JOURNAL OF THE AUDIO ENGINEERING SOCIETY JULY 1965, VOLUME 13, NUMBER 3

Voltage-ControlledElectronicMusic Modules*
ROBERT A. MOOG

R. A. Moog Co., Trumansburg, New York

The application of voltage-con.trolled oscillators, amplifiers, and filters in he composition of

electronic music is discussed, ,and circuits for each of these instruments are described. The voltage-
controlled oscillator incorporates ,an exponential control voltage/frequency relationship and supplies
sawtooth, triangular, and pulse waveforms simultaneously. The vo}tage-eontrolled amplifier is
completely balanced and direct-coupled, and has .a gain range in excess .of 80 db. The voltage-
controlled bandpass filter employs a voltage<on.trolled amplifier and passive components in a
closed loop to form an equivalent parallel tuned circuit with variable resonant frequency.

INTRODUCTION portion of the capacitor charge, then switches off. The

voltage-controlled modular instruments described in
THEthis paper are the first results of a program directed processrepeats,givingrise
the capacitor. The frequencyto a
of sawtoothwaveform across
the oscillation is directly
toward the development of a system for the composition proportional to the total charging current. Thus, adding
of electronic music. The system will consist of voltage- a given current increases the frequency a fixed amount,
controlled signal generating and processing instruments,

duce control voltages proportional to the position, velocity,

plus a variety of controlling
_,
E,_ LINEAR [._ EXPON
CONVER
ENT,_
TERJI,.'A.;'' IOSC' LATo"I,.KX.
RELAXAT,ON [ .
and force of the musician's transducers
hands. Thedesigned to pro-
system will be , AD_ER 'lo='[g1
' _---
useful not only in composing electronic music directly on A, B,A,o K ,,E c,,eu,, eo,*T_,,s.
recording tape, but in testing configurations for new elec- r ,s ,,_ ,,,Q,_,c,.
tronic musical instruments for live ("real time") perform- FzG.1. Block diagram of a voltage-controlled oscillator.
ance. An essential feature of the system is the linking of
the signal generating and processing functions to the con- regardless of the magnitude of the "standing current" to
trolling functions through the control voltages. The problem which the given current is added. Stated more precisely,
of producing defined dynamic changes in the frequency, the frequency is a linear function of the charging current.
intensity, or harmonic structure of a signal thus reduces In technical measurement and control operations, a linear
to the simnler nrohlem
. nf nrndncin,
. o contrnl
.......... vnltage_ tn ........um, ___,....
cu. _ ..............
vmtage-,zcquency re_auonsmp _s _requenuy useful.
change the parameters of the generating and processing In the production of music, however, constant frequency
instruments, differencesare of little value. The fundamental subjective
quantity of frequency change is the interval, which is a
RELATION BETWEEN THE CONTROL VOLTAGE ratio of two frequencies. In order to be musically valuable,
AND THE DEPENDENTPARAMETER

The usefulness
hanced of a voltage-controlled
if the voltage instrument
controls the instrument is en-
parameter _ R
in a simple, predictable way. As an illustration, consider -_- ---o
a relaxation oscillator which consists of a charging capaci- --o I.mEAR ] IEXPONENTIAI.
I RELAXATION
tor, a discharging element such as a neon bulb or a uni- :R [---1
junction transistor, and a source of constant current. The __ --o 'E
[
constant current charges the capacitor until the capacitor - '-o ti.
voltage reaches the breakdown voltage of the discharging --o
:R _ _-S CPS
element. The discharging element abruptly neutralizes a --
* Presented October 14, 1964 at the Sixteenth Annual Fall Conven- Fzo. 2. Use of a VCO to produce an equally tempered scale with
tion of the Audio Engineering Society, New York. vibrato.

200
 VOLTAGE-CONTROLLEDELECTRONIC MUSIC MODULES 201

I vco_t I of vibrato (i.e., the ratio of frequency change to center

AOI_R I.CONVERTER[_-Iosctt.LATORI---] ceived pitch) is varied. The production of an equally

tempered scale with vibrato is shown schematically in Fig.
vcoq*2 2. The third control input may be used to transpose a
I
lINEAR [ [EXPONENTIALI [RELAXATION
]' frequency pattern generated by a sequence of control volt-
__ LI"E^R L-]_PO"E"T_nELaxal'lON /| frequency) remains constant as the center frequency (per-
ADDER _CONVERTER F--]OSGILLATOR[_ age changes applied to one of the other control inputs, or

'a___ FREQUENCYto Vibrato

,_
FiG. 3. Use of two VCO's to produce clangorous
a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) should generate a
fixed frequency ratio for a given control voltage change,
In mathematical language, the frequency should be an
exponential function of the control voltage.
To appreciate the great utility of a VCO in which the
frequency is exponentially related to the control voltage,
consider the circuit arrangement shown in Fig. 1. In addi-
tion to the relaxation oscillator itself, the VCO consists of
a linear adder which produces a voltage proportional to
the sum of all the input voltages, and an exponential con-
verter that produces a current proportional to the expo-
nential of its input voltages. The oscillator frequency is
then proportional to the exponential of the sum of the
input (control) voltages,
By using one control voltage input, the above oscillator
can be used as a steady monophonic pitch generator. An
equally tempered scale is produced by scanning the voltages
of a series of equally spaced taps on a potentiometer divider.
To produce vibrato (this term will be used throughout in-
stead of the more accurate term "frequency vibrato") or
other periodic variations in frequency, an alternating con-
trol voltage is applied to another control input. The width
MODULATED is a slow, shallow changes.
createtransientfrequency frequency modulation of a
SIGNAL periodic signal. When fast, deep frequency modulation is
sounds, employed, however, the modulated signal has an entirely
different character. The frequencies of the sidebands cre-
ated by the modulation generally do not bear simple ratios
to one another. Although these clangorous sounds do not
have a well-defined pitch, a strong sense of pitch movement
is achieved if the frequencies of the sidebands are shifted
so that the ratios between them remain fixed. This is readily
accomplished with the arrangement shown in Fig. 3. VCO
1 and VCO 2 are controlled from the same control voltage.
In addition, VCO 2 is modulated by the output from VCO
1. The ratio between the frequency of VCO 1 and the
average frequency of VCO 2 will remain constant as the
control voltage is shifted. Thus, the ratios between the
sidebands of the output of VCO 2 will also remain con-
stant. This arrangement has proven to be extremely valu-
able in "playing" patterns of clangorous sounds by varying
one control voltage.
CIRCUITRY OF THE VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR
The adder and exponential generator portion of the VCO
circuitry is shown in Fig. 4. The adder section is a con-
ventional operational amplifier with resistive feedback. The
ratio R2/R1 determines the constant of proportionality

= ADDER EXPONENTIAL GENERATOR i-

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PNP TRANSISTORS, TI" 803 I o --6

NPN TRANSISTORS, T.T. 416 OR 2N2926
Fro. 4. Adder and exponen,tial generator portion of the VCO circuitry.
202 ROBERTA. MOOG

CONTROL
+12 VOLTS _ CURRENT INPUT (IOxetA-IMA)

2N 292 :68K 47K

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Fro. 5. Relaxation oscillator and waveshaping portion of the VCO circuitry.

relating the output voltage Eo to the sum of the input
voltages. The exponential generator section takes advan-
tage of the accurate exponential volt-ampere characteristics
of certain commonly-available junction diodes. Two matched
diode strings are used. The output voltage Eo from the
adder section is placed in series with the first diode string,
while a fixed current Io is passed through the second string,
A differential amplifier calls for the appropriate current ID
the oscillator control current within the above limits, and
a three-decade range can be achieved with some loss in
frequency/control-current iinearity. The total range of the
oscillator is extended by switching in a variety of charging
capacitors. The circuit in Fig. 5 is capable of a maximum
frequency of 8 kc with a control current input of 1 ma
and 0.015 _ charging capacitor. The four highest ranges

voltage difference between the positive ends of the two

diode strings. For values of ID used in this circuit (10 #a
to 1 ma), the relation between the sum of the input volt-
ages and ID is accurately approximated by the expression
to flow throughthe first diode string 3 to minimizethe _ _ _

u.uu.c.,o.
I --Io
where the constant _ is dependent on the properties of
ONC,.,20/.
SE {A)
._, S^VU.^,,O.
_ REGION
the diodes. The value of R2 is adjusted so that one volt
increase in _E_v doubles Il).
The current ID is supplied by one of a matched pair of
transistors. The other transistor supplies the same amount _ /J_ A _
of current to the current input of the relaxation oscillator
portion of the module. The relaxation oscillator and subse-
quent waveshaping circuitry are shown in Fig. 5. The
emitter voltages at which the unijunction fires and switches
off are both primarily dependent on the supply voltage, {BI
and only to a very small extent upon temperature or aver- Fro. 6. Triangular waveform, before and after fil.tering.
age emitter current. Thus, if the supply voltage is regu-
lated, the frequency of oscillation of the unijunction will are spaced an octave apart. The 2.4 _f capacitor gives
be proportional to the control current and inversely pro- a frequency range of 0.2 to 50 cps, and is useful in timing
portional to the size of the charging capacitor. The control and modulation applications.
current must be much larger than the minimum emitter The unijunction emitter is isolated by an emitter fol-
current required to fire the unijunction (typically 1 /_a) lower, which drives the first wave shaper. The wave shaper
but less than the current at which the emitter will conduct consists of a transistor with large resistances in series with
.continuously (typically 5 ma). Thus, a two-decade fre- both its emitter and collector. The effective value of each
quency range can be easily covered merely by varying of these resistances is the same, and the bias conditions
 VOLTAGE-CONTROLLED ELECTRONIC MUSIC MODULES 203

are set so that the transistor saturates exactly at the mid-
point of the applied sawtooth. Before saturation the col-
lector voltage falls as the emitter voltage rises. After satu-
ration the collector and emitter voltages rise together. Thus,
the emitter waveform is still a sawtooth, but the collector
waveform is triangular, with a narrow spike corresponding
to the discharge portion of the sawtooth. Figure 6A shows
the waveform at the collector, and Fig. 6B shows the
waveform after filtering by capacitors Ch and C2. A small
bump in an otherwise perfect triangular wave remains,
This bump, while audible, does not detract from the char-
acteristic mellow, flute-like timbre of the triangular wave.
Both the sawtooth wave at the emitter and the triangular
wave at the collector of the first wave shaper are applied
to emitter followers for further isolation. The sawtooth
output is also applied to a clipping transistor, which
switches abruptly from its non-conducting to its saturated
state. A rectangular pulse wave appears at the collector
of this transistor, the pulse width being determined by the
portion of the exciting sawtooth at which the clipping
transistor switches. The PULSE WIDTH control in Fig. 5
varies the pulse width from 5% to 50% of the period,
The entire oscillator module is direct-coupled, thus per-
mitting arbitrarily slow oscillations. Furthermore, each
output is biased so that the extreme negative portion of
the wave/cfm is at ground potential. This allows any of
the output waveforms to be used directly as control voltages
for other modules. By modifying the bias conditions
slightly, any of the waveforms can be centered about 0 v.
For a charging capacitor of 0.12 /_f, the exponential
control-voltage/frequency relationship of the complete
voltage-controlled oscillator is accurate to ___1% over a
five-octave (32:1) frequency range. Errors at the high-
frequency end of the range are due primarily to the non-
zero unijunction time, and are most significant when the
charging capacitor is small. Errors at the low-frequency
end of the range can be attributed to the unijunction
emitter leakage current. Both of these effects can be com-
pensated by simple means. With careful compensation, it
is possible to obtain short-term accuracy of ___0.1% over
a 5-octave frequency range.
THE VOLTAGE-CONTROLLEDAMPLIFIER
Specialized voltage-controlled amplifiers are frequently
used in commercially important electronic musical instru-
ments. The tremolo of electric guitars and the percussion
effects of many electronic organs are generated by voltage-
controlled amplifiers in which the control voltage itself
does not appear at the amplifier output. The voltage-
controlled amplifier (VCA) to be described in this section
is completely balanced and direct-coupled, thus allowing
both signal and control voltages to range in frequency
from dc to above the audio range. Furthermore, two
control-voltage/frequency relationships are provided: linear
and exponential. The linear mode is useful in generating
exponentially decaying amplitude envelopes that accurately
follow the voltage of a charged capacitor which is dis-
charging through a resistor. Also, two VCA's operated in

+,2 -- ^GOERI .*,.ANOEO AMPLIFIER _' 4-12

k IK
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INPUTS I
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PNP TRANSISTORS_TI S03
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FIc. 7. 'Circuitry of ,the voltage-controlled amplifier.
204 ROBERTA. MOOG

the linear mode can be hooked up to form a ring-bridge effective common mode rejection. A properly adjusted
modulator (four-quadrant multiplier), and thus used to amplifier will typically meet the specifications listed in
produce the sum and difference frequencies from two signals. Table I.
A VCA operated in the exponential mode is also useful
in electronic music composition. The amplitude of an
audible signal is roughly proportional to the exponential VOLTAGE-CONTROLLED BANDPASS FILTER
of the subjective sensation of loudness. Thus, a given The voltage-controlled amplifier has the following impor-
change iff control voltage will seem to change the loudness tant properties: 1. The input and output impedances remain
of the signal the same amount over a wide range of average constant when the control voltage is varied, and 2. Control
loudness. The generating of "amplitude envelope" control voltage variations produce no corresponding signal at either
voltages is extremely easy. For instance, exponential en- the input or the output. These properties allow the VCA to
velope decays are generated by falling ramp voltages, and be treated as a four-terminal "black box" with constant in-
"reverse exponential" envelopes, usually produced by re- put and output impedances and variable gain. Circuit ele-
versing a tape-recorded segment of an exponentially decay- ments of this type are useful in setting up voltage-controlled
ing sound, are generated by rising ramp voltages.
The circuitryof a VCAis shownin Fig. 7. The adder Is
portion is essentially the same as that of the VCO. When
the mode switch is on EXP., the output of the adder is
lei[
_
HIGH lJ
INPUT i E
! I HIGH
/OUTPUT
Jlc
14- N
applied
transistor.across the baSe-emitter
Because diode of
of the exponential a current-supply
volt-ampere charac- I--"IIMPEDANJ'--I
J I BUF_R i I VCO J J_PEI_NGEI
[BUFFER j O
Ds
teristic of this diode, the collector current is very nearly /
proportional to the exponential of the sum of the control Io

of the adder
voltages. Whenis appliedto the base-emitter
the mode switch is on LIN., diodeof the
the output G'-'_a TC I RF ._C 2
current supply transistor through a large resistor, giving -'=-
a collector current nearly directly proportional to the adder _;

The voltage.
output collector current of the current-supply transistor I _ls
governs the current flowing through a matched pair of _ o Es

amplifier transistors.
of transistors The base-to-base
is modulated from a lowvoltage
output ofimpedance
this pair _ "_RFGI....g j 02
input buffer stage. Becausethe input diodes of the ampli- ] . T
tier transistors also bear exponential volt-ampere charac-
teristics, a given amount of base-to-base voltage difference
will result in a fixed percentage output current difference. _I_
/
The absolute output current differencewill then be pro-
portional to the average current passing through the am- (b)
plifier transistors. Because of the balanced configuration, F_G.s. The voltage-controlled bandpass filter, a. Block diagram;
the average current standing in the two amplifier transistors b. Equivalent circuit.
will be rejected, but the output current difference will ap-
pear at the signal outputs of the VCO. The balanced output filters. For electronic music production, the most important
h._r cfacf_ n_r{:nrrno fta_ n_r_nrxr t-nrnrnnn _{crnnl r_{_r, c]_xr{_'_ n{ fh{e fxrn_ {a fha, wrd+act__pr, n_',-nll_rt hanrlnaee _1t'_,'

tion, and provides 600-ohrn output impedances capable of
driving standard professional audio equipment,
Careful matching of the transistor pairs and accurate
setting of the balancing adjustments are necessary for
TABLE I.
shown schematically in Fig. 8a. By employing additional
buffer amplifiers to increase the input and output impedances
of the VCA, the loading effects of the amplifier can be
neglected and the VCA can be specified by a variable
Amplifier specifications.

MAXIMUMVOLTAGEGAIN: 6 db
RANGE OF VOLTAGE GAIN: Greater _than80 db
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO AT MAXIMUM GAIN: Greater than 75 db
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO AT 60 db BELOW MAXIMUM GAIN: Grea,ter than 25 db
MAXIMUMVOLTAGEINPUT: 1 volt
TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION AT UNITY GAIN AND 1.0 v INPUT: 1.2%
FREQUENCY RANGE: dc to 160 kc
COMMON MODE REJECTION: Voltage variation at signal output due to
control voltage changes will not exceed 10 mv
 VOLTAGE-CONTROLLEDELECTRONICMUSIC MODULES
transconductance G. If it is further stipulated that the
current through feedback resistor Rf is small compared to
the output current Io, then the impedance between node
N and ground is given by the equivalent circuit shown in
Fig. 8b. By applying a signal current I_ from a high im-
pedance source and taking the voltage developed at N for
the output, a complete voltage-controlled bandpass filter
is obtained. In this filter, the resonance frequency is pro-
portional to the square root of the transconduetance, and
the effective circuit Q is proportional to the resonant fre-
quency. Thus, for an input signal with uniform energy
per cycle (e.g., white noise), the energy output of the
bandpass filter will be independent of the center frequency.
Effective Q's as high as 25 have been achieved with some
designs.
CONTROL TRANSDUCERS
Several devices for converting the movement of the musi-
cian's hands to control voltage variations have been con-
structed and tested. Among the more successful of these
is the standard organ keyboard. Its utility arises from the
fact that most musicians are already adept at its use, and
that it permits the accurate selection of a large number
of discrete control voltages. The keys actuate two-pole
gold wire switches. One set of contacts selects equally
spaced taps on a resistive voltage divider. The voltage
is generally used to control the frequency of a VCO or to
control the resonance frequency of a voltage-controlled
filter. The other set of contacts are all connected in parallel,
so that the circuit is closed when any of the keys is de-
Fio. 9. A simple system .of voltage-con,trolled modules with a key-
boardcontroller,
pressed. This set of contacts triggers a negative-going ramp
generator, the output of which is generally used to control
the gain of a VCA.
Another useful control transducer consists of a two-foot-
long gold-plated taut band which is strung over a high-
xesistance ribbon. The resistance ribbon is connected to a
205
current source, thus forming a voltage gradient along its
length. The taut band is pressed down to touch the re-
sistance ribbon. The voltage at the point where it touches
the ribbon is applied to the control input of any of the
voltage-controlled modules.
Ftc. 10. The studio of Eric Siday, radio and televisioncomposer.
So far, the control transducers have been designed to
simulate conventional musical instruments. Thus, keyboards
and linear potentiometers control pitch, force-sensitive ca-
pacitors determine loudness, position-sensing plates vary
filter parameters,and velocitysensorsproducepercussive
amplitude envelopes. Musicians are thoroughly schooled
in the use of conventional instruments and it is natural
for them to use control transducers with analogous modes
of operation. From the electronic musical instrument de-
signer's point of view, this approach will bear little fruit,
and it would be more worthwhile to investigate, in an ob-
jective and systematic way, what transducer configurations
will most effectively translate the musician's intent into
sound, assuming that a musician "practices" the use of
the transducers as earnestly as musicians are now required
to practice on conventional instruments.
CONCLUSION
A group of basic audio signal generating, amplifying,
and filtering modules has been described. The variable of
each module is proportional to a control voltage over a
range wide enough to insure utility in the production of
electronic music. Specialized modules, such as noise gen-
erators and reverberation units, can obviously be used with
the basic modules. Several control transducers, patterned
after the control mechanisms of conventional instruments,
have been used for the sake of expediency.
The great versatilityof the voltage-controlledinstruments
enables complete composition systems to be assembled from
a few small instruments. Figure 9 shows a simple system
consisting of two VCO's, two VCA's, one voltage-controlled
206 ROBERT
A. MOOG

filter, and a keyboard controller. Such a system is similar ACKNOWLEDGMENT

in size, cost, and complexity to a typical conventional We are particularly indebted to Herbert Deutsch for de-
musical instrument, and is a practical acquisition for the fining the requirements of electronic music composers> for
independent composer. Figure i0 is a photograph of a using experimental prototypes, and for offering many valu-
private electronic music studio which is used for the pro- able suggestions and comments. The benefit which we
duction of sound and music for radio and television. The derived from Mr. Deutsch's intuitive grasp of the applica-
system of voltage-controlled instruments in the foreground tion of electronic instruments to aesthetically valid com-
is the main signal-generating facility in this studio. This position cannot be overstated.
unusually complete system takes less space than a small REFERENCES
organ. 1. J. w. Beauchamp,"The Harmonic Tone Generator, ar Voltage-
Controlled Device for Additive Synthesis of Audio Harmonic Spec-
The simple and predictable relation between the applied tra," AES Preprint No. 323 (Oct., 1964).
control voltage and the variable of each of the voltage- 2. H. Bode, Electronics,33 (Dec. 1, 1961).
controlled modules suggests their application in fields other 3. N. H. Crowhurst, Electronic Musical Instrument Handbook
than electronic music production. In particular, the setting (H.
4. W.
H. Sams, Proc. IRE,1962).
Indianapolis,
Le Caine, 457 (April, 1956).
up of prototype experimental electronic musical instruments, 5. F. K. Prieberg, Musica Ex Machina (Ullstein, Frankfurt, Get-
and the remote-control processing of conventional audio many, 1960).
6. T. P. Sylvan, "Notes on the Application of the Silicon Unijunc-
signals are ideal applications for the voltage-controlled tion Transistor," General Electric Co. Application Note 90.10 (May,
modules. 1961).

THE AUTHOR

Robert A. Moog w,as born in New York City in 1934. He

received a B.S. degree in physics from Queens College of the
City of New York and a B.S. in electrical engineering from
Columbia University. He is currently completing the require-
ments for a Ph.D. in engineering physics at Cornell University.
Since 1954 Mr. Moog has pursued his interests in the design
of electronic musical instruments, and is currently manufactur-
ing a complete line of electronic music composition instruments
as well as consulting on the design of electronic music studios.
Mr. Moog is a member of the Audio Engineering Society,
Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi.