Glacial Communications

I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing an “album” of my SynthDIY progress. Y’know, maybe a track for each component built – one of just oscillators, one with the XNORs added, etc. It’ll be noisy. I guarantee that…

So, the other day, Opentape gets released. This looks like a nice easy way to post things. I think I’m going to try just using this as the mechanism for distribution of this weird SynthDIY album. For the moment, you can find it here: The SynthDIY Sessions. Once I actually get some  tracks recorded, I’ll put them up. I may even put up some placeholder ‘bonus’ tracks to tide my legion of fans over until I can actually get some proper recording done (this week isn’t very good for that sort of thing. Lots of cleaning and ice cream making going on).

A lot of electro-acoustic works smashed together.

Last post was late, and this one is a few hours early, ’cause I HAVE GOOD NEWS.

Sound Lab progress: A good 2/3 of the front panel is mounted on the panel:

Of course, it turns out all the SPDT switches I got from Futurlec aren’t really. Grumble. Ordered more (from Goldmine this time).

Arduino MIDI Sequencer: IT’S WORKING (the good news). So now, it’s at the point it was at during my presentation at Notacon, except actually functional (and less prone to breaking – the previous internals were horrid – this is much cleaner, permanent, and stable.)
Here – have a listen: seqtest.mp3 (controlling U-NO-62)
It still looks like this on the outside:

However, the on/off switch is currently removed, and will be replaced by a start/stop button.

Also, at Playshop this week, we did the MS-20 pseudo Ring modulator (with a CD4011, easy!), and the milkcrate/little scale “sea moss sequencer”. I think I’m going to reimplement that with pots instead of the resistor ladder, and maybe make it switchable between internal clock and external clock (so I could, say, sync it with the Arduino sequencer!) Going to have to figure out an enclosure – half not wanting to use another cigar box, but they’re so darn cheap ($1/each)!

Also also looking at slowly working on some ‘big boy’ modules, though there are a LOT of design considerations I’d have to make (format, enclosure/rack, etc.). Cigar boxes won’t work for this I think my studio will need a lot of cleanout before any real motion on that front starts. Stay tuned.

No idea when I’ll actually get to anything this week, though. Schedules are looking very busy all the way through the weekend.

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I’m a couple of days late posting this – I’ve been busy.

Sound Lab (Yes! Sound Lab progress!): Front panel was laminated (at the high, high cost of 30 cents). I’m hoping to get the front panel knobs and switches mounted this week/weekend. Considering adding at least a couple of patch points (filter input for sure, maybe more?)

mini-modular stuff: built the Beavis Audio Research version of the 567 modulator. Debating adding a second 1/4″ output to the CMOS box – that way two oscillator chains can be processed separately.

Misc: Got a couple of Thinwire->UTP ethernet converters similar in size to the fiber->UTP converters used in this Arduino effects pedal. Given that I have more Arduinos than I know what to do with, you can see where that’s headed…

Got some pots & knobs from Mendelson’s (with longer than normal shafts, so they may be better for the thick wood of the effects box…) Of course the pots are all D-shaft, and the knobs spline-shaft, so there’s a bit of a disconnect there, but it’s not a big deal. I needed more spline-shaft knobs anyway.

And if you’re in Cleveland and interested in this sort of stuff – Go to Bella Dubby this Friday. Should be almost entirely DIY electronic instruments(the only non-DIY one being the guitar in the Telecat Prowlers set). I may even bring my gear and try to crash it

Show started with Komar&Melamid's "Most Unwanted Music", followed by more fun with the homebrewed instruments. Perhaps the sort of thing I'd do if I were on the bill at Bella Dubby this Friday. But I'm not. Also mixed in a Tibetan Buddhist Jukebox, Arratik's recent Gakken SX-150 work, and some other nonsense I've been working on. Here's some of what it looked like (click through for the description of what everything is):

lots of mechanical noises. The vast majority were mechanical calculators.

Almost added a passive LPF to the cigarbox, but then I decided I think I’m going to try to keep it purely “digital” (i.e. all CMOS squarewave-y stuff). I also played the cigarbox on the air Wednesday, and showed it off at Playshop on Saturday. I also started to clean up the power management inside the box (no more internal alligator clips! an on/off switch on the outside of the box!)

I also started on a companion box to the cigarbox synth – my own take on the Beavis Audio Armageddon Processor. Also in a cigarbox. So far, the first module is the VCF section from the MFOS Weird Sound Generator (admittedly, not the best VCF on the planet, but the part count is small, it was this week’s Playshop project, and it fits on a Radio Shack 276-159 board.) I’ll probably be adding some of the Armageddon Processor’s modules as well (the 567 modulator for sure, and maybe the weird LM386->555 creation as well…)

A combination of Tip Of the Pops wheelbarrow sound system, and my crazy homebrew synthesizer: I also contact mic'd my 4-track for no good reason. Sounded awesome, though:

Lots of progress on the Cigarbox- added a three input diode mixer, a four input additive mixer (i.e. passive resistors), a proper 1/4″ output (so no more needing to hook alligator clips up to the amp), exposed Vcc and Ground points, and a CD4077 quad XNOR module for pseudo ring modulator fun!

I’ll have to add some more modules and features soon – probably some CD40106 oscillators, maybe a starve pot for Vcc, and who knows what else?

I’ll add pictures (and who knows, maybe a video?) soon. For now, imagine it looks like it did last week, but with a lot more screws sticking out of it