How Does It Work?#

Keyboard MIDI-CV is an experimental 8-voice computer-keyboard performance module that turns your typing keys into polyphonic Pitch, Gate, and Vel outputs, with a shared Mod output, configurable bend behavior, and the same voice allocation system used by the poly MIDI converter.

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Quick Overview#

• It captures the computer keyboard and emits virtual MIDI internally.
• It provides 8 voices of P, G, and V outputs, plus one shared Mod output.
• The note layout follows an Ableton-style keyboard row.
• Pitch bend and mod wheel are played from the arrow keys.
• ARMED controls whether this module is actively listening for keyboard input.

Inputs And Outputs#

Port	Type	What It Does
P1 ... P8	CV	Per-voice pitch outputs in 1V/oct. C4 is 0V, with pitch bend added on top.
G1 ... G8	Gate	Per-voice gates. Each output is either 0V or 5V.
V1 ... V8	CV	Per-voice velocity as unipolar CV (0..5V).
Mod	CV	Shared mod wheel output as unipolar CV (0..5V).

Controls Reference#

Main Setup#

Control	Values	Default	Behavior
Channel	1..16	1	Sets the virtual MIDI channel sent by the module.
Bend	1..12 semitones	2	Sets the full pitch-bend range before Bend Min and Bend Max scale it.
Octave	0..8	4	Sets the keyboard's base octave.
Velocity	1..127	100	Sets note-on velocity for played keys.

Performance Setup#

Control	Values	Default	Behavior
Transpose	-24..24 semitones	0	Shifts the whole key layout up or down.
Mod Step	1..32	4	Sets the up/down arrow step size for mod wheel changes.
Bend Min	-100..0	-100	Sets how far left bend can travel as a percentage of the full bend range.
Bend Max	0..100	100	Sets how far right bend can travel as a percentage of the full bend range.
Bend Curve	LIN, EXP	LIN	Chooses whether bend motion ramps linearly or exponentially toward the target.
Bend Speed	5..400 %/s	120	Sets how quickly bend moves toward its target while an arrow key is held.
ARMED	Off, On	On	Enables or disables keyboard capture for this module.

Voice And Utility Controls#

Control	Values	Default	Behavior
Alloc	RR, OLD, LOW, HIGH	RR	Chooses voice allocation and stealing strategy.
Steal	Off, On	On	Allows or blocks note stealing when all 8 voices are busy.
RESET	Action	-	Resets pitch bend and mod wheel to neutral without killing held notes.
PANIC	Action	-	Sends note-offs for any held keys and clears the module state.
MAP	Action	-	Opens the keyboard layout overlay.

Keyboard Layout And Shortcuts#

• Play notes with A W S E D F T G Y H U J K O L P ; '.
• Use Z and X to move the playing octave down or up.
• Use C and V to lower or raise velocity in steps of 5.
• Hold Left or Right for pitch bend.
• Use Up and Down for mod wheel changes.
• Hold Shift with Up or Down to nudge the mod wheel in single-step increments.

Octave sets the base C, and Transpose shifts the whole layout from there.

Bend Behavior#

Bend sets the total semitone range, while Bend Min and Bend Max decide how much of that range is reachable to the left and right. With the default -100 / 100 settings, the arrows can reach the full negative and positive bend range.

The module does not jump instantly to the bend target. Instead, it ramps toward it:

• LIN moves at a constant rate.
• EXP eases toward the target more softly.
• Bend Speed controls how fast that movement happens.

This makes keyboard bends feel more like a performance gesture than a hard on/off jump.

Voice Allocation And Arming#

• RR rotates through voices.
• OLD steals the oldest active voice when all voices are full.
• LOW steals the lowest active note when all voices are full.
• HIGH steals the highest active note when all voices are full.
• With Steal off, new notes are ignored if all 8 voices are already active.

When ARMED is turned off, the module stops listening to the keyboard and releases any currently held notes. If multiple Keyboard MIDI-CV modules are armed at the same time, they all receive the same computer-keyboard events, and the panel shows a warning indicator to make that clear.