Thursday, 8 March 2018

tHE Warriors - Larry Niven

 This issue of IF - Science Fiction magazine (Feb 1966) is the first time the Kzin are mentioned.

They are technically vastly superior to mankind and almost kill humans in their first encounter in deep space.
 
The Kzin have gravity drives and telepaths. After reading the minds of the humans on the ship "Angel's Pencil" they realise that the humans dont have weapons and have been a peaceful race for hundreds of years.










They decide to kill the human crew in the most slow & painful way using an inductive heating weapon. 
The Kzin hope to capture their ship intact for intelligence purposes.
 

 However, the humans use their primitive drive as a weapon, destroying the Kzin ship, and initiating the first Man-Kzin War.

A bit about the Kzin:
The Kzinti were initially introduced in Niven's story "The Warriors" (originally in Worlds of If (1966), collected in Tales of Known Space (1975)) and "The Soft Weapon" (1967), collected in Neutron Star (1968).
The Man-Kzin Wars, has so far reached fifteen volumes.
The first published in June 1988 
Kzinti also appear in Juggler of Worlds (2008) and Fate of Worlds (2012), novels.
They are extremely violent. Often described as anthropomorphic tigers.
They are larger than humans, standing around 8 feet (2.4 m) tall and weighing around 500 pounds (230 kg). 
One human gave an apt description of Kzin as "eight feet of death".  
MKW = Man Kzin War
There are 4 official wars (Wars 5 & 6 are unofficial)
 
 

--------------------------------------------

sci Fi Index

----------------------------------------------

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Sequencing notes into a pattern. - Pioneer Toraz Squid

 There are various ways to do this.

1. Play them live.
2. Entering notes into steps (Step sequencing)
3. Use a external midi keyboard
4. Copy from scale to trigger


1. Play them live.
+ Press scale
+  Press Play
+ Press Record
+ Play the notes on the 16 pads.

2. Entering notes into steps (Step sequencing)
+ Press TRIGGER
+ each pad is a note. 
   Change the note value with the Pitch encoder on the top right.
 
3. Use a external midi keyboard
+  You can play notes live into the squid
+  you can also record notes from the keyboard into the pad.
    (trigger section)
 
 
4. Copy from scale to trigger
Find the note you want in scale section.
+ Press copy + the note you want.
+  Go to trigger section
+ Press Paste + the pad you wish to enter the note.

Monday, 5 March 2018

Voltage limiter / Clamper

 Doepfers DIY page

http://www.doepfer.de/DIY/a100_diy.htm

 

it's two low forward voltage diodes and a protection resistor.

You clamp the signal line to the rails using diodes.
Use two 5V zeners. One to +V and the other to -V.

This is a circuit that limits an incoming voltage to the range U1-UD2 ... U2+UD1. The voltage U1 has to be less than U2. UD1 and UD2 are the forward voltages of the diodes D1 and D2. To keep these voltages as small as possible Schottky diodes (e.g. BAT42) ore germanium diodes are recommended because their forward voltages are in the 0.2...0.3V range. R works as a serial protection resistor. A typical value for R is 1k.

A typical application is the limitation of an analog voltage to 0...+5V (e.g. for the inputs of Pocket Electronic or USB64). In this case U1 is connected to GND and  U2 to +5V.

Another application is sound distortion by voltage clipping. If U1 and U2 are variable voltages (e.g. outputs of operational amplifiers of one of the circuits in this document) the clipping levels can be voltage controlled too.

 

A 7805 will do a great job of limiting voltage and adding a current relator as well doesn't require too many extra components. .... +5V

 

or

LD1117V33 voltage regulator, a low drop positive regulator with a 3.3V fixed output voltage. 



 



Sunday, 25 February 2018

Wasp - Synth tests.

This synth has been midified. I used the Elby Designs miniMIDI-WASP interface

Using a Korg SQ-1 to trigger.

LOvely sounding filter....12dB-per-octave VCF that has a range of about 3Hz to 16Hz.  
It's CMOS based, using the 4069.
The CD4069UB (unbuffered) consists of 6 CMOS inverter circuits.
The digital inverters are used as an op-amps causing distortion and that "dirty" sound we all love.
The "EDP Wasp" was built at end of the seventies by the UK company "Electronic Dream Plant". The designers were Chris Huggett and Adrian Wagner.
The Wasp was probably the world's first battery-operated, portable, digital synthesizer.

Chris Huggett who co-founded Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) also founded the Oxford Synthesizer Company (who made the OSCar).
He is currently a design consultant for Novation .
https://global.novationmusic.com/novation-heritage 

Adrian Wagner is the great-great grandson of the famous nineteenth-century opera composer, Richard Wagner.

The sounds of this synth can't only be due to the filter. It has to be due to the combination of the VCOs and VCF; the sound is very impressive. The VCO source is surprisingly analog. A couple of 555 timers!. If I'm reading the schemo correctly, their outputs appear to be converted to digital (four 4013) and then eventually fed into a couple of phase locked loops (4046)
The VCF sounds great when filtering a sawtooth wave, especially if modulated by the LFO random output and Envelope Generator.

The modulation controls are unusual in that in the middle position they do nothing. Twisting them clockwise will increase modulation. Twisting them anti clockwise will invert the modulation voltages.

If you ever come across the deluxe Wasp give it a go. Apart from the lovely wooden exterior, it boasts a external input, plus a volume control for each VCO.

Links:
+ CMOS
+ Ken Stones CGS page on the twin CMOS VCF
+ Schematic
+ Elby Designs miniMIDI-WASP interface 
Jasper - DIY clone of the wasp
+ Muffwiggler jasper build thread
 

Saturday, 24 February 2018

Make Noise Krell patch

Reminds me of the old Buchla Krell patches.
The name originates from the film Forbidden Planet
Its a 1956 American science fiction film produced by Nicholas Nayfack, directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen.

This is self playing.

The Make Noise only has one random voltage source and one VCO, but it's still very flexible.

The film was groundbreaking as the first of any genre to use an entirely electronic musical score, courtesy of Bebe and Louis Barron.

Links:
+ Krell search

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

CMOS cookbook

Awesome book.

A post shared by jono (@dj_jondent) on
I think this is an essential text on all things CMOS.
The author is Don Lancaster.

"TTL Cookbook was equally solid!"

Others in this series are :
The IC opamp cookbook

 and Lancaster's "Active Filter Cookbook".

Notes:
+ CMOS page 
+ DIY page 
+ TTL page
 

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

dIVISION 6 - Business Card Sequencer

A very easy build. The PCBs came as a kit with components.
 I'll definitely buy the bigger one.

I bought this as a kit, with all parts including the microcontroller.




A post shared by jono (@dj_jondent) on
Links:
+ Division6
+ BOM and assembly