Connections & Wiring

A cable connects an output to an input. Some cables carry the sound you hear; others carry notes or values that control that sound. The pin's name, direction and signal type tell you where to connect it.

This guide uses the Saw, Filter, Volume and Brightness knob from Your first patch. Start there if you have not made a sound yet. Here, you will learn to draw and remove a cable, choose a signal type, and send one output to several destinations.

Make your first connection

Take Volume → Audio Out as an example. The small circles on the node are its pins. Volume's Out pin is on the right; Audio Out's Out 1 and Out 2 pins are on the left. Despite their names, these are inputs to the Audio Out node: they feed your first and second output channels.

1. Press and hold the Volume Out pin.
2. Drag the cable to Audio Out → Out 1. Compatible pins are highlighted as you drag. Aim at the circle, rather than the node's title or its body.
3. Release on the pin to connect it. A thin collar around a connected pin shows that it is in use.

Start at the output; release on the input. This shows the cable while it is still being dragged. Press Esc to cancel an unfinished cable.

To send this mono signal to both speakers, repeat from the same Volume Out pin to Audio Out → Out 2. You now have two cables leaving one output.

One output can feed several inputs. Both channels receive the same signal. This places a mono sound in both speakers; it does not create a stereo effect.

Choose the signal you need

These are the pin colours in the Default theme. Custom looks may use different colours, so check the pin's name too.

Type	What travels through it	A practical connection
Audio	The sound itself, as a continuous signal	Saw Out → Filter In L
Data	Individual values or events: numbers, text, button presses and more	Brightness Out → Filter Freq
CV	A continuous control signal for modulation	LFO Out → Filter Freq
MIDI	Note messages, velocity, CC, pitch bend and other MIDI messages	MIDI In → MIDI To CV, to extract pitch and gate

Audio is what you hear. Data and CV tell another node what to do. MIDI describes a performance. A MIDI cable carries note messages, so it needs an instrument or a conversion stage before it can produce sound. See MIDI.

The same filter, controlled two ways

Keep the audio path unchanged:

Saw → Filter → Volume → Audio Out

The following images show just the control connection to Filter Freq. The downloadable patches also contain the complete audio path. Both make a continuous tone without MIDI; start with your listening volume low and set Volume Gain = 0 to silence them.

Turn a knob: Data

Connect Brightness Out to the input on the left of Filter's Freq row. Moving the knob sends a new frequency to the filter. Leaving it alone leaves the cutoff at that value.

You choose the cutoff. The knob's range is 200–5000 Hz, with an initial value of 1200 Hz. The blue cable carries that number; the sound enters through the separate gold In L pin.

Download: manual cutoff

Listen: cutoff held at 1200 Hz

Let a node move it: CV

Disconnect the Brightness cable, then connect LFO Out → Filter Freq. Use Out, which carries the LFO's value, rather than Phase Out. The LFO now moves the cutoff automatically.

For this example, set the LFO to Free (Hz), Internal transport, Sine, Freq 0.5 Hz, Min 300 and Max 4000. Use its Play control if it is paused or stopped. One cycle takes two seconds.

The LFO chooses the cutoff continuously. It controls the same Freq input that the knob controlled. Its 300–4000 range is already expressed in the Hz this input expects.

Download: moving cutoff

Listen: the LFO opens and closes the filter

Check the range, not just the cable. A default LFO range of 0–1 is too small to be useful as a cutoff in Hz. Set its Min and Max as above, or use Map to translate a modulation range into the units the destination needs.

Events and streams

Data is event-based. A message arrives when a node sends it. A knob typically sends a value when you change it; a trigger can send another event even if it carries the same value. Data is not a continuous audio-rate signal.

CV modulation runs as a stream, processed sample by sample. Even a slow LFO can provide a continuous signal. “Slow” describes how quickly its waveform moves, not whether the connection is Data or CV. A square-wave CV signal can still jump abruptly: CV describes the way the signal is processed, not a guarantee that every waveform is smooth.

Audio also runs as a stream; MIDI carries timed messages. For this guide, the useful choice is simple: use Data for the knob you turn and CV for the modulation you want a node to generate continuously.

Hybrid pins and nodes

Hybrid means that the same pin can work with Data messages or a CV stream. In the Default theme, its blue and green halves show that capability. You choose how to use it by connecting a source.

A hybrid pin is not the whole node

Filter's Freq input is hybrid: a knob can set its value with Data, or an LFO can modulate it with CV. Filter's gold audio pins still carry sound.

A hybrid processing node, such as Addition, Multiply or Map, can also do its calculation in either mode. With Data inputs, it calculates a result when a message arrives. When a stream-capable input receives CV, it processes continuously and its stream-capable result carries CV onwards.

The operation stays the same. The way values arrive and leave changes. You do not need a second version of Addition for CV.

The same Addition node, two ways

Addition calculates A + B. Start with A = 2000 and B = 500:

What feeds Addition?	What comes out of Result?
A knob sends Data to A; B is set to 500	A Data result of 2500 when the knob sends 2000
A knob sends Data to A; an LFO sends −500…+500 CV to B	A CV stream moving between 1500 and 2500, while A stays at 2000

In the second case, A keeps the knob's latest value while B changes continuously. Turning the knob updates A, and the CV calculation uses the new value. A CV input on B does not turn every other input into a CV-only input.

Same calculation, different signal flow. These details show Addition and Filter; the source nodes are outside the crop. In the lower view, look for Addition's CV badge and the green Result cable. A still receives the knob's Data while B receives CV; the result controls Filter Freq.

The CV result can continue through other hybrid nodes, such as Multiply → Map → Filter Freq. Those stream-capable stages follow the incoming CV automatically. A Data-only destination cannot directly consume that stream: use CV To Data if you need Data updates there.

Try it: a knob sets the centre, an LFO adds movement

Keep Saw → Filter → Volume → Audio Out from the previous example. Add Addition and use separate inputs for the two controls:

1. Set Brightness to Min 1000, Max 4000 and Value 2000. Its values represent the centre frequency in Hz.
2. Set the LFO to Free (Hz), Sine, Freq 0.5, Min −500 and Max 500. This time it produces an offset in Hz, rather than the entire cutoff value.
3. Remove the direct control cable into Filter Freq, then make these connections:

From	To	Job
Brightness Out	Addition A	Set the centre frequency with Data
LFO Out	Addition B	Add continuous movement with CV
Addition Result	Filter Freq	Send the combined cutoff as CV

Download: knob plus LFO

The download includes the complete sound path. It makes a continuous tone; start with your listening volume low and set Volume Gain = 0 to silence it.

Listen and try three changes:

• At Brightness 2000, the cutoff sweeps from 1500 to 2500 Hz.
• Turn Brightness to 3000: the sweep moves to 2500–3500 Hz. The knob moves the centre without stopping the LFO.
• Return Brightness to 2000, then change LFO Min/Max to −250 / +250: the sweep narrows to 1750–2250 Hz.

Addition adds numbers; it does not know which units they represent. Here, both inputs are in Hz. Keep the result in a useful cutoff range. Use Multiply to adjust modulation depth, Map to translate a range, or Clamp to impose limits when building a larger patch.

Two sources on one input behave differently

Separate inputs combine through the node's operation. Two cables on the same input do not automatically create a knob-plus-LFO offset.

If you connect the knob and the LFO directly to the same Filter Freq input, CV takes control:

Situation	What happens
A Data cable is already present, then CV arrives at that input	The Data cable can remain but is suspended while CV controls the input
You try to add Data to an input already receiving CV	The new Data connection is refused
Data feeds Addition A and CV feeds Addition B	Both are used: Addition holds A and adds each CV value from B

Suspension can also happen downstream: if a hybrid node's result changes from Data to CV, an existing cable from that result to a Data-only input can remain but stop delivering values. Use a compatible destination or an explicit converter.

Return to manual control

For the Addition example, disconnect LFO Out → Addition B, set B = 0, and turn Brightness again. With no CV source feeding Addition, its Result returns to Data; the existing cable to Filter Freq can stay.

Setting the LFO's speed or depth to zero is different from disconnecting it. A connected LFO still supplies a CV stream even when its value is constant. Remove that CV connection when you want the input to return to Data control.

Remove or correct a connection

• Remove one cable: click its middle to select it, then press Delete, or double-click the cable to remove it immediately.
• Use the cable's own menu: right-click a cable for Delete Cable, Go to the node at either end, or New Cable from / New Cable to either end.
• Undo a mistake: use Ctrl/Cmd + Z.
• Choose a different destination: remove the wrong cable, then draw it to the correct input. This is the easiest method while learning.

Select the cable, rather than a node. Delete acts on the selection. On a shared cable before a branch, selecting or deleting that shared section affects all its branches; see below.

One output, several destinations

You can draw separate cables from the same output, as in the stereo example above. Joints let you route those cables through a shared point so the graph is easier to follow.

1. Connect Level Out → Volume 1 Gain.
2. Alt-click the cable to add a joint. Drag the joint to place the bend.
3. Hold Alt and drag from that joint to Volume 2 Gain. Repeat for Volume 3 Gain.
4. Turn Level. All three Gain values should follow it.

One value reaches three inputs. The ring marks the split. A branch sends the same value to each destination; it does not divide the value by three.

Download: one knob, three levels

This is a control-only exercise: it contains the knob and three Volume nodes, with no sound source or Audio Out. Turn Level and watch the three Gain values. Its range is 0–0.10, and each Volume uses Linear units.

Editing joints and branches

Action	What to do
Add a bend	Alt-click a cable, then drag the joint
Remove a joint	Alt-click or double-click the joint; the connection remains
Branch from a joint	Hold Alt and drag from the joint to another input
Branch from a cable	Hold Alt and drag from the cable; a joint is created when the new branch connects
Move several joints together	Shift-click each joint to pick it, or drag a selection box round them, then drag one of them
Move joints with their nodes	Select the nodes and drag: the joints of the cables between them go along, and so do the picked joints
Straighten cables	Select the nodes or the cables and press Q (Edit > Arrange > Straighten Cables). A cable without joints is straightened by moving the node it goes into; a single selected node lines up with the node that feeds it. Joints that are nearly level take the height of their neighbour. With nothing selected, only joints are levelled
Remove just one branch	Select or double-click the cable after the split
Remove all cables through a shared section	Select that section and press Delete, or double-click it

A joint has no sides: the cable runs through it the way it is going. Take a cable back round a node, to an input on the left of where it started, and it turns at each joint in a loop instead of doubling back over it.

The shared section is drawn thicker. Moving a shared joint moves the bend for every cable through it. If only one cable remains, the branching ring becomes an ordinary joint. These bends change the layout of the wires, not the signal they carry.

Faster wiring

Once a single cable feels familiar, try these shortcuts:

You want to…	Gesture	Result
Connect a stereo pair or several adjacent pins	Hold Ctrl/Cmd while dragging from the first output to the first input	Following pins travel as ghost cables and connect to the following compatible inputs. Unmatched ghosts stay unconnected
Send one output to many inputs	Hold Alt as you drop the cable, then click more inputs	The cable stays attached to its source. Release Alt to finish
Repeat a group of connections	Hold Ctrl/Cmd + Alt	Each drop places the compatible group

What can connect?

Rule	What it means in the graph
Output → input	Two outputs or two inputs cannot be joined
Compatible signal types	Audio connects to Audio; MIDI to MIDI. Data/CV compatibility also depends on the pin's capabilities and whether it is already receiving CV
One output → many inputs	The signal is delivered to every destination
Several sources → one input	The graph can accept several compatible sources. Audio and CV streams are summed; MIDI messages are merged. Data messages arrive individually, so multiple controls can overwrite a parameter's value rather than mix it
No direct Audio/CV feedback loop	A cable cannot close a loop through the audio/CV path. Use the appropriate Audio Send/Receive or CV Send/Receive pair when you intentionally need feedback; these introduce one block of delay. See Routing

For predictable control, start with one source per parameter input. Summing several audio signals can raise the level; use Volume controls or a mixer when combining sound sources.

Front Panel patch cables have different rules. A cable between Jack Out and Jack In is handled by its sockets, and a Jack In accepts one cable. The graph's cable-middle gestures and multiple-source behaviour do not describe those sockets. See Patch Cables.

When you need a converter

Changing a cable's colour does not convert its signal. Use a node that translates the information you need:

From → to	Converter	Why you might use it
MIDI → CV	MIDI To CV	Extract note pitch and gate to control a synth
MIDI → Data	MIDI To Data	Read note or controller messages as values/events
CV → Data	CV To Data	Turn a stream into updates for a Data-only destination
Audio → Data	Audio To Data	Read audio-derived values in the Data graph
Audio → CV	Audio To CV	Use an audio signal in a CV modulation path
CV → Audio	CV To Audio	Route a CV signal into an audio-processing path

See Converters for the available outputs and settings. Converting a signal type and scaling its range are separate jobs: use Map when the values need a different range.

If a cable does not do what you expect

What you notice	What to check
The cable will not connect	Check output → input, the pin names and compatible types. A CV source cannot directly feed a Data-only input
The knob stopped controlling the filter	A CV stream may be controlling that input. Disconnect the CV cable to return to Data control
The filter stays very dark	Check the control's range. For this example, send hundreds or thousands of Hz, rather than 0–1
Sound comes from only one speaker	Feed both Out 1 and Out 2 on Audio Out for this mono example
Several cables disappeared at once	You may have deleted the shared section before a split. Undo, then select only the branch after it
A Jack In replaces its old cable	That is a Front Panel patch-cable rule. See Patch Cables
There is still no sound	Follow the gold path to Audio Out, check Volume, then use the first-patch checks

Pin colours in the Default theme

Audio is gold (#D8B65A), Data blue (#5CB8FF), CV mint green (#82DCA0), and MIDI red (#FF4D6D). Hybrid pins combine the Data and CV colours. You can customise them in Settings → Appearance.

Continue with Working with Nodes for node controls, The Front Panel to build a control surface, or MIDI to move from a continuous tone to notes.