The Thorn Audio VC LFO is a fully voltage-controllable, Eurorack-format, externally-syncable, 16-waveform low frequency oscillator with built-in VCA and sample & hold, powered by a socketed VCLFO10 IC from Electric Druid. It's suitable for precision modulation and live performance as well as educational purposes.
Features
- Fully voltage controllable
- Externally syncable in three different modes
- Four frequency ranges by octaves, from 0.05Hz to 102.4Hz
- 16 distinct waveforms in two sets of eight
- Waveform distortion
- Sample and Hold
- VCA
- Gate output
- Inverted output
- Visual feedback on all incoming CV
- Easily reprogrammable
The core idea behind this module is all about control voltage. Hence all features are individually broken out to CV inputs, making the most use possible of the benefits of the digital wavetable oscillator. This means that the design is geared towards allowing hands-off control of all aspects and some concessions have been made to that effect.
Initial setup basically consists of connecting the power cable to the module and your bus. The cable has a slotted socket for correct orientation, but mind that the red stripe faces the white line on the edge of the pcb. The included screws are nylon in order to minimise rack-rash.
Tuning the module is possible by adjusting the small smd trim potentiometer on the back. It adjusts the offset voltage that affects the center point of the lfo oscillations. It should be close to its three o'clock position, but you can adjust it by turning the module on, reducing the output level to almost zero and turning the trim potentiometer until you find the point where the gate output led just barely turns off.
The LFO sync type is hard sync, meaning that it resets the current cycle to the beginning of the waveform. It does not control the duration of the cycles. This allows you to further shape the output to, say, three quarters of a sinewave by using external sync and adjusting the HZ knob so the duration of a cycle is just a little longer than the time between incoming sync pulses.
Color coded nuts indicate the type of jack, with gold representing Gate/Trigger input, black is +-5v CV inputs and red jacks are outputs.
The CV inputs are scaled down to +-2.5v and added/subtracted with the knob setting, meaning that to sweep the full range of the parameter with CV, the knob should be in center position. The inputs are clipped to the allowed range after mixing, so you can apply any eurorack voltage here.
The module's core processor is socketed, so using a simple PIC programmer and some basic Assembly knowledge you can modify its functionality to suit your needs.
- Height: 3U (128.5mm)
- Width: 12hp (60.6mm)
- Depth from panel: 31mm
- Depth total: 51mm
- +12v: 80mA
- -12v: 60mA
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:00 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
Product Overview
The Thorn Audio VC LFO is a fully voltage-controllable, Eurorack-format, externally-syncable, 16-waveform low frequency oscillator with built-in VCA and sample & hold, powered by a socketed VCLFO10 IC from Electric Druid. It's suitable for precision modulation and live performance as well as educational purposes.
Features
- Fully voltage controllable
- Externally syncable in three different modes
- Four frequency ranges by octaves, from 0.05Hz to 102.4Hz
- 16 distinct waveforms in two sets of eight
- Waveform distortion
- Sample and Hold
- VCA
- Gate output
- Inverted output
- Visual feedback on all incoming CV
- Easily reprogrammable
The core idea behind this module is all about control voltage. Hence all features are individually broken out to CV inputs, making the most use possible of the benefits of the digital wavetable oscillator. This means that the design is geared towards allowing hands-off control of all aspects and some concessions have been made to that effect.
Initial setup basically consists of connecting the power cable to the module and your bus. The cable has a slotted socket for correct orientation, but mind that the red stripe faces the white line on the edge of the pcb. The included screws are nylon in order to minimise rack-rash.
Tuning the module is possible by adjusting the small smd trim potentiometer on the back. It adjusts the offset voltage that affects the center point of the lfo oscillations. It should be close to its three o'clock position, but you can adjust it by turning the module on, reducing the output level to almost zero and turning the trim potentiometer until you find the point where the gate output led just barely turns off.
The LFO sync type is hard sync, meaning that it resets the current cycle to the beginning of the waveform. It does not control the duration of the cycles. This allows you to further shape the output to, say, three quarters of a sinewave by using external sync and adjusting the HZ knob so the duration of a cycle is just a little longer than the time between incoming sync pulses.
Color coded nuts indicate the type of jack, with gold representing Gate/Trigger input, black is +-5v CV inputs and red jacks are outputs.
The CV inputs are scaled down to +-2.5v and added/subtracted with the knob setting, meaning that to sweep the full range of the parameter with CV, the knob should be in center position. The inputs are clipped to the allowed range after mixing, so you can apply any eurorack voltage here.
The module's core processor is socketed, so using a simple PIC programmer and some basic Assembly knowledge you can modify its functionality to suit your needs.
Technical Specs
Shipping Details
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:00 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
