Originally shown at NAMM 2018, the Convertor+ is a monophonic audio to control voltage convertor that provides highly
accurate, fast and expressive tracking for any audio source. It works. I have some links to demo videos below.
The unit also contains a synth to provide on board sounds. A model with
a more comprehensive synth (Squaver P1+) is also available. The audio to CV conversion is the same quality on both models.
The Converter+ is available now in the USA at Amazon for $356. The Squaver P1+ is $620.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C4XW149
Either model has the same ability to turn audio into control voltage signals for pitch, envelope, gate and trigger signals.
There are CV outputs for all four signals, so it can control any device with CV pitch and gate inputs.
You can send any kind of audio signal into the Convertor+. So you could control a mono synth with your voice, a flute, or a guitar string, for example.
You can even take any audio track from your DAW and turn it into a synth line. Let that sink in.
But first, watch this demo video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d9SP3-GRgA
If you know anything about pitch to MIDI conversion, you will be aware that the lower the pitch of a string, the slower the conversion. It is a fact of physics. The low E string on a guitar is notorious for being the slowest string for a pitch to MIDI converter.
So how is the tracking so fast and accurate with a bass? How is it possible?
This pitch to CV conversion is been done with analog circuits. Does the physics still apply to this type of conversion? Yes it does. So why isn't the bass tracking even slower than the low E string on a guitar? Because the analog circuit that does the conversion is far faster than the currently available digital pitch to MIDI solutions.
And, no. It isn't the MIDI protocol itself that is slowing the conversion. MIDI has nothing to do with the conversion process. The difference has to do with the difference between a slow digital process compared to a fast analog process.
Can you see the irony in this? CV was abandoned by the synth industry when MIDI was adopted. Now we've come full circle.
Here is a demo video with guitar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ4iRzdf1hw
Ignore the sound of the built in synth (which is nice) and concentrate on the tracking accuracy, speed and expressiveness.
Notice that the tracking speed and accuracy is flawless. Check out the highly expressive pitch bending.
At the 0:49 second point two guitarists are playing at the same time. Each has a Convertor+. Both play separate synth lines. Both play fast and bend pitch.
The result is a duo-phonic synth line.
Note that the tracking accuracy, speed and expressiveness is not dependent on the internal synth. You will get the same quality tracking if you use the CV outputs to control another hardware synth.
In effect, the Convertor+ provides the same quality pitch tracking and note on/off speed as a MIDI keyboard controller. But the pitch to CV is analog so the level of innate expressiveness of a stringed instrument, wind instrument or human voice provides far better expressiveness than the mod and/or pitch wheel on a keyboard.
So what about fully polyphonic guitar, or any other n-stringed instrument?
Yes, this solution will work. You just need one Convertor+ per string, an n-string poly pickup and a breakout box.
You can find n-string pickups and a breakout box here:
https://www.cycfi.com/
Cycfi makes pickups for guitars with up to 8 strings. They also have pickups to fit bowed instruments such as violins, etc.
I previously posted about the Cycfi pickups on this forum here:
https://uadforum.com/general-discus...pickups-nexus-2-breakout-box-uad-plugins.html
What about MIDI? If it doesn't slow down the tracking, why doesn't the Convertor+ have MIDI. It isn't available yet. You are limited to synths that have CV pitch and gate inputs for now. That means modular and semi modular synths.
However, Noam Lavi, the creator of these products has emailed me that Sonicsmith has a Eurorack module in development
that will convert CV to MIDI with enough CV inputs to convert 6 channels.
He has not given a timeline for release. But based on his smashing success with the Convertor+ I expect he will be successful with the CV to MIDI converter. The question is, can he make money on it so it is a viable commercial product?
If he is successful with this module, anything with MIDI input will be controllable via a Convertor+.
The implications of this are staggering.
Any instrumentalist or vocalist will be able to control MIDI hardware and MIDI software.
Anyone will be able to write a song if they can carry a tune. They don't even need a good voice. Just sing the part into a mic and convert
to MIDI. Then use a sampler to change the vocal track into the instrument you are writing the line for.
You can even sing a drum part. Forget drum machines. Just use your lips! I find that it is far easier to make percussive sounds with my lips than when tapping a drum pad.
Any instrument will be able to play any other instrument. A sax player will be able to play a flute or an organ. Just convert a sax audio track and use a sampler.
What about chords if you are limited to singing or playing a monophonic instrument? Use your DAW to set up a loop. In Logic the Create Tracks setting will automatically create a new track for each loop cycle. The previous track(s) can be monitored during the looping process. That way you can build up chords with a mono source.
Then convert each track and assign a voice to it.
Speaking of voices, notice I have not been talking much at all about synths. Of course this technology works with synths. But synths are just one category of voices.
I believe that the really important breakthrough here will be the availability of sampler technology to all musicians.
Now I want to suggest a live scenario.
Imagine a live setting with a horn section made of a trumpet, a flugelhorn and a trombone. Each instrument has a mic on it which feeds a Convertor+. Each Convertor+ outputs to the CV to MIDI module. And each sends MIDI data to an instance of Kontakt.
Each horn could layer a reed instrument on top of the sound of their acoustic instruments.
How about possibilities with electric guitar? Assuming full polyphony, the guitar can have 14 strings! Simply add samples of an acoustic guitar up an octave from the real strings' pitch and a bass voice down an octave on the bottom two strings.
Finally, I mentioned that you can use an already recorded audio track as a source for input to a Convertor+. Think of this as an after the fact voice conversion tool. Instead of guitar re-amping, this changes the entire instrument, leaving the timing, articulation and notes intact.
You only need a single Convertor+, and the CV to MIDI module to accomplish this. But what about chords? How do you work with polyphonic material?
You use Melodyne to split the notes of a chord into separate lines, then transfer each to separate tracks. Now everything is is monophonic. So you run through the re-voicing process as many times as needed based on the maximum number of chord voices. Of course, if you wanted to do it in one or two passes, you could use 4 to 6 Convertors.
accurate, fast and expressive tracking for any audio source. It works. I have some links to demo videos below.
The unit also contains a synth to provide on board sounds. A model with
a more comprehensive synth (Squaver P1+) is also available. The audio to CV conversion is the same quality on both models.
The Converter+ is available now in the USA at Amazon for $356. The Squaver P1+ is $620.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C4XW149
Either model has the same ability to turn audio into control voltage signals for pitch, envelope, gate and trigger signals.
There are CV outputs for all four signals, so it can control any device with CV pitch and gate inputs.
You can send any kind of audio signal into the Convertor+. So you could control a mono synth with your voice, a flute, or a guitar string, for example.
You can even take any audio track from your DAW and turn it into a synth line. Let that sink in.
But first, watch this demo video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d9SP3-GRgA
If you know anything about pitch to MIDI conversion, you will be aware that the lower the pitch of a string, the slower the conversion. It is a fact of physics. The low E string on a guitar is notorious for being the slowest string for a pitch to MIDI converter.
So how is the tracking so fast and accurate with a bass? How is it possible?
This pitch to CV conversion is been done with analog circuits. Does the physics still apply to this type of conversion? Yes it does. So why isn't the bass tracking even slower than the low E string on a guitar? Because the analog circuit that does the conversion is far faster than the currently available digital pitch to MIDI solutions.
And, no. It isn't the MIDI protocol itself that is slowing the conversion. MIDI has nothing to do with the conversion process. The difference has to do with the difference between a slow digital process compared to a fast analog process.
Can you see the irony in this? CV was abandoned by the synth industry when MIDI was adopted. Now we've come full circle.
Here is a demo video with guitar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ4iRzdf1hw
Ignore the sound of the built in synth (which is nice) and concentrate on the tracking accuracy, speed and expressiveness.
Notice that the tracking speed and accuracy is flawless. Check out the highly expressive pitch bending.
At the 0:49 second point two guitarists are playing at the same time. Each has a Convertor+. Both play separate synth lines. Both play fast and bend pitch.
The result is a duo-phonic synth line.
Note that the tracking accuracy, speed and expressiveness is not dependent on the internal synth. You will get the same quality tracking if you use the CV outputs to control another hardware synth.
In effect, the Convertor+ provides the same quality pitch tracking and note on/off speed as a MIDI keyboard controller. But the pitch to CV is analog so the level of innate expressiveness of a stringed instrument, wind instrument or human voice provides far better expressiveness than the mod and/or pitch wheel on a keyboard.
So what about fully polyphonic guitar, or any other n-stringed instrument?
Yes, this solution will work. You just need one Convertor+ per string, an n-string poly pickup and a breakout box.
You can find n-string pickups and a breakout box here:
https://www.cycfi.com/
Cycfi makes pickups for guitars with up to 8 strings. They also have pickups to fit bowed instruments such as violins, etc.
I previously posted about the Cycfi pickups on this forum here:
https://uadforum.com/general-discus...pickups-nexus-2-breakout-box-uad-plugins.html
What about MIDI? If it doesn't slow down the tracking, why doesn't the Convertor+ have MIDI. It isn't available yet. You are limited to synths that have CV pitch and gate inputs for now. That means modular and semi modular synths.
However, Noam Lavi, the creator of these products has emailed me that Sonicsmith has a Eurorack module in development
that will convert CV to MIDI with enough CV inputs to convert 6 channels.
He has not given a timeline for release. But based on his smashing success with the Convertor+ I expect he will be successful with the CV to MIDI converter. The question is, can he make money on it so it is a viable commercial product?
If he is successful with this module, anything with MIDI input will be controllable via a Convertor+.
The implications of this are staggering.
Any instrumentalist or vocalist will be able to control MIDI hardware and MIDI software.
Anyone will be able to write a song if they can carry a tune. They don't even need a good voice. Just sing the part into a mic and convert
to MIDI. Then use a sampler to change the vocal track into the instrument you are writing the line for.
You can even sing a drum part. Forget drum machines. Just use your lips! I find that it is far easier to make percussive sounds with my lips than when tapping a drum pad.
Any instrument will be able to play any other instrument. A sax player will be able to play a flute or an organ. Just convert a sax audio track and use a sampler.
What about chords if you are limited to singing or playing a monophonic instrument? Use your DAW to set up a loop. In Logic the Create Tracks setting will automatically create a new track for each loop cycle. The previous track(s) can be monitored during the looping process. That way you can build up chords with a mono source.
Then convert each track and assign a voice to it.
Speaking of voices, notice I have not been talking much at all about synths. Of course this technology works with synths. But synths are just one category of voices.
I believe that the really important breakthrough here will be the availability of sampler technology to all musicians.
Now I want to suggest a live scenario.
Imagine a live setting with a horn section made of a trumpet, a flugelhorn and a trombone. Each instrument has a mic on it which feeds a Convertor+. Each Convertor+ outputs to the CV to MIDI module. And each sends MIDI data to an instance of Kontakt.
Each horn could layer a reed instrument on top of the sound of their acoustic instruments.
How about possibilities with electric guitar? Assuming full polyphony, the guitar can have 14 strings! Simply add samples of an acoustic guitar up an octave from the real strings' pitch and a bass voice down an octave on the bottom two strings.
Finally, I mentioned that you can use an already recorded audio track as a source for input to a Convertor+. Think of this as an after the fact voice conversion tool. Instead of guitar re-amping, this changes the entire instrument, leaving the timing, articulation and notes intact.
You only need a single Convertor+, and the CV to MIDI module to accomplish this. But what about chords? How do you work with polyphonic material?
You use Melodyne to split the notes of a chord into separate lines, then transfer each to separate tracks. Now everything is is monophonic. So you run through the re-voicing process as many times as needed based on the maximum number of chord voices. Of course, if you wanted to do it in one or two passes, you could use 4 to 6 Convertors.