VAV X-Wave 2025

X-Wave is a crossover-synched signal switcher for the Eurorack modular system. It's simple to use (no knobs in sight), but it's also very powerful!

X-Wave has two Signal Inputs (conveniently named SIGNAL 1 IN and SIGNAL 2 IN). It has only one OUT, though, so it is forced to choose between the two signals you give it. To do this, it listens to SIGNAL 1 and decides if SIGNAL 1 is positive (as indicated by the little +).

If SIGNAL 1 is positive, it sends only itself to the OUT jack.

However, if SIGNAL 1 is negative, only SIGNAL 2 is sent to the OUT jack (as indicated, again, by the little -).

So, if you feed two different waveforms from a VCO into SIGNAL 1 and 2 IN (pulse on 1 and saw on 2 work very well together, for example), the result will be a wave shape that cycles between half of each waveform you provided. If you use a pulse for SIGNAL 1, you can also create wavetable-like effects by varying the pulse width of your pulse wave on your VCO.

There are two other functions on the X-Wave that greatly expand its capabilities:

You can connect a third signal to the + DETECT IN jack as an external control of the switching action. This will make X-Wave stop listening to SIGNAL 1, and listen only to the 3rd signal This is very useful for using a pulse wave with PWM to "scroll" between two other waveforms from the same VCO, inserting sub oscillators to toggle between full cycles of SIGNALS 1 and 2, hocketing effects via use of a sequencer or gate divider, non-synched interleaving and switching effects, and voltage-controlled A/B switching or muting.

You can also invert the polarity of SIGNAL 2 using the provided toggle switch. This can be used to correct unfavorable polarity alignments between SIGNALS 1 and 2 or can also be used to turn X-Wave into a full wave rectifier or external-voltage-controlled inverter if you plug the same signal into both SIGNAL IN jacks.

X-Wave can pass signals down to 0hz (DC) so it can also be used to process LFOs, Envelopes, CV Sequences, and 1V/Octave signals. It probably has other uses I haven't thought of!

X-Wave is 4HP and uses Burr Brown op amps for the main signal path alongside other high quality Texas Instruments ICs for other duties. X-Wave is not a bi-directional switch, so please be aware that the IN and OUT jack labels should be followed when patching. X-Wave uses a high impedance of 1M (10x the typical 100k) for all inputs, so multiple units can be connected via stacking cables/passive splitters (up to 10 inputs can be paralleled while still maintaining traditional Eurorack input impedance standards).