Eurorack/VCV signals are ~10 Vpp: audio swings ±5 V, CV is 0–10 V unipolar or ±5 V bipolar

Oscillators and CV generators in Eurorack and VCV Rack typically produce a 10 V peak-to-peak signal, but the range sits differently depending on the signal’s job. Audio is bipolar, swinging ±5 V around zero, because sound is an alternating waveform. Unipolar CV — for example an envelope that rises then falls back to zero — spans 0 to 10 V and never goes negative. Bipolar CV — for example an LFO that swings both above and below zero to push a parameter up and down — spans ±5 V. These are conventions, not rules the hardware enforces (in Eurorack ‘the only rule is you can always find a module that breaks the rule’). Knowing them helps diagnose patches: a modulation source with the wrong polarity pushes a parameter in one direction only instead of moving it symmetrically around a centre.

Examples

An envelope output rests at 0 V, rises toward 10 V and falls back — unipolar 0–10 V. An LFO output swings −5 V to +5 V — bipolar, so patched to pitch it raises and lowers the note evenly (vibrato).

Assessment

An envelope patched to a filter cutoff only ever opens the filter upward, never below its resting point. What polarity is the envelope, and what kind of source would you swap in to make the cutoff also sweep below its centre?