The Richter Tracking Generator

This device is not a freestanding controller like the other controllers. It is a module that is integrated into the Fool’s Paradise modular system. However it’s function is both complex and very distinct from the other modules in that system so I decided to give this controller module its own page.

First and foremost it behooves me to state that the core of this design is a circuit designed and generously published in 2001 by Grant Richter. ( I labeled this section of the controller ‘Tracking Processor’ in the block diagram below.) This circuit is a very sophisticated idea. The gist of it is that the circuit is a processor that requires an input. Based on the position of ten controls (the ‘tracking slider array’ in this case), and the settings of a pair of ‘interpolate’ controls, the output will, follow, ignore, or invert from the course of the input. I added some other control parameters that influence this function in other ways too.

I also implemented two integrated functions to this processor. On the input side I added a Sweep generator that will fire off a single sweep when triggered by a touchpad, or continuous sweeps as a voltage-controlled oscillator, or allow the player to manually sweep the range via a horizontal slider. On the output side I implemented a sample & hold circuit that samples the processor output, triggered by a 4-stage window comparator with a knob that will vary the span of the 4 windows. This yields a parallel stepped output sampled from the main smooth output.