Showing posts with label Eurorack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eurorack. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 March 2017
Superbooth - Berlin - Aussie Manufacturers
Oscillosaurus
https://www.facebook.com/oscillosaurus/
Golt!
https://www.facebook.com/skewy?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1oTKRkTU0o
Amalgamod
https://www.facebook.com/amalgamod/
Metromodular
http://metro-modular.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Metro.Modular/
NonlinearCircuits
http://www.nonlinearcircuits.com/
Beast-Tek
http://www.beast-tek.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BeastTek/
Worng Electronics
https://www.facebook.com/worngelectronics/
Cat Full Of Ghosts
https://www.facebook.com/cfogElectronics/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf
http://www.catfullofghosts.com/
Sunday, 19 March 2017
Ambient Electronica - Elektron - Mutables - Buchla
Some recordings taken last Friday (17/3/17).
Rory, Andrew & I are practicing for an upcoming gig.
Instruments used were an Elektron A4, Roland TR8 Drum,
some Mutable Instruments Euro modules and Buchla-Sputnik clone modules.
Rory, Andrew & I are practicing for an upcoming gig.
Instruments used were an Elektron A4, Roland TR8 Drum,
some Mutable Instruments Euro modules and Buchla-Sputnik clone modules.
Thursday, 16 February 2017
Power Supply - NLC - Build notes
Building a Nonlinearcircuits PSU.
This just supplies +/- 12V for Eurorack modulars.
Andrew's build notes are here:
http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/data/WAMOD3%20%20psu.pdf
The virgin PCBs
Ok, lets twerk
Keeping Miley happy.
In the NLC build notes, Andrew stresses the importance of isolating the regulators from the heat sinks.
The smaller heatsinks came with grommets and mica insulators, so I think I'll use those.
He also recommended using heatsink paste.
Andrew F recommended I use these - http://www.taydaelectronics.com/capacitors/electrolytic-capacitors/4700uf-50v-105c-radial-electrolytic-capacitor-19x40mm.html
25V caps are okay but better to get 35V or 50V rating. just to keep the action well clear of the edge.
Always bigger is better with heatsinks, smaller ones cant soak off so much heat so will limit the current output of the regs. With a small one you will only get 3-400mA, a big one will get you double that (roughly...very)
The other thing to watch is the proximity of the heatsinks to the caps.
They do appear to be pretty close in the pics.
My sinks don't appear to get hot but they could cause problems if the temp exceeds the cap ratings.
These caps have a rating of 105 degrees celsius.
------------------
This PSU also has space for a 78L05 regulator.
Most of these are rated at 100mA
However, a standard LM7805 can be as high as 1A
A LM7805 might be a good substitution
If you are substituting remember:
1. the pinout is different so the 7805 goes in backwards
2. the 7805 can suck a lot more current than the 78L05 (10x more) and can take as much as the 7812, so keep it in mind and dont try to overwork it.
No need to change caps.
I'm using 1K resistors for the LEDs
This just supplies +/- 12V for Eurorack modulars.
Andrew's build notes are here:
http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/data/WAMOD3%20%20psu.pdf
The virgin PCBs
Ok, lets twerk
Keeping Miley happy.
The PCB receives 12VAC from a plugpack/ wallwart
. The 1N4004 diodes split this into positive and negative waveforms.
The 4700uF capacitors then smooth out these waves
. The 7812 and 7912 regulators then convert the rectified & smoothed
signals to +12V DC and -12V DC and these are fed to the connectors to be distributed to your lovely modules.
I'm using 250v TDK film caps for the four small 100nf caps
Probably a bit overkill, but it's what i had in stock at the time.
Some pics of the 7812 & L7912 voltage regulators attached to various heatsinks.
The smaller heatsinks came with grommets and mica insulators, so I think I'll use those.
He also recommended using heatsink paste.
Andrew F recommended I use these - http://www.taydaelectronics.com/capacitors/electrolytic-capacitors/4700uf-50v-105c-radial-electrolytic-capacitor-19x40mm.html
25V caps are okay but better to get 35V or 50V rating. just to keep the action well clear of the edge.
Always bigger is better with heatsinks, smaller ones cant soak off so much heat so will limit the current output of the regs. With a small one you will only get 3-400mA, a big one will get you double that (roughly...very)
The other thing to watch is the proximity of the heatsinks to the caps.
They do appear to be pretty close in the pics.
My sinks don't appear to get hot but they could cause problems if the temp exceeds the cap ratings.
These caps have a rating of 105 degrees celsius.
------------------
This PSU also has space for a 78L05 regulator.
Most of these are rated at 100mA
However, a standard LM7805 can be as high as 1A
A LM7805 might be a good substitution
If you are substituting remember:
1. the pinout is different so the 7805 goes in backwards
2. the 7805 can suck a lot more current than the 78L05 (10x more) and can take as much as the 7812, so keep it in mind and dont try to overwork it.
No need to change caps.
I'm using 1K resistors for the LEDs
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find more NLC builds here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 28 January 2017
Wiard - Malekko - Megawave - Basic patch notes to help getting started.
It's a wavetable lookup device.
There are 2,560 waveforms arranged as 10 ROMs of 16 Banks per ROM, with 16 Waves per Bank.
The module stores audio samples in the form of single cycle waveforms.
It's the most recent incarnation of a line of modules which started with Grant Richter's Wiard 300 Waveform City module.
The module was born when it was realised that a rising sawtooth into an analog to digital converter could work as an address generator.
There are also "1410 Blacet" (frac rack) and ModCan versions out there in the wild. (The modcan version has it's own internal oscillator)
This is a eurorack version.
The Megawave functions in two different modes (0-10v or +/-5v) set by the “Range” selector switch on the top left. Depress for +/-5v (audio) mode.
The button on the top right is the input wave type selector for ascending & decending saw waves
So to use it as a VCO , you'll need another VCO.
If you want the Megawave to track the input frequency of the VCO,
use a sawtooth wave. It should be usable with any VCO sawtooth except a Buchla 258 (which
has a unique waveform where the sawtooth has a “divet” in it).
You can use other waveforms if you don't mind distortion.
It outputs waveforms from the selected internal ROM bank.
You can use a sequencer, EG, joystick, random voltages, etc to step through various waveforms.
The Megawave module has many functions.
These include:
- audio waveform bank
- complex LFO functions
- random function generator
- non linear waveform distortion
- audio waveshaping
- stage quantizing
These single cycle waveforms are stored in 10 ROMS.
Each ROM has 16 banks. Each bank has 16 waves.
You can select the ROM with the top right knob or a CV
2. Socket Rocket (Grant Richter)
3. PPG/VS
4. Darwin's House (Darwin Grouse)
5. Monowave (Paul Maddox)
6. Bosch Gardens (Mathew Davidson)
7. Morphine (Mathew Davidson)
8. Vector 1 (Mathew Davidson)
9. Vector 2 (Mathew Davidson)
10. Scale Quantizer (Mathew Davidson)
The banks & waves are selected using the other pots / CV inputs.
The waves & banks are indicated with the numerical LEDs
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So to use it as a VCO patch like this.
The module must be audio mode (ie +/- 5 volt range.)
Use the Input Offset for optimal audio input with minimal distortion.
To use it as a distortion device you may have to first amplify the inputed signal esp if its line level.
Euro rack audio levels are much hotter (5Vpp) than line levels (approx 1Vpp).
I like the socket rocket banks for this. When using the Megawave as a complex LFO you may find it doesn't go as slow as you want is you are using a standard Wiard Oscillator.
To solve this use a triangle or sawtooth LFO with a +/-5V or 0-10V swing, setting the Input
Voltage Select switch accordingly.
The Wiard Anti-oscillator & Oscillator has a push button what turns them into LFOs.
The Wiard Envelator can also be patched to behave like a LFO
Using the Megawave as a quantizer.
Set it to the control voltage range (0-10v) .... that is the button is not depressed.
The Input Gain adjustment ensures accurate quantizer functions tracking. Also acts as an input gain.
0-10V gives 5 octaves.
Select the 10th & last ROM - Scale Quantizer
A 0-10V input will result in the following scales when the output is
connected to a standard 1V/oct VCO.
Monday, 2 January 2017
Braids - Chords
Making chords in a eurorack modular is really difficult
It at the most basic level requires 3 VCOs, a filter, VCA and EG
Mutable Instruments Braids has a number of modes that approximate chords, though there is no official chord mode
X3 mode is a good place to start
There are four variations of this mode
/| /| x 3 mode is 3 saw waves with individual tuning.
This mode is I think inspired by past synths like the miniMoog, EMS synthi, the electrocomp 101, etc. The saw waves can be tuned independently giving pseudo chords.
nn_X3 ... three square waves
The tuning of three oscillators is tied to the Coarse knob & Timbre knob.
By turning the timbre & Color knob, two of those oscillators can be detuned above or below the central tuning of the primary oscillator.
These two controls are quantized to “snap” on musical intervals like octaves or fifths.
It at the most basic level requires 3 VCOs, a filter, VCA and EG
Mutable Instruments Braids has a number of modes that approximate chords, though there is no official chord mode
X3 mode is a good place to start
There are four variations of this mode
/| /| x 3 mode is 3 saw waves with individual tuning.
This mode is I think inspired by past synths like the miniMoog, EMS synthi, the electrocomp 101, etc. The saw waves can be tuned independently giving pseudo chords.
nn_X3 ... three square waves
The tuning of three oscillators is tied to the Coarse knob & Timbre knob.
By turning the timbre & Color knob, two of those oscillators can be detuned above or below the central tuning of the primary oscillator.
These two controls are quantized to “snap” on musical intervals like octaves or fifths.
/\X3.... three triangle waves
SIX3...... Three sine waves
/|/|/|/| ....... 7 super saws detuned
--------------------
SIX3...... Three sine waves
/|/|/|/| ....... 7 super saws detuned
--------------------
The second pseudo-chord mode is the WTX4 mode
WTX4 is the wavetable times four page.
This mode is a 4-voice variant of the WLIN mode.
TIMBRE morphs through a small selection of 16 waves.
COLOR selects the harmonic structures between the 4 voices - from a predefined set of chords.
When COLOR is at 7 o’clock, all voices are playing the same note with a variable amount
of detuning, creating a thick chorus effect.
WTX4 is the wavetable times four page.
This mode is a 4-voice variant of the WLIN mode.
TIMBRE morphs through a small selection of 16 waves.
COLOR selects the harmonic structures between the 4 voices - from a predefined set of chords.
When COLOR is at 7 o’clock, all voices are playing the same note with a variable amount
of detuning, creating a thick chorus effect.
This is a great manual with the impt chord table for this mode.
http://www.vo1t.com/Euro//BraidsIllustrated1.8.pdf
There are a few variations in the original braids firmware which add extra chord modes.
Renaissance is a great place to start.
https://synthmodes.com/modules/braids_renaissance/#info
Sunday, 18 December 2016
New Sound Waves Synth Meet
Sunday 18th Dec, 2016.
Always great fun to catch up with my Synth mates.
This was the last meeting of 2016.
I think I want this sequencer.
It's from Red Light District. Totally Australian made.
I understand they will be sold in Kit form too.
Its Eurorack format.
..
Another one for the shopping list:
Ornament & Crime
Voltage Controlled Labs
Muffs site
See you all in 2017.
Happy Christmas.
Always great fun to catch up with my Synth mates.
This was the last meeting of 2016.
I think I want this sequencer.
It's from Red Light District. Totally Australian made.
I understand they will be sold in Kit form too.
Its Eurorack format.
..
Another one for the shopping list:
Ornament & Crime
Voltage Controlled Labs
Muffs site
See you all in 2017.
Happy Christmas.
Monday, 12 December 2016
Mutable Instruments - Clouds - drones - chords
Clouds is a great module to use for creating drones & chords.
Use Granular synthesis mode
First mode.
You need to input a steady note, and then it's just a very quick sequence that transposes the pitch of the grains
Used the quantized output of the a sequencer.... a Rene for example.
program on each row four notes that form a chord.
Limit it to a C major scale, for example.
You can then turn the knobs freely on the sequencer and create chords on the
fly.
My Clouds tracks quite well 1v/Oct.
Links
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Sauce of Unce - NLC - Build notes
This is a Eurorack module based upon the Buchla 265 Source of Uncertanity module.
The 265 is the first in a long string of modules bearing the name "Source of Uncertainity" which I
think is poetic and apt for such a module.
The Buchla 265 is one of the greatest modules Don ever built.
However, the original 265 uses lots of rare and expensive parts and needs +24V to operate so is out of reach of most people.
The Nonlinearcircuit module though not a complete clone is very close.
The noise source uses a TL074 (quad op-amp). The 265 used four uA741s (single Op-amp).
The 0.05-50 Hz VCO is op amp based (again TL074).
The Sample & Hold sections are changed to use the hi-Z input of TL074 op amps (ie not uA741s).
The 265 used an uA741 at the S/H output.
I've often wondered where did the name "unce" come from?
Maybe as it's the written form of the sound heard in most club music, Andrew named it from there? You have probably heard the sound unce,unce,unce,unce, etc coming from a club.
Andrew's build notes are here:
http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/data/Sauce%20of%20Unce%20build%20notes.pdf
NLC Blog descriptions:
http://nonlinearcircuits.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/sauce-of-unce.html
and
http://nonlinearcircuits.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/sauce-of-unce-in-eurorack.html
I'll be building two versions: one for the Buchla system & one for the Euro.
First the Eurorack one.
This is what the virgin boards look like.
There are four surface mount TL074 op-amps and some passive resistors in SMD format.
The rest of the build is through the hole.
There are two sides to this PCB
I like to get the SMD op amps onto the board first. Be careful there are no shorts.
Then the rest of the passive SMD stuff. The spacing is for 1206 SMDs.
I'm using 0805 SMDs.
The 47K resistor next to the 4u7 cap (marked in yellow) should be added last.
It sets the level of the noise output and determines the behaviour of the entire circuit.
It's value can range from 47K to as low as 12K if you have noisy transistors.
read Andrew's build notes for more info.
T1, T2 & T3 are test points.
T1: should just be noise like the three noise outputs
T2: a noisy approx 100Hz tri wave
T3: turn up the random pot to max, depending on your vactrol you should hear approx 30Hz +/-10V signal . T3 is the output of the VCO that controls the S&H on the 'random' output,
The orange & blue circles mark resistors that should be left out or changed. These set the output voltages.
Euro require voltages in the 0-5V range.
Buchla require a 0-10V or 0-15V range.
For the single vactrol I used a NSL 32.
Links:
Muffs- 265sou
The 265 is the first in a long string of modules bearing the name "Source of Uncertainity" which I
think is poetic and apt for such a module.
The Buchla 265 is one of the greatest modules Don ever built.
However, the original 265 uses lots of rare and expensive parts and needs +24V to operate so is out of reach of most people.
The Nonlinearcircuit module though not a complete clone is very close.
The noise source uses a TL074 (quad op-amp). The 265 used four uA741s (single Op-amp).
The 0.05-50 Hz VCO is op amp based (again TL074).
The Sample & Hold sections are changed to use the hi-Z input of TL074 op amps (ie not uA741s).
The 265 used an uA741 at the S/H output.
I've often wondered where did the name "unce" come from?
Maybe as it's the written form of the sound heard in most club music, Andrew named it from there? You have probably heard the sound unce,unce,unce,unce, etc coming from a club.
Andrew's build notes are here:
http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/data/Sauce%20of%20Unce%20build%20notes.pdf
NLC Blog descriptions:
http://nonlinearcircuits.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/sauce-of-unce.html
and
http://nonlinearcircuits.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/sauce-of-unce-in-eurorack.html
I'll be building two versions: one for the Buchla system & one for the Euro.
First the Eurorack one.
This is what the virgin boards look like.
There are four surface mount TL074 op-amps and some passive resistors in SMD format.
The rest of the build is through the hole.
There are two sides to this PCB
I like to get the SMD op amps onto the board first. Be careful there are no shorts.
Then the rest of the passive SMD stuff. The spacing is for 1206 SMDs.
I'm using 0805 SMDs.
The 47K resistor next to the 4u7 cap (marked in yellow) should be added last.
It sets the level of the noise output and determines the behaviour of the entire circuit.
It's value can range from 47K to as low as 12K if you have noisy transistors.
read Andrew's build notes for more info.
T1, T2 & T3 are test points.
T1: should just be noise like the three noise outputs
T2: a noisy approx 100Hz tri wave
T3: turn up the random pot to max, depending on your vactrol you should hear approx 30Hz +/-10V signal . T3 is the output of the VCO that controls the S&H on the 'random' output,
The orange & blue circles mark resistors that should be left out or changed. These set the output voltages.
Euro require voltages in the 0-5V range.
Buchla require a 0-10V or 0-15V range.
The blue circle marks the 12K resistor which I'm changing to 6.8k to give a Euro voltage output (0-5V).
The Orange circle marks the 10K & 33K which I'm changing to just a link (on the 10K) to again give out Euro voltages.
I'm using a J112 for the FET.
Caps next.
I'm using 68uf ceramics for the decoupling caps.
I used a 10uf 50V non polarized electro here.
The remaining 10uf Electros were 35V
Vactrol time.
Using a VTL 5C3/2 for the dual vactrol.
It's what I had on hand at the time.
Probably a VTL 5C2/2 would be better ??
The VTL 5C2/2 has slower attack and decay response times.
Almost there.
Pots, LEDs & jacks now.
I used 510 Ohm SM resistors for the LEDs.
Before setting the noise levels with the resistor marked "47K" I had a listen with just headphones.
Yup !!! lovely noise.
I measured an average of 0.175V at pin 1 of the TL074.
It fluctuated quite a bit.
So the resistor value was 62K
11000/0.175 = 62.857
I blew the 10 ohm resistor in the lower right corner of the pic. It's now replaced with a SMD 10Ohm.
The culprit was I think a short between the dual vactrol and the resistor (now covered with plastic shrink).
-----------------------------
For the Buchla module:
To get approx 0-10V, install the 10k and 33k
resistors as described. To get it up to 15V, replace the 10k resistor.
Use 0805 smd (which will fit nicely), so you can easily remove them, try
22k for starters.
Similarly, on the smooth output you can change the 10k resistor to increase the output voltage.
Similarly, on the smooth output you can change the 10k resistor to increase the output voltage.
The build guide I
suggests using 6k8 to 8k2 instead of the 12k. "The output still gets
pretty hot but very rarely clips, this depends a lot upon your dual
vactrol, so some experimentation is needed. I (Andrew F) used a rare dual Silonex.
"Best to use 0805 resistors which can be easily installed and removed".
Another way is to use 6k8-8k2 as suggested to keep signal levels at comfortable (for the op amp) levels and then adjust the '10k*' resistor at op amp C1 to get the range you want, higher resistance = higher voltage.
Another way is to use 6k8-8k2 as suggested to keep signal levels at comfortable (for the op amp) levels and then adjust the '10k*' resistor at op amp C1 to get the range you want, higher resistance = higher voltage.
------------------------
Muffs- 265sou
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find more NLC builds here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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