Saturday, 27 September 2014

Fairlight CMI IIx - first pics

After much anticipation my Fairlight is finally back home.
Many thanks to Peter Wielk of Horizontal Productions for the great care he has
put into it's restoration.

Peter Wielk has been working on Fairlights since the 80s and I highly recommend him if you have one that needs TLC.

 The Alpha-Numeric keyboard.

 The second disk drive (from the top) loads the operating system (system disc). 
The top disk is for your sound/sequence files.

 Unpacking the main computer. It's very very heavy, They don't build em like this now days.

 This is the rear of the mainframe.

Some closeups. Key start ignition.


And yes, the light pen works. Made in a time before there were mouses (mice) or ipads.
It still amazes me.

The Music Keyboard. It's constructed from white painted wood.
Very solid
 These are pics of the rear of the music keyboard.


I'll post more pics & info soon.

Analog Drum Porn

We were testing out Paul's new Jomox 888 against a vintage 808 and decided to take this pic.
One can never have enough drum machines. :-)

The Jomox has a great live performance mode. Very easy to
modify sounds on the fly.

Thursday, 4 September 2014

TTSH - ARP 2600 - Build notes - Index

I've really enjoyed building the TTSH.
It's given me a unique perspective of one of the greatest synthesizers of all time - The ARP 2600.
As my build notes are all over this blog I thought it would be good to put them into some sort of order
Thus this index:

1. Preconstruction Pics
2. 2047-1 VCO submodule
3. PSU - We have the Power !!!
4. VCO 1
5. VCO 2
6. VCO 3
7. 4012 Filter (DIY)
8.  The 4020 ADSR
9a. Transistor Matching.
9b. VCA  (4010 & 4019)
10. Ring Modulator (4014)
11. Pre Amp 
12. Envelope Follower 
13. Mixer & Reverb  
14. Noise 
15. Voltage Processors 
16. Internal Clock 
17. Sample & Hold 
18. Electronic Switch 
19. The Amplifiers 
20. Final bits 
21. First Impressions (Video)
22. Building the TTSH in 14 mins (Two Videos)

This order of building the TTSH can be changed of course.
I've basically followed Zthee's notes and found them to be very useful.
It's taken me about 3 months to put together, but I estimate that it can be done in about 20hrs
if you put your mind to it (giving up eating & any toilet breaks).
But if you take the long road this is a very rewarding experience. Studying the circuit diagrams and trying to
understand how the ARP engineers put this together nearly 50 years ago is so cool.
We have a window into the mind of Alan Richard Pearlman.

Thanks Zthee. :-)

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Dave Smith Tempest & Elektron MonoMachine SFX6 keyboard

A Cobramatic & Jondent jam last Sat arvo. With lasagne in our bellies washed down with  a 1999 Aussie Red you can't go wrong.

DSI tempest drum machine with the Elektron monomachine. Two great instruments. This keyboard version of the MM is rather rare. Quirky & unconventional ... I like it. Only 500 of these exist so I think I'm lucky to have found one.



Two monomachines - rackmount & keyboard



The raw unedited wav file for the above video is here.
Feel free to remix this to your hearts content.(Creative Commons Licence).
If you do remix it do send us a link. We would love to hear it.
Jono & Paul. :-)

Buchla Percussion (& grunge) - 222e

Playing with the 222e is such fun.
Buchla make uber cool keyboards.



 Some pics of this setup:






Saturday, 30 August 2014

Lake Titicaca

Titicaca or Titiqaqa is a lake in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia


 We stayed on an island on the Peruvian side. Very kind & hospitable people.  Traditional dress. Last night on the island.
Cooking is a simple yet wholesome affair.
Lovely food.
These are islands on the Bolivian side. They are made of reeds & mud. They float on the lake surface.


 A demo of the island's makeup.




 People live, grow food, etc etc on the islands. It's quite amazing.

 It's been a dog of a day.

 Poor guinea pig


 Too cute to eat.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buchla Tempest Glitch

A bottle of red wine + Buchla + Tempest drum  = Buchla Tempest Glitch.


 Cobramatic & Jondent mix.






A tempest on it's head