Mors Zatańczyć

Good afternoon friends,

On the 23rd of October this year I played a live jam on radio.electro.music.com entitled Mors Zatańczyć. This time a patch around the Klee Sequencer, using again the SN Voice, Lopass Gate, the MFOS MiniSynth, a mixer and a pair of LFOs. Oh, and some FX, to spice it up ;-)

If you like to hear this 30 minute jam, go visit the electro-music.com post (a click will bring you there, surprise!) and download the mp3. Thanks in advance for listening, and feel free to leave a comment below.

Have a nice day,
Woody

Klee Sequencer and Noodle

Hi all,

been a while since I posted here last time. In the meantime I finished the Klee Sequencer. A few posts have been on various other platforms. If you've seen those before, scroll a bit to the bottom, as you'll find a new track there.

Here you see the Klee Sequencer, still in the old rack. That's another project I need to finish. The sequencer is a mighty machine, and it needs a lot off pages to describe it. Perhaps the best way is to link to the website of the designer, Scott Stites. But how does it sound?

In the video there are two sound sources: the SN Voice and the Music From Outer Space Soundlab Minisynth. On the PWM output of the SN Voice is a little bit chorus and delay, and the only other effect is a bit reverb on the whole mix.

On to the track I promised in the start of this post, and as you already know, I don't talk much, so you just read that. You can download the file here. The patch is simple, just the triangle and noise outputs of the SN Voice through the Buchla Lopass Gate clone. Klee outputs A and A+B are used to modulate the pitch of SN Voice and LPG, and the Gate 2 output to LPG CV in. Besides that, lots of LFOs, and using the random mode of the Klee. Would be even more interesting with VC LFOs, but I don't have those yet, so no cross modulations. The only thing I tweak is a switch to change the LPG mode, and I tweak the resonance control. So it can probably go for a noodle.

Cheers,
Woody

Work in progress, little update

Hi all,
had some time to work on the projects again. I'm out of sockets again (does someone know where to get a good deal?), out of 680 Ohm resistors and some MKT caps. Aww, can happen of course. Anyway, here you see the Klee PCBs and the Buchla 281 clone pcbs, a Quadrature Function Generator. Nice little project by Toppobrillo, check out his site. He has some nice euro style modules for sale.

For the Klee I needed some 0.1% 100k resistors. Not very easy to get in mainland Europe. I'm a big fan of Skrog Productions, good music (buy his CDs!) and an awesome dude! Dave helped me to get the necessary precision resistors. Big thanks!

That's it for now. Have a very nice weekend.

Cheers,
Woody

Repairing a Ringmodulator

Hi all,
Got some DIY gear build by Sam Zen. One of the things is a device with 6 ringmodulators.

And a picture of the insides:

It's based on TBA120s, ZM-FM amplifier with demodulator. It doesn't work yet, think I have to replace some components, especially the tantalum capacitors. Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Woody

Just a little update: Buchla Lopass Gate clone

Hi all,

thanks for stopping by. Have a lot of modules on the bench now, most are 'almost finished.' They need a switch, some jacks, potentiometers or a panel, and some testing of course. First of this batch that is finished: the Buchla Lopass Gate clone. I got the PCB many months ago from Thomas White. More information on this project on his website: http://www.naturalrhythmmusic.com/lopass.html



Will do a demo soon!

Cheers,
Woody

Birch Transmogrifier

Hi there!
Last Friday (3/12/2010) I performed with Les Hall (www.freedomodds.com) as Birch Transmogrifier on radio.electro-music.com. Please check out the video below with a ten minute piece of it. If you like it, you can get the whole performance at electro-music.com.


We'll do another performance next month. Leave a message, and I'll contact you when that will happen!

Cheers,
Woody

Streaming and Beaming

Hi again, and hi visitors from MatrixSynth!
This week I finished wiring a Attenuverting Mixer. But, more interesting for you, I did a jam with Les Hall as Birch Transmogrifier. I'll post a video of that soon, you can listen to the whole jam of 90 minutes on electro-music.com
The Fonitronik Sequential Switch is awesome. Check out this video I made using the Sequential Switch, the SN Voice and some utility modules.



Thanks for watching!
Cheers,
Woody

Fonitronik Sequential Switch completed!

Hi all!
completed the Fonitronik Sequential Switch yesterday. A dense board but easy to build and lots of fun to play with. It's the first module with a 'burned' panel, so you can get an idea of how the modules will look.

Recorded a little video of the use with my phone, so it has a bad audio quality. Couldn't do a real song in the late evening, so more will follow next weekend. You can hear the SN Voice and the Soundlab, playing a little tune.



Thanks for watching and visiting my blog, and thanks to all of you who advised me, and especially Fonik who designed this great module!

Cheers,
Woody

Karplus Strong and a video

Hi all! Today I finished the SN Voice, repaired the PSU and built a great module designed by Les Hall: the Karplus Strong module. This is a first-run, or 'prototype', but I think you'll all be interested in the final version. I can't wait :-)

 

This is the module, I will design a MOTM format panel for the 2nd version. Anyway, I did a little jam for Les and the guys at electro-music.com. Here is me testing the module: http://qik.com/video/5325669 . And the jam after this first test:

Burning Modular and some Reverb

Hi again and welcome on this blog.
Today I did some tests with panel lettering. A guy on the very friendly chat of electro-music.com had the idea of burning the text on the wooden panels. Thanks for the tip! :-)
I used an old soldering iron to do this panel for the Fonitronik Sequential Switch.

 

It came out very well! To conclude a little track made while playing with the modular. Used a ladspa static delay effect, the MFOS soundlab minisynth, some LFOs and an ADSR.

Link to the MP3

Cheers,

Woody

Finished the SN Voice!

Dear visitors,
I just want to let you know I finally finished the SN Voice today. Will calibrate the module tomorrow, and will post pictures then! :-)
Have a nice weekend,
Woody

Friday Evening Soldering Fun

Hi!
Got a nice bag with parts from MusikDing today. So it was finally time to finish some unfinished PCBs. As always I forget to order the right capacitor types. So for the Buchla LPG Clone (see NaturalRythm Music) I have to wait some more time, until I order more parts.
The good thing was: the other parts were in the package! So I finished the PCBs of the second Attenuverting Mixer by Fonitronik, the Sequential Switch, also a Fonitronik design, and last but not least the Thomas Henry SN-Voice! :-D
It's time to visit Zwolle once again, to get some more 0.156" headers for the power to finish the boards.

 

Top: SN-Voice PCB by sMs Audio Electronics. Right: Buchla 292c clone by Thomas White. Left, top: Attenuverting Mixer, bottom: Sequential Switch, both by Fonitronik.

Have a very nice weekend,
Woody

Fast Track Pro

Look what I got today! :-D

Works out of the box in Linux!

Studio? No, just some problems buying gear.

Hi all,
It's time again for the weekly update. I did some work on the modular last weekend, finishing panels for the SN Voice and some work on an Attenuverting Mixer. I still miss some components for both but that'll be ok next week.
On to the title. I don't have what we call a 'studio' yet, as in: I can't record my tunes, and don't have a MIDI keyboard to play tunes on the modular and softsynths (I use sequencers now). So I thought it was time to get an audio interface and a MIDI keyboard. I bought a nice Xboard 49, but it didn't arrive. Instead I got a mail that the keyboard was broken. I hope I'll get my money back.
I use linux as my Operating System for quite a few years now, but finding a supported Audio Interface isn't that easy. So if you know a good one, please drop a comment. :-)
Cheers,
Woody

Weekend work: Test Case

Hi again!
I wanted to post this some days ago, but left the laptop adapter at another place, so had to do without for a few days. Anyway, I worked on a little 9U 'test case' for the modular last weekend. So I can test the new modules on the bench. Inside I will put some utility modules depending on what module to test. For now I'll add one CGS Utility LFO, the second Baby 10 sequencer and the SN Voice. Huh what? Time for a picture.

The test case is the bottom black case. Inside you see a finished CGS utility LFO, the second and almost finished Baby 10 sequencer, and a panel for a Fonitronik Attenuverting Mixer. On top the MFOS Soundlab.

That's it for today. Have a nice day!

Working on the DIY modular: SN Voice

Dear All,
received a package from sMs Audio Electronics today with some parts to finish the Thomas Henry SN Voice. The SN Voice is a monophonic synthesizer voice with one VCO, VCA, noise source and simple Envelope Generator build around the SN76477, a chip used in the 80s in video games for sound effects. More information on the website of Scott Stites.
Inside the package were some special components to finish the project. So I added the components to the board and started on the panel components. Almost finished now, until I realized four capacitors missed. (See picture).

 I have to buy these capacitors to finish this project, and I hope I get this done before February.

Cheers,

Woody