The LFO Expander Modulation Processor is a € 375 stand-alone add-on for your analog synthesizer, designed to give extra functionality while performing your music.

Its main feature is an LFO generator that lets you control LFO depth and LFO speed.

Features:

• external analog LFO processor
• generates an LFO and bend signal that can be mixed together
• LFO and bends controlled by hand, by foot pedal (active/passive) or by control-voltage
• for Moog minimoog, Yamaha CS80, CS60, CS50, ARP 2600 and all other synthesizers having external inputs for vco, vcf or vca control.
• LFO depth and rate can be controlled at the same time by one single movement
• adds vibrato, wah-wah, tremolo, pitch bends or other modulations to your synthesizer
• allows mixing of a sequencer-cv with your synth’s keyboard-cv so you can transpose sequences in real-time
• allows attenuation and mixing of cv’s. Control the filter cut-off frequency of your ARP 2600 with a knob that’s just in front of you or add variable keyboard-tracking to your ARP 2600
• fits on top of your ARP 2600 keyboard, minimoog keyboard etc.
• LFO range from 0,2 Hz up to 275Hz
• selectable triangle- or square waveform
• runs on batteries (2x 9V) or dc-transformer

A compatibility chart is available at the Expander site.

Here some of the reasons behind the creation of the LFO Expander:

• The Yamaha CS80’s keyboard aftertouch can control LFO-depth and LFO-speed at the same time. If you’ve ever played a CS80, you will know how much emotion this adds to your music. However, applying aftertouch on the keys doesn’t allow for fast playing. By connecting the LFO-expander to the external input, you can control the LFO- depth and speed with a foot-pedal and control pitch, filter or volume on a new manner.
• If you own a Yamaha CS50 or CS60, you can control LFO depth by applying aftertouch but you can’t control LFO-speed. By using the LFO-expander you can and introduce CS80-like effects on these synthesizers.
• For minimoog owners, if you want to use a LFO, you have to use oscillator 3 for this purpose since there’s no dedicated LFO on the minimoog. That means you can only use osc 1 & 2 as a sound-source. When connecting the LFO-expander to the vco-input, you have your long-waited-for LFO and make 3-oscillator sounds!
• Almost every analog synth featuring cv-out & cv-in connectors can profit from the LFO-expander for pitch-modulations: simply connect the cv-out to an input of the LFO-expander and connect the output of the LFO-expander to the cv-in of your synth. Now you can apply vibrato or pitchbends by simply pressing the pedal connected to the LFO-expander or by manually turning the knobs on the expander. Many analog synthesizer do have cv-in & cv-out or vco-control: ARP (Odyssey, ARP 2600) Moog (minimoog, prodigy) Roland SH-series, Promars Yamaha CS-series (CS10…..CS80) Simply check the inputs of your synth.