To the right of the note modulation setting is shown the Details of each modulation source is given in the subsec- velocity modulation setting indicated by the K symbol. tions below. This section controls how note velocity signals affect the page’s destination and levels or setttings of other mod- On the parameter... -
Page 19: Global Low-Frequency Oscillators (Lfox)
sine chromatic increasing chrom sine phase-shifted by major chord triad major 90 degrees minor chord triad sin-90 minor triangle < augmented chord triad triangle phase-shifted by diminished chord triad > 90 degrees diminished 7th chord tri-90 dim7 half-diminished seventh 7th chord 2dim7 square square... - Page 20 Global LFO options With an LFOx parameter active (i.e. from either The global LFOs are useful when the same ) press frequency LFO modulation signal is desired applied to more to access further options. than one destination, e.g. a tremolo modulation (volume modulation) at the same frequency as vi- brato (pitch modulation).
-
Page 21: Dedicated Low-Frequency Oscillators (Lfo)
and then use rotary encoder . The fre- quency can be set from 0.001Hz – 452Hz (period 1000s to Use a negative modulation amount to have 2.2 ms). Press simultaneously to reset an inverted modulation waveform. the frequency to 1Hz. Note that the dedicated LFOs cannot be synchronised to Try applying the stepped waves to... -
Page 22: Envelope Generators (Eg)
LFO sync/reset options release – sets the time that the envelope falls from the sustain level, from 1 ms to 34.6 seconds the LFO is not reset on note-on (from peak to zero). or gate signals. the LFO resets on the... - Page 23 There are linear response curve. 6 options. slower initial rise with faster settling to EG Choice maximum value. Choose from the dedicated local EG or one of the 4 global...
-
Page 24: Parameter Pages - In Depth
Parameter pages - in depth This chapter describes each parameter page in detail. The Although each waveform from oscillator 1 has it’s own level settings on each parameter page control the sound parameter page you can easily apply offset and modula- makes. - Page 25 pitch set to the last note on. last pitch set to the 1st or earliest can play paraphon- note on. ically – you can play up to 3-note chords pitch set to the 2nd note on where each note of the chord is generated pitch set to the 3rd note on.
-
Page 26: Oscillator 2
osc-1 :sawtooth Phase-modulation is a form of waveform distortion where the phase of the waveform is This parameter page sets the volume level of the sawtooth changed over time. It is very similar to frequency wave output of oscillator 1. modulation but does not have the problems of pitch stability that can occur with frequency mod- The sawtooth wave has a rising and then... -
Page 27: Oscillator 3
pitch in cents which is 1/100 of a semi-tone. Above 99 This waveform can be phase-modulated to distort the wave- cents the display shows the pitch in semi-tones form from a pure triangle. Oscillator options osc-2 :sawtooth View and edit the additional options by pressing when the active item is the basic offset. - Page 28 View and edit the additional options by pressing pitch set to the last note on. last when the active item is the basic offset. pitch set to the 1st or earliest note on. phase-modulatiom from oscillator 1. osc 1 pitch set to the 2nd note on phase-modulation from oscillator 2.
-
Page 29: Mixer Section
osc-3 :pulse mod. white noise has a uniform energy density with frequency. To the ear this sounds very ’hissy’ This parameter page sets the pulse-width (or duty cycle) because for each rising octave of pitch there is a of the pulse wave of oscillator 3. doubling of frequency, so most of the energy is osc-3 :pulse level... -
Page 30: Low-Pass Filter 1
This filter is a very powerful low-pass filter with up to 6- pole roll-off (-36 dB per octave). It has adjustable reso- Each of these sound different - the 4-pole output gives a... -
Page 31: High-Pass Filter
(-36 dB per octave). pole-6 the band-pass effect. At the pole-6 (-36dB roll-off per octave) setting the roll-off of the filter is at it’s most steep and so the harmonics of :output the sound above the cut-off frequency are most strongly attenuated. -
Page 32: Output Stage
1 pole 4. pole-4 low-pass filter 1 pole 5. pole-5 ’dry’: no clipping normal (dry) low-pass filter 1 pole 6. pole-6 distortion applied. the noise source. noise soft-clip enabled. soft clip the high-pass filter. -
Page 33: Patch Summary
Patch summary When not called upon for other functions, pressing changes the active patch (from 1 – 5) and shows a summary page of the patch set- tings similar to that shown in the screenshot below. The patch selected is shown in the bottom left-hand corner of the display. -
Page 34: Load, Save And Copy
Load, save and copy allows up to 500 individual patches to be The load/save page remembers which patch saved and loaded (in addition to the patches saved with se- you last accessed so when you load or save again quences) and these are arranged into 10 ’folders’ or ’banks’. you will return to the same patch location. -
Page 35: Copy/Reset/Randomise
Press to erase the selected patch (you will be asked Start from a patch that you like and use the to confirm by pressing randomise patch feature with a low depth setting (e.g 1–3) to explore new sounds similar to the start- 12.3 Copy/Reset/Randomise ing point. -
Page 36: Vector Morphing
1–4. allows blending of the parameters for the active patch from the patches in slots 1–4, in a 2-D space, using the morph-x and morph-y modulators (set these in section 17.6). At the instant mode is en-... -
Page 37: Arpeggiator
Arpeggiator The arpeggiator feature allows to automat- • plays in ascending and then descending order updn ically play notes from a chord in succession with adjustable of pitch direction, number of octaves, pattern etc. The tempo is • plays in the order of the keys as played within determined from the current active clock setting see sec- each octave, but ascending octaves (when the range... -
Page 38: Internal Arpeggiator Settings
• alternates between presets 1 and 2 sets the number of notes to be played from the notes • in sequence: 1, 2, 3 … chosen chord from 1 to 8. • in sequence: 1, 2, 3, 4 … When the is set to then the 8 chord chord... -
Page 39: Pattern Sequencer
Pattern sequencer features a ’pattern sequencer’ which allows 1 bar patterns to be created, edited and played. Each pat- tern can contain a series of notes, parameter changes and controller events. There are 96 time-steps per pattern (which correspond to the 24 PPQN MIDI ticks). The start-time, pitch, velocity, duration, micro-tune and patch of each note can be adjusted. -
Page 40: Load/Save/Copy Patterns
Press to edit the patch preset setting of the repeatedly to toggle on/off playback of the patch params note. A setting of ’-’ means the patch is not changed oth- values. erwise the note will play using the patch value (1–5) set. Note that the sequence patch change setting (if set and if in sequence mode) over-rides these pattern note set- tings. -
Page 41: Sequence Edit Mode
6 clock ticks (0 – 8) 15.5 Load/save sequences Sequences can be loaded and saved in much the same way as for patches (see section 12). There are 2 banks of se- quences each containing 8 sequences. -
Page 42: Monitor
Monitor Press to enter monitor mode. There are 4 monitor types of monitor mode: Volume level, MIDI, Oscilloscope and Spectrum Analyser. To leave monitor mode press another control button or turn a parameter control (when ’page-lock’ is not enabled). When monitor mode is enabled again the last selected mode is recalled. -
Page 43: Oscilloscope
MIDI events coming in on the MIDI in port The signals are measured on the audio out- can be automatically sent out again on the MIDI put directly before the main volume control, so out port without any processing (MIDI thru fea- waveforms can still be seen even if the volume ture). - Page 44 As in oscilloscope mode the signals are mea- Internally the spectrum analyser feature sured on the audio output directly before the main works by digital sampling of the audio signal over a volume control, so the spectrum analysis can still fixed time period.
-
Page 45: Setup
Setup The setup pages allow setting of a variety of operating set- date on note-off events. With setting re-triggering p+eg tings arranged over 16 pages. Press the but- of the EGs is enabled on note-off events. setup ton to enter the setup pages. if oscillator pitch is set to track ’highest’... -
Page 46: Midi Channels
2 mod 3 mod 4 to send MIDI clock on both the MIDI out port and USB. 17.6 Morph/patch change 17.4 MIDI channels The response to incoming MIDI data can be defined for sets the modulation source to control the... -
Page 47: Cv/Gate Inputs
value or or using velocity. verted and sent over MIDI and/or USB MIDI. Since there are 5 quick-acesss patches the value from these allows control over the cv smoothing sources is mapped to 1 of the 5 presets. With each smoothing (averaging) of the incoming analogue control note up the keyboard cyles through the patches whilst the voltages. -
Page 48: Sysex Data Backup
In addition, a further 32 user-specified tunings can be re- 386, 471, 702, 841 ceived via the standard MIDI 3-byte tuning dump command cluster 6 which can be sent using 3rd party tools such as the Scala 182, 316, 498, 814, 884 software. -
Page 49: Nrpn Control + Sysex
17.12 System settings with external softare over USB/MIDI. Some- times too small a setting here will cause loss of packets by sets the display contrast the receiving device so increase as required (a value of 10 display contrast from 0 to 127. is normally ok). -
Page 50: Calibration Values
One of the most important calibrations is the pitch of the oscillators. Some vintage analogue synths have a poor rep- utation for pitch stability but with , thanks to advanced design and digital control, the stability is very good. 17.16 System status Press to calibrate all parts of the analogue circuitry, to calibrate the pitch of the oscillators and analogue noise... -
Page 51: Real-Time Patch Change Recording
• NRPN MSB #99 (0x63 in hex) EG decay EG sustain • NRPN LSB #98 (0x62) EG release • data entry MSB #6 (0x06) LFOx mod depth LFO frequency • data entry LSB #38 (0x26) LFO mod depth M1 level The same format of messages, if received via USB or MIDI, M1 alternate dest. - Page 52 Global data NRPN LSB data LFOx 1 frequency LFOx 2 frequency LFOx 3 frequency LFOx 4 frequency EGx 1 delay EGx 2 delay EGx 3 delay EGx 4 delay EGx 1 attack EGx 2 attack EGx 3 attack EGx 4 attack EGx 1 decay EGx 2 decay EGx 3 decay...
-
Page 53: I Signal Path Diagram (Simplified)
Signal path diagram (simplified) page 49 User Guide v1.22... -
Page 54: Glossary
Glossary Here are some terms used in sound synthesis relevant to Delay specifies the delay after the envelope is triggered until the envelope starts the Attack portion. Attack spec- ifies the time taken for the envelope signal to rise to it’s ADSR –... - Page 55 For instance, an employed Phase Modulation… LFO with a triangle waveform, set to about 6 Hz and mod- ulating the pitch of a VCO results in vibrato. Changing the Pitch – The subjective perception of sound. A bass guitar LFO waveform to a square wave will result in a trill.
- Page 56 Synthesis – The generation of sound by electronic means, where programmer/performer has the ability to change the pitch, volume, timbre and articulation. Timbre – Refers to the quality of a sound by its overtones. An unprocessed sawtooth wave has a bright timbre, while a triangle wave has a mellow timbre.
-
Page 57: Midi Implementation Chart
Key-based Instrument Ctrl (Yes/No) Master Fine/Coarse Tune (Yes/No) Other Universal System Exclusive Manufacturer or Non-Commercial System Exclusive Motas Electronics Ltd ID# : 00H 21H 2FH NRPNs (Yes/No) RPN 00 (Pitch Bend Sensitivity) (Yes/No) RPN 01 (Channel Fine Tune) (Yes/No) RPN 02 (Channel Coarse Tune) (Yes/No) - Page 58 MIDI Implementation Chart v. 2.0 (Page 2 of 3) Manufacturer: Motas Electronics Limited. Model: Motas 6. Date: March 2020. Control # Function Transmitted (Y/N) Recognised (Y/N) Remarks MIDI Bank Select (MSB) 17.5 Modulation Wheel (MSB) 17.5 Breath Controller (MSB) 17.5 17.5...
- Page 59 Sound Controller 3 (default: Release Time) 17.5 Sound Controller 4 (default: Attack Time) 17.5 Sound Controller 5 (default: Brightness) 17.5 Sound Controller 6 (GM2 default: Decay Time) 17.5 Sound Controller 7 (GM2 default: Vibrato Rate) 17.5 Sound Controller 8 (GM2 default: Vibrato Depth) 17.5 Sound Controller 9 (GM2 default: Vibrato Delay) 17.5...
-
Page 60: Midi Sysex Messages
Motas Electronics identifier B = index# 0x2F Motas Electronics identifier Pattern 0x37 A = 0x73 0x06 product id (6 = motas-6) B = current pattern# MIDI channel byte ’X’ Pattern bank 0x38 A = bank# 0x00 reserved B = index# SysEx command byte ’CB’... -
Page 61: Specifications
Audio input ..........mono input on 6.35 mm ( ) phone socket CV/Gate inputs . -
Page 62: Eu Declaration Of Conformity
Standards to Which Conformity Is Declared: (for DIRECTIVE 2014/30/EU ) EN 55032:2012 and EN 55103-2:2009 Signed for and on behalf of Motas Electronics Limited: Place of issue: Cambridge, United Kingdom. Date of issue:...
Need help?
Do you have a question about the 6 and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers