A CV sequencer plugin that tracks your analog synth

Stepsicle is a CV sequencer plugin that calibrates to your hardware, then sends pitch, gate, and per-step envelope voltages to Eurorack, a Korg MS-20, an ARP, or any CV synth.

Analog VCOs drift, and this corrects it

Voltage to pitch is never exactly 1V per octave. An MS-20 might track at 0.98V on the low end and 1.02V up top. An ARP holds until it warms up, then the high notes flatten. Two Eurorack oscillators can disagree by 30 cents. If you have ever retuned the same patch after moving it to another synth, you know the problem.

Stepsicle measures it and corrects it. It sweeps a chromatic scale through your DC-coupled interface into the VCO, listens to the pitch that comes back with two detection algorithms voting against each other, and builds a 128-point correction table for that exact synth. Save it as a profile per instrument, load the right one when you repatch, and the sequences stay in tune. The table can ride inside the DAW project, so a session sounds correct on any machine that opens it.

Up to 18 CV outputs

The plugin sends up to 18 routable channels: pitch, gate, and up to 16 envelope voltages, each assignable to any output on your interface. The standalone app exposes a full routing panel, so you can wire any channel to any hardware output, combine channels, and trim DC offset per channel.

Set it once per synth, save it in the profile, and forget it.

Real voltage, not a MIDI approximation

Because Stepsicle sends voltage straight to the oscillator, the 303 behaviors become analog. Slide is a true portamento glide between voltages, not a stepped jump. Accent adds its boost to the pitch or the gate. Tie holds the voltage and keeps the gate high. Each of the up to 16 envelopes can run as a synced or free CV LFO and route to any channel, so one plugin drives pitch, gate, and several modulation lines at once. A per-step fine-tune of up to 300 cents makes quarter-tone and other non-12-TET tunings programmable.

You can also flip into MIDI-to-CV mode, where the sequencer steps aside and your keyboard plays calibrated pitch and gate directly.

Interfaces that work

CV needs a DC-coupled interface, because it carries steady voltages rather than audio. These are known to work:

Consumer interfaces such as the Focusrite Scarlett are AC-coupled and cannot hold steady voltages, so they will not work for CV.

One safety note: in CV mode the audio outputs carry control voltages, not audio. Patch them to your synth’s CV inputs, never to a mixer, monitor, or headphones.

How this CV sequencer plugin compares

Questions

Pricing

Part of Stepsicle. Also available as a 303 MIDI sequencer and an envelope shaper. One license includes all three.