Saturday, 30 July 2022

Elk Electronics DIY Workshop - Video Equations

 
Some pics from yesterdays DIY electronics workshop.
 
This was a video synth build  : The Video Equations by Cat Full of ghosts
https://www.catfullofghosts.xyz/
 
The workshop was held in Wollongong , NSW, Australia.
 

All equipment & parts supplied.
 
A very easy build.
I think this is a awesome way to start DIY electronics.

If you have never soldered before, this is for you.



 
LSD ?? - :-)
 
Hako -- awesome desoldering gun !!!
 

Thanks to everyone who attended.
Such a satisfying day.
We all left with a fully functioning synth that we built ourselves.
 
My full build notes are here:


The next Electronic Music workshop will I think be held in late Sept in Wollongong ... 
Check with Elk Elektroniks for more details.

Address: Shop 266 Crown St, Wollongong NSW 2500

Thanks for organising this workshop Ed.
We all had a great time.

https://www.facebook.com/elkelektronik/

Thursday, 28 July 2022

Cat Full Of ghosts workshop

 Elk Elektroniks are holding a workshop on this Cat Full Of Ghosts video synth
 Im really looking forward to this event.

For more info check out Ed's FB page
or


https://www.facebook.com/elkelektronik/  

Instagram

 

The workshop will run from 10am-4pm at Elk Elektronik in Wollongong. There are some great lunch options nearby.

You don't need to bring anything to the workshop. All tools and the full DIY kit are provided on the day.
 

Wednesday, 27 July 2022

Midi clock using the Kenton Solo Eurorack module

 Some settings of a very useful Eurorack module. ... the Kenton Solo
 
I think this is ideal for use with a Modular - 
eurorack
 
Preset 70 has too fast a clock.
Use P.71 instead 














available values c24, c48 & d2 to d24,
- sets the ratio of MIDI clocks to output pulses from the Clock1 output.
 

 D12 seems about perfect.

If set to d2, there will 12 pulses from the clock1 output 
for every 24 MIDI clocks = 12 cpqn
If set to d24, there will be 1 pulse from the clock pulse output for every 24 MIDI clocks = 1 cpqn
(Note there are 24 MIDI clocks per quarter note)
 
So d12 = 2 pulses from the clock output for every 24 MIDI clocks



Thursday, 21 July 2022

Elk Elektroniks meeting this Sat .. 22/7/22

 Synth meeting this weekend.
Wollongong, Sat 22nd July, 2022.

 

---------------
Some pics from the meeting
 






$10 at the door.
2-6pm at Elk Elektronik.
Shop 3, 266-268 Crown St Wollongong
with special guests:
LWTHR
Battery operated micro synth tech

Instagram

Tuesday, 19 July 2022

Al-Bara - Syria - dead cities

 Bara or al-Bara is one of the former "Dead Cities" in northwestern Syria.


 It is located in the Zawiya Mountain approximately 65 kilometres north from Hama and approx. 80 km southwest from Aleppo. Al-Bara is also town in Ariha district. 


officially it was founded in the 4th century AD as a small settlement near a wadi however my guide said many parts date to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD
It is approximately 95 km southwest of Aleppo. 

The settlement prospered in the 5th and 6th centuries and wasn't affected by the Muslim conquest.
It kept it's ties with antioch and was a archbishopric till 1081... a crossroads to Jerusalem ??

Crusaders invaded in the 11th century.

It was struck by an earthquake in 1158AD


There are two pyramidal-roofed tombs

This is the interior of one of the tombs.

The ruins of Al-Bara spread over an area of tree-covered hillsides and valleys







Thursday, 14 July 2022

The suppository of All Wisdom - NLC - Build notes


These are my build notes for the "The suppository of All Wisdom" module
TSOAW is a Eurorack module from Nonlinear Circuits in Western Australia.



The name of the module comes from the words of one of Australia's ex PMs, Tony Abbott.

Andrew's module is supposed to be a (phaser) phase shifter, but in his own words "is so badly designed that it spits, sh!ts and burps all over the place. It can even do it without even using any CV signal."
 


So it sounds like it would be good for randomly 
phase-shifting an input.
 

This module combines circuits from two of Andrew's fav shifters.
the Steiner Phaser and the  Lovetone Doppelganger.

The Steiner phaser uses diode strings as variable resistors.
The Lovetone Doppelganger is a  4 stage LDR based phaser.
 
Andrew has replaced the Steiner diodes with LEDs which 
modulate LDRs as in the Lovetone.

You will need to build a light tight box using headers. 
The module is one big vactrol. 


Links

Some pics of the virgin PCBs



This module doesn't look like it has any hard to find parts
The ICs are all TL047 op amps
You will need 4 LDRs


Some NLC words of wisdom :-)
I'm surprised Andrew reckons Tony was only the second worst PM
But I've got a pretty good idea who Andrew thinks was the worst :-)


To be continued...

Part 2 is here;
 
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You can find more NLC builds here.
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Wednesday, 13 July 2022

Three Body

 I came across this Eurorack module the other day.
 
 "Three Body is the latest development from Schlappi Engineering and is a triple digital FM & phase modulation FPGA-based oscillator for Eurorack. As the name suggests, it features three digital oscillators that can be cross-modulated using frequency & phase modulation (FM/PM)"
 
I wonder if the name was inspired by the famous book
"The Three Body Problem" by the Chinese Author 
Liu Cixin

This  book is part one of the “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” triology and is one of my favorite
Hard Sci Fi novels. I think its being made into a mini series on Netflix?
 



Three Body was first printed in Mandarin in 2008 and only translated into English in 2014

Without getting into too many spoilers, its basically about an alien invasion, but
its so different to all the alien invasion stories out there.
It asks some serious questions like:
 
Is humanity worth saving?

Should we be trying to make contact with alien civilizations?
 
Should philosophy guide experiments, or should experiments guide philosophy?

Is science objective?
This is relevant today (COVID & Climate Change) when science and scientists are 
often questioned and shunned by the public.
 

The book is pretty heavy. There are a lot of technicial details on AI and quantum mechanics
which you will need to wade through. And its set in China during the cultural revolution, 
(a period of history I'm not familiar with). 
This is the first Sci Fi book I've read that was translated from Chinese to English
and I wonder what it would be like to read it in Mandarin.
It won the Hugo (2015) prize.
In fact Liu Cixin was the first Chinese writer to win this prestigious award.
This cultural point wasn't lost on me as I read the book.
The world's nations  (esp China) are in a battle for control of technology which will influence our future.

So what is "the three body problem"?

According to Wikipedia:
"a three-body problem is any problem in classical mechanics or quantum mechanics that models the motion of three particles (or bodies)."
 
The motion of two bodies is relatively easy to predict.
 However, the addition of a third body makes predictions of motion very difficult.

 
 
Here is a video of the Schlappi Engineering module
 
 
 
 
....


Friday, 8 July 2022

Kickstarter - Allen Strange - Electronic Music book

 This book is a classic.
I purchased the 1st edition many years ago.
 
Its very useful... "the bible".
Used old copies are really expensive and hard to find.
 
 
This new print I understand, is the expanded second edition from 1983.
Get it if you're into modular synths and electronic music.
 
 
 Cost: $35 CAD

This is a non-profit project. Costs involved are royalties, production, logistics and shipping costs. Any residual funds will be donated to community music initiatives focusing on electronic music and electronic music learning.

Thursday, 7 July 2022

Poultry in Motion - nlc build notes - part1


These are some build notes for the Poultry in Motion module.
Its a nonlinear circuits eurorack module.

Its got lots of uses.
VC Delay with a sync out.
Clock-divider
Clock (the PT2399 is the clock source)
VCO (with 12 suboscillator outputs)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




Some pics of the virgin PCBs
 




The module uses a PT2399 chip.
It's a pretty common echo/delay chip used 
in lots of guitar pedals.
Its CMOS technology developed by Princeton Technology Corp. 
The PT2399 integrates a small DSP (with memory), 
AD and DA converters. 
a clock that manages the delay time and several op-amps. 
This is all in the one chip 




Links:
+ BOM

Parts:
 
Tayda - 32.768kHz crystal











The ICs from Mouser:
771-HEF4060BTD-T
595-SN74HC4040NS

The module also uses a vactrol.
DIY is fine with GL5506/GL5516, LED and some heatshrink, 
otherwise something like NSL-32 will do


toggle switch 
tayda a-4567
spdt on-on

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LL4148 x 5
Radio diodes

Schotty diode - mouser




LM7805 voltage reg
Voltage regulators (series)
Using a IC version
The bevel is on pin 1 side


BC847 & BC857 transistors


To be continued......
waiting on some parts.
 

Korg Wavestate - MIDI out (DIN)

Some setup notes.
 
Ive been using the Korg Wavestate for a while and never managed to sync it successfully to my
modular eurorack till today.
Maybe in the past I was using the wrong connectors/ Midi to CV converters etc .. don't know.
 


Anyway, today it finally worked.
 
The CV.OCD did the trick.

Use gate output 10 .... send the clock (4th notes) to your sequencer 


Using the DIN midi plugs. (no usb)

These were my global settings.