#synth diy

[synths-and-sensibility]

This photo is weirdly intimate, so i wanted to share

[rubbish-audio]

Moog 3p modular, Synclavier II, Yamaha CS 80, Minimoog, Korg MS-20 and various other instruments at the Deutsches museum

[auberylis]

Punk SVF article is out!

Finally wrote up on the fucker. It's a fun filter that also is not too demanding at all parts wise. It also sounds very evil! The article has the schematic and my (extensive) notes on it, sound demos, photos, and even a veroboard layout download so you can make one yourself! This is the first time a fully solid-state filter sounds like i want one to sound, so, i'm very happy!

I'm posting the schematic here so people can comprehend how terrible my engineering is admire my well-informed design decisions!

[technician-the]

The classic EPROM!

Each of these chips has a meg or so of computer memory, Only erasable by shining ultraviolet light through the top window. They were used to store operating systems in computers (and some synths), game software in arcade machines, among other uses.

In modern electronics they have been mostly been replaced with the E-Eprom, which stands for electrically erasable programmable read only memory. A phrase which I manged to impress one of my collage professors by recalling without hesitation at 8 am.

In music, you see these quite often in 80s synths. the need for stable memory was higher then in computers of the time, so they often had more rom and less ram. For example, Most wave table synths had several eproms for wave form memory.

In the 90s you see a shift to non rewritable masked proms, driven by japanese companies (mostly yamaha). these proms offer more memory per chip, and the best long term stability, but require more testing, and large production runs.

[deliandiver]

Friday night build

[taperwolf]

I don't know exactly when or where I got this little guy; it probably was in an assortment of parts and projects several years ago, though I'd guess it's much older. (The chip has a 1987 date on it, though that just means it can't have been made before then.) It's a very obvious homebuild, but I don't know whose. Some of the labels are heavily damaged, but the main one I believe originally read "Ear Destroyer"; the two marks on the "Frequency" scale are "Pain" and "Death". In the interest of information, I did pop a fresh 9V battery in and got it to generate a high pitched squeal whose frequency went up as the knob swung counterclockwise.

The guts are a basic 555 astable multivibrator circuit; the only really notable aspect is that it's made by wire wrapping, where all the connections are via thin insulated wires wrapped around long posts in the back. It was a very common prototyping technique for a long time, but I don't think I have anything else built using it (though I do have a wire wrapping gun somewhere in my collection).

[praxidyke]

if you look closely, you can see the exact point where my wire management plan shit the bed

[mysynthfetish]

R-8 backlight DIY

I picked this up off the Yahoo Flea Market app. It's seen better days but works fine. I had a Mk II aaaaaaaaaaages ago. I forgot how goddam huge these things are. I was killing time on YouTube and saw someone doing Autechre style stuff with an R-8 and was like OH YEAH! That was right around when I had one and I was doing similar stuff, though I was shit at putting actual tracks together. Oh well. Anyway so yeah tharr she blows! As I mentioned, I had the Mk II version and that one has a backlit screen, which the first version does not have, so I thought hmmmm inverters are probably super small to drive that tiny of an EL sheet, and a step-up power converter probably won't be too big, and I can probably find an el-cheapo made in china deal for peanuts on Jamazon or AliExpress, so let's do this! I got the step up converter from Jamazon. I think I had to buy a set of 8 and it was like ten bucks. I tapped the legs of the 7805 +5V regulator for the power source and ground. Set the pot on the step up thing to output +12V, ran that out to the inverter for the EL sheet, cut the sheet to size, wired it all up, plugged it in, turned it on and hoped for the best. Worked fine first time.

Went with "red" for no real reason. If I get sick of it I'll just buy a blue or blue-green sheet. They're like ten bucks for a sheet. The inverter was about fifteen bucks? I got those from Kyohritsu, a major electronics parts supplier in Osaka. I always use them or Akidzuki. In this case it was Kyohritsu because they make the backlight screen kits themselves, and I've always used them for EL sheets. Here's what the business end looked like when done.

I used double-sided tape to secure the step-up converter there on the right, but because of me forgetting to trim the legs off the inverter components (not done at the factory, tsk tsk) I used a set of clippers but that didn't work 100% so I hot glued the inverter pcb there on the left. LOTS of free space on that PCB in the R-8. I had to cut a small hole in the metal noise shielding sheet that goes between the main PCBs and the keypad/drumpad PCBs to feed the EL sheet power wires through, but yeah no big deal. I also checked the voltage on the battery while I was in there. It's still fine. Something that surprised me was that there is NO whine at all with this inverter. Super easy job. Yay!

[uvknhn]

Pine box with wood nobs. Planning on making something arduino-based.

[twoquad]

Big Volcanana photo dump. Original faceplate designs on the train, more better faceplate designs, where I’m putting the thing together, gratuitous nudity, box building, battery plots. Now I’m just waiting for the switches to arrive so I can get to the next part. Waiting waiting waiting...

[synths-and-sensibility]

8 octaves of eurorack level saw wave! And it's got a second voice (only one connected right now). Next step is pulse wave then migrating to the protoboard

[rubbish-audio]

DIY Banana modular at the Science University of Pécs

[auberylis]

I am now taking hardware gear commissions again!☆

Shut this option down for a bit, but it's back again: everyone wishing for a piece of gear (pedal, eurorack module, full synth, ...) of varying fucked-up-ness made with loving paws of a decoracore transfem losergirl - look no further! Here's some stuff that i made.

Here's a full catalogue of my DIY module designs that i can execute for you with any customisations that you'd like. I also can take on any arbitrary hardware project that's not modular - so, pedals, desktop units, etc, are also a possibility. Prices vary and i do value my time, but also i have like half a dollar of money that's not to cover the rent, so now's your chance to get a custom cheaper than usual.

Also, all the SFP series modules from that catalog above are for sale, too - they're Eurorack format, inquire for depth, prices, and other details. All the photos and demos are attached to each module's page.

PLURR!

[technician-the]

laying out the effects of mixing saw and triangle waves.

[deliandiver]

DUT: AD633 based Multiplier/Balanced Modulator