Sunday, 19 October 2014

Cuba - Havana 1

A few pics taken on a recent trip to Cuba.
The beautiful old buildings are undergoing graceful decay.

















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Saturday, 18 October 2014

Elektron A4 synth & Rytm drums - Entrancer

Analog Four, Elektron Rtym & a Buchla 200 modular synth,

The track was recorded in a single take. No audio processing.
I'm using a combination of LZX modules & a Korg entrancer to process the video.

Some pics of the setup:






hERE is a link to the audio file for this composition.

And finally, below is the same video pre video manipulation:


Friday, 10 October 2014

Video on a oscilloscope

Exploring vector rescanning.

Found this video (it's not mine) but I'm experimenting
using the LZX modular system to do a similar thing.


Input the video signal into the z-input of your scope and supply the X & Y inputs with
ramps.

 The circuit uses a LM1881 IC - Its a video sync separator.

Here is another video using the same idea:
Creating X and Y sawtooth ramp signals from the vertical and horizontal sync pulses.

Schematic is here:

Using a Tektronix 485 in XY mode
There is a useful muffs post on Vector Rescanning

Op-amp basics

A friend of mine was asking about op-amps the other day.
They are used extensively in the synth world.
I found this great little video and thought I'd share.
It's very basic but a great introduction to this very important
building block of electronic music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K03Rom3Cs28

Around 7.15 into the video is a integrator circuit.
It's a classic way to convert a square wave to a triangle wave.

Thursday, 9 October 2014

Elektron Analog 4 & Rytm - Feedback 2

The Elektron A4 & Rytm are a great pair. They are made for each other.
Though the video is processed, the audio was done in a single live take.


Below is a free link to some high quality Wav files of this video
If you wanna have a go at remixing this be my guest.

I've had a few requests for a version without the video editing. ...so everyone can see the machines without the video synthesis getting in the way. Here it is:



Roland 808, 303 & Jomox 888

Love the Jomox 888. Those kicks stand up well next to the Roland 808.
We (jondent & cobramatic) are just having a bit of fun on a sat arvo.


After a good red everything sounds better... The 303 devilfish is very very different to a standard 303.
Takes a bit of getting used to.

You can download the audio files from this video here.

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

A visit to Non Linear Circuits - Perth, Western Australia

While on a recent trip to Perth I dropped by to visit my friend Andrew F of  Nonlinear Circuits.


I got to meet Pinky :-)


This is "Synth Porn"

And even more famous than Pinky are Randy & Bill
Randy is on the left. Bill who is only 4 months old is on the right.



Back to the synths:
This is all Eurorack format, consisting of :
2 tri-core VCOs 
2 LFOs 
2 LPGs 
3 VCAs 
VC spring reverb 
diff-rectifier 
jerkoff chaos 
2x  Buchla inspired 281 EGs 
Sauce of Unce (SOU). Based on the Buchla 265


A new NLC Serge format Panel.

This comprises:
Two VCOs
diff-rectifier 
Vibes (a collection of fixed filters) 
VCA
Mixer



This is part of an electronic analog computer which Andrew rescued many years ago.  It's programmed using patchcords that connect op-amps, capacitors, resistors, etc. to carry out calculations.



                                A adder circuit. It's a lovely illustration of how the Op amp's
                                    negative feedback can be used to do computations.


 This circuit adds the 3 inputs.
Vout = -R4[V1/R1+V2/R2+V3/R3]


                                                                     The integrator.
This op-amp circuit performs the mathematical operation of Integration



 The output voltage is proportional to the integral of the input voltage. (ie: the size of the output is controlled by the length of time a voltage is present at its input). This is determined by the negative feedback capacitor which charges/discharges.


I'm not sure of the age of this computer. Maybe 1950s /  1960's ????
It's beautiful though. 



 Pieter Brugel-the-elder, "The Triumph of Death"

  c. 1562. The original can be found in the Museo del Prado, Madrid 

Skeletons hauling a wagon full of skulls.
Death is indiscriminate. We will all have to face it one day.



An early valve synth



All pics are reproduced with the kind permission of NLCs.

Thursday, 2 October 2014

Building the TTSH - A 14 minute Video Diary

Building the TTSH was lots of fun. While building, I collected lots of photos & videos so decided
to put them all together into two videos.

It's not a "How to Build the TTSH". There are plenty of those up on the net already.
It's just a collection of my experiences. Maybe watching it will encourage you to build one too.




Monday, 29 September 2014

Safita - Syria - The White Tower

This was a trip I made back in 1999.
I wonder if the tower still exists ????

Built by the Knights Templar during the Crusades. In French its know as Chastel Blanc (Arabic: Burj Safita or Safita Tower‎).




A page from my travel diary.


felt-tip pen sketch.

In 1999 all that remained of Chastel Blanc was the central tower or donjon.
Originally it was surrounded by two defensive walls which were typical in Crusader architecture.
When this drawing was done, the tower was a Greek Orthodox church dedicated to St Michael. 
I wonder if it's been converted to a Mosque, destroyed by ISIS, or bombed by who knows who???
All very sad.

 The White Tower was both a chapel for the crusader knights & a fortress. It's 28 metres high and has walls 3 metres thick.




Safita's location on the Mediterranean coast of Syria
This pic was taken in 1905 by Gertrude Bell

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