Wednesday, 3 January 2018

Hyve Synth

This arrived in the mail today: A Hyve synth.
I've been eagerly waiting for this since Feb 2017.
It's facinating. I think the Hyve gets its name from the upper honeycomb keyboard (and it also sounds like a swarm of buzzy oscillators.... there are 60 voices !!!).

There aren't a lot of these Hexagonal Lattice type keyboards around. (Tonnetz).
It's very Buchla Easel in its responsiveness to touch.

The Hyve is a result of a kickstarter program.
 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skotwiedmann/hyve-touch-synth-make-the-future-of-musical-expres
Thanks Skot for this incredible instrument. It's a beautiful fusion of engineering with art.
So how does such a small synth have this huge sound? (I'll post some videos later).
The synth looks deceptively simple. The two main ICs are a SN74HC393DR & CD40106BM96
There are six 74HC393s. It's a dual 4-bit binary counter. Each chip contains 8 flip-flops.

There are two CD40106s. These are CMOS Hex Schmitt-Trigger Inverters.
Each chip consists of six Schmitt-Trigger inputs and is capable of making 6 square/pulse wave oscillators.

The upper section has a TDA1308T/N2,115 .. it's a audio amplifier & a UA78L05CPK .... a 5V voltage regulator.
If I'm understanding this circuit correctly, each CD40106 produces 6 square waves.
As there are two CD40106 we have 12 original square waves to play with.
Each square wave is fed into a Flip-flop. The flip flop outputs 4 squares waves (each a octave below the previous).

So in actual fact each of the original square waves has added to it 4 new waves at different octaves from the original. (1 + 4 = 5)

There are two CD 40106 ICs so there are 12 original square waves.
12 X 5 = 60
This I think, is how we achieve 60 voices.

(let me know if there are any mistakes)
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This Octave-down effect has been used in the past in guitar pedals. The MXR Blue Box used this method to create a two octave drop by using flip-flop circuits to divide the frequency by two. 
This created a buzzy synthesizer like tone.

The Roland SH101 used a CMOS 4013 dual flipflop to give three sub-oscillator waveforms; square at -1 octave, square at -2 octaves, and a pulse at -2 octaves.
Roland just fed the main oscillator output to the CMOS 4013 bistable flip-flop circuit to give the sub oscillator waveforms. Simple but ingenious.

Links:
HyveSynth.com
+ Hyve touch Synth Facebook
+ Kickstarter
+ Factmag
+ Muffs
+ Muffs - Hyve modifications
+ CMOS




Monday, 1 January 2018

Acclimatizing for Machu Picchu

Altitude sickness is probably the biggest obstacle for treking in Peru especially if you live at sea level.
In Peru most cities like Cusco are considered high altitude and the oxygen levels drop by around 5-6 percent. Symptoms range from SOB (shortness of breath) & tiredness to vomitting and dizziness.
In extreme cases, altitude sickness can cause death. Always seek medical advice if you are suffering from severe altitude sickness.

Altitude by City in Peru
  • Cusco – 3,200 meters (10,500 ft)
  • Sacred Valley* – 2,700 meters (8,850 ft)
  • Machu Picchu – 2,430 meters (7,970 ft)
  • Arequipa – 2,300 meters (7,500 ft)
  • Colca Canyon** – 3,633 meters (11,800 ft)
  • Puno / Lake Titicaca – 3,830 meters (12,560 ft)
Lima is not a good place to acclimatize for your Andean hikes as it is only 154m above sea level.
Before heading out to Cusco, I spent some time in Arequipa and visited a few of the surrounding volcanoes to help adjust.

The locals also advised me to chew Coca leaves. They make a decent tea.
Yes, coca leaves are the raw material for cocaine, but chewing the leaves or drinking coca tea when you're in Cusco (altitude 3,400 metres) clears your throbbing head and lets you breath again.





Altitude 4885m

 Our bus group at 5000m. Lack of O2 took its toll on everyone (except the bus driver).


Peruvian Pizza helps too.


 Inca Terraces




The bird is a Andean Condor.



Back in Arequipa. Peruvian hot dogs. I can think of no better way to round off a great few days in the mountains.
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For more travel links click here:
http://djjondent.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/travel-postcards-index-my-travel.html

Arequipa - Peru

Happy New Year to everyone.

A post shared by jono (@dj_jondent) on
I hope 2018 brings much good fortune.
Sitting back watching the fireworks last night reminded me of a NYE in Peru.
2011 in Arequipa.
Such a wonderful night.
I made some great friends with whom I'm friends with to this day.

Arequipa was founded on the 15 August 1540 by Garci Manuel de Carbaja. It's beautiful, filled with baroque architecture & frequently rivaled Lima for dominance. Arequipa was for a short time the capital of Peru. It has the second biggest population. Framed by 3 volcanoes, it's high in altitude (2335m above sea level) makes it a great place to acclimatise if you are planning to hike to Machu Picchu (2430m).
We did a trip to these volcanoes (Chachani, Misti and Pichu Picchu) to test for stamina. It's a good thing to do before your hike.

The city's baroque buildings are mostly constructed from sillar, a white volcanic stone.
Even our hotel was made of the stuff.

This was the entrance to our hotel


Below are some pics of the main Cathedral.
The Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa
Located in the "Plaza de Armas". It was opened in 1656.


 It's style is described as Renaissance Revival architecture.

 This is the central plaza.




 Everything was shut. It was the 1st Jan.2011.



For more travel postcards click here:

Sunday, 31 December 2017

Loading samples - Browse shortcut - waveform view

Deluge File Browser, Loading Samples, Browse shortcut, Waveform View

There are two ways to do this on the Synthstrom Deluge:


Method 1
1. Go to Clip/track View
2. SHIFT + Browse (shortcut pad)
3. Use the SELECT knob to navigate to the folder containing the sample
     [BACK / UNDO] will jump back, etc
5. Press the SELECT knob to load the sample
6. Press the Audition keys to play.
    you can choose different pitches as you play higher audition keys.

Method 2
1. Press Shift & Kit
    The file browser is immediately entered.
    You can browse the SAMPLES folder by turning the select knob
2. Pressing  the select knob will enter the folder or load the sample
3. [BACK / UNDO] will jump back, etc
4. After you load your sample you will be returned to track/clip view.

To add more samples to an existing kit.
1.Hold down the Audition pad (on an unoccupied row) and press Load.
2. Press Select
3. Repeat


Waveform view
1 Shift + START (shortcut)
   You should see the waveform with start and end points.
2. You can play it by pressing the Audition Keys.
3. Start = Green
    END = Red
4. Pressing each will cause it to start flashing. You can move the start and end points.
5. You can zoom in using the left/right knob (hold down & turn) to increase the resolution.

Setting the start and end loop points.
1. Hold the start line with one finger and touch the new loop point with another finger
2. Do the same for the end point
3. Start = blue
     end = purple
4. You can zoom in using the left/right knob (hold down & turn) to increase the resolution.

Links
+ Synthstrom - official youtube

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Note:
This post covers the deluge with firmware V3.0
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Saturday, 30 December 2017

Moog Mother 32 - sequencer - recording your first pattern using keyboard mode

This uses KB - keyboard - mode
 
1.  press Shift + KB to enter KB mode

2. Choose a memory slot to store your new pattern.
    There are 64 pattern slots. These are stored in bank and pattern memory cells
    To pick a bank press SHIFT + PATTERN (BANK) and navigate with  the KB/STEP buttons.
    There are 8 banks


    To pick a pattern slot just press PATTERN (BANK) and navigate with  the KB/STEP buttons.
     There are 8 patterns in each bank
  
 2a.  Now Erase the previous pattern in the memory slot chosen.
        Press reset + shift + pattern (at the same time)
        Now when you press the RUN button, you should hear a single note on the first step.


3. Now you can make your first recording.
   Hold SHIFT + RUN at the same time.
   (you will see the first step start to blink.)
 

4. enter the notes using the keyboard buttons & the HOLD/REST button.


5. To stop record mode press the RUN/STOP button



 6.  To run the sequence, press the RUN/Stop button


7. To stop the sequence Press the run/stop  button


8.  prepare to Save the pattern
     Press Shift +  RUN/Stop for 1 second
    You will see a LED flash green. This indicates where the pattern will be saved.
    if you want to change the location use the left/right arrows (marked in green).


9. Save the pattern
    Press Shift +  RUN/Stop