I recently added an expansion panel to one of the MOTM-480 filters in my modular synthesizer. Click here to read about the project and see photos. (The link takes you to a permanent page in the Synth DIY section of this website.)
Category: Studio Nebula
Information about my music-making activities, my ongoing modular synthesizer project, etc.
Getting Into My Synthesizer
I found myself doing this the other day, and realized that there are some merits to the smaller modular formats that I hadn’t previously considered:
Yes, this photo is staged; I took it with my camera’s timer. However, I really was doing this before I realized how silly it is (and how silly it must look–not that that particularly matters) to have to climb onto the desk and stick my head into one of my modular’s cabinets just to make sure of the orientation of the power connectors. Sometimes I think that if I were starting from scratch today, I’d go with the much more compact Euro format instead of the MOTM format. Back when I started building this synthesizer there was much less activity among manufacturers of Euro-format modules. Today it seems that most of the interesting module development–most of the module development in general, for that matter–is being done in Euro format. It would be a tough choice; I wouldn’t happily give up the quality of the MOTM VCOs and filters, and I really prefer 1/4″ cables and jacks. On the other hand, a synthesizer with the same complement of modules (functionally speaking) as mine would take up much less room in Euro format, and as Chris is pondering, there are some pretty neat Euro format modules coming out these days that are unlikely to appear in MOTM format. I may eventually consider whether I can change the mounting rails in my cabinet somehow so as to accomodate some number of Euro modules, even though that would mean mixing jack sizes.
Good Video on Surface-Mount Soldering Techniques
There’s an excellent video here that shows how to do surface-mount soldering by hand. I’ve done several SMT projects now and I’m a complete convert: in some ways, I prefer it to the old through-hole technology. This video will show you how it’s done. It’s very well photographed and narrated. The same site has a bunch of great material and links on soldering in general here, including this link to a somewhat mind-boggling page by NASA documenting their soldering requirements.
“Mommy, what was a CD?”
If you buy music and/or make music, you might find it interesting to read this post and this post about Positron! Records ceasing to release music on CDs. This is relevant to me because Positron! releases a bunch of good music, including but not limited to everything recorded by Chris, my Audio Damage partner. It’s also the label most likely to release anything I record for reasons which should be pretty obvious.
Personally I’m somewhat ambivalent about the inevitable demise of Compact Discs. On one hand I understand the business sense it makes, and I admit to having hundreds of CDs on hand which I haven’t listened to in years and may never listen to again. On the other hand I’m enough of an old-timer to still appreciate getting something physical to hold when I buy music, along with a nicely printed cover and insert and stuff. I also think that I never quite got over the disappointment of CD packaging compared to vinyl-record packaging. Records were huge, relatively speaking, and sometimes people did nice artwork and extensive liner notes and stuff for them. But then records were fragile and difficult to care for and generally a PITA, so I can’t say that I miss them. Time will tell whether I miss CDs, I suppose.
Troubleshooting a Really Obscure Windows XP Problem
Lest I give the erroneous impression that Apple is the sole source of my computer woes, I spent all day (fairly literally) yesterday troubleshooting my main PC after what should have been a simple hardware upgrade went awry. I purchased a new graphics card and a new sound card. The graphics card went in without a hitch and dazzled me with both its performance and its nearly inaudible fan. After convincing myself that all was well so far, I put in the sound card.
I still don’t know exactly what I did wrong. It could have been that I connected the cables for the front-panel jacks and the CD drive incorrectly. It could have been that the new card collided in some manner with the motherboard’s native audio hardware or the serial-port card I use for microprocessor firmware development. (I’ve since removed both.) It could have been some weird fluke.
I Feel Old
I just noticed that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the release of both Donna Summer/Giorgio Morodoer’s seminal electronic hit “I Feel Love” and Kraftwerk’s groundbreaking electronic album Trans-Europe Express. It’s interesting in itself that these were released in the same year, but mostly I’m blown away that it was that long ago.
I discovered both of these works somewhat after the fact, but they would rank high on the list of recorded works that had the greatest influence on my aesthetic. I did a cover of “I Feel Love” 10 or so years ago; maybe I should dust off the files and remix it for this anniversary year.
Video of Monodeck II
Here’s a rather poorly shot video of Robert Henke playing his Monodeck II:
It’s too bad that the camera operator doesn’t figure out until the last minute that all he really needs to do is point the camera straight down at the thing, but still, it’s an exciting look at one of the most impressive DIY music electronics projects that I know of. Robert mentions on his site that there’s more video forthcoming.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, Robert Henke is one of the founding, and now sole, members of the minimal-techno electronic music act Monolake. The other member was Gerhard Behles; Gerhard left Monolake to write Live, which has become an extremely successful digital-audio workstation application. Live is also my favorite host application for developing and testing Audio Damage plug-ins, and I listen to a fair amount of Monolake while doing so. The Monodeck II is a one-of-a-kind hardware control surface designed and built by Robert and some of his friends for doing live performances with Live.
Gear For Sale
I’m selling off some old gear that I haven’t used in awhile. Here’s the list:
Clavia Nord Modular, first version (not the G2), rackmountsold
Electrix WarpFactory vocodersoldKorg AM8000R multi-effects processorsoldDoepfer Drehbank- MXR phase 100, original (pre-LED) version
Zvex Lo-Fi Loop Junkysold
Chris kindly posted the list on his blog which gets far more traffic than mine. Click here to go there for more information, prices, etc.
Another Brand of Epoxy for Metal
If you haven’t been able to find the Plastic Steel epoxy I’ve mentioned for attaching standoffs to panels, there is another brand of apparently similar stuff called JB Weld. A reader of this site sent this link to me. It’s a discussion thread on making inexpensive illuminated pushbuttons, but if you scroll down a bit you’ll see photos of some interesting techniques. He uses flat-head screws instead of standoffs, which is a clever idea. (Personally I’ll stick with threaded standoffs because with screws you’d have to carefully set the height of all of the backing nuts.) I happened to be in a hardware store a couple of days ago that stocks JB Weld products; they appear to be pretty straightforward epoxies with different formulations for speed, materials, etc.
Nifty PIC-Based Synthesizer Modules
There’s a fellow with a website here that documents a clever idea for building LFOs and ADSRs using PIC microcontrollers rather than the usual handful of analog components. I’m quite sure that this would be a less expensive way to build these modules, and one could build exotic things like DX7-style rate/level EGs instead of plain-vanilla ADSRs. He even provides his source code for the firmware. I might build the ADSR on a breadboard just to see how it performs. (Personally I prefer AVR chips to PICs, but hey, if all I have to do is assemble somone else’s code and burn it, I’m not gonna complain about his choice in CPUs.)