40 ARTURIA – KeyStep – USER’S MANUAL
8 CV/GATE/MOD FUNCTIONS
KeyStep provides direct access to some of the best music technology the world has
produced since humans harnessed electricity: USB, MIDI, Sync and CV/Gate connectors
are all present on its rear panel in a space the size of a candy bar.
Connection diagrams for each of these interfaces are available in section 2.1.
In this chapter we’ll focus on the features of the KeyStep CV/Gate circuitry. Chapter 10
has in-depth coverage of the features available to you with the MIDI Control Center.
8.1 Pitch and Gate signals
8.1.1 How do Pitch and Gate work?
The notes you play on the keys are translated immediately into Control Voltage (CV) and
Gate signals and sent to those connectors on the back panel. Two sets of voltages are
sent for each note: Pitch and Gate open/close.
Pitch corresponds to MIDI note number and Gate open/close corresponds to note on and
note off, respectively. Velocity information can be carried by the Mod output (see the
next section).
The sequencer will record what you play on the keys, and upon playback those signals
are sent to the attached device(s) through the CV/Gate connectors, just as if they had
been played from the keyboard.
When KeyStep is in Kbd Play mode the sequencer will play the attached CV/Gate devices
while you play your MIDI devices from the keyboard.
8.1.2 Can my DAW send CV/Gate signals?
It’s possible to send note data from a MIDI track on your DAW to the KeyStep CV/Gate
jacks. Just match the MIDI channel on the DAW track to that of the KeyStep to make it
happen.
There are two things to keep in mind, though:
CV/Gate jacks are monophonic, so if the selected MIDI track on the DAW contains
polyphonic data you won’t hear all of the notes on the target device.
There’s a Note priority setting in the MIDI Control Center that specifies which
note from a polyphonic source should be given preference (Low, High or Last).
But playback could still be unpredictable unless the DAW track is perfectly
quantized.
CV/Gate jacks can send only basic signals: pitch and note on/off. In other words,
you won’t be able to use them to control synthesizer parameters. All edits to your
modular synth settings need to be made on the synth itself.
