Velocity Sensitive Polysix - The Dream

As regular readers know, I've done many modifications to my Korg Polysix.  Probably the biggest change was when I swapped out the original keybed for a new one (Fatar, FTW!).  My goal with the new keybed was to add aftertouch to my Polysix, but a side-benefit was that the new keybed was also velocity sensitive.  Unfortunately, the velocity capability has gone unused because the Polysix had no obvious way of including its effect.  Today, though, that begins to change.  Today, I plan out how to add velocity sensitivity to the Polysix.  Behold, the VelocitySix!

Dreaming a Dream of a Dreamy, Velocity-Sensitive, Korg Polysix.  (Fake Graphic)

What Do I Want Velocity to Do?  This is the first question that I asked myself.  What do I want the velocity to affect?  In other synthesizers, the two most traditional answers would be to affect the intensity of the filter (VCF) envelope or of the amplitude (VCA) envelope.  Personally, I've always been a bigger fan of velocity-sensitive VCF, so that's what I decided to target (first, at least).  My idea, therefore, is to add circuitry that will scale the envelope based on the velocity of the keypress.

Scaling the VCF Envelope Based on the Note Velocity

Adding More Hardware:  As can be seen in the figure above, what I need is some hardware that can scale (attenuate) the existing envelope signals.  As discussed in my recent posts, my plan is to do this velocity-dependent attenuation using a digital potentiometer that is driven by a Teensy microcontroller.  I'll simply send the MIDI velocity value for each voice to the Teensy and it will drive the digital potentiometer to adjust the overall amplitude of that voice's VCF envelope.  I'll call the Teensy + digipot my "Velocity Processor".

Piecing it All Together:  The figure below shows all of the components that I've added to my Polysix.  For the addition of velocity sensitivity, I've added my new "Velocity Processor" and highlighted it in yellow.  It is important to realize that I can add this velocity sensitivity only because of my previous modifications.  Without having replaced the built-in keybed with my own keybed and keyscanner, I wouldn't have the velocity values in the first place.  And, without having replaced the built-in "Key Assigner" CPU with my Arduino Mega, I wouldn't know which velocity value to associate with which voice.  It is only through my prior work that this new modification is possible.  [Note: the DAC on the right side of the figure is irrelevant to the velocity sensitivity, but it is crucial for my portamento and detuning modifications.]

My Highly-Modified Polysix.

Building and Testing:  My upcoming posts will discuss the details of how I will manipulate the envelop signals, how I built and tested the new electronics, and how it all sounded when I was done.  This is gonna be fun!

Update:  I've worked out how the Polysix multiplexes its VCF envelopes.

Update:  I've worked out how the Polysix multiplexing handles addressing and synchronization.

Update:  I've wired up the Velocity Processor.

Update:  It works.  It's sweet.  Here are the demos!