NLC Serious Filter - ARP Odyssey 4023

The Serious Filter it is based on the Arp4023.

 This is what it should look like when finished.
..

The ARP Odyssey mkI (model 2800), has the 2 pole 4023 12db/oct filter

The MkI 4023 been described as the most "Arp-like" sounding filter, because it doesn't try to imitate a Moog. The NLC 4023 also makes a nice quadrature oscillator.
The mkII in comparison, has the 4035 24db/oct filter - with a steeper bass roll-off curve, just like the minimoog filter.

The Korg-ARP Odyssey has all 3 filters. Would be nice to compare this with them when the build is done.

..

The rear virgin PCB 

Some NLC words of wisdom first: "Sausage Fears"

"Sausage fears": a term to describe the actions of straight men who are afraid of showing any physical or emotional bond to the men they are friends with. (The Urban Dictionary) 

So true... we men are afraid of showing emotion.

Back to the build:

First solder the two SMD TL072 ICs

Now the rest of the SMDs & headers.

Next, the regular caps, variable resistors & through hole diodes & resistors.

The 4 pots I've used are 100k B.
You could use an A pot on the signal input if you really want.

Andrew F usually uses B pots on most of his modules (except on the ADSR module). It is very easy to solder a resistor across 2 pins if you wish to turn a B/linear into an A/log pot. This way, you can also adjust the slope to suit your needs.

Don't forget to connect the ground tabs on the 6 jacks.

The completed module.

 Links:
1. ARP Tech schematics for the 4023 filter
2. NLC Blog
3. NLC Build notes

More links to NLC (nonlinearcircuits) projects.

Merida - Yucatan Mexico

Some pics of Merida in Mexico.
Mérida was founded in 1542 by Montejo y León ("el Mozo") and named after the town of Mérida in Extremadura, Spain. It was built on the site of the Maya city of T'hó

  The castle cathedral (Cathedral of San Ildefonso) is huge and imposing. Dates from 1598. It was the first cathedral to be finished on the American mainland. A very severe and imposing structure that I read as a statement to show the power of the church.

The system of vaulting used throughout the building was based on the ideas of Andres de Vandelvira, first applied to the building of the cathedral of Jaen in Spain (1249).

Jaen Cathedral. It was built upon the ruins of a Mosque.

Merida's cathedral was probably built upon the Mayan ruins of T'ho... the Spanish using these conquered people as slaves during construction. It must have been terrible for the inhabitants to see their capital destroyed and this structure built on top.... just as in Mexico City.

 

The Cathedral was commissioned by Pope Pius IV. The architect was Juan Miguel de Aguero. He also built the fortifications of Havana Cuba and the Cathedral of Mexico City.

The crucifix inside is 25ft high. It's supposed to represent friendship between Mayans & the Church.
I found this a bit unsettling considering the building's history.

Remembrance of Earth's Past - Cixin Liu

 The 3 Body Problem is the first book in the trilogy : Remembrance of Earth's Past

The Three Body Problem.

The first edition is in Mandarin.

originally published  in 2008. 

The 2014 publication by Tor was the first English-language version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first English edition  

original Publication date
    2008
Published in English
    2014 by
US Tor Books
Pages    302
Awards    Hugo Award for Best Novel (2015)
Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Best Foreign Work (2017)
ISBN    978-7-5366-9293-0

***

The Dark Forest

Three-Body: Book 2

Original Chinese Publication date 2008
Pages    400
ISBN    978-1784971595
Preceded by    The Three-Body Problem
Followed by    Death's End 

 

English translation by Joel Martinsen published by 

Tor Books on August 11, 2015 

Hardcover.

512 pages

Book 3

Death's End

Chinese Publication date
    2010
Pages    592
ISBN    978-0765377104

 

English translation by Ken Liu published 

by Tor Books on September 20, 2016

3 Trins video synth with FetidEye's comparator

I really love this comparator. Awesome job FetidEye.
This is a short video showing the effect of the comparator on a external video.
(a old Japanese Samurai film)

The comparator video is the one on the top left. 

...

Thanks to Cobramatic for borrowing his comparator

ARP 2500 - 1045 voice

 Instagram posts

View this post on Instagram

#arp2500 #1045 voice #modularsynth #vintage

A post shared by jono (@dj_jondent) on Mar 29, 2017 at 7:38pm PDT

.....

Phillip K Dick - The Man in the High Castle

 Possibly the granddaddy of alternative fiction.

In this novel, the Axis powers win World War II and divide the spoils.

Germany occupies the East Coast of the United States.

Japan, occupies California.....

 

 Or is this really what the book is about. ???

 

It's a strange book.

Really a novel about a forbidden fictional book. "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy"

by Hawthorne Abendsen where everything is reversed and the victors of WWII are the British and Americans.

 

Hawthorne Abendsen is "The Man in the High Castle". 

He lives in a world where the Nazis & the Japanese Imperial Army are the victors of WWII. 

They go about transforming & ruling the world in their image.

The Germans colonize Mars & Venus, purging the human race of all non Aryans.

The Japanese occupy the West Coast of the USA, and much of Asia, Australia, NZ, South America.

 

Of course, the Nazi's aren't going to be happy sharing the world with the Japanese.

A plot to attack the Japanese mainland with nuclear weapons is discovered and just when things seems to be coming to a head, there is a sudden conclusion.

 

Juliana meets the author of "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" and asks him how he (or who) wrote the book.

I found his answer confusing at first ... 

 

BEWARE SPOILER ALERT !!!!!!!!!!

 

The book ends with Juliana discovering that The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, is real and that she & the characters in her life are living in a false reality.

 

At least this is what I gathered. 

The end is so sudden and unexpected. 

While reading the book I constantly asked myself the question "why is this classified as Sci - Fi" ?

There is very little reference to space, science, the future , but if I'm interpereting the conclusion correctly, Dick is implying either a false reality or parallel universes ... one where the NAZIs win WWII, and another where Britian & the allies are victorious.

This idea of the world as a false creation where some characters experience the truth, and break through the veil is a familiar idea today. Think movies such as "the Matrix". 

 

Maybe Dick is rather promoting the idea of a Parallel Universe. With the NAZI & British worlds both existing concurrently.

RIP Don

RIP Don Buchla.
He passed away on Wednesday at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 79.

So sad. Don will live on through his friends, family & instruments.
His life and achievements have changed so many people including myself.
He is Immortal.

Buchla 100

Buchla Music easel

These are all vintage 200 modules. 246 (Sequential Voltage Source ) on the top. From the left, 205 matrix mixer, 258 VCO, 281Quad Function Generator, a 296 Spectral Processor and a 221 keyboard controller on the bottom.

 Buchla 237 Keyboard.

The 237 was one of the very few conventional keyboards that Don invented. Though he studied piano
Don wanted to free musicians from traditional Western music.

“A keyboard is dictatorial,” he said. “When you’ve got a black-and-white keyboard, it’s hard to play anything but keyboard music.”

The 237 keyboard is amazing however if you consider when it was made .. 1970.
This is arguably the world's first modular polyphonic keyboard. It has four CV outs and gates.

 The keyboard controller in the foreground is a 222e

 Part of my 200e collection.

Don Buchla is survived by his wife, Anne-Marie Bonnel; two daughters, Jeannine Serbanich and Erin Buchla; his son Ezra, and two grandchildren.

Euro build notes for a Serge Resonant EQ Mk. II

These are my build notes for a Euro format Serge Resonant EQ Mk. II.
Mk. II daughter board and Mk. II panel by Clarke

 First the virgin PCBs.

This Euro version still uses Ken Stones CGS 202 pcb.
http://www.cgs.synth.net/modules/cgs202_reseq.html

Above is a pic of a vintage Serge Res equaliser.
It's the 3rd module from the top. It's very compact in comparison to the Euro version and doesn't have
the extra outs from the 10 filter bands. And pot's are used instead for sliders.

 Official BOM for the daughter board:

SMT Components [3] TL074 (SOIC-14) [10] 330R Resistor (0805) [25] 47k Resistor (0805) [2] 0.1uF Ceramic capacitor (0805) Through-hole Components [18] Kobiconn 16PJ138 jacks [10] Bourns or Alpha 45mm LED sliders [2] Alpha 9mm pots or similar, value 50k Audio. [10] LED Current-limiting Resistors - value varies by slider brand and LED color.         I'm using 1.2K. [2] 22uF Electrolytic capacitors [2] 1N4001 Diode [1] 2x5-pin Eurorack power header

These are the 330R resistors.... outboard resistors.

Next the 47K SMDs.

[2] 0.1uF Ceramic capacitor (0805)
[2] 22uF Electrolytic capacitors
[2] 1N4001 Diode
[1] 2x5-pin Eurorack power header

SLIDER Pots, jacks, etc.

Now for the main PCB.

Resistors & headers 1st.

What capacitors should I use ???

Ken Stone's site says this:
"Traditionally, polystyrene capacitors are used for all of the smaller value capacitors in this module. I have not tried using other types and cannot say whether using the polystyrene capacitors makes any audible difference. From 10n, up greencaps were used. In modern terms these would be MKT or MKS. Note that there are also 10 x 10n decoupling capacitors. These decoupling capacitors can be MKT, MKS, monolythic ceramic, or anything else that will physically fit."

For this build I'm using ceramics for the 680pf & 220pf. The jury is out on whether axial polystyrene sound better. The price difference is considerable.
I'll use Axial poly's in my next build if I can detect a difference between this build and my vintage
Resonant Filter. .

It's now time to wire up the two PCBs.

Headers can also be used like this:

 This makes for easier trouble shooting.

This is not part of the original CGS build. Took a bit of schematic study and trial & error to work out where
to where to make the connections. they were basically the outs pins of the ten TL072s.. pins 1 & 7

Links:
1. Muff wigglers
2. Ken Stone - CGS
3  Video 1
4  Video 2