From tmoravan@netcom.comFri Jun 30 10:03:30 1995 Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 03:51:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom Moravansky To: Marc Crandall Cc: analog Subject: Re: The PPG Expansion Voice Unit (EVU Rack) > Well, I just picked up a PPG EVU (Expansion Voice Unit). (with a 2.3 and > a PRK). > > >From what I was TOLD, the EVU is essentially a rack-mount 2.2 but with 12 bit Basically true. > > So, if anyone could answer any of the following questions, becuase the > manual I have is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!!! It's only 8 pages or so and is > incomprehensible, and I haven't yet gotten the thing to work :-( It powers > up but I can't understand how to hook it up and get it playing (the manual > is really that bad). Maybe I have an early partial/rough draft or something. > No, the EVU manual is very minimal. BTW - did the guy you bought it from say he was able to use it with the PRK or 2.3? See below for the reason for the question. > > 1) Can the unit be MIDIied? Mine is not MIDI, but rather, has the PPG Yes - mine is MIDIed. The board looks simple to clone and it plugs in to a socket on the I/O board. > digital I/O (3 of them in the rear, actually). I know someone who bought > one already MIDIied and it receives sysex to program all the parameters; > filter, envelopes, waveform, etc (!). He build an editor for it in Logic > Audio, and sounds could be internally saved once changed! WOW. > !!!??!!?? I didn't think the PPG supported sysex for editing. Hmmm - I'll have to go back to my documents and look. There are some parameters you can change via continuous controller messages, but I have never seen a sysex parameter map layout. If you can get this, I'd be very interested. The PPG Data Bus plugs are basically the only way to talk to an EVU. > 2) Does the unit need a 2.2 or a 2.3 to control it? I hear you can > program it from the fron panel of either, but I'm not sure... > You cannot program it from the front panel. You *usuallY* control the EVU via a 2.2 or 2.3 THROUGH A WAVETERM! ie - 2.3 -> Waveterm -> EVU. The manual notes that you should turn down the PPG keybaord volume so you don't hear both units at once. I don't know if the PRK allows you to play the EVU. > 3) How many versions of the thing were made? > I have Rev 3 software in mine. > 4) Do they need a Waveterm to be operated? (the manual only refered to the > waveterm) > As far as I remember, --- yes. Don't know if the PRK can play it. Is one of the data bus ports labelled AUX? Also - on my EVU, the cv input seems to be disabled. The trigger IN jack works great (s-trigger, by the way for all PPG gear), but I never hear any cv change. Here's my dilemma - you cannot have MIDI and the Waveterm hooked up to the PPG at the same time. So, you cannot play the EVU from a MIDI keyboard and dump in new banks of patches. The sequence I have to follow is - turn on the waveterm and EVU, dump a bank in, turn off the waveterm, turn on the MIDI keybaord and play. If both are even turned on, the EVU freaks out. So, my ideal situation is to use cv/trigger and the Waveterm. As soon as I figure out ow to reenable the cv. Check your EVU. If cv works, I might consider swapping EVUs. > 5) Is it a rack version of a 2.2 or a 2.3? Or a little of both? What's > missing internally? (I know the knobs and big display aren't there, but > could they be added?). Keyboard Magazine's synth book states that it is > 16 voices, but I think that's WRONG (rather, 8 VOICES, 16 oscs). > The voice cards are the updated ones used by the 2.3. *I think* the EVU cannot do the multi-timbral stuff of the 2.3. Basically, it's the 2.2 OS with the 2.3 voice cards. 8 voices, same as the other PPG stuff. > 6) How many were made? > What's your serial number? Mine is (I think) 1069, which would indicate at least 69 were made. > 7) Who has one here on AH? IS it MIDIed? Me, yes. > I spoke to the US East Coast technicians in regard to it (they were listed > in the back of the Keybored book, can't remember the name) and they state > that they have never worked on one before. The west coast repair people, > Airborn, are out of buisness. So basically, nobody knows anything. EPR is good at fixing stuff, but not many techs have ever seen an EVU. Bill Cawthorne from Airborn is out of the synth repair business, as far as I know. You might want to check with JL at MusicTek. He's done some PPG work, but no-one but Bill Cawthorne has boards and schematics for stuff like the MIDI upgrade. > Also, one last opinion question: if they were the same price, what would > someone rather have, a MIDI evu with a Peyvey programmer or a Microwave > with the same? :-) > Well, I paid $300 for my EVU, but without MIDI or a Waveterm, they're not worth very much. -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Tom Moravansky tmoravan@netcom.com quiet electronics