Digitaly Controlled Amplifiers.

There are four (4) Digitally Controlled Amplifiers in the SQ80. These aplifiers do not make things louder - rather they control how soft the sounds are. Three DCAs control the output from the DCOs. The fourth, DCA4, controls the "final volume".
The first three DCA's each control the output from the same numbered DCO. DCA1 controls the output from DCO1, ... DCA3 controls the output from DCO3. DCO2 can be controlled by DCA2 most of the time. If AM=ON on the MODES page, the settings on DCA2 have no effect on DCO2.
Each of the first three DCA's have the following controls:

• Manual Output Level: Range +0 → +63. The manual output level is used to control the default level of the DCA. IF you want the DCA to be entirely controlled by the modulators set this to zero. You may want to set a default level and then have the modulators modify this range, in that case set this to a non-zero value. If you use more that one DCO/DCA combination the total output may "clip". You might want to clip, you might not want to. To prevent clipping limit the value of LEVEL to 56 when using two DCA's and 52 when using three.
• Oscillator Mute: Range "ON" or "OFF". When OUTPUT=ON you can get output from the related DCO, and the DCA controls will function. When OUTPUT=OFF the oscillator is effectively muted and the controls have no effect.
• There are two modulation sources for each of the first three DCA's Each is of the form modulator-name * modulation-depth. For modulator- name select one of the 15 modulator sources or *OFF* if you do not want to use the modulator. Then select the modulation-depth. The depth controls how much the modulator controls the VOLUME of the sound coming from the DCO. Values for the modulator depth range from -63 to +63. For example if you set the Manual Output Level to 63, you could use the VEL modulator and a DEPTH of -48 so that when you play LOUDER [harder, well actually hit the keys faster] the output from the related DCO gets SOFTER.

DCA4 is often called the Final Volume Page. The Final volume page has two purposes: it controls the final volume of the sound and it controls the placement of the sound in left to right sterio space. Three controls are active on the DCA4 page:

• Pan Level (Manual): Pan controls the manual placement of the sound from left to right. The range is from 00 (far left) to 15 (far right). Use 08 for the center position.
• Env 4 Modulation Depth: The final volume modulator source is always the output from ENV4. The manual range, which is not stated, is always zero. The Env 4 Modulation depth can be used to help balance the output between patches. I however tend to just keep it at is maximum volume of 63. If the sound from a patch is low or missing check to see that this does not a low value. A value of zero will effective mute the sound.
• [Select] Pan Modulator: This sets the which modulator, if any, will effect the pan position.
• PAN Modulator Depth: This set how much and the direction that the modultor will effect the apparent sterio position of the sound. Positive values mean that positive input values make the sounds move to the right, and negative input values move the sounds to the left. A negative value changes the direction.

For example if the Pan Level (Manual) is set to 08, the PAN Modulator is set to KYBD 2, and the Pan Modulator Depth is set to +63 then playing up the keyboard from the lowest C to the Highet C will move the sound from the far Left to the far Right. If the Pan Modulator Depth is set to -63 then the Low C will be on the right, and the High C on the left.

---

Return to the SQ-80 main page
page created by: webmaster@dulcimoo.com
Changes last made on: Friday 16 October 2004
©2004 dulcimoo.com, 1987-1989 Ensoniq (Now Creative Labs)