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SMS MARS Operator's Manual

Hand made analogue synthesizers
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SYNTHETIC MUSIC SYSTEMS
HAND MADE ANALOGUE SYNTHESIZERS
O P E R ATORS MANUAL

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Summary of Contents for SMS MARS

  • Page 1 SYNTHETIC MUSIC SYSTEMS HAND MADE ANALOGUE SYNTHESIZERS O P E R ATORS MANUAL...
  • Page 2 CONTENTS INTRODUCTIONS INTERNAL MODULATION ROUTE INTERNAL SIGNAL ROUTE ISOLATION PATCH VCLFO SPECIFICATION SPECIFICATION COMING SOON BLANK PATCH CHARTS Please Select the page you require by clicking on the Content number...
  • Page 3 Two optional expansion units, The PLANET7 and The BOB, have been designed to interface with the MARS. The BOB (Break Out Box) will bring the rear patch sockets to the front of the rack with the addition of a three colour noise generator. The PLANET7 is designed to sit between two MARS units and will also bring the rear patch sockets to the front with the addition of a three colour noise generator, ring modulator, sample and hold, mixer, DC level shifter, lag processor, four attenuator/invertors, multi-jack and two front-to-rear bus lines.
  • Page 4 CONTENTS...

  • Page 5: Contents

    VOLTAGE CONTROLLED LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR The VCLFO is a wide range oscillator used to modulate control inputs, eg: used for vibrato, tremolo and trill. It is internally routed to the VCO and VCF (see INTERNAL SIGNAL ROUTE page 3). LFO CONTROL The rate knob controls the speed of the modulation wave form.

  • Page 6: Voltage Controlled Oscillator

    This gives linear control of the VCLFO rate, eg: from keyboard or envelope. VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR The VCO is the primary sound source within the MARS. It creates the raw waveform which is then processed and modified by the other synthesizer circuits.

  • Page 7: Vclfo

    WAVE SHAPING The wave knob controls the initial wave shape from the VCO. In the anti-clockwise position a saw tooth is generated, in the clockwise position a pulse is generated, between the two positions the wave shape alters from sawtooth through various sawtooth/squarewaves to a 2% pulse. The waveform is fully variable with no fixed point. The mod knob controls the amount of triangle modulation (from the VCLFO) or envelope modulation routed to the wave shape.

  • Page 8: Voltage Controlled Filter

    This is the output for the waveshape generated by the VCO. This gives external control of the waveshape generated by the VCO. VOLTAGE CONTROLLED FILTER The VCF is a low pass 24dB/oct ladder filter, it has the ability to attenuate/eliminate frequencies above the cut-off point.
  • Page 9 The Cut-off knob controls the point at which attenuation begins. Frequencies above the cut-off point are attenuated at 24dB/oct. Resonance is used to accentuate frequencies around the cut-off point, as the resonances increase the filter will begin to ring and will self oscillate at high resonate settings producing a sine wave (the frequency of which is controlled by the cut-off knob).

  • Page 10: Voltage Controlled Amplifier

    This is the audio output of the filter prior to modification by the VCA. VOLTAGE CONTROLLED AMPLIFIER The VCA is an amplifier which allows its gain to be altered by a control voltage. The VCA within the MARS has both logarithmic and linear controls creating unique contours.
  • Page 11 The envelope knob sets the amount of voltage controlled amplification from the envelope generator. Linear and logarithmic control is available giving unique and unusual amplification contours. VCA PATCH POINTS This input allows logarithmic modulation of the VCA by an external source. This input allows linear modulation of the VCA by an external source ( the usual control input from an envelope generator).
  • Page 12 ENVELOPE GENERATOR The ENV is a method of generating a control voltage, the waveshape is created in 4 stages: Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release which can be adjusted individually. The output of the ENV can control any voltage controlled input. ENVELOPE CONTROLS The attack knob controls the amount of time it takes the output voltage to reach the maximum level once the gate is initialised.
  • Page 13 ENV PATCH POINTS This is an input which initialises the ENV cycle (eg: the gate output from a keyboard/controller with a minimum output of 1 volt). This is the trig/retrig input. A short positive pulse will re-initialise the already gated ENV. This is the output voltage of the ENV which can be used to control any voltage controlled input.

  • Page 14: Specification

    SPECIFICATION VCLFO Fc Range 0.055 Hz (one cycle per 18 seconds) 33 Hz (33 cycles per second) Waveforms Positive and negative sawtooth, square and triangle waveforms available simutaniously 10v peak to peak +/- 5v Fc Range 1.5Hz to 16.5KHz Exponential response 1 volt per octave. Internal Fc Mod Square or triangle +/- 1 octave Waveform...
  • Page 15 Internal Supply +/- 12v DC 90 mA. AC Voltage Select The MARS has an ‘AC V. SELECT’ switch. It is imperative that this is set correctly. Failure to do so will void warranty and damage the unit beyond repair. Warranty The SMS MARS comes with a 12 month (from purchase date) back-to-base warranty, (i.e.
  • Page 16 CONTENTS...