m277 (updated version)

Stereo High-Voltage Tube VCA / Overdrive / Preamp

Before Wendys were Walters “and ships were made of wood” as the saying goes…Or put another way—when Bobs & Dons were Raymonds & Laurens: the synths were wrought of glowing glass tubes and VCAs shaped the sound as well as controlled it.

Trogotronic issued m277 with this in mind. Our design offered a high-gain Vacuum Tube Stereo VCA without sonic compromise. Tube Harmonics, Bass-Heavy Compression & Stereo Imaging are applied with 2 Discrete High-Voltage VCA Circuits.

m277 Tube Analog VCA delivers:
2 Tube VCAs
2 CV Amplitude Inputs with Attenuator Knobs (1 per channel)
2 CV Drive Inputs with Attenuator Knobs (1 per channel)
1 CV Master Panning Input & Manual Knob Control
1 CV Master Panning-Drive Input & Manual Knob Control
Ample gain for use as a Stereo External Input Preamplifier
Zero to +5 volt CV-Range compatible w/most LFOs, Envelopes etc.
Warm Tube-Harmonics
Compression with Low-End Enhancement
Compelling Stereo Imaging
Pannable Stereo High-Gain Tube-Overdrive Effect
Warms cold digital effects & low-voltage solid-state signals
Optional High-Current Power Supply = low impact on your rack’s “built-in” supply
4 CV Lamps: 2 Blue (Amplitude A & B) / 2 Red (Drive A & B)
2 Slovakian Max. Gain, Twin-Triode Vacuum Tube run at high-voltage
Plug & Play Compatible w/ Alternate Tubes for Auxiliary Sonic Profiles

Yes: “high voltage”—no small task for a euro module. Reason being: even the best euro format power supplies were never intended for providing “B+” (arcane engineer speak denoting High Voltage feed for vacuum tubes). The new v4 m277 uses an entirely redesigned power supply delivering cleaner, higher voltage than before right out of your euro-rack! With both tubes running full-force the module only demands a peak of 500mA @ first power-up with no extra wires or wall-warts. But, lets say you are already stretched to near-capacity with your rack’s available current—Being of a thrifty subhuman stock we made sure to continue offering an optional auxiliary supply which takes ALL current demand off of your rack’s +12v rail making said demand on that tap ZEROmA when implemented!

Use at the end of a patch: Rich tube harmonics & brawny compressed low-end add warmth to your cold digital effects / signals while reinforcing plastic sounding low voltage analog sound.

Use to portray mono signals as vast stereo audio panoramas: The 2 discrete channels run in parallel add depth to mono signals (patched to both inputs) with organic stereo imaging built into the circuit. The same mono signal can be dynamically panned via CV Amplitude inputs.

Use as a stereo overdrive effect: The Drive CV is discrete (1 for each channel independent of the other) so creation of dynamically panning stereo overdrive effects via CV Drive is a cinch.

Use as external input stereo preamplifier: Gain afforded by the 277 is more than adequate to make even the tiny signal of a guitar or microphone patched straight to the input scream. As a modular synth is more than 1000 times louder you may well wonder what happens when such signal is fed through the 277 with controls all set to “eleven”; Results are comparable to “Max” feeding nitrous to his supercharged steed on a post-apocalyptic Australian byway. In other words: before powering up a model 277: full-body horse-hide body-armor is compulsory!

https://trogotronic.com/product/m277/