Buchla Case - 16U

Been playing around with a few possible configurations for a upcoming gig with my mate Paul A.
So I decided upon converting an old DJ turntable road case rather than take the standard delicate
Buchla boats.

Calibrating the 208r

The final choice of modules is still up in the air.

Maybe this for the lower boat ? A 259 & 258v ???

Or maybe this ?

 

The "final setup" - is there really such a thing ??.

One DJ case with 16U of buchla.

I finally went with the 208 in the base.
On the top we have Roman's 289r, 255 CV processor, 291r filter & a 267e
Next 258v VCO, 259r, VCO & the 247v sequencer

Let the party begin.

Arturia Beatstep & Korg MS 20 mini

Arturia Beatstep & Korg MS 20 mini = Marriage made in heaven.

The Beatstep is sequencing the Korg via midi.

The Boolean Serge

Testing one of my NLC (NonLinearCircuit) modules with the Morley Serge.
I'm mainly using a 4x4 binary logic module in this video.


Here are a few pics of the setup:
The 4x4 is receiving pulses from the Great Divide & 8-bit Cipher.

And some pics of the Paperface Serge:

These are the filters & reverb. The 4x4 logic module supplies all filter & VCO modulation control voltages.

The oscillator section. There is something very very special about these old VCOs.

The nonlinear circuit (NLC) 4x4 logic module is made up
of 4 identical circuits. Each has a different CMOS chip... which will produce related though different sequences & triggers. These kinds of modules are great for triggering drums.

Suitable ICs for use in these circuits are
4081 AND
4071 OR
4001 NOR
4011 NAND
4077 XNOR
4030 or 4070 XOR

A bit about  Binary & Boolean Logic
Boolean logic was first conceived by George Boole (1816-1864). He was an English mathematician & philosopher.

He is now regarded as one of the founders of the digital computer and indeed of digital electronics itself.
In computer programming Boolean data uses binary code: True / False, on/off, or 0/1. His system
consisted of the three most basic operations: AND, OR, and NOT

With all the AND & OR operations there are 2 inputs and one output.

Firstly, the AND gate:

The AND gate is a basic digital logic gate.
You will only get a output if both inputs are 1 (or "high" or "on" or "yes")
If either or both inputs is 0, then the  output will be zero.

INPUT     OUTPUT
A     B        A and B
0     0             0
0     1             0
1     0             0
1     1             1

The 4081 IC looks like this:

As you can see, it has 4 AND gates that can be used independently or cascaded together.
A four-input AND gate can be configured using the 4081

The OR Gate
The 4071 IC in surface mounted form looks like this.

Here is the pin layout:

Again you can see we have 4 OR gates that can be used independently or cascaded together.The output of this gate will be "high" (1) if any or both of the inputs are "high" (1).
The output of an OR gate goes "low" (0) if and only if both inputs are "low" (0).

INPUT    OUTPUT
A     B     A OR B
0     0            0
0     1            1
1     0            1
1     1            1

The NOT gate is also called an inverter.
It outputs the exact opposite digital signal as what is input.
It's not part of the 4x4 binary module but I'd thought I'd include it for completeness.

Inca Trail - Peru

Inca Trail.    Peru

A 3 day hike to Machu Picchu through the Andes mountain range.

 Alpine Tundra

 Half way. ,,,, at the highest point on our trek. It's all down hill from here

Cloud Forest

 Many Incan ruins are located along the trail before ending the terminus at the Sun Gate

Are we nearly there ???

The next post will have pics of Machu Picchu

Arturia's Beatstep & MicroBrute

 Arturia has two killer products on its hands: The Beatstep & MicroBrute

It's very easy to set up a sequence.
All audio is from just the MicroBrute (with a little help from the Roland Tape Echo)

The Beatstep is providing master clock & CV/Gate to the Microbrute.

You gotta love the patch (mod) matrix.

Plug CV out from the Beatstep to Pitch in on the Mod Matrix.

The Doepfer Darktime is synced via midiclock.

CV from steps 1-8 modulate the filter frequency.
Cv from steps 9-16 modulate the metalizer

ARP's 2600 & Arturia's MicroBrute - party !!!

I love Arturia's Microbrute for so many reasons.
...... a great filter, the feedback brute function, the ability to access all 3 wave forms simultaneously,
a snappy EG, it's small footprint, the availability of CV/gate/midi at the same time.... etc etc etc.
But for me it's greatest strength is the patch matrix.

It's been sitting on my desk for over a week asking to be played with.so I decided to bring out the ARP.
I've really just started to explore the possibilities with this "little synth"..
For $399 it's a steal. 

I would love Arturia to expand on this idea and add a patch matrix to future synths.

A bit about the above patch:
The whole sequence is clocked from the Doepfer Dark Time.
It's sending Midi clock to the MicroBrute.

The Dark Time also provides a analog clock which sync's the Korg Voca Beat.

A gate from the MicroBrute clocks the ARP 1613 sequencer. So everything runs in time.:-)

The 1613 sequencer is sending two CV sequences on A & B channels to the ARP filter.

Bass Bot TT 303 & Roland TR 909 - Arvo musings

Just mucking around with two of my favourite synths on a Friday afternoon.

The TT303 so easily synced to the Roland 909 drum.
Midi clock used in this instance.