SSL 1230 VC Envelope Generator (Dotcom/5U)

SSL 1230 VC Envelope Generator  (Dotcom/5U)

The SSL 1230 Voltage Controlled ADSR Envelope Generator is a completely modern, microprocessor based design which includes control voltages for Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release (ADSR) phases.

Separate control voltage inputs for each of the ADSR phases feature convenient reversible input attenuators so you can have, for example, positive control voltages cause negative effects, and vise-versa. The A, D & R inputs are normalized for convenient control over time parameters with fewer patch cords.

A Mode switch selects between Normal (single gate input per cycle), LFO (continuous cycling), and Gated LFO (cycles while Gate is applied).

Also included is a switch to select between the ‘traditional’ Logarithmic envelope shape, a Linear envelope typical of early-era digital synths, and an Exponential envelope that's handy for using linear VCAs is if they had an expo mode. Very snappy.

A manual Gate button is provided which contains an LED indicating the relative output levels.

Each of the ADSR and ADSR CV slide potentiometers contains an LED, and these conveniently brighten to indicate the envelope cycle stages. (It's pretty too!)

More Features

• Fast Times - The Minimoog, Sequential Pro-One and SH101 all have famously quick attack times of around 1 mSec. These snappy times are duplicated by the 1230.
• Long Times - Most analog synths can do a slow attacks or decays/releases of a handful of seconds, but the 1230's 10 second times gives a nice range of 1:10000, and allows very slowly evolving sounds to be generated.
• The 1230 achives accuracy and precision due to its internal microprocessor based architecture. It provides 8-bit internal envelope mapping and calculations, but the final LEVEL_CV multiplication provides effective 16-bit calculations, of which 10 bits are ultimately output.
• The A, D and R control voltage inputs give the full 1:10,000 range from 1 mSec to 10 Secs with very usable logarithmic voltage responses.