Control Voltage discussion

[obsidian crow]

I am not an expert, so everything I say requires grains of salt. CV definitely predates MIDI, but I don't know enough of the history of MIDI to say it's a precursor.

But, @steady snow thumbs up your comment and is more of an expert than me, so I guess so?

CV is still around, and is primary for controlling analog modular synths, so it's not like it was strictly replaced by MIDI.

I am probably being overly pedantic.

[steady snow]

Right on. MIDI was initially conceived to solve interoperability between synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines from different manufacturers (there were existing intra-manufacturer protocols), but on some level the idea of CV being used to communicate an intention from one bit of gear to another is very similar. CV is much simpler, so easier to modify/modulate/hack than a digital MIDI message, which is one reason it is still so useful, particularly for modular synth gear.

But if you look at something like using CV to control pitch (1V = 1 octave in a Eurorack system for example) that could require three individual cables to play a three note chord (as well as three more cables to send a variation of CV called Gate to control when the sound starts and stops). MIDI handles things like huge numbers of notes and much more over a single cable.