Connecting TB-303 SH 101 MC-202

TB–303

Although the TB-303 has CV & Gate sockets already fitted, these are outputs and are of no use to you if you want to control your TB-303 using a CV converter. We can supply a 3 Socket upgrade to fit your TB-303 with CV Gate & filter input sockets or optionally we can supply a 5 Socket upgrade to fit CV, Gate, filter, slide, and accent input sockets. We can of course fit them for you if you send the unit to us.

Using the added CV & Gate sockets (see note #3 below ) & possibly also the Filter Slide and Accent sockets in conjunction with the CV converter you will be able to play the sounds of the TB-303 from a mother keyboard or from a sequencer directly.

The TB-303 also has a 5 pin socket for sync input. This can be connected to the Sync 24 output on the converter (see note 2 below ). This will enable you to run the TB-303 in synchronisation with your sequencer. In this mode, you will need to program the patterns you want to play, directly into the TB-303. You will need to program the TB-303 in the normal way, from its own front panel, you will not be able to use any added CV, Gate sockets for programming.

When you start your sequencer, the TB-303 will play the patterns in time with your sequence (see note #1 below ). You will always have to start the sequence from the top as the TB-303 will not recognise song position pointers. If you only want to run the TB-303 in sync you do not need to get any additional sockets fitted.

MC–202

The MC-202 does have CV and Gate input sockets already fitted, which can be used with a CV converter, however these input sockets are not satisfactory in most cases. Firstly they are designed so that you can enter information into its internal sequencer using an external keyboard (or indeed, the CV converter), the significance of this is that it quantises the notes into discrete steps, in other words if you try and do a pitchbend, you will end up with the notes going up in semitones only, not smoothly. This isn`t a fault with the CV converter, but the action of the quantising process in the MC-202. Secondly, the fact that the note is quantised, sent to the internal sequencer & then played by the sequencer circuitry, means that the response is fairly slow doing it this way. Thirdly, you are limited to the note range that the sequencer can play. For the above reasons, we recommend that you have your MC–202 fitted with additional CV, Gate, filter & portamento sockets. We can supply a kit to fit your MC–202 with proper CV Gate and, filter and portamento input sockets which do not suffer from the above limitations.

The MC-202 also has a 5 pin socket for sync input. This can be connected to the sync 24 output on the back of the CV converter (see note #2 below ). This will enable you to run the MC-202 in synchronisation with your MIDI sequencer. In this mode, you will need to program the patterns you want to play, into the MC-202. You will need to program the MC-202 in the normal way, from its own front panel, you will not be able to use any added CV, Gate sockets for programming, although as mentioned earlier you can use the existing CV and Gate input sockets for this purpose.

When you start your sequencer, the MC-202 will play the patterns in time with your sequence (see note #1 below ). You will always have to start the sequence from the top as the MC-202 will not recognise song position pointers.

If you only want to run the MC–202 in sync and/or you are happy with the performance of the existing CV and Gate input sockets, you do not need to get any additional sockets fitted.

SH–101

The SH-101 already has CV & Gate sockets which are suitable for connection to a CV converter. We can supply a 1 Socket upgrade to fit your SH-101 with a filter input socket or a 2 Socket upgrades with a filter and a modulation input. The modulation input allows an external control voltage to set the depth of modulation for the internal LFO. N.B. Although the internal sequencer of the SH-101 takes its speed from the LFO, this does not mean that connecting an external clock source to the EXT CLK IN of the SH–101 will affect the LFO.

Notes

  1. You need to make sure that the clock output is enabled on your sequencer, this is very often on a setup page or on a pull-down menu. The sync 24 output of Kenton CV converters cannot be disabled, so if your TB-303 or MC-202 doesn’t start with your sequencer, you can be sure that the CV converter isn’t receiving MIDI sync (see note 4) or you have a faulty lead (see note #2) or even maybe a faulty sync input socket on the TB-303 or MC-202
  2. The lead you need for connecting the sync 24 output of the CV converter to a TB-303 or an MC-202 may look like a MIDI lead, but it is not. MIDI leads need only 3 connections out of the possible 5 on the 5 pin DIN socket, the sync connection requires that all 5 wires are connected, which means that the majority of MIDI leads won’t work. You need to get a standard 5 pin DIN to 5 pin DIN lead which is readily available or Kenton can supply
  3. You need both CV & Gate signals to control an analogue synthesizer. The CV signal tells it what note to play (CV means control voltage). The Gate signal tells it when to play the note
  4. MIDI sync isn’t on any particular MIDI channel, it’s on a sort of global channel of its own
  5. A MIDI to CV converter, converts an incoming MIDI data stream into control voltages of various kinds for connecting to synths with suitable inputs. A CV converter does not convert the analogue signals back into MIDI, you would need a CV to MIDI converter for that.
  6. References to filter control, mean control of the filter cutoff frequency, sometimes also called filter sweep or VCF frequency control (VCF means voltage controlled filter).