Deviant Synth

Roman Sowa is offering the Midimplant for sale.
Only 80 euros. It looks even smaller than the old MIDIJack interface.

He’s been hacking an ancient Seeburg drum machine, and as mentioned on RetroThing, he’s been stripping out the guts of old 8mm movie cameras and replacing them with optical pickups, then pointing them at moving objects, to get sound.

Not many people have been posting to DS lately. So let me fill in with a new photo–this is the first of the Eurorack modules that Metasonix will introduce in 2009. First one is a combined tube distortion/VCA, using variable-mu pentodes (26A6s to be specific). Shown here is the first prototype. I’ve built 2 more, and they all work exactly alike, so it’s a solid and reliable design. Hopefully it will be ready to show at NAMM.

Six months later (original post):

The picture is of the v1.0. The v1.0 used an out-of-production case, the v1.1 is in a slightly different housing.

I am doing a limited run of five of the v1.1. Each unit is completely hand-made and is personalized on the jack panel. The I.N.M. is the flagship of our semi-pro gear, and is intended for studio use. More information at >the I.N.M. page<.

~flight
New ways to make noise
http://www.flightofharmony.com

Optical square wave synthesizer with 2x LED tentacle interface and amplitude modulation. Inspired by BleepLabs.  more info & video @ http://cliplead.blogspot.com/

I posted a brief article on phantastrons and how to use them in audio synthesis on my Weblog at

http://www.electricwestern.com/

Yes, there are schematics posted for the truly insane, and some suggestions to get you going. I was truly sad when I discovered that there really isn’t much info available on that great circuit of WWII radar!

Enjoy, and if you REALLY love it, you can feed me by getting a kit :). Maybe I’ll even cut you a deal or a swap if you’re a sufficiently deviant synther…

And, if you don’t already know, Electron-Tube Circuits by Samuel Seely and other old technical books are now in the public domain, and can be gotten at http://www.pmillett.com/technical_books_online.htm

Now, go forth and study! And do make something really tweaked, please.

Electric Western is proud to present the Phantastron Kit: an all tube synth kit. The first all tube synthesizer extracted from Navy radar circuitry (at least that’s where I got it).

Here’s my video of testing the prototype model (yours will be prettier and sturdier) Audio starts as the tubes warm up (within 25 seconds) -

Video Demonstration:

Phantastron Under Test

First, I’ll start with what you don’t get:

1. A metasonix oscillator (yes it uses a 2d21 thyratron, and yes, I too love metasonix and Eric’s work, but this thing is different - the last thing I want to do is rip off someone else, really). But thank you Eric for introducing me to the 2D21, it does work better than the 884 in this case (although the 884 is sooo sexy looking)

2. 1V / xxx — the CV is quite variable, which makes this intstrument, well more like a trautonium than a TB303. Just watch the video above and know that the ribbon controls 0 to 5.5VDC linearly.

NOW, WHAT YOU DO GET:

A Turret board with extra turrets for your own mods.

All the electronic parts, including a 2D21/PL21 thyratron and a 6SJ7 Pentode. Why these tubes? Well, the 2D21 is the most affordable thyratron and the 6SJ7 is a metal wonder that is RESONANT as heck in a phantastron circuit.

An all wooden box and 1/8″ Steel panels. Copper, brass and other shiny things.

A completed, safe power supply which reduces the possibility of tasering yourself and eliminates the possibility of working directly with AC wall current.

Instructions with theory lessons and the original scans of navy and pre-WWII tube textbooks. Drawings and and assembly guides. A nice note from me and my wax seal (yes, I am steampunk, and I do write the note with a quill pen on artisan paper).

All the fun of tubes and experimentation without buying metalworking tools, having a workshop, etc.

Oh, and please buy one, they’re pretty cheap, awesome, and I quit my job as an audio electronics professor and corporate employee to make more crazy stuff. The pitch ribbon is the next release, but if you’re really anxious, you can get a 500mm strip from SpectraSymbol at Spark Fun electronics and make your own. Or I can show you how to make one from $5 worth of EM shielding plastic and mylar. The Electric Western one will include some logic to change tuning, allow two touch finger control, analog computing and sustainable local lumber, etc.

Also, we are total “western steampunk”, post-apocolyptic mountain folk, and we use no lead, local materials, wind our own coils, never get Chinese circuit boards, use “green” canadian lumber and have a solar power array that makes 5KwH a day (and a steam engine that makes abut 9 watts), catch and use rainwater and live in an earthship, compost all of our feces and urine into bio-gas and humanure. And I really do wear a cowboy hat and I’ve punched a goat (lovingly). So, just buy one (a Phantastron kit, not a goat) to support our carbon neutral anti-corporate lifestyle (if that’s your thing).

Or just buy one and return it if you’re not happy. I can deal with that too. But you will be happy.

Here’s a time-lapse video of soldering the turret board: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoEjkSMbkDM

Oh, and thank you to Eric and Metasonix for opening up the world to crazy tube instruments!

But visit Electric Western: www.electricwestern.com

I’ve gotten a lot of emails from people wanting to add a PB filter to their own projects, so I’m now offering the Plague Bearer Barebones pack. Kit as shown in the above picture: $35.00 + S&H, alterations are welcome.

~flight

Already discussed on Matrix, he went for the Van Halen thing.

Damn that Krylon Fusion paint!

The Noise Toy is one of the simplest electronic kits I’ve ever seen. It’s an AVR microprocessor on a tiny board–apparently the smallest AVR available. You program it with software to make noises. This requires an AVR programmer and some knowledge of embedded-system programming (although the programming SW they recommend makes it fairly easy).

One thing I don’t get: what’s with the giant power switch?

While not specifically synth related,  this features a neon lamp multivibrator, ostensibly for the purposes of creating a suboctave signal to mix in with the straight signal.  In this device, it more or less just creates a different type of distortion, albeit a cool one.

The housing is from a fried computer power supply.

Youtube clips to follow shortly:

…that he’s making silicone rubber molds, and casting new keys himself. He gets an A for sheer determination.

You could do him a favor, and offer to support his project.
The project Google Group is here.

SDIY.org user “Pinky”

I’d call him a serious DIYer.

And for interest: he also runs a Yahoo group for tube synth DIYers. It has a considerable library of old schematics from various pre-1965 textbooks and articles.

Talk about an obscure analog sequencer! It deserves to be better-known.

Analogic ACS

Theremin was not the only Russian to pioneer electronic music equipment.

There was Evgeny Murzin’s ANS, a giant synthesizer that used photocells to read scratches from rotating glass disks to make music. Somewhat like the Optigan organ, but far more complex. And dating from 1937.

Read about it here, here and here. Yes, Matrix ran it.

Coil used ANS sounds on an album in 2004.

http://www.mawzer.com

A French project to create a completely reconfigurable, open MIDI controller.

Sadly, there have been almost no new posts on their forums (which are mostly in English) since 2007.

Someone mentioned American distribution:

http://www.mawzer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14

Yet there’s nothing on Analogue Haven’s site about the Mawzer.

Did it fail?

We just have to bring up the notorious “swearing” Leapfrog Alphabet Pal. Idiots have been blubbering about it since it hit the toy market in 1999. Even David Sedaris has some comments about this “evil” toy.

It became such a popular meme, Leapfrog reprogrammed later versions to censor its speech.

Thankfully, Austin Cliffe of Creme Dementia did the proper thing with the “obscene” talking caterpillar.

Talking toys can be a problem. (not)

Oddly, Leapfrog’s corporate office is right next door to the office of Electronic Musician magazine. Is there a conspiracy here?

here is an advanced Cacophonator and a Chaoscillator inside, plus a ringmodulator.
info and sounds at:
SubtleNoiseMaker
and
MySpace
cheers,
Sacha

This is, of course, based on Eric Barbour’s designs, with a few twists.

I built a separate sine/square wave oscillator and have put an input jack on the front of the ring mod for input of any carrier signal.

Basically, the first jack is the straight signal input.  It feeds a 6ej7 pentode, then the volume pot below the jack, then pin 6 of the sheet beam tube.

The second jack is the carrier input, which feeds 1/2 of a 12ax7, a volume pot, the second 1/2 12ax7, then the beam deflection pins.

The top switch takes the straight input and switches it to the carrier circuit, cutting off the carrier input.  This creates some weird and useful sounds, especially in conjunction with the bottom switch, toggles the value of the 12ax7’s first cathode resistor bypass cap between 10 uf and .01uf.

The third pot is screen voltage control for the sheet beam tube and the last jack and pot are output.

SD MIDI Controller

Kit or assembled. It even has a remote control.

(Website is a bit ugly, though. Shades of early

Microsoft Frontpage!)