Elvis's Coffin

Busy weekend making a cabinet. Just cheap MDF then I thought of using some Tolex in a sort of ARP2600 sort of way... This isn't actually Tolex just some vinyl that is usually used for upholstering. The black looked a bit boring so I got some white instead. My wife informed me that it looked like something of Elvis's... the boys thought maybe his coffin... If all goes to plan I will need 6 of these just to use up all the boards that I have floating around...

Ian Fritz's Triangle VCO

I built Ian Fritz's Teezer VCO recently and it is extremely clever. It is probably the most unique design that I have seen for an Synth widget for a long time. I can see why he got grumpy when Mr. Blue Lantern allegedly ripped of his design. Anyway it piqued my interest in some of his other VCO designs on his website -- I know that I have looked at this one before, as it is dated 15 years ago, but for some reason I never really took it in. So I have done a layout that is P'n'P compliant and will give it a go.

Forbin Digal LFO

Well revisited the Digital LFO from many years ago. This is a Altium layout that I did about 3 years ago to replace the Eagle layout that was posted about 6 years ago! Unfortunately we had a failure with the Kinsten photo PCB... I typed the name wrong anyway... Grrrrrrr......

Ripplez

Well the huge, through hole version of Mutable Instruments Ripples is on a panel, and mostly working... couple of wrong value resistors that need replacing and maybe lower gain (i.e. specified -- not what's on hand) transistors...

Imutable...

Have been doing some new panels! And a new layout! Since I decided that 22 VCF's wasn't enough I have done a layout for Oliver's VCF, the Ripples... Now all I need to find is the developer and I could have got a bit further this evening.... grrrrrrr....

I have also done a different Mutable Instruments module in a version of Peaks. I wasn't so keen on the button interface to select the mode and have done it with a gold old fashioned rotary switch. Nice and tactile in  Chicken Head knobs. I plan to do some Chaos generation with this module as well...

Old Friend...

Dragged this old friend out of the large box of unfinished PCB's... This is from the Source of Uncertainty and this board is the part of that beast that was the inspiration for the Wogglebug. It ran out of steam a bit when I needed to make a digital noise source for it... While rummaging through the rest of the box I came across the Thomas Henry Voltage Controlled Noise Source and thought... lets make a bastard child from these!! Stay posted as I really want to finish this one off soon...

Hammond Scanner

I have been reading some interesting things about the rather freaky Hammond Scanner which was for production of vibrato on the Hammond Tone Wheel organs of the 50's & 60's. There is an excellent overview on the ModularSynthesis website. Whilst making one of those is reasonably impractical, despite having a lathe in the shed, I was also interested in the late Jurgen Haible's take on the idea here. I have done a bit of simulation of the important delay line and was also read some more from the ElectricDruid. Tom Wiltshire (the Electric Druid) suggests using all-pass phase shifters in Jurgen's design, this avoids the inductors which are expensive/bulky/prone to electrical pickup. In reality the Inductors look like the way to go. Simulation of all-pass filters shows quite a different response and the inductors aren't too onerous. I am thinking that the way to go with this is to build a board that has Jurgen's delay line but grafts on Oliver Gillets Frames style VCA's under Microprocessor control... It would work out to 4 off 2164 quad VCA's a couple of octal DAC's and a micro controller. Should be able to jam it all onto a Euro sized board as well for a laugh... May mock up a PCB and see how feasible it is...