Glacial Communications

I’ve done plenty of quickie hand-scribbled schematics, and at some point some computer-assisted ones (hell, I have a degree in Computer Engineering, it came up once or twice…). So I decided for the Arduino sequencer, I should do a little schematic using recent tools. EAGLE now runs reasonably on OS X, and for noncommercial/evaluation things, the light version is free.
Here’s a PNG of the schematic (Click for a big version and go easy on me, it’s my first EAGLE file…):

And if you actually want to do something with it, here’s the .sch file.

I’ve represented the Arduino connections and various jacks (MIDI, 1/4″ for clock, etc.) with the pinheader objects which don’t 100% correspond to the Arduino pin numbers. Note that for example, Arduino pin A0 is actually pin 1 of the ANALOG block here. Hopefully that’s not too confusing.

While I’ve reached a “pause point” on the Sound Lab, I decided to revisit the Arduino 8-step MIDI sequencer I built for my presentation at Notacon. There are a number of improvements to be made and bugs to be fixed (for those who were there, you may remember it completely failed for the demo – it worked great during setup, but not the demo itself)

What I plan to do:

1. Simplify Panel Wiring – I somewhat ridiculously wired the panel originally. Instead, it’s going to get a 5V bus and a ground bus, which will cut panel-PCB wiring by a lot. I’ll also fix the issue with the MIDI output while I’m at it…
2. Add a Clock output/tempo indicator – This will be for sync with the Baby 8 sequencer that I haven’t built yet.
3. Properly implement a start/stop button – I originally was going to use an on/off switch, but that didn’t work right in the original design so I scrapped it. Since then, I got some of these LED-equipped lever switches, so it will have “running” and “stopped” indicators as well.
4. Switch the PCB to a 276-159, and permanently hardwire it to a Modern Device RBBB – they’re selling 5 RBBB kits for the price of one Arduino Nano – how can I refuse?

I think those are all the major changes in store. Stay tuned!

Similar to the May 14th show, with clunky 4-track loops, but thematically mixed, with lots of comedy, some Recycled Rainbow material, and other stuff.

So far, I’ve made a pretty good start on the Sound Lab:

• Entire board (sans connections to front panel and inter-board connections) is soldered. The PLUS kluges are crazy. Let me tell you that much. Pictures soon.
• I seem to be short a 33k resistor for the S&H board. Curses! It’ll have to piggyback onto my next parts order.
• Got the glass out of the dead scanner I’m using as an enclosure.
• Got a sheet of acrylic for the front panel. Need to cut it to fit, and then drill lots of holes.
• Dumb idea? Run a BlinkM on the inside with a cool pattern, leave the paper on the inside of the acrylic as a diffuser, AND HAVE THE AWESOMEST, TRIPPIEST COLOR-CHANGING SOUND LAB EVER BUILT? Maybe. I’d have to get a BlinkM, and then run a 5V rail out of the power supply. It may not have enough light output, too…

I’ve made a couple of design decisions on the cigarbox modular:

• The connection medium will actually be exposed screws – I have a large quantity of clip leads to use, and connecting the points to the circuit board can use lugs attached to the screws. Plus it’ll look really cool and dangerous.
• I want to try to only use conventionally available PCBs- nothing custom. Mostly things along the lines of the Radio Shack 276-159/Electronix Express PB-12 size factor.
• Modules: Some kind of 40106-based  multi-oscillator, some logic-gate based “modulators”, a mixer somewhere at the end. Maybe a  simple SVF?
• I need to find some tiny L-brackets to attach the PCBs to the cigar box. My first search (at a big-box hardware store) was fruitless.

Vaguely improvisitory music (AN-200/RY10 sync). Tossed in some samples from "Manos: The Hands of Fate". Later used some voice samples from Autumn Leaves (which at least one listener seemed to dig, calling and asking about the music and the show and whatnot.).

Last week for the radio show, I took Portishead’s advice and recorded an album on a 4-track cassette.

Well, not really. I didn’t even read that article until about fifteen minutes before airtime. However, I did do something interesting with my 4-track that I’m sure somebody else has done before, but was new to me.

My favorite local electronics surplus store (appropriately named Electronic Surplus, Inc.) has been selling these 30-second endless outgoing answering machine tapes for a while now (they’re fifty cents online, but onsite they’re a quarter? That may be a remnant of last summer’s moving sale, though, and once the box in the storefront is empty the in-store price could go back up). I’ve been picking up a handful every time I go, with the intention of maybe building something like a Melloman. I finally decided to just try a few in the ol’ 4-track and see how it goes.

It was kinda cool. Since the 4-track runs at double the speed of a standard cassette, my loops were 15 seconds rather than 30. The tapes do have a 1″ leader splicing the ends together, so there is a brief jump as it loops, but it didn’t necessarily take away from the experience. I basically left the 4-track (a Yamaha MT50) in record, and activated each channel as needed to record, using the blank splice as a mental start/stop signal.

Some example clips will be forthcoming. I’ve been busier than usual lately, so I haven’t had a chance to dump the tapes onto a computer yet. I’ll probably do something where I play each track individually, and then play all four at once.

I’ll definitely be doing this sort of thing again.

The overall theme was "Synaesthesia". I'm not sure how well that translated on the air. Also tried a new experimental technique I intend to post about later tonight - it requires photos and sound evidence...

I’ve got a bunch of projects I’m either going to do or make an attempt at doing, anyway:

• MFOS Sound Lab Mini Synth PLUS -  I’ve got the PCBs and a number of the components on hand. Most of the rest of the components are enroute. I’m going to try a MAX1044-based power supply, since a) I’d like to avoid batteries and b) I dislike most normal bipolar power supplies. We’ll see how that goes.
• “The Box of Tricks” – A take on fitting as much modular-like goodness into a cigar box as possible. Still mostly in the conceptual phase- I’m trying to determine what modules will go in, and making design considerations (banana jacks vs. 1/4″ vs. nails-and-alligator-clips, mostly). This will probably warrant a future post when I make some more decisions.
• A CV/Gate sequencer – probably an 8-step version of the Baby 10. Maybe with some “extras” (start/stop, internal and external clock, other features?)
• A very likely project when the above are finished is the Thomas Henry SN Voice. My wife had one of these Remco Sound fx Machines as a kid (based on the same IC) and I’ve got the IC sitting in another box (a Midwest Analog Snare+) that I’m not using.
• Some kind of MIDIbox SID? I’ve got a 6581 in my parts bin just waiting to get used.

Somewhere in the middle of that, I’m going to do some repairs as well – my MG-1 needs at least two sliders replaced (and I have the replacements, so it’s mostly scheduling at this point), and I’ve got a couple of things that need rubber keypad repair (probably the MMT-8 in general, and the RY10’s BD1 key for certain).

Some poking around on Electronic Goldmine’s site last night revealed a couple of chips with possibilities for future projects as well:

• The YMZ284-D has some potential for something. And datasheets are out there.
• This TMS3477-based sampler looks intriguing, but since there’s no schematic and no datasheet, I’m thinking no dice.

My plate is full.

Press The Button Podcast for May 7, 2008. Show notes are available at http://www.glacialcommunications.com/news