SMD Buchla Sequencer Aux Card Manual

5-6-2022 ver. 1.0

This is the latest incarnation of the sequencer aux card. The goal of the redesign was to make the
card more intuitive. It also has some new features, dedicated outputs for all sections, and it’s overall
a more complex card, made on a 4 layer PCB.
Here a brief description of the functions.
Sequential Voltage source

- RESET/STEP# (on)-off-on switch. Upper position resets the sequencer, lower position selects an
alternative sequencer length. Standart it’s set to 6 steps. It’s also possible to set it to 7 steps. This
can be done with a jumper on the motherboard which is next to the SEQ. OUT banana output. The
frontpanel has to be lifted slightly to gain enough clearance though.

- 8 potentiometers for sending a voltage between 0V and (approx) + 12,5V

- SEQ. OUT. Sequencer CV banana output jack (0V - (approx) +12,5V)

- SEQ TRIGGER switch. Selects the trigger source for the sequencer. When set to “208 seq” the 5
sequencer switches can be used as clock dividers. The “pulser” position of the switch can also be
the “Key Pulse” input.This can be done wit a jumper on the motherboard which is below the
portamento TIME potentiometer. The frontpanel has to be lifted slightly to gain enough clearance
though.

LFO (Triangle Wave)

- RANGE switch. Selects the frequency/speed range of the LFO. This switch can be modulated with
a CV signal plugged into the “to prog inverter” (to card 1) banana input jack. For this to work the
switch should be in the down position.

- FREQUENCY potentiometer.

- LFO OUT. Lfo CV banana output jack (0V - (approx) +12,5V)

- LFO CV IN. Lfo frequency CV banana input jack. Frequency potentiometer should be set fully
CW to modulate the full range. Presented voltage should be between 0V and +13,5V
Portamento

– TIME potentiometer. Sets the slew time of the portamento circuit.

– MO & CO switches. The CO switch selects between keyboard input, off or sequencer input.When
set to “seq” the card sequencer CV is directly routed to the CO. There is no need to connect any
banana cables for this. For this setting, the range of the sequence potentiometers is limited to 3
octaves.
The MO switch is an on-off-on switch and only works when the CO switch is in the “key” or “seq”
position. You can have portamento on the CO only, or on both CO and MO.
The sequencer input to the portamento is scaled to 3 octaves which makes melodic stuff easier to
dial in.
When you're using portamento the keyboard switches from the MO and CO on the 208 should be in
the “out” position.
Basically, both MO & CO switches on the card act the same as the keyboard switches from the MO
en CO on the 208 as in: they connect the keyboard pitch (or voltage) banana jack input to the pitch /
frequency bus on the 208. The CO switch also has the option to choose from where the pitch signal
is derived: the Aux Card Sequencer output, or the 208 Keyboard Voltage/Pitch banana input jack.

Below a block diagram displaying the signal flow.

Envelope Generator

The Envelope is triggered by the pulser output signal. The trigger signal is basically a gate with the
length of 1 pulser interval. When the pulser is set to “keyboard” (on the 208) the length of the gate/
trigger signal will be determined by whatever is presented at the “keyboard pulse” banana input on
the 208.

- ATTACK potentiometer
- DECAY potentiometer
- SUSTAIN potentiometer
- RELEASE potentiometer. When in “adsr” mode (and pulser set to “self” ), the release
potentiometer does not have much effect since the gate trigger signal almost overlaps with the
next gate trigger signal.

- ENV MODE switch. Switches between “adsr”, “loop” and “lfo” mode. “Adsr” is a normal
envelope. “Loop” mode loops the envelope after each trigger as long as the gate signal is on.
“Lfo” mode loops the envelope regardless of the trigger signal or gate signal.

- ENV. OUT. Envelope CV banana output jack (0V - (approx) +12,5V).

- DECAY IN. Decay time CV banana jack input. Decay potentiometer should be set fully CCW to
modulate the full range. Presented voltage should be between 0V and +13,5V

- ENV. LEVEL switch. Switches between “on”, “seq” and “208 seq”. In “on” mode de envelope
amplitude is always full on. In “seq” mode the envelope amplitude is determined by the card
sequencer CV output. In “208 seq” mode the envelope amplitude is determined by the 208
sequencer CV output.
From Card

The “FROM CARD” switch determines what CV source is presented at the “From Card” (or “From
Prog”) banana output on the 208. This switch can be modulated with a CV signal plugged into the
“to prog preamp” (to card 2) banana input jack. For this to work the switch should be in the down
position.

When you have a 208C with midi (or command), midi velocity data on channel 1 is converted to a
CV signal that is presented at the “From Card” banana output jack. If you’re using this function it
will interfere with the CV signals from the card. In this case, it’s possible to disconnect the output
from the “From Card” switch from the “From Card” banana output jack on the 208C.
This can be done wit a jumper on the motherboard which is below the LFO CV IN banana jack. The
frontpanel has to be lifted slightly to gain enough clearance though.

safety precautions:
– Always turn off the 208 when inserting or removing the aux card.

Disclaimer:
– I will not be responsible for any damage (personal or to equipment) due to the use of this card.