cycle of problems

Neural Agoniser PCB block diagram

2011-06-04T09:39:00.000+10:00

I am doing a some servicing of my synth before i hand it over to a friend to look after while i go overseas. There were a couple of noisy sections in my NA which i wanted to resolve. I created this diagram to help me work out what is what. I hope it helps others also..

Images from my VJ set @ ascension engine

2011-04-02T09:48:00.000+11:00

I snipped a few screens from my quarts composition to add to my soundcloud file and thought i most post here before i delete - i just found out that my set and projections will be included on an upcoming release so stay tuned

Something for future live gigs

2011-03-27T21:58:00.000+11:00

Working on a new project based on the syapse serge touch keyboard and programmer circuit. My CGS programmer has been such an amazing tool. This will hopefully become and amazing controller for my modular.

First section of the pcb almost done :)

Truant Live @ Ascension Engine

2011-03-27T20:00:00.000+11:00

Truant live @ Ascension Engine 26-3-2011 by prblmchild

Great day

Really happy with my performance and I was very much greatful for the presence of an audience to see my set even though i was the first to perform. Thanks to Scott for running the event. Some outstanding performances, the highlight for me being Grist and Zen Paradox. Video was recorded and hopefully when Scott gets some time he can snip and upload my section.

Ascension Rig

2011-03-19T14:41:00.003+11:00

Here is the rig for my upcoming gig (next saturday)

Top Row = Consists of 3 x Teezer TZ-Vco, Mankato Quadrature LFO, Source of Uncertainty, Wavefolder / Modulo Magic / Plague Bearer
Bottom Row = Living Vco, 2 x VCS, 4 x Low Pass Gates

This is slightly different to my last modular gig. I had a lot more filters last time. The end result was floaty and droning where as this time I am trying to add more dynamics into my sound so we have envelopes and more waveshapers.

The setup is about as "west coast" as it gets. Buchla / Serge. I find it interesting that i have ended up with a setup in this style. I always used to think these rigs just make weird blips and random soundscapes but i have learnt that they are such densely functional designs and can achieve so much - you just have to take the time to learn how to understand them.

This gig was going to showcase a different style of set - integration between modular and machinedrum. I have recently made a lot of music in this style but I found that 30+ minute sets of modular blips and drum beats gets really hard to program without computers since i can only put so many modules in my road case. It is pretty tough to change patterns and patches on the modular and so i decided to go back to drone / noise.

Hopefully we can record the set and I'll post the end result
If you are in melbourne please come down and check it out

Ascension Engine
Loop Bar
Melbourne
26-March
2011
2pm onward

Ascension Engine - Loop Bar Sat 26th Aug Day Event :)

2011-03-05T11:10:00.000+11:00

Ascension Engine at Loop Bar 2011
Straight from the Rainbow Serpent Festival comes the Ascension Engine for an exclusive Melbourne event. Ascension Engine is an audio/visual cornucopia of meditative sound and vision from some of Australia's finest audiovisualist experimenters.
With the killer sound system and massive screen at Loop, sit back and connect with the universe that these visionary artists will weave for you.
Be prepared for sacred frequencies, audio reactive mandalas for meditation, binaural beats and alchemical transformations through sound and vision.
Ascension Engine comes alive from 2pm on Saturday 26th March.

Tickets on the door are $10 full or $5 conc.

Truant
Siilt
Grist
Electronic Shaman
Zen Paradox
Abre Ojos
Zero Point (SA)

new quartz pics

2011-02-01T00:21:00.003+11:00

Set

2011-02-01T00:13:00.003+11:00

The set went great. What a great environment to have my first set.
Thanks to Scott for doing all the hard work on the night

Next time i need to get some roadies to help me lug my heavy rig in. My lovely girlfriend helped but im not sure if she will ever put her hand up to do it again. The mixer case ended up being pretty heavy and awkward to move around.

Sound was recorded, ill try post it once i get a copy

Pre-trip studio sale

2011-01-18T10:15:00.003+11:00

Impending international jaunt
Looking to decrease the amount of stuff to go into storage

Samson rubicon r8a $350 ( near mint )
Allen heath zed420 desk $800 ( near mint )
Lexicon mpx1 multi-effects $300 ( near mint )
Machinedrum mk2uw $1350 ( near mint, boxed )
Oto biscuit $500 (as new, w/box)
500w p/ channel amp $50 (worn but works)
505 $50

Electronics gear & diy synth stuff
Dc20mhz oscilloscope $50 (one channel glitchy)
Variable dc supply $50
Mb808 95% finished w/ undrilled hammond case $450
(unit working just needs case)
Boxotrix distortion compressor 90% finished $150
(distortions working, compressor + gates populated but untested - no panel stuff)

Possible trades
Adam a7
adam a5
zoom h4n
kodak zi8

Email coolhandluka@@gmail.com
All items located in melbourne
Shipping at your cost
Pick up prefered

Photos on request

Preparing for GIG @ Rainbow Serprent

2011-01-17T16:39:00.006+11:00

So this is the gig. First ever live gig. Very exciting, kinda nerve racking. It has been a mammoth effort to get my modular ready for the road. I posted pictures of the new case i bought. Since that time i overcome issues with power supplies, racking and getting a few bugs fixed in a few modules. It has taken a lot of time but im happy to say (hopefully this doesnt jinx it) that my modular is ready.

And here it is.

Modules include:
>3 x Ian Fritz Teezer TZ Vco
>Source of Uncertainty (only FRV plugged in due to not having enough distro slots)
>Mankato Quadrature LFO / VCF
>Plague Bearer & 2 x Jurgen Haible Wavefolders (Yusynth pcb)
>Jurgen Haible Living Vco
>3 x MMM VCF
>4 x Low Pass GAtes

I built some stuff into the rack panels
>3 x mixer, 2 x mult (i know i use bananas but i dont have much clearance in the case)
>2 x slew, 4 x lfo, 4 x attenuator
>8 banana to 1/4inch converters

Additional Effects (racked & desktop)
>Lexicon PCM70
>Jurgen Haible Moog Resonator

I am sequencing some sections of my live set using silentway but most will be all modular. And ill be performing visuals using Quartz Composer

I have a few days now to work on some patches and arrangement and polish up what i have prepared for visuals. Here is a quick sample of what i am going to show.

Very exciting times. It also spells the end of my DIY synth building for a while. I plan on spending a year overseas soon so i need to save. I think i have accomplished a lot in the last few years and this gig will be the transition point from where i was being an electronics nerd to a performer. I am really happy that this moment has come.

upcoming gig + new case

2010-11-23T21:43:00.006+11:00

I have my first gig using my modular. Super exciting. I just bought a portable case so i can take my modular out on the town. Check it out. It needs some modification so i can close it while still having my modules patched. It seems a bit flimsy when nothing is in it. I hope it feels a bit better when full.

I rearranged my studio to add it into the workflow

The cool thing about getting this case is 1. it fits my huge reverb tanks so i can finally finish my neural agoniser module. I hadnt worked too hard on finished that one as i couldnt think of a good way to mount the tanks in my other case. The second cool thing is i now have another 20U of space to fill :)

I haven't done any building in the last couple of months as all spare time was put into running a big rave. I have a few things i want to finish before this gig so i might try get motivated again. Weather is getting warn so it is harder and harder to think about doing electronics.

update --

sneak peak: formant processor

2010-10-11T18:38:00.006+11:00

In the interest of recouping some money from some recent purchases im going to make a few effect boxes that hopefully will interest some people.
They will include a bunch of pcbs that i have lying around which don't fit into my modular.

The first is the formont processor based from the polymoog resonator pcb

Still sourcing the final parts but im mostly finished.
I just have a paper mock up on the box at the moment but i will get them printed up similar to the shulze phaser.

modular modular modular

2010-09-27T10:06:00.003+10:00

current state of play, thoughts and steps forward

klee - im having a bit of trouble sequencing on this thing, im not sure if it is just me being musically retarded but i am yet to get many melodies out of this thing which i enjoy. i guess it is going to take some more work familiarising myself with gate buss and the voltage ranges

lpg - i thought these were going to be good as my VCAs but they are not. i like them as filters and as gates but i need something with less decay for VCAs. I just bought some Oakley classic vca pcbs so ill see if they tickle my fancy

cgs active ring mod - i think i have worked out that i dont like ringmod effects, there is a good chance i might get rid of this. i was going to redesign my wavemult panel anyway and the ringmods were going to be put into my FS1 panel but im not sure that will happen now. i put my hand up for some of fonik's ring mods just to check if if this design was the problem.

mankato - this thing is amazing. i cant wait to have a 2nd quad lfo in my system once i get my chaquo. quad lfos are the bomb.

AND finally...

I need more mixers and patch cables

nixies

2010-09-27T09:44:00.004+10:00

time to do something other than synth stuff, well kinda

ive wanted to make something with nixies for a long time and i was lucky enough to be offdered a whole bunch of nixie tubes in trade for some pcbs

the first batch just arrived the infamous in-18 nixies

they are huge!

i have a heap more on the way also and i just bought some arduino Duemilanoves. so it is time to start trying to code my own programs. the plan is to make a reciprocal frequency counter for the modular. i hope to make some VUs and of course a clock. i am not sure which will come first, i dare say i wont use the in-18s until i am past the test phase to ensure i dont blow them.

in other news i have been building my cgs-vcs
it was all going great, all testing checked out, then i man-handled it during installation into my cabinet and i have seemed to have shorted something out and it no longer works :/ hopefully it doesn't take too long to fix

programmer - panel & pcbs

2010-09-15T21:21:00.004+10:00

somehow i managed to drill the programmer panel reasonable precise and all of the pots fit behind the panel without shorting on each other. i had to bend up all the lugs on the pots which was a pain considering how many pots there are. overall im mega happy

as im not using the serge spacing i cannot mount the pcbs the way they were supposed to sit behind the panel. so i have to layer them behind the panel. this is going to making wiring this module a super nightmare, it was already a hard job when they were mounted by the pots in a row behind a cgs serge panel.

wiring these up will be interesting because you cannot use connectors and you need to use strip wire so these things will be stuck together once all wired up. i better have the pcbs built correctly. fingers crossed

programmer

2010-09-11T09:12:00.004+10:00

i am getting a little nervous about how cramped i have made my cgs programmer layout. after discussing with people on muffwiggler how their designs were too compact and how they should always give pots room to be tweaked i have gone and made a super cramped module.

it is somewhat amusing. after studying population studies at uni i am noticing my synth designs growing in density proportionally to the decline in available space. i think i have breached the carrying capacity of design space and am on a road to disaster.

nevertheless i want more!!! and in less space. yes that is how it goes and ill stick to it. may as well be consistent and not listen to any logical information telling me that perhaps im pushing it a little too far and should be take on sustainable design. blah blah blah. :)

more!

luckily the panel components JUST fit onto the panel. i am going to have to cut off the lugs on the pots and solder to the pot itself in order for the pots not to short on their neighbour pots. this also means for once i am going to have to drill the panel with precision.

My Source of Uncertainty Module is pretty much fully working now, though i havent got the Chaquo pcb yet. I found some problems with my build of the SOU and a couple on the pcb designs. I just need to solve a little issue in the QRV module but it is functioning only both outputs are N+1. The FRV circuit is sensational. I am yet to test SRV and QRV in situ but hope to this weekend.

But now it is time to get out of my studio and go be social, spend time with family and do some partying with friends.

this is the end (i think), well almost

2010-09-05T17:44:00.008+10:00

it has come to the time when im planning the last modules to go into my case
there will be no more expansion. since i set myself a limit of modules i have found as i have gone along that the density of my modules is increasing. im trying to cram as much in as possible :)

here are some of the last things to go into my machine

cgs programmer sequencer 8 step 3U panel

i am really keen on having a programmer as id like to be able to generate chords on my modular. i also really like it how it has gate outs on each stage. this will be good for making complex sequencers with my other sequencers and seq switches.

modulo magic / wave multiplier / plague bearer

this is a redesign of my old wave mult panel which had a ring mod inside it. i really just didnt click with the ring mod. im giving up the lockhart and grinder to have a modulo magic and plague bearer. i hope the modulo sounds good. there is no information on this module anywhere.

dual vcs (DUSG) w/ analog logic

I like the buchla quad function generator and how it uses OR gates to construct complex envelopes. I was going to build a vc-adsr but that just seems somewhat limited in function in comparison to 2 x vc-AR circuits with OR logic. VCS does so many other things too. I look forward to this module.

Gated Comparator / Gate Delay

Continuing with the sequencer theme here is the gated comp. It is a wacky one that is for sure. I added some yusynth gate delays in there too. I realised once i started sequencing on my klee that it was all a bit stiff. This should allow some loose grooves to be created. This rounds up my control section also. I think i have a lot of bases covered between Analog Computer, Gated Comparator, Gate Delays, Quadrature Lfos, Klee, Seq Switches, Progammer & Lfos.

There is only a few more spaces after this. Im probably going to ditch my lfos once all my AR generators are done. This will free up 4U. I am going to redesign my FS1 panel to include the ring mods. I also am going to add in a mixer panel. Then i think i have 2U left over. So it will probably be some more filters or wave mults or perhaps some time based modules like phasers / delays. No point planning too much. Lots of building ahead.

Btw, my FRV board is finished :) Waiting on parts to finish my SRV and QRV.

Uncertainty - Buchla SOU Build

2010-09-04T12:06:00.007+10:00

Lots of it unfortunately as I'm having some problems getting these working

I had these populated boards floating about in my studio for a few months before assembling the module. I hope that i havent zapped the CMOS IC while haphazardly moving them from pile to pile. I should be more careful with these things. Hopefully i can work out the problems reasonable quick

The 555 timers in the FRV dont seem to be responding to the manual control which uses a vactrol to vary the RC timing circuit. It seems to pulse about every 12 seconds with no variance.
Frustrating problem as i can't work out where the problem lies.

The QRV board is waiting on some 4006s. I had a 4066 installed accidentally. Luckily someone came to my rescue as they are really hard to find these days. Thanks Tom.

SRV is somewhat functioning but i question the output so it might need a few tweaks.

These are definitely the most involved boards that ive had to etch and populate so I guess that assuming that these would come together really easily was wishful thinking. The etch of the pcbs and population looks super clean so I can only assume that there is some component failures.

frac + cv processor

2010-06-14T20:00:00.004+10:00

have been a bit busy of late but managed to get some things done in my spare time
i have almost finished the 2nd side of my PD-vclfo, so much wiring in that thing

I also made the panel for my 2 fonik attenuverters and a buffered mult which i will make on veroboard. i am going to mod the attenuverters so they have a 5v injection instead of 7.5. i think i might use a 5v regulator to do that. im going to use some of my lt1013s inside foniks pcbs as they are meant to be closer to rail-rail.

i also made a temporary rack for my growing number of frac modules
i almost bought more today. this module buisness is addictive :/ old news i guess

for sale

2010-06-11T22:36:00.003+10:00

evolver desktop aus$550
allenheath zed420 $1250

the sandwidge (cgs / buchla analog computer)

2010-06-08T08:36:00.004+10:00

here is the latest build.. well actually i finished 2 of my 3 thru-zero vcos as well

this is probably the most dense i have had to stack pcbs so i'm taking a photo

this is my version of the bridechamber cgs analog computer, i just added a random gate source based on the buchla music easle (208 module). the cgs stuff includes a bunch of logic (and,or,xor,nxor), comparators, inverters, analog shift register and pulse divider.

my etch of the 208 was slightly too small so unfortunately i'll have to do it again. due to it being sandwidged under the analog shift register i needed to replace it before i started to wire up the asr. the logic and pulse dividers are all wired and working

happy days

up for trade

2010-06-06T10:26:00.004+10:00

oversupply:

SSM2220 (5)
LM358 (5)
5532 (5)
LT013(5)
CA3046(2)
LF444(2)
MC1458(4)
LM13600(5)
CA3280(4)
OP2134(4)

fonik attenuverter pcb (1)

need:
white davis 1900 clone knobs (10)
LM741
10turn 10k pot

futurlec can go suck a something

2010-05-10T22:08:00.002+10:00

2 months and waiting...

in the meantime my PD vc-lfo is working a treat, im building up the 2nd one now
it has taken a lot of attention and time to work out the quirks in this module (even without the mods) the builder of the pcb really did a slap-dash job of putting it together. if i were to build the module again i would probably not use his pcb and build it on perf board

anyway

both analog lfos working and property scaled to 10v/pp
(as the square wave natively runs from rail to rail ie, ~29v/pp)

and my mods work cool too
vc-waveform selection working great
vc-sample'n'hold working great (and is so fuckin cool)
vc-phase distortion also working great

phase distortion is a funny synthesis tool, it is like an envelope is shaping the lfo waveform
if you imagine you are holding a water balloon and you squish it in your hands. the distorted wonky shape is kinda like what you get when you apply phase distortion to the lfo wave shape

interesting to watch on the scope

hopefully building the 2nd will be easier

neural agoniser

2010-04-17T12:53:00.002+10:00

finally wiring this baby up
check it
this is about the only module i have without mods or extra circuitry
but i did include input attenuators for every cv input

so many modules so little power

2010-04-17T12:49:00.004+10:00

still waiting on futurlec order for all my mains power distro so at the moment i have this big electronic shrine, sorta 2001 esq :)

dual phase distortion vclfo (tom wiltshire edruid / haxster)

2010-04-14T21:36:00.005+10:00

For a long time i have wanted to build the electric druid vclfo (http://www.electricdruid.net/index.php?page=projects.lfo9) but i didnt really have the knowledge to implement it exactly how i wanted it. Luckily haxster came along with a pcb on electro-music.

This module is a digitial lfo with various features, first one being voltage control, second being phase distortion (ala casio CZ), third being lots of waveforms selectable by CV and more.

There are a couple of pcbs for this module now but no one has really made all the good parts accessable so i have had to really mod the hell out of the haxster board to get it to near where i want it.

The haxster version had the edruide vclfo core with external VC but nothing else. He included 2 extra lfos which is handy. I have added VC for phase distortion, waveform select and S/H rate. Haxster for some weird reason has 4 buffered outputs from the vclfo so i hacked the pcb so that instead of buffers the opamps actually run as led drivers for the analog lfos. So far i have drilled lots of holes in the pcb, have wires running everywhere and it is only going to get more crazy as i get closer to completion

I seem to be stuck on some stupid problems in the analog lfo, the vclfo works. I havent tested my mods yet as i want to fix these silly analog lfos first. Getting close.

upcoming gig

2010-04-05T22:07:00.001+10:00

uncertainty

2010-04-02T11:42:00.002+11:00

i am working on another module
this is a combination of the bunchla source of uncertainty and ian fritz's chaquo
i have used 3 of the 4 SOU pcbs, i skipped the sample & hold / integrator pcb

this module has the following functions:

quantised random voltages
stored random voltages
fluctuating random voltages / stepped output
noise source (original digital MM5837 ver and analog tranistor version selectable on panel)
quadrature sine osc
double well chaos generator

i have populated the SOU boards, just waiting for the rare MM5837 chip to arrive
and i should get my Chaquo pcb in the next few weeks

it is going to be a challenge to get all these pcbs mounted behind the 2U panel :)

distros done

2010-03-20T23:15:00.006+11:00

made enough for 2 cases
that should do for now
next thing to do is get my mains distro going
however i need to order parts from futurlec for that so it is going to take a month or so :/

in the meantime i guess ill go back to working on my mb808
got a couple of bugs in the drum voices to nut out but almost done!
808 beats already rolling out of this machine, so much fun

distro pcb

2010-03-18T20:12:00.002+11:00

just a maybe

case oiling

2010-03-17T18:07:00.006+11:00

so im loving this stage of building my modular
i thought doing electronics was kinda fun at the beginning but im so over it. doing all the woodwork was amazing and i feel to much more satisfaction completing things like this. perhaps it is just because building electronics in modular world your fruits are so staggered, until pow, you have a big modular synth. well im only getting to that phase now after 2 years or so. hehe, im totally having a cry about it.

anyway... the blackbutt wood sanded down amazing. damian did an awesome job. i have used this deks olje oil to finish the wood. all along i was trying to avoid dark stains, red stains and yellow stains (as we do). my synth will be silver, black, white and green so i didnt think red or yellow stain wood cases would work. the cool thing about the wood i chose and this oil is that it will allow the wood to naturally darken and this wood will darken in a dark chocolate - black colour. i really like the natural dark wood better than stained dark wood. the trick is i just need to give the wood some sunlight. not that this is going to happen in my current studio :/

i got told that the trick to applying oils is the first wash needs to be left for a long time to allow it to sink into the wood. basically the deeper you let it get the better the finish. if you try to apply 2 coats straight away it wont seep in as much.

here is my new outdoor workshop,
a shadow of the work shop in the warehouse but it does the job.

check the grain.
each panel is made up of 2 floor boards
somehow i made it work pretty well

this wood is amazing

yeah so once my modular is done i think ill do more wood work
or maybe ill actually spend time with my friends if they will still remember me

CV it with a vactrol

2010-03-17T08:05:00.002+11:00

here is the layout i made to use in my wave multiplier
i posted a pdf on muff in this thread if you want to etch it

http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14053

case back from being sanded

2010-03-16T20:40:00.001+11:00

teezers / seq switches

2010-03-10T20:41:00.005+11:00

mouser order came in with the parts needed to complete this panels
this is a triple ian fritz through zero vco
i still need to make some brackets to mount the pcb plate to the panel
2 of 3 pcbs are stuffed and ready for testing

here is my panel for a combination module called "data switch"
it includes a cgs sequential switch and a fonik sequential switch
they work opposite, cgs has a many to one relationshop and foniks is one to many
so they are named accordingly

ive been working on my mb808 of late and it is driving me nuts so i might try get these done soon. Hopefully i can get my case this week, my modules are looking uncomfortable without the case

matson mini 2040 filter

2010-02-28T21:37:00.005+11:00

living vco pretty much done now
sounds great, can't wait for my case to arrive... sigh

started on my matson mini triple filter

mounting the little pre-made filter cards was interesting since i havent got my shipment of aluminium sorted yet. i gave up trying to debug my super controller so i used the 2mm mounting plate out of it. somehow it kinda worked :)

i need to get some connectors for it so i can wire it up
the problem with premade stuff is you have to work to their conventions

i also made the panel for my triple teezer through-zero vco which you can see in the background
i need to get more 10 turn pots before i can fully populate the panel. have to stop buying records and make a shipment to mouser before they stop shipping stuff to australia for cheap

living vco

2010-02-21T18:43:00.005+11:00

just moved house and am finally getting back to this synth
it has been expensive procuring all the tools needed to do this
living in the warehouse really had its benefits

i just borrowed a drill press and got my living vco panel done
my case should be sanded and oiled this week so the next task is to etch my distro boards and mount the power supplies

case and phaser

2009-12-21T19:07:00.008+11:00

phaser

mmm biscuits

2009-12-11T20:58:00.003+11:00

biscuitting the wood for joing

glueing the boxs together

set-em up!!
about to be sanded and finished :)

case building

2009-11-23T13:38:00.006+11:00

so i bought this awesome wood awhile ago
it is from this reconditioned, refound and recycled wood place in melbourne called urban salvage
i found a whole bunch of blackbutt flooring and grabbed all the nice bits

so over the last few weeks i have been cutting and glueing the boards so they dont have tongue and grooves showing and so they are deep enough for my case. it has been fun. i learnt how to use a band saw and how to join wood.

here is a picture of the joined blackbutt planks, it is beautiful looking wood imo. i wanted to avoid getting red or yellow coloured wood as i wanted the case to be a greyish tan or a dark chocolate brown. since my panels are clean alu with black features i thought red /yellow shades wont compliment whereas dark or greyish wood will excentuate the panneling. the cool thing about blackbutt is it will naturally turn a dark blackish brown when exposed to the sun.

so this weekend i mitred all the boards and cut them to size

i used a box strap thingy and tested how all the mitres went and im happy to say it all went really well. i was stressing so hard about screwing up the mitres.

trip out

2009-10-22T20:18:00.002+11:00

progress thus far

2009-10-22T19:52:00.003+11:00

progress thus far

(back row)
mankato w. led mods
-still got sync mod to work out
-no rush though

supercontroller
-need to fix some bugs in the noise and S&H, ie all the sn chip functions :(
-need some on-on-on switches, hopefully they will solve the issues

dual buchla 291 bp vactrol filter with hp/lp mods and parallel mode mod
-finished but might swap some vactrols in one as it sounds a bit flat

quad buchla 281 vc-ar enevelope function generator
-working :)

(front row)
ken stone wave multiplier w/ grinder vactrol mods and active ring modem (dual real ring mod)
-wave mult works, vactrol mod works on breadboard but not hooked up to grinder yet
-active modem needs parts
-pcbs to be mounted and wired

ken stone analog computer (pulse divider, asr, XOR XNOR, comperator, random pulse from digi noise)
-pcbs filled, needs wiring and mounting
-need black bananas

klee sequencer w/ A-B mod & mfos quantiser
-klee stuff and semi-working while mounted on test panel, needed new cmos chip but fine i think
-quantiser stuffed
-lots of wiring
-need black bananas

quad low pass gates, with AB, CD, ABCD mix outs
-need to wire it up

Once i have wired these up i will move to my vco/lfo bank which includes JH Living Vcos (3 solid vcos with linear detune), 3 x teezer Thru zero maddness module and a dual Tom Wiltshire vc-lfo board built by haxter with the additional 4 basic lfos. Looking forward to actually making noise. hehe. Oh well, i sold my cgs vcos to buy a delay pedal hehe totally my own fault.

dual tom wiltshire / haxster vc-lfo panel

2009-10-21T23:09:00.002+11:00

here is the draft

had 6 lfos on the 4U panel

i think it is a bit busy
i might swap the sync depth rotart and the wave form select pot so the shapes graphics have some more space. clutter!

it is probably hard to work out what is going on
the small black circles are for switches
the next size up are LEDs
and the largest (in the middle rows) are bananas

modular progress

2009-10-02T16:31:00.002+10:00

just to show that some things are happening and im not all talk

klee re-panel

2009-10-02T16:28:00.003+10:00

new vcos

2009-10-02T16:10:00.004+10:00

dah da dah da dah dah dahhhhhh

boxotrix (harty feast) panel construction

2009-04-05T19:48:00.004+10:00

Now that im getting toward the end of populating this beast of a pcb it was time to get around to making a panel. I made the panel as the construction lit mentions that to start working out the final values you need all the pots to be attached. Im not actually exactly sure how im going to case this one up yet. Currently im hoping to have banana and 1/4 inch inputs. As you can see from the picture below the bananas are on the top of the panel. I also want a more traditional format as i dare say ill use this doing gigs with just my laptop / drum machines and various other non-banana gear. So im thinking ill have a 2 rows of 1/4 or even 1/8 inch jacks on the back panel.

Here you can see the populated 3mm aluminium panel. There are a few missing panel components which i hope to have soon. Note the low profile rotary switches from allied electronics.

This project had a lot of hard to find stuff. It feels really good getting toward the end of it. I still have to get the THAT4301. It has been left till last due to the extreme price and ordering difficulties. I also could not get 5k1 3300ppm tempco resistors. So i just used normal 5k1 resistors.

Hopefully by the next post ill have the panel competely done :)

boxotrix >> harty feast

2009-04-02T23:57:00.005+11:00

new box-o-trix layout w/
new project name
new distortion module names
different look
roughly same layout but 1/2 an inch more in height
crazy fonts :)

here is w/ components and then underneath just the silk

i was a little underwhelmed with the look of my last revision of the box-o-trix design. so i gave it an extreme make over. I like it now. I think giving all the distortion/gate/compressors verb titles, even if they are not really all that well associated in effect character, a sense of association and relation. This has been sent to print so just need my final batch of components and she will be almost done! Wish i could say the same for my 808, that project is costing a fortune.

working hard for the modules

2009-03-28T12:15:00.005+11:00

While i've made minimal posts here of late i've been rolling
Thumbs up to having a job now .. income really helps sdiy progression
Deliveries started hitting my door a while back and been busy getting my system all together
I have to say i love packages hitting my door
A little surprise inside each one, well almost

Here are the knobs and rotarty switches i ordered from Allied Electronics. I also bought 25 vtl5c3s hehe, you will soon see why!

After a dabble with clay based photo paper i have realised that pnp blue is really worth every cent
Ink transfers onto copper and aluminium is SO much easier.
Quicker, more reliable and a better outcome every single time.

The paper technique meant that you had to wear away the top layer of paper above the laser ink and this was a time consuming problematic process. i spent a few nights trying to get a couple buchla 291 pcbs done and only 1 worked and the outcome was 60% good at best/ props to kids who can get this method working. But at the quantitiy of pcbs i have to make i have realised that Pnp Blue is the only way. I bought a bulk amount from tom (BugBrand) who was nice enough to sort me out with a good price, still expensive though :/ . Tom is such a champion!!

The other thing i have worked out is that Staedtler Lumocolour pens are the best resist touch up pens for Etching. In some cases i've found it to be sturdier than the laser toner! It is a hell of a lot harder to clean off the etched pcbs, that is for sure. I found out about the use of these pens while trawling the internet, (as all of us sdiy kids do :), and some collective tested a bunch of resist mediums and this was meant to be the best. So that is confirmed, seriously use your sharpies for drawing on sleeping people and go buy red lumocolour pens.

I've been lots etching pcbs for people recently
I think I've spent about 10 hours at the drill press over the last month
In fact i'm writing this post while procrastinating drilling more :/ :)

Still got a bunch more pcbs to go, some for me, some for others
here are the 4 of 6 buchla 291 pcbs i have to make ( 2 for me, 4 for others )
and also 10 of the 12 buchla 292 pcbs (none for me, i have 4 of the pro pcbs made by thomas white .. but these lpg designs by matthias fonik have the resonance modifications from the t.white design, just no input mixers)

So i'm finally at the stage to etch my panels. I etched a panel with Fe2 last week and it came out a bit dodgy. I learnt that Fe2 reacts with alu pretty in a very noxious way, the Fe2 mixture turned into a bubling mud steaming with intense gas !!! It ate through all the spots that i had touched up with shapie and so the panel came out pretty acidalicous :) The module was a tube vca and i made a pretty smooth looking frac panel design for it, i think the tube gods wanted it to look a but meaner hehe.

So at the moment i'm waiting on final deliveries to finish a bunch of projects. Just some rare stuff. Need to get a bunch of more panel compoenets. While it is going to be expensive, i know i am going ot enjoy every single delivery :) heh

so...

Waiting for panel:
2 x cgs vco
4 x buchla 281 envelopes
2 x thomas henry vca
4 x thomas white/buchla lpg
klee sequencer
cgs Wavemultipier (recently fixed)

Needs more components:
mb808 (finished up Seq, just need to complete a few more drums)
box'o'trix (waiting on hard to find parts, next week hopefully, apart from the that4301 $)
mbhp PIC burner (regulator and PIC + sockets)
1 x buchla 291 (rare transistors and zeniers)

Need to etch:
2 more lpg boards
2 x buchla SOU (1 set for me and 1 for a friend)
3 more buchla 291 pcbs
gameboy midi interface (i just designed a pcb for it)

Currently working on:
pcb layout for buchla 257 cv processor
my modular case

TAU PHASER STOMP DESIGN

2009-03-01T16:00:00.004+11:00

since im making the krautrock phaser within a stompbox format for a friend i thought that i would like one myself. i really regret not making one of the mini-modular cases for myself. unfortunately i don't have another krautrock phaser module (yet) so i made a similar design for my tau phaser.

here is the result

buchla and haible

2009-02-22T14:47:00.004+11:00

got some more bits rolling after the huge futurlec order arrived
ontop of this i also finished a few modules on the 808pcb and 1/2 populated my mankato vcf

im about to mock up my case for the krautrock phaser
the case will be similar in style to a moogerfooger box
here is the panel design ready to cover some alu

box'o'trix case design

2009-02-10T14:35:00.004+11:00

here is my revised and completed first draft (click for bigger)
it measures 1.5' high, 4.5' deep, 12.25' long
the power plug will be on the side or i might remove a set of the common ground plugs and put it on the back

i am waiting on a big shipment with almost all of the remaining parts, only a few to go after that so i hope that this box will be completed about the same time as my 808. if all goes well this will be within 3 months.

update

2009-01-20T13:46:00.003+11:00

well i just started at a new job so i can finally think about building my projects again as income is slowly trickling back into my account.

next projects im about to order are

seb francis' box'o'trix (1/2 built as i had most components in stock)
mb808 bd, ac, sn, noise and finish dout/din/main out
low pass gates (4)
th mankato
th vca 1 (2nd one)
buchla 291 bpf (x2)
tau phaser (1/2 build)
krautrock phaser (2/3 built)

im also starting to stock up on the chemicals for the electro etching
and i have a laser printer on the way so i can start simplifing the pcb and panel etching process

and here are some tracks i have been working on

tubby-sans (dub)

Sans-tubby by prblmchild

gingermiss (deep techno)

gingermiss by prblmchild

boxotrix distortion box

2009-01-06T13:52:00.003+11:00

got the design rolling for my seb francis boxotrix
im going for a super low profile version
since i am using bananas it makes life a bit easier

here is the faceplate that will sit ontop of a box no wider or longer than it and prob only a inch high to accomodate the filter caps in the psu. i might put bananas on the front and back of the box so it can be plugged in no matter where it is sitting next to your gear

i still need to finish some pot measures for the compressors
but i want to wait to see how the unit works before i commit to anything yet

another new tune

2009-01-05T00:58:00.001+11:00

Feedback trails by prblmchild

feedback trails

new tune - chautauqua

2008-12-30T20:34:00.000+11:00

Chautauqua by prblmchild

still a bit of a draft but check it out

291 fix

2008-12-30T10:49:00.004+11:00

i had some orientation errors in my old 291 board
ive fixed them now and ive also divided the pcb down to a single filter
i did this as the pcb was just too large to fit behind a panel
and now you can make it a dual, triple or quad by stacking the pcbs

here it is

808

2008-12-19T11:46:00.002+11:00

i keep finding myself seeing 808 everywhere, i wake up and walk past clocks at 808 each morning on the dot, i notice 808 on the clock by chance every evening and i currently have 808 emails in my gmail... check this out if you dont believe me it is all for real

so someone up there, or down there, or somewhere is telling me to build my 808
why deny them the satisfaction

here is where i'm up to

more layouts

2008-12-11T21:40:00.007+11:00

just some more design tweaks, getting toward full capability now and maximum space utilisation

some more things are going to change now that im getting close to the end
i may as well pack as much function to this lot

my source of uncertainty (formally wogglebug panel) is going to be modified heavily as more amazing random buchla modules come up as projects. currently it has a mfos quantisers, 2 208 randoms, two wogglebugs and a ring mod for child tones, but i think ill drop a 208, condese the e wogglebugs and add another transfer my digi noise into it.

this means i have to change that modula module above.. hmm wonder what i can put in that :)

im also going to try add a pitch - cv into my IO module, im not sure where this will come from but i hear word of a project coming up.

anyway, here is the updated look with these current module designs
the case is also being designed at the moment and looks like it will come up trumps

yet more panel re-designs

2008-12-05T14:16:00.008+11:00

well while all the components for my builds are held up in the thailand seige i may aswell work on some of the designs that have been irking me for some time. of my whole modular i think there is about 4 or 5 modules that im really not 100% on the design.

they include :
mankato
cgs wave mult
klee
lpg
freq-shifter
quad lfo . digi noise
neural agonizer

so here is my current re-designs for lpg, fs-1, neural ag and the design for the 291

more to come, maybe even some more re-edits on these hehe

buchla 291 adapatation

2008-12-05T01:12:00.006+11:00

i have modified mark verbos' pcb design for the 291 band pass filter. it now includes a summing mixer, a cv processor and some buffers which allow you to tap out the high pass out and low pass outputs. this now means you can add a whole bunch more spice to this killer filter.

here is my design
if you want the pdf feel free to pm me @ electro-music.com my handle is luka

here is the messy schem of the mods

you can find the 291 schems @
http://www.simple-answer.com/DIY.html

the mods were infuenced by scott stites
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/scottnoanh/slsdiy/id11.html

and from ken stone's cgs04/cgs48

this hasnt been built yet
so let me know if you have any issues if you try
it should be ok since the filter core has been used many times
some values in the mods might need to be tweaked to your system's specs

tube vca pcb design

2008-12-01T20:21:00.003+11:00

i just did a redesign for the 5672 pentode vca circuit that was originally posted by j.barrs on that dutch synth forum and electro-music.com. i added some summing lines and a final gain stage. there is also a pwm type effect that brings some unique tonal qualities to the signal as the vca opens and closes. there are lots of trim pots in the design which can all be brough to the panel if the builder feels necessary. they include: input attenuation (which attenuates the final sum of all the inputs), pw (changes the power feeding the tube which brings the nice pwm effect), final boost. there is also a switch to starve the heater and bring about some different tones.

the starve mod and pwm mod were made my crashlander and freqeuncy central. eric metasonix also helped me work out how to get a nice linear responce (-0.4v dc offset). so all i did was really add the summing stage, final gain and design the layout. here it is

the pdf version can be downloaded in this thread
http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2314

klee design continues

2008-11-30T16:39:00.003+11:00

seems like ive been designing this sequencer forever, but its 95% there now

i have had photoshop crash on me about 100 times due to the amount of layers i have in this file
the amount of objects throughout my layers is astronomical as i have multiple layers of different components forms, then the silk screen holes and lines underneath, then multiple versions of silk screen sizes for different pots and renders of previous designs. my non-universal binary version of photoshop hates me hehe, especially since it is running on my intel macbook pro.
so yeah it has crashed so many times, i get so spiteful once it crashes and i loose hours of work.
however hopefully those times are now past

So here is my latest klee v2 design
the good thing about taking so long to get the design happening is that i've come up with some ideas of additions to add to my front panel.
The first is the A?B cv out with a switch to change from A+B to A-B
The second thing is a MFOS quantiser.

I really wanted a Blacet Miniwave / Quantix 8, however i dont have space in my planned modular to fit it in but i since i have so many random generator and complex processors i thought it would be good to add the quantiser as a feature inside the Klee. It can be used independantly from the Klee CV output, but if you want to quantise the Klee CV you can flick the switches next to the CV outs and bus up your voltages. The MFOS quantiser has a summing input too so you have more than one going in, so i could try to pointless things like A+B+(A-B) hehe wouldnt that be nuts! joke, well the main point is you can A+A+B, or B+A+B or A+External CV etc.

so there are some cool new things to explore
i think i'll have the cash to get my panels made early in the new year
so i have some time to finally do the last drafting tweaks
but im really hoping that i dont have to do too much work on this sequencer design
too much already, i get so sucked into this stuff

....

so in other news my reverb tanks arrived and they are fuckin huge
ill take a photo soon
im also doing a design for a tube vca that im calling the vc-hearing aid as it uses hearing aid tubes. the 5672 tubes are pretty low gain so my design just is amplified a lot. ill be breadboarding the design tonight and once it is finished and tweaked to taste ill do a pcb layout and post it.

not much else is going on, apart from starting to order mb808 parts.
my xoxbox project is stagnating as i dont have a 9Vac wallwort
need some $$ so i can get it rolling again

JHABILE PHASER DRAFT3

2008-11-28T11:49:00.003+11:00

k, getting to the final design phase of this phaser
going with the 4Ux3U box idea
will need to use a wallwort

the box will probably be 1mm steel folded and welded to shape
top will be open, just some edges bent over to allow the face plate to clamp down
as well as the oblig, wood sides :)

i've got an image here showing how the pcb and jacks fit into the box
i hope that the pcb can be mounted so that there is verticale room to mount the jacks on the back pane of the box.. there should be.

fast pace

2008-11-25T11:32:00.003+11:00

well things are really moving, got a large package of bits today including my xoxIO pcb

perhaps i can finally finsih my xoxbox today
it was really painful not being able to completely finish the xoxbox while i was waiting for this IO kit. hopefully the build was smooth and i have no trouble shooting to go through. fingers crossed.

also my lpg boards arrived. these things look smooth

re:think

2008-11-24T18:39:00.002+11:00

dropped the tellun doomsday machine and the tau phaser (as ill make myself a little wood box for it) and i have added another dual vca-1, a dual vcs and freq-shifter. funny that i can fit 5 modules in the place of 2. i think this is a lot more versatile and fits my design contstaints of fitting as much in as possible. the freq shifter design is a bit wonky but is reasonably spacious, i even had room to fit large knobs.

i am still to redesign my klee panel, i think that the current size of the wheel is too tight. i might make the ring a bit more oblique as i have lots of space either side. perhaps ill do this tonight

and here is build status
green = ready to panel or pretty much finished
orange = needs some tweaks, mods or to fix some bugs
purple = next to build

to do list

2008-11-23T23:18:00.004+11:00

well i fixed the bugs in my arp4072 vcf
and i got the final buttons fitted into my xoxbox
it looks great with the IO back plate
i need to trim the pots, hehe, im so pro, cant believe i forgot to do that before i soldered them in.. whoops, hehe

so.... things to do:

fix:
klee (test the board then drop in the replacement cmos chips)
wavemult (work out what is happening, grrr.. and once it is going mod it so it has 6 stages)

design:
finish klee design
finish case design
boxes for schulze phaser & kent's solina chorus

build:
xoxbox IO mod (once pcb gets here)
schulze phaser (once futurlec shipment arrives)
digisound IO (once futurlec shipment arrives)
wogglebug (once futurlec shipment arrives)
dual vca-1 (once futurlec shipment arrives)
qfg (once futurlec shipment arrives)

breadboard:
quad lfo (and try add sync)

other:
call auburn metal and get quote for panels
source my etching sauce
get a bulk load of transfer paper and start etch tests

solina panel

2008-11-23T18:34:00.003+11:00

i have huge sellers regret on this module
hope i can get jurgen to do another run
here is my first draft design

switches labelling is being finalised at the moment

jhaible phaser design draft 2

2008-11-23T16:21:00.002+11:00

made it a bit fatter, the panel will be 4U x 4U
it will be a alu or steel box with hard wood sides
and the faceplate will screw ontop to close the box
jacks on the back panel
manual osc switch also on the back panel

this wont use a wallwort, it will have a toroid transformer inside
as im worried about the existance of wallworts in the future

the stomp bypass switch is pretty close to the glass jewel, but i think it should be higher than the jewel even when the switch is depressed. well see when it gets here, perhaps ill have to redesign if it sinks too low

compact clone phaser design

2008-11-22T22:56:00.003+11:00

just noodling around in photoshop to get this little machine designed
it is 4U x 3U and probably a bit over 1U in height as i think the lamps are pretty tall.

i was going to go a bit nuts with this box and give it a real industrial/metal flavour, i had even started stipping stripping some metal structures down, however i decided that going with classic modular moogesq designs is good for effects like phasers. you really want an organic look unless the phaser is really digital sounding.

here is my pleminary design.. still missing some switches and needs some tweaks on graphics
i have some grand plans for the knobs for this one
i just have to work out how i can easily manufacture the case

this is kinda based on the moogerfooger style
i have noticed that it kinda looks like those bose frequency shifters, but this wasnt on purpose

i really cannot wait to use the large amber lamp jewel, its going to look amazing
hopefully the circuit build goes a bit smoother than im going through at the moment.. sigh

mini-modular post stain

2008-11-21T12:24:00.005+11:00

i think they came up trumps
now just to get these damn arp vcfs working
i think i just need some new lm3900s
once that is done, i just have to wait for the power plugs/connectors to attach the wallwort
and then they are finito

almost december! quick update

2008-11-19T17:29:00.003+11:00

progress update:

xoxbox IO kit is here (althrough brian forgot the pcb, so that should be here in the next few days)
cd4034s are here from statemachine for my klee
i have etched my digisound I/O and processor pcbs, they came out great (funny story with the processor pcb as the pcb took 1 second to transfer as i accidentatly dropped the pnp onto the hot pcb because i rubbed up against the steaming hot copper, i freaked and quickly picked it up and the ink ripped off the pnp to leave a near perfect transfer. weird. 1 second transfer, must be a world record hehe, i only had 1 or 2 traces to fix for small breaks)

my digital noise module is fixed (well modded for more range)
my steiner vcf is re-built

bug to still work out:
arp-vcf boards are having some problems
wavemult main folder is not working
klee needs to add 4034

to finish building:
xoxbox IO kit
stain the boxes for mini-modulars

then more once my futurlec order comes in

sound examples of the mini-modulars

2008-11-19T17:16:00.004+11:00

ill add more to this post as i go

CGS Tube VCA

303 example [303 > tube vca > mackie mixer > motu > abelton (no fx or eq) > aif]

tubevca 303 demo by prblmchild

Yusynth ARP 4072 VCF

CGS VCO SQ WAVE > VCF > mackie desk > motu > abelton (no fx or eq)
clean sample then mixed into vcf out channel
i pull the freq down initially with no resonance then put the res up to about 6 or 7 and drive it up
this thing can be pushed a lot harder too

arp4072 test by prblmchild

trouble shoot away

2008-11-16T19:32:00.006+11:00

as part of getting pcb backlog out of the way an integral part is to try fix bugs in modules that are already built and either not working at all (like my steiner vcf) or ones with wierd bugs (like my digital noise and wave multiplier.. oh and my klee sequencer)

my steiner vcf was driving me insane, for some reason it was not working. i had been tinkering with it for the last few years with no luck so made a decision to quit! However i still wanted a steiner vcf in my modualar as it is state variable... very handy... and a killer sounding vcf (like a cross between a 303 and a moog).... so i decided to see if i could ghetto up another one, ie make it from bits lying around on whatever veroboard i could find. it ended up being a really small bit of vero too. hehe

i managed to fit everything on and even have some cable connectors. i still have to get some female connectors so i can't check it. im kinda stressing that ive not cut some strips and i know if it doesnt work, may as well chuck it. there is no chance im going to be able to trouble shoot this thing. check it out

top:

bottom:

so the suspense builds till i can get some femail .100 connectors, fingers crossed. in all honesty i give it about a 33.3% chance to work. :)

i have also been working out how to extend the range of my cgs digial noise. the internal clock inside it is a 4046 vco (similar to the vco in the wogglebug). it is not cranking down low enough for my taste. ken stone recommended that i change the cap. i did this and it just lowered it. SO.. gotta learn some cmos vco skills to find out how to extend the range on this vco. i think it will be usfull to learn this as the wogglebug design i have differs from professional wiard wogglebugs by the extended range, therefore it is possible and if i learn to do it i can really fire up the power of my wogglebug too. :)

thats all i did today,. but while i was taking some photos i took some of my studio :)

with room lights on:

and with main lights off, focussed lights on (how i usually roll when i am working on gear and making music)

hopefully by next post, my xoxbox IO kit will be here and i can finish my xoxbox finally. The cmos chips for my klee will have arrived, the futurlec order will be close to being shipped and th steiner vcf will have worked :)

mini-modular 2

2008-11-14T16:02:00.003+11:00

another mini-modular design for a friend who wants to process drum machines and his old russian synth

features the
CGS tube VCA
Utility Module w/ Ringmod
CGS steiner state variable vcf
Haible/Yusynth Wave folder w/ shape vc mod

been busy

2008-11-12T14:26:00.004+11:00

update !!

i made a quick colour chart to show where i'm up to
i just order parts for some more projects so it is all rocking

currently working on
compact clone / krautrock phaser (building for a friend)

starting plotting to build my 808 also
for every shipment i make im going to order a couple of modules of the construction
i ordered the core and psu parts this round
exciting :)

krautrock phaser:

wogglebug

ready, set ,,.. go!

2008-11-11T11:02:00.005+11:00

woo freedom
so now its time to start building

got my QFG pcbs almost finished
just need some TL064s or LF444s
i might try TL074s

just transferred the VCA-1 pcbs
going to try etch this this arvo with some 2nd hand ferric chloride
hopefully this week i can get a new batch of this grimey crap so make the etching process go a bit faster. would love to find out some methods to filter out the copper gunk so it works a bit better
hopefully someone can tell me some good way to do that soon

AND banana plugs are IN
400, 200 white, 200 blue
i might try find some purple ones too

so next step is to order some 3mm alu and get all my face plates cut to size
then get some alu etching mordont ingredients and off we go

Copper sulfate	1 Kilogram
NaCl (sodium chloride -- table salt)	1 Kilogram
NaHSO4 (sodium bisulfate as SaniFlush)	25 grams
H2O (water -- depending on strength of bath)	10-20 Liter

subSID

2008-11-09T23:20:00.002+11:00

subCID by prblmchild

just me jamming on the tb303 with my modular VCO chained as a sub osc.
707 for drums
added a pad to fill it out when i recorded it into the computer

quad low pass gate Final design (again :) )

2008-11-09T15:30:00.003+11:00

i havent been happy with my low pass gate design until now
i think ill stick with this one :)

hope thomas has some extra boards so i dont have to etch my own

Mini-modulars

2008-11-09T12:35:00.002+11:00

Just finishing the cases on these and thought i would post. They came up pretty good, a few caveats but the overall look of them is nice (just dont put them up next to a proper MOTM modular !! hehe)

I made two mini-modulars, both have Yusynth 4072 Arp Vcfs and a multi-wave shape lfo + pre amp and multipe and one also has a CGS tube VCA. I still have to put in some power connections, iron some bugs in the lfo and stain the boxes but they are 80% complete.

freedom!

2008-11-06T00:09:00.003+11:00

Finished thesis!, 1 exam to go. Partying hard-making music-working on synth stuff

completed xoxbox - just waiting for IO kit to arrive
finishing boxes for Richard and Ehsans filter boxes (they look mad too)
building my quad function generator boards

also planning what im going to get done this summer
all the modules in RED are what i'm aiming to get done
ontop of that i would like to build my mb808

so there are some updates on designs
klee just got a work over as i realised some components would not fit inside my rack

the th-vca1 is in and also my cgs digital noise and quad lfo module

cameras ready prepare to flash!

vca design

2008-10-23T21:21:00.003+11:00

decided to add some vcas
this is the thomas henry vCA-1 design (dual)

ac/dc vca with 3 channels per vca
offset and cv mix

Full case

2008-10-17T00:42:00.002+11:00

Added the digisound80 13 and 80-15 (External Input / Envelope Follower & Processor / Lag)
and now it is finished! I think this will be a versatile machine. 2 dedicated VCOs but i can also generate signals from the woggle bug, mankato vcf and from the external input. There is 4 lfos in the doomsday machine. I also have the utility lfo and of course the controls from the wogglebug. I can process all these control signals with the analog computer logic functions and comperators. I also have lots of expanders and filters all with extensive modulation control. I also have the buchla envelopes which should make some nice shapes. Finally for effects i have the phaser and the reverb.

Currently i have about 4 of the modules built and parts of a few done. Ill try get 4 or 5 more done in the next few months but i hope to get all the faceplates built in soon. Happy times indeed.

colour!!!!, well 1 colour :)

2008-10-16T18:24:00.003+11:00

Well i found a cheap source of banana sockets, 10cents each for blue and white. They are the deep banana jacks too, not the futurelec ones. So blue and white it is. I am also starting to work on my case dimensionality. In this image each row is offset by 10degrees. It will have 2 leg stand and a simple frame that the modules sink into. Im not really up for making a big box.
It will sort of resemembe a big iMac, hehe very big. 28" wide and 27" rack high, the stand will probably be about 1.5 feet from the table with two feet. I will also have 2 little stands at the back for my psus/transformers and reverb tanks. :)

Summer is going to be fun

case update

2008-10-16T11:01:00.003+11:00

Some additions and revisions
I removed a few modules that i was going to add as i really need to focus on my backlog modules instead of adding more. So i removed the miniwave and a few others. The only thing now which i will buy to put in this rack is the bridechamber analog computer which is just a couple of CGS logic boards.

Designs Added:
Tellun Doomsday Machine (Mega Modulation Waveshaper w/ lfo outs)
Analog Computer (cgs clock / comperator / logic)
Submini 5672 Tube VCA and VCF
Dual Diode vcfs (yusynth ems and cgs steiner)
tau phaser (really like my design for this one)

Designs Revised:
Tellun Neural Agonizer (re-shaped)
Quad Buchla LPGs (changed total layout, now a lot more even)
Dual CGS VCO (added syncs for waveshape and also change pot orientation)

Still to be added:
Digisound 80-13: In/Out Amp and Envelope Follower
dual MFOS adsrs w/ vactrol vc mod

case design

2008-10-13T09:39:00.004+11:00

well now i have a few layouts sorted i am trying to work out what size case is best.
originally i was going to go 3U high and 22 U wide but it is getting too unreasonable to move
so i think i will go for 3U high and 16U wide. this means that i will probably have 2 of these cases hehe, i cant believe im going to build a modular this big. i cant believe im already planning on a modular this big, and my current setup is far from functional. funny how these things quickly get out of hand.

these are the modules i plan to fit into my first case. all up in my first 48U case i have:
Klee SEQ (7u)
matrix mixer (3u)
quad low pass gate (3u)
tellun neural agonizer (3u)
dual cgs vco w. waveshape (5u)
cgs utility lfo (2u)
dual wogglebug w/ cgs ring modem (4u)
quad function generator (3u)
cgs wave multipier (2u)
thomas henry mankato vcf / quadrature vco (2u)
midiCV/digisound IO w/ envelope follower (2u)
Jurgen Haible tau phaser (2u)
wiard/blacet miniwave (2u)
yusynth ems vcf (2u)
cgs synthacon vcf + arp 4072 vcf (2u)
dual mfos adsr w/ vactrol vc mod (2u)
and as many vcas that i can fit into the remaining 2u space

the scarey thing is i have so many more projects to build

i am not going to put my modules in a box. i think i have decided just building a self-standing rack that i can just drop them into. i have some sketches, ill try work on them a bit once i get some time and post em.

Plan for summer

2008-10-13T00:23:00.002+11:00

I might write myself a checklist

< Design plates for all remaining backlog
< Buy aluminium sheets, pre cut to plate sizes
< Buy dc supply for electro etching
< Get faceplates for arp boxes lazer engraved and finish the boxes
< Finish the arp box job
< Fix the xoxbox for that guy
< Use cash from jobs to buy knobs(SB), pots(FL), bananas(FL), switches (HKSS) and switch covers (SB)
< Etch plates and build front plates
< Build case
< Build midi/cv

hmm lots to do this summer

More for the mix

2008-10-11T17:19:00.006+11:00

Completed my first draft for my wavemultipier module and matrix mixer. W.mult module is still broken on my work bench so i have to get around to fixing it. Everything is working except the main folder.

I presented my thesis study last week, it went really well. I just have to complete the actualy thesis write up along with a few other assignments and IM DONE! well i have a tonne of work to do but i can start to sniff the end which is nice. Speaking of which i should get back to it

Continued Refinement

2008-10-07T00:28:00.008+11:00

Decided 100% banana from now on
It is going to be interesting to see how this goes in implementation
Basically this is a financial and functional density move
I can get black banana sockets for 10cents each whereas my jacks have upped in price to over a dollar. So ill use my remaining jacks in all my projects that i build for kids and for some external integration modules.

Few font changes and layout updates.
I just realised how buchla orientated my synth is going to be.
I'll have to add some 258 oscs :)
hehe
While i am enjoying the designing process I am starting to get really itchy to use this machine.
All in good time i suppose

Some more work

2008-10-04T09:18:00.007+10:00

On the synth design front i have finished a few more panels
and i have decided to use banana plugs for all my modulation paths
while im can't really pack the panels any more dense because of this
i feel that since banana plugs have a smaller profile they wont be as inhibiting as 1/4 cables when they are all plugged in and this will provide some reflief when using my designs
also im toying with the idea of using the serge davis clone knobs
im not sure if it is worth it yet
im having troubles finding larger format knobs to match the silver and black knobs i have
the davis clones are pimp and not too expensive and work with other backlite style knobs

so here are a few more designs.
My adapatation of the LPG w/ CV summing amps and LEDS
there is lots of hoohaa for resonance at the moment but im not really worried about resonant filters as i can do that with bulk of filters.

My dual CGS VCO, same as before just with bananas.
im not sure if i should leave my sync input as a jack.. ill have to ask some people about this

I reckon the bananas look shit hot.
I will use black, green, purple and perhaps white.
black and green will be CV in / CV out
purple and white will be triggers and gates
I am also going to get coloured switch covers in the same colours
mostly green purple and black

Im getting excited about my studio again. I have started building my xoxbox and have ordered parts for some other modules and projects. I just wish i had an income. I have to quickly finish some projects for people so i can actually get some finances in to pay for all this stuff. damn money!

So..

I present my thesis on friday, i have the presentation almost done. Still only written about 1/4 of it up, so that is a bit worrying. I have other research assignments on urban sprawl and local contamination in water ways so i think ill have to focus on them for the next few days and try get them otu of the way.

More panel designs

2008-09-28T12:24:00.007+10:00

Under 4weeks to go for Uni.
Stress extreme
Mountain of work to do extreme
health poor, infact doctor told me i either have bacterial tonsilitus or glandular tho im trying to fight it and pretend i'm in health

anyway, before everything go so critical i worked on some more designs, here they are

Utility LFO and Dual Woggle w/ Ringmod additions

these still have my photoshop componetns on top unlike the others.
i'm a little unsure of the woggle design yet. it goes against my functional density ideas. I've never liked the serge style of packing the whole panel full. So i might push it out to 4U and give the knobs some more interface structure.

Next up is my cgs vco, which i am trying to fit into a dual panel. Ive worked on it a little and am starting to think that i'll use the bridechamber waveshaping design as an inspiration. Make the unit 4 or 5 U wide but fit 2 vcos in with a waveshape joining switch matrix like on the Utility LFO and perhaps some nice FM joining mods like on the buchla 259 vco.

Also coming is my dual ps3100 resonator which i have had some interesting throughs of combining into a stereo ps3100 with vc panning that is independant control or switched to one of the resonator cv inputs. I'll go into this a litte more later.

With a short time to go until School is over I am really looking forward to getting my design templates down so i can start building my modular. I am really excited about this new design concept i am heading towards, most modules are dual, designing the interfaces first then implementing the circuits to fit, all into a cool format that is totally unique.

quick addition
dual CGS VCO
still to add the interaction switches like fm and sync and waveshape join

Galv Etching

2008-09-14T10:30:00.007+10:00

SDIY is such a painful yet rewarding task. I am a bit of a gluton for punishment in anything that i percieve to be interesting, usually these types of ventures incorporate a level of technical skill that i don't have and have to learn, and somewhere through the process i find something within that i can tailor with my medoicre design skills. SDIY fits into this task perfectly. Initally i had very small idea of how electronics systems worked, today my knowledge is growing larger by the day almost to the point i think i could work as a backup tech at some little electronics shop, not bad for a year or two troubleshooting problems in my rig eh. Electronics has been a big wall to jump however i think it has been beneficial in other fascits of my life, prior to this my logical attention span was minimal, which is not very good when your university degress is effectively in maths haha. So now the inner hack-designer is working on trying to make all these new electornics toys look awesome. So now i have found another task to punish myself with, and this is galvanised etching.

Basically what im going to do is etch an alluminium sheet of specific size. The etchings will be off my synth module faceplate designs. Most etching processes involve an acid that break down any exposed surfaces. Wherever there is contact, as long as you have the appropriate acid for the metal, the acid will pull metal ions from the metal via the chemical interaction. Galv etching works in a similar fassion but with no acid. This is a good thing as i have been using ferric chloride to etch circuit boards and the first time i did it i made myself really sick for about 3 days. That shit it noxious, and not only is it dangerous, it turns everything yellow, and i mean everything. Royal pain in the ass. So with galv etching instead of an acid all we do is breakdown the ions with electronic charge. Easy. You place your plates in a water and sulphide mix, most commonly salt or a sulphide mix with a chemical relationship to your metal. You chuck the annode and cathode from a low powered PSU on either side and the charge of your sollution will have the same chemical breakdown process as with acid however only at the point of contact.
Genius. So im going to give this a go once i have finished my exams.

More info on glav etching here
http://www.greenart.info/galvetch/advan.htm
( i wasnt really specific on the details here so if you are reading thing and are keen, dont use my vague directions goto this source)

The cool thing about this is now i can use exotic metals for my faceplates and be able to have all the decals. Previously i was using rusty steel and it looked great however the only way i could mark it was with a sharpie and it just became to ghetto for me, and that is saying something.

So now while i wait for school to be finished im redesigning all of my faceplates. This is fun. Here are my first 2. Klee Sequencer and Buchla 281c.

More to come.
While re-mounting the Klee onto a new faceplate is going to be a taks and a half, i am glad i got to redesign the panel. After using it over the last few weeks i have realised that a few things on my last panel were a bit skewiff.

Oh yeah 20 more days till i present my thesis. Scary.

New Mix

2008-08-30T12:34:00.000+10:00

Just threw some tunes together yesterday while drinking a whole lot of beer/ yay beer.
Rolls through some deep territory on the dub techno, detroit and chi flavours.

There are a few questionable parts but i think it flows pretty well and worth sharing.
I seem to always be able to nit pick through my mixes, but am too lazy to re-record anything.
Have you tried sitting there re-playing a set till it is perfect, it sucks. Never even bother is my moto.
Anyways, i like it, hope you will too.

Here is the list

Normon Nodge 3.0 MDR
T++ Space Pong Erosion
Add Noise Handwerk 3 Handwerk
James t Cotton Dont Even Try It (The Beat) Spectral
Redshape Steam Delsin
James T Cotton Got to let you know Spectral
Mike Dunn So Let it be House Clone
Tin Man Falling Acid Keys of Life
Quietpoint Caffeen Awakining Pastamusic
Aril Brikha Way Back (Groove la Chord shuffle mix) Fragile
Hieroglyphic Being Linux Klang
James T Cotton The Boxx Spectral

Link

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NWRULLST

Autechre Playlist

2008-08-28T10:01:00.005+10:00

breaking my no posting rule already, nice! lasted a good 20 seconds. shows the level of restraint i have. haha

i listen to a LOT of autechre, i find that it helps me zone into a good studying evironment. I guess most of the artists i listen to these days is all about soothing the studying mode, ie Vladislav Delay, Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Murcof etc.etc.etc.etc. I find though with AE that i need to streamline as it can make me somewhat tense and while roaming univercity with AE on all the time in my ipod, sometimes i roll out of some tense AE moment only to converse with a lecturor and it just completely spaces me out or i get wild mood swings during the conversation. haha sounds ridiculous but it happens.

So i have been constructing a playlist of AE genius, trying to structure the sounds so they flow in a way there is a balance amoungst the chaos. Here it is so far:

If anyone actually reads this (sif), and wants to contribute to the list please do.

Surripere Autechre Draft 7.30
Psi-Onyx (Psix Million Dollar Myx Oscar Goldmans Bonus By Autechre) Beaumont Hannant Psi-Onyx
Second Peng Autechre Anvil Vapre EP
Laughing Quarter Autechre Envane EP
Clipper Autechre Tri Repetae
Cipater Autechre Chiastic Slide
Latent Quarter Autechre Envane EP
Rotar Autechre Tri Repetae
Acroyear2 Autechre LP5
6IE.CR Autechre Draft 7.30
Gantz Graf Autechre Gantz Graf EP
Tewe Autechre Chiastic Slide
Pen Expers Autechre Confield
Cichli Autechre Chiastic Slide
Sublimit Autechre Untilted
Theme of Sudden Roundabout Autechre Draft 7.30
Arch Carrier Autechre LP5

2 months till my degree is over

2008-08-28T09:47:00.003+10:00

I wont be making any more posts over the next 2 months, need to focus on my thesis and some other class projects that seem to have been squashed into the last portion of the year. sigh. I was so organised with everything and had projects rolling from the beginning and yet fate decides that working at the 11th hour to finish everything is the only way to go. Guess it shows that you should never get too far ahead of yourself, as no matter what happens the end will be a stress and you could have partaken in some more entertaining procrastination activities like partying with my friends.

So two months, and by that time ill have all my 808 components and case, and also have the pcbs for 808's partner in crime (mb828, consisting of sds3 boards and TH mps and some other bits :) ) I just need to etch the midibox sequencer boards from the ucapps site.

I finished the xoxbox for my friend rich last week. They really so sound awesome. I think the only real difference between then is the xoxbox controls are a lot easier to tweak than the 303 and therefore you can really feel that it is different. I thought this on my first play, but then once recorded it is pretty much spot on 303cid. Good stuff. I can't wait to build mine. I put my name down for the bcbox IO mods too. hehe

The next modules to be completed are the Buchla clones - LPG and QFG. Then Yusynth VCOs, digisound IO and some processor boards that i am designing which are kinda like the fonik attenunverting but with some tweaks and additions. I am ditching the Rusted steel front plates, i am going sort myself out with an electro-etching kit and make either alluminium ones or brass. I think alluminium. So ill keep ordering this stuff over the next 2 months but strickly no building. hehe.

midibox 808

2008-08-22T09:10:00.003+10:00

Well this is coming close to being built, finally.
Vlady found some killer cases for it that are going to work really well.

I might actually buy a couple of these cases for some upcoming projects. They look awesome

I'm going to have to ditch all my mod ideas unfortunately, this is a bummer. There is no space in the case. The case is so perfect for the 808 though and easy to get that it will be worth it.
I'm going to buy a screen once i get some and teach myself how to screen print. So what you see above is what is going to i'm going to get, well hopefully.

Backlog

2008-08-20T19:48:00.006+10:00

I cleaned up my room today. It gave me a good chance to stocktake my components and also roll over the modules in the waiting list. Well to be honest i was conducting the stocktake first and then got bored and decided to clean my room. Haha. I was only doing a stocktake cos i was working on my Wavemult and blew a chip and couldn't find anything.... and so the cycle goes. Haha

So lets document what i have to waiting to Build.
Hopefully if i list it in the public domain, especially in a place where i will look it will remind me not to take on any more projects. I really shouldn't take on any more for the rest of the year. Or almost at all. I think once i build this coming lot it will be enough for a really versatile music machine. I may look towards building some drum machines and such.

So lets have a look what we have waiting.

Currently got 3 Lfos, 3 Arp 4072 vcfs and 3 Tube Vcas on the bench for my modular and also some friends of mine. Also on my bench is my CGS WaveMultiplier which i think needs a new LM324. Also sitting there is my CGS VCO waiting to be tuned and re-panneled. Last is my CGS Synthacon VCF which a new set of transistors, perhaps a whole new PCB. The Bunch of CGS modules i got way back last year really took a beating. I was, and i guess till am, a bit of hack at this game.

Also i forgot to add XOXBOX. This only needs some buttons, as my kit was missing some.

So BENCH LIST

3 MFOS LFOs
3 YuSynth 4072 VCFs
3 CGS Tube VCAs
1 CGS VCO
1 CGS WAVEMULT
1 CGS Steiner VCF

PCBS waiting.

--non-modular--
mb808
Burnit's Box'o'tricks
XOXBOX2 (building for a friend)

--modular--
m1. CGS DC MIXER x3 (half stuffed)
m2. CGS VCA
m3. FONIK PS3100 Triple Resonator x2
m4. JHailble Compact A Clone Phaser
m5. JHaible 20 Pole Tau Phaser
m6. JHaible Triple Chorus Solina Clone
m7. JHaible Frequency Shifter
m8. THenry QuadFunctionGenerator
m9. THentry Mankato VCF
m10. Banana Analogue VCS
( I might actually try reverse engineer this one and make another, it looks pretty simple)
m11. Buchla 281 QFG Clone x4
m12. Wogglebug
m13. Tellun Doomsday Machine
m14. Tellun NA
m15. Moosapotamus Flanger

So thats the modules im going to build that I have PCBS for already.
It isn't actually as big as i throught. I had mostly wanted this modular to be a effects processing and waveshaping machine. It was basically leaching the idea from my friend Pat who got me into this whole game. However now im thinking ill get some more inter-processing options and work on them first before i hit this backlog. The way i see it, some of these were limited runs so i jumped while i had the chance. I don't mind if im sitting here this time next year and all of them are not in my modular yet. Seems like this is going to be a fun passion that kicks in old years so i'm not in a mega rush to finish.

So my plan of attack is going to be something like this.

1. finsih these arpvcf/tube boxes
2. finalize the way to treat the rusted steel and then cut up a whole bunch of plates ready for circuits
3. finish my rack
4. build my 808
5. build rich's xoxbox
6. etch some Yusynth Vcos, or perhaps the Buchla Vcos that might be popping their heads up
7. build the buchla quad LPG and quad function shaper
8. doomsday / Neural Agonizer
9. box'o'tricks

good to have a plan though.

plyphon video

2008-08-20T08:43:00.004+10:00

Well i guess it was always coming, someone has ripped off the Alex Rutterford Granz Graf style for the new unofficial Auterchre track plyphon from Quaristice. Actually it isn't too bad. You gotta give the creater some credit. Overall i suppose it contuninues with the general themes and critisisms of the Quaristice album. Recycled beats and ideas. Not that i play into those thoughts :)

Actually i managed to get to see the movie Tron in its full entirety for the first time ever the other day. All i could think about was how amazing it was and could not believe it was a disney movie. It really has stood up well over the ages. The clever use of such simple polygons really stylised the data world, i loved it! Anyway enough of me ranting. Time to write some essays.

i guess i should actually post granz graf too. :) Always good to post this gem. It does has to to one of the coolest videos of all time and you will see the similarities in design theme. Even between Tron on Granz Graf. I guess the link between then all more lies within synthesisia.

Roland M185 Sequencer Clone

2008-08-18T08:18:00.007+10:00

So i just finished wiring the electro-music Klee sequencer the other day. That was a huge project and it still has some bugs. U nfor tunately i seem to have totally wacked out my VCO while trying to tune it otherwise i w ould post s ome samples. So this new sequnecer is extremely exciting. It is a clone from the old Roland System 100M Modular Systems. Check out the video. For each step you seem to be able to set to repeat, set note length as well as switch octaves.

So i got 2 of these babies coming. Unfortunately (sorry doug), this just ate all my money for the midibox808 switches group buy. Hopefully i get paid in the next week so i don't loose the chance for some nice colour switches for my 808. Maybe i'll show his this blog and he will understand and gimme some extra time. Maybe i'll show my lecturors at uni this thread and they will give me extensions on all my assign ements. haha, doubt it.

*note - i edited the top of this post as im going to just have a post to document each of my modules and the build process, so i took the bit about me having a cry about being addicted to SDIY hehe. So here comes the build notes.

So here are the controls

CV Controls 8 X pots.
Gate mode 8 X 4-way switches
Stage count 8 X 8-way switches
Tempo, Portamento, Gate time, Stages
4 X pots [although stages could be an 8-way switch]
Seq mode 1 X 4-way switch
Stage Subdivision
1 X 4-way switch
Voltage Range 1 X 2-way switch
Stop/Start, Reset, Prev, Next
4 X push button switches
CV Out, Gate Out, Clock In, Clock Out, Stage Control CV
5 X jack sockets.

time to get designing.

i think i might keep this in a small format. I plan on buying some oscillators soon like the AFG and the Plan B15 so now i don't have to design everything for my 5U rusty cab.

Mean Sucker VCF/VCA

2008-08-17T23:14:00.002+10:00

Well i just found some of these rare 5672 pentodes for the Mean Sucker Tube VCF/ VCA. I'm hoping to adapt the schematic to switch from being a VCF to VCA, just like in the buchla LPG module.

Tubes... gotta love the ripping distortion these bad boys bring to the table
I'll post some pictures of my PNP design and faceplate once i get some time to work on it.

UPDATE!!

just quickly post my initial panel design and some pics of my 1/2 reasonable etchings. The vcf didnt come out to well, i think the etchant was a little too hot and my pnp really sucked. I took the advice on the net and just left the iron ontop for AGES, next thing i know i have a nice layer of Pnp melting onto the iron bottom. Hope my housemates dont find out. hehe So i had to touch up with some resistive paint to make the etching work. It looks a bit dodge but the contuniuty rolls through the traces ok. I might smooth a couple of the traces to make it look a bit more pro. I like the way Etaoin made this layout, filled the whole board with a ground plain really reduces the etching time. It only took about 3 minutes to etch! Wish it only took 3 minutes to drill and continuity check an build. :)

my top 20 ambient albums at the moment

2008-08-17T23:00:00.002+10:00

Over on mnmlssgs they were rightly having a whinge at the all-time-top-20 ambient albums and associated desciptions.

I quickly made my list without thinking too deep about it, mostly music i have been listening to for the last couple of months. It dawned on me whether they develop the lists around the concepts of the albums or just listening pleasure. Certainly some of the greatest albums are highly intelectual (i love spelling that wrong) conceptual works whereas some are genius noodles. I also wonder about the wide variety of music people are lumping into the ambient genre. Then again i was almost going to suggest druqs.

top 20 ambient august 08

Murcof - Cosmos
Murcof – Martes
Robert Rich & B. Lustmord – stalker
Ben Frost - Steel Wound
Tim hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet
Vladislav delay - Entain
Tangerine dream - Phaedra
Steve Roach – Structures in Silence
Bola - Fyuti
Monolake - layering budda
Jacaszek - treny
Wolfgang Voigt - 20' To 2000.November: 20 Minuten Gas Im November
Gas - Nah und Fern
Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen
Alva Noto - Xerox .1
Christian Fennesz-Ryuichi Sakamoto - Cendre
David Morley - Ghosts
Deaf Center - Pale ravine
Deep Chord Presents : Echospace - Coldest Season