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This isn't really a bug, more of an unexpected behaviour with the Automator LFOs that I couldn't find documented in the manual. I thought I'd post it here along with a workaround in case anyone else is running into the same issue.

1. In the Automator screen, assign an LFO to a CV output
2. In the Automator screen the LFO will oscillate around a zero-point (as expected). However, the CV output values don't match what's on the screen. Only the positive half of the waveform will appear at the CV output, and the LFO output voltage will be centered on the lowest voltage of the hardware output (-5v or 0v, depending on the hardware switch) rather than starting in the middle (0V or +5V as expected)
3. Applying positive offset in the Automator screen will only offset up to 5V from this starting position, which is less than the expected 10V.

There is a workaround to get to the expected behaviour: manually set the assigned CV/MOD output to a value of 800, either in the Patch screen, with a patch in a pattern, or through the Mapping screen. This will output the full range of the LFO, centred on either 0 or +5v (depending on the hardware switch). This workaround removes the need to add offset in the Automator screen and makes the full +10v range Automator LFO offset available at the CV output.


An interesting correlation—when the assigned modulator is started, the manually-set MOD or CV amount will be re-mapped in the Patch screen to match the calibration for the nearest voltage assigned to that output.

This behaviour and workaround don't affect the value of the LFO in the mapping screen. It also doesn't matter which physical output is used (CV or MOD output) nor the position of the hardware offset switches (+/- 5V or +10V) except to offset the starting voltage.

A small bug with this workaround—the manually assigned CV/MOD amount will occasionally reset to the calibration amount for a different voltage (often ~1V in my case). This happens even in a blank project, with no other assignments to the MOD or CV outputs. However, I haven't been able to reliably reproduce this bug. I'll keep trying and put up a bug report if I can document when it happens.

This is not a bug.

LFO's are bipolar and are always added to the CV output (if you choose a CV output as a destination). If your output is already -5 Volt (if set to bipolar) then only the positive values can be added of course. Same for 0 Volt in the 0-10 volt range. You will then only get the positive wave. If you set a note it will oscillate around that note. That is the behaviour you want to have else there would never be a vibrato possible for example.
Your solutions are the normal way to do it. Either set the CV to C-5 (800) or use the offset part of the LFO. The first one is how I would do it as it doesn't affect the regular LFO offset.

Thanks for confirming Thomas—it's by design as I expected.

It might be interesting to consider a way to increase the offset available in the Automator screen. As it is, LFO offset can only reach +5v. Having a full +10v range is useful in many situations. Perhaps there could be an option toggle for an additional +5v offset (like there is for invert)?

(02-10-2025, 01:17 PM)trevormeier Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for confirming Thomas—it's by design as I expected.

It might be interesting to consider a way to increase the offset available in the Automator screen. As it is, LFO offset can only reach +5v. Having a full +10v range is useful in many situations. Perhaps there could be an option toggle for an additional +5v offset (like there is for invert)?

It is very unlikely that I will add any changes to the LFO's and I can't see an empty spot in the LFO section to add another 'switch' either. Also adding more offset will only limit the range..it will not enhance it. If you push it up to 6 volt (with the added CV output of 0 volt) for example which would be one theoretical result with a higher offset then you would have only 4 volt left on the positive half while the negative half would have 1 volt as a minimum value. You would shift the range up to clipping.

If you choose for a CV output as the automator destination then it is always a combination of the current CV value and the bipolar LFO/Automator result(s).

(02-10-2025, 02:25 PM)XORadmin Wrote: [ -> ]

(02-10-2025, 01:17 PM)trevormeier Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for confirming Thomas—it's by design as I expected.

It might be interesting to consider a way to increase the offset available in the Automator screen. As it is, LFO offset can only reach +5v. Having a full +10v range is useful in many situations. Perhaps there could be an option toggle for an additional +5v offset (like there is for invert)?

It is very unlikely that I will add any changes to the LFO's and I can't see an empty spot in the LFO section to add another 'switch' either. Also adding more offset will only limit the range..it will not enhance it. If you push it up to 6 volt (with the added CV output of 0 volt) for example which would be one theoretical result with a higher offset then you would have only 4 volt left on the positive half while the negative half would have 1 volt as a minimum value. You would shift the range up to clipping.

If you choose for a CV output as the automator destination then it is always a combination of the current CV value and the bipolar LFO/Automator result(s).

Ah ok, makes sense. The reason I was doing this was using an external MIDI controller via the Mapping Screen to set Automator amplitude and offset. This method can't output a full 10v (for example if the LFO speed is 0), so I was having to use up almost all of the Mapping Screen to bring in all 8 Automators and add offset to them there (and also losing resolution of the automators in the process). But that's just how I'll have to do it!

(03-09-2025, 08:31 PM)trevormeier Wrote: [ -> ]

(02-10-2025, 02:25 PM)XORadmin Wrote: [ -> ]

(02-10-2025, 01:17 PM)trevormeier Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for confirming Thomas—it's by design as I expected.

It might be interesting to consider a way to increase the offset available in the Automator screen. As it is, LFO offset can only reach +5v. Having a full +10v range is useful in many situations. Perhaps there could be an option toggle for an additional +5v offset (like there is for invert)?

It is very unlikely that I will add any changes to the LFO's and I can't see an empty spot in the LFO section to add another 'switch' either. Also adding more offset will only limit the range..it will not enhance it. If you push it up to 6 volt (with the added CV output of 0 volt) for example which would be one theoretical result with a higher offset then you would have only 4 volt left on the positive half while the negative half would have 1 volt as a minimum value. You would shift the range up to clipping.

If you choose for a CV output as the automator destination then it is always a combination of the current CV value and the bipolar LFO/Automator result(s).

Ah ok, makes sense. The reason I was doing this was using an external MIDI controller via the Mapping Screen to set Automator amplitude and offset. This method can't output a full 10v (for example if the LFO speed is 0), so I was having to use up almost all of the Mapping Screen to bring in all 8 Automators and add offset to them there (and also losing resolution of the automators in the process). But that's just how I'll have to do it!

I am not sure if I can follow.
You could just set the 8 outputs to 800 / C-5 and then you got your offset (like as a setup, just the same as you set up your automators once). It will be saved with the project.
Then you need 2 pairs of 8 mapping rows to control the automator speed and amp. This does result in a full 10 volt range of the automators.

You can of course route the automators through the mappings and do any kind of manipulation with that. I don't think it is necessary in this case. The resolution should not really change by the way as the mappings are executed faster than the automators, so every automator sample should be used.