Saturday, 14 October 2017

Cairns to Darwin - Bus trip - (MT. ISA to Cape Crawford) - Day 3

 DAY 3 - MT. ISA TO CAPE CRAWFORD

The Itinery for today

* Journey into the Northern Territory today
* Keep an eye our for the ever present wildlife in this remote region
* Travel through the Barkly Tablelands
* Overnight accommodation at the Heart Break Hotel
 


 

lOVE these road trains.





The Queensland border.







.......
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Thursday, 12 October 2017

Electro harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress - Version 2 - EH5150

I'm on the hunt for pedals and effects that use the reticon SAD 1024 bucket brigade chip.
My previous post was for the EHX slap-back pedal which also used this chip
Many of the early EHX pedals appear to have used the SAD 1024.
One such is the Deluxe Electric Mistress.

Versions 1 (1978), v2 (1979) & v3 (1981) used the reticon SAD 1024 delay
Version 4 & version 5 used the  reticon RD5106A bucket brigade device. It had its own clock driver.
Its interesting that the reticon SAD1024 is a dual 512 stage delay &
the RD 5106A is a 256 sample device.

Notice the "icehocky puck" style knobs.

The Deluxe Electric Mistress is a iconic flanger. It has been reissued in the more compact "XO" chassis. In addition to the analog filters, the Deluxe Electric Mistress features a Filter Matrix for adjusting the sweep of the flange.

The Electric Mistress was designed by David Cockerell. David had worked for EMS, where he designed the the Synthi Hi-Fli. He also designed the Small Stone phaser and Micro Synth.
These were based on the Hi-Fli.
The Deluxe Electric Mistress was designed by Electro Harmonix engineer Howard Davis (who also designed the Deluxe Memory Man).

These pics are of a Deluxe Electric Mistress of I think 1979.
The PCB is labeled EH5150 B or C???
I'm inclined to think this is a V2 EH5150C.
The V3 has a green case.
 Not exactly clear.

The power supply is 120V. There is an internal transformer held in place with two screws.
The case measurements are: 170mm x 200mm x 38mm.

ICs used:
1x LM78L. This is a linear voltage regulator.
1x 4558. Its a dual general purpose Op Amp
1x SAD1024A: BBD chip
1x LM324: Quad Op Amp
1x LM311N : Voltage comparator
1x 4013BE : CMOS Dual flip flop

Transistor: 1x 2N5087

Anyway, the Electric Mistress was used by David Gilmore of Pink Floyd.
He got his Electric Mistress V2 in 1976 or January 1977. It was used on the Animals Tour and I think the Pulse Tour in 1994. ?? You can hear it on many recordings like "The Wall"

Andy Summers of "The Police" is another notable user. Listen to "Do Do Do Da Da Da" or "Driven To Tears"

Links:
1. DIY deluxe Electric Mistress
2. The Mistress Mistery Page

Tuesday, 10 October 2017

Electro-Harmonix Slap-Back Echo

I found this old ehx pedal. It's a slap-back style echo. Model EH-4700.

Slap echo or slapback is a single echo resulting from sound bouncing off reflective surfaces.
Like when you clap your hands and listen for the echo in a large empty hall).
I understand that the Slap-Back pedal was one of EH's first forays into the smaller delay unit market.
She is pure analog and needs 18v to work, using either two 9V batteries or a 18V PSU.
 
I was initially drawn to it as the pedal uses the hard to find Reticon SAD1040 delay chip which is a bucket brigade IC. The Reticon can be found in the Serge WAD which is my favourite effects unit.
The Slapback delay is limited to 80ms. Just right for thickening guitar, bass guitar and other instrument tones.

A distinct repeat-echo is added to the original sound resulting in a very live sound similar to what you would hear in an auditorium.
The PCB is held in place by the Bend pot. So I was unable to remove the board to get a better look.
Thus these pics from the sides.

The pedal is uber simple.
Just two controls : a large 'blend' knob and a switch to turn a filter on or off.
The BLEND control is good for mixing wet and dry signals. The FILTER is turned on with a switch.
I think its a low pass as it seems to be good for cutting out hi frequencies.

There are standard 1/4" TRS connections

It's not versitle to replace your Memory Man or other delay but is the perfect little pedal to use in tandem with something like that to give you some varying delay tones.

I only have the first version but there seems to have been two other versions.
The Stereo Slap-back Echo edition, and the Slap-back Echo with Full Double Tracking Effects.

The Stereo Slap-back Echo edition, featured a DIRECT OUT output jack and a power indicator LED. There one of only 2 small EH pedals that ever used LEDs. The other unit was the small clone
Both units used the Reticon SAD1024 delay IC.

The Slap-back Echo with the Full Double Tracking Effect had a delay that was switchable between 50 and 100ms. The BLEND control was retained and the FILTER switch was replaced by the MS DELAY switch. It was produced around 1979 and used the Panasonic MN3005 delay IC.
EH seems to have replaced the Reticon chip with the Panasonic in nearly all of their effects. According to the net, the Panasonic chip was capable of doing the same delay effects, but with better bandwidth and less noise.I kinda like the reticon though.

The PCB is labeled EH1315


Saturday, 7 October 2017

Boss CE-1 - Chorus Ensemble & the Panasonic BBD

I'm addicted to bucket brigade chips. Ever since I first heard a Serge WAD I can't get enough of their beautiful sounds. The WAD used the Reticon SAD1040.
BBD (Bucket Bridge Delay) ICs are great for effects like reverb, vibrato, chorus, phasor, flanger & echos.
My favourite Chorus pedal is the Boss CE-1

It doesn't use SADs but still sounds great.

Created in 1976 when Roland founded Boss, the CE-1 is viewed as one of the progenitors of the chorus/vibrato effect & is timeless.

It uses Panasonic MN3002 BBD chips. They are single 512 stage IC's.
They also featured in the 1975 Roland Jazz Chorus.
Yes , It's a guitar amp.

Another chorus pedal that I think is worth checking out is the Electroharmonix small clone.
EH4600.

From 1979 to early 1981 it seems that, EH used either the MN3007 delay chip or the RETICON SAD1024.
The sonic differences are subtle. The SAD1024 version has been described as more “watery” sounding, adding a slight “boost” to the signal, while the MN3007 allows higher levels and less noise without signal clipping. The most sought after unit is the 1024 one, mostly because this was the version used by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain on “Nevermind” and the “MTV Unplugged” sessions.
The vintage units have a clear and smaller (3mm) LED versus the red and larger (5mm) LED in the reissues. Also, the originals don’t have a dash mark (-) separating the words FULL and CHORUS.
The reissues have FULL-CHORUS (with the dash) written on it.

 The MN3007 is a 1024 stage long delay low noise BBD that provides a signal delay of up to
51.2 msecs. They seem pretty easy to get on ebay.

 It's found in many popular pedals like the DM-1 and CE-2 & CE-5 by Boss, the MoogerFooger 108M Clusterflux, theMemory Man by Electro-Harmonix, AD-999 by Maxon or Analog Delay by MXR.
Moog Delays (MF104)used MN3008 chips ??? I think.
The 3008 chips are very hard to get these days. Thus those MoogerFooger delays are not made any more & go for ridiculous prices on Ebay. They are a single 2046 stage chip.

 This rare Korg 5 channel mixer uses a single MN3005 to produce the delay.

Pansonic BBD IC characteristics:
MN3001 Dual 512 stage  (0.64-51.2msec for 512x2stage)
MN3002 Single 512 stage (0.32-25.6msec)
MN3003 Dual 64 stage     (0.32-6.4msec for 64x2 stage)
MN3004 Single 512 stage  (2.56msec-25.6msec)
MN3005 Single 4096 stage (20.48-204.8msec)
MN3006 Single 128 stage  (0.32-6.4ms)
MN3007 Single 1024         (5.12-51.2msec)
MN3008 Single 2046 stage (10.24-102msec)
MN3009 Single 256 stage   (0.64-12.8msec)
MN3010 Dual 512 stage low noise (5.12-51.2msec for 512x2 stage)
MN3011 3328 stage with 6 different output stages
MN3012 BBD with 3 parallel signal delay lines with a clock generator
MN 3101 CMOS clock generator for BBDs

There are some clones starting to appear:
Coolaudio: MN3207/3208/3205
Visual sound: MN3102/MN3207
Belling MN3208 and MN3207 (with the designation BL3208 and BL3207)
Xvive Audio : MN3005

The two Panasonic series of BBD chips go by the ID:
MN30xx
MN32xx (Low voltage : 5V) 


Devices using Panasonic BBDs
MN3001
Eventide Instant Flanger FL201.
Tycobrahe Analog Delay Line (used four 3001s)

MN3002
Roland Jazz Chorus; Boss CE-1

MN3003
MN3004
Reissued A/DA flanger (MN3004, MN3210 or the MN3204)
Ibanez AD-230 Analog Delay (used 18 MN3004s)
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1A with 512 stages BBD (MN3004/MN3204)

MN3005
blacet Time Machine.
Memory Man EH 7810 
Deluxe Memory Man EH 7850  
Deluxe Memory Man Tap Tempo 1100 (4 X MN3005's)
Boss DM-2 (later versions use the MN3205)
Boss CH-1 Super chorus (Up till 2001) 
Roland DC-10 Analog Echo
Roland DC-20 (BOSS DM-100)
Behringer VD400 Vintage Delay (CoolAudio V3205 chip)
Way Huge Aqua Puss MkII (CoolAudio V3205 chip)
Frontline Delay (Panasonic MN3205 chip)
DOD FX90
Dod FX96 Echo FX (Panasonic MN3005 chip)
IbanezAD202 
Ibanez Analog Delay 100 
Ibanez AD 80 - Analog Delay (c1980)
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1D with 4096 stages BBD (MN3005/MN3205
Korg EM-570 Echo Mixer
Korg SD-400 Signal Delay
Pearl F-605 Electro Echo Analog Delay 
Pearl AD-33 Analog Delay
Guyatone AE-5 Analog Echo (c1974)
 
MN3006
Guyatone PS-002 Stereo Analog Chorus (MN3101 clock and MN3006 BBD)
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1X with 128 stages BBD (MN3006/MN3206)

MN3007
Boss: DM-1; CE-2; CE-5; BF-2(MN3207)
MoogerFooger 108M Clusterflux,
EHX: Memory Man
EHX Smallclone.
Maxon: AD-999
Maxon BC-01 Stereo Analog Bi-Mode Chorus (MN3207) (late 1980s)
MXR: Analog Delay
IbanezAD202 .... Analog Delay
Ibanez FL-301DX (MN3207) ...flanger
Ibanez FL-9 (MN 3207) .... flanger
Ibanez FL 301 (MN3007 BBD and MN3101 clock) 
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1B with 1024 stages BBD (MN3007/MN3207/BL3207) 
Yamaha FL-01 Analog Flanger (MN3007)
DOD Stereo Chorus FX65

MN3008
Deluxe Memory Man Echo Chorus Vibrato XO (reissue in mid'00s).
                                                               (The XO version uses four MN3008s.)
Deluxe Memory Man TapTempo 550 - 4 X MN3008's
MXR Carbon Copy (2x 3208 chips AFAIK)
Moog Delays (MF104)
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1C with 2048 stages BBD (MN3008/MN3208/BL3208)
Maxon AD-9000 Analog Delay (uses four Panasonic MN3008 high-voltage BBD's. The AD900 runs off a special 12-volt adaptor. Some earlier models used the MN3005)

MN3009
Roland Juno 106
Roland Juno 06 - uses 2 in the chorus section
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1Y with 256 stages BBD (MN3009/MN3209)

MN3010
A/DA Flanger (Original 1979)

MN3011
A/DA STD-1 Stereo Tapped Delay 

Links:
Doepfer A-188 manual
Panasonic BBD datasheet
Serge WAD (Wilson Analog Delay)
Florian-Anwander

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Anglo-Saxons

Angle --- The word is the root of England.
They were Germanic in origins.
The Scandinavian roots of England are astonishing

The Angles are from the region that today is part of Germany and Denmark.
The Angles (Old English: Ængle, Engle; Latin: Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples[2] who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period.  (Wikipedia)




Monday, 2 October 2017

Western Australia, Tree top walk

 Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk 

 
located between Denmark and Walpole in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park and in the heart of the Walpole Wilderness. The Tree Top Walk is an easy 18 km drive from Walpole and 52km from Denmark.
......

...

 

walkway positioned 40 metres above the ground

 

....




The 600-metre walk is accessible and suitable for children of all ages, wheelchairs and strollers

 


some of the plants have origins that can be traced back 65 million years to the super continent Gondwana when Australia was joined with what are now Africa, India, Antarctic and South America.




 
For more travel postcards click here:

Tuesday, 26 September 2017

The Eye of An Octopus - Larry Niven

 The Eye of An Octopus - Larry Niven

 In Niven's three earlier stories (The coldest Place, Becalmed In Hell & Wait It out),
man has sent missions to Mercury, Venus & Pluto.
This short story covers the first expedition to Mars. It's successful as the crew
discover the remains of an ancient civilization.
 
The crew consist of  Henry Bedrosian & Christopher Luden who go down to the surface.
The third member, Abe Cooper remains in orbit.
 
They discover a well made from diamond,  some ancient writing and what appears to be a bicycle.
Is the well they discover for drinking or something else?
In addition, they find a Martian mummy.
 
 
 
This novelette was first published in Galaxy, February 1966
It's very short ... only 8 pages.

The title "Eye Like an Octopus" implies that though
the martian looks very human like, he is probably nothing like humanity.

"Like the eye of an octopus. It's nearly identical in structure to a human eye. Yet an octopus isn't remotely human".















The first page of the original galaxy mag.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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sci Fi Index

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Monday, 25 September 2017

Abelton Shortcuts

quick save
 Ctrl Save (ctrl + S)
 
“Save As”
Press  (ctrl + ⇧ + S) to save as a new file
 (ctrl + shift + S)
 
 
Undo/Redo: 
Press (ctrl + Z) / 
Press (shift + ctrl + Z)
 
--------------
 
Toggle Session/Arrangement View
Tab
 
----------------------------------- 
Clip View
 
Insert Audio Track:
Press (ctrl + T)
 
Insert New MIDI Track: 
Press (ctrl + shift + T)
 
Insert New MIDI Clip: 
Press (ctrl + shift + M)
 
 
-----------------
Clip View MIDI Note Editor
 

Copy Notes
CTRLdrag 
 
Change note length by dragging on note edges 

←→Lengthen / Shorten MIDI note
 
Transposing Octaves: 
Press ⇧ + ↓ or ⇧ + ↑ (shift + ↓ or shift + ↑)
 
Duplicate: 
Press (ctrl + D)
 
Quantize
CTRL-U
 
SpaceBar
Start/Stop
Play (from start, or from insert marker, or from start of selection)
 
 
   +     Zoom in
   –     Zoom out
 
 B
Toggle draw mode (for programming within MIDI Clips or drawing automation)
This is how you sqitch between the pen vs arrow cursor
 
 To move MIDI notes around the note editor, just highlight
the notes in question, then use the up/down/left/right arrow keys
































      
 
 

Heretics of Dune - first editions

 There are a few versions worth collecting

It's the fifth in his Dune series of six novels

 

The UK edition has a different cover to the US edition


  The UK version is from 
Victor Gollancz, UK, 1984.
8.95 pounds (price) on dustjacket
orange cloth boards. Gilded Spine.  

 








US edition

Published:  1984 (G. P. Putnam's sons)
ISBN 0-399-12898-0
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  There was also a Limited Edition of 1500 numbered copies signed by author;   

red boards, and gilt titles to the spine