Saturday, 6 April 2019

Frank Gehry Building - UTS Business School

Some pics of the University of Technology Business School.
I was just walking past it the other day on the way to the Powerhouse Museum and decided to pop in.


The architect is Canadian Frank Gehry who is famous for a few other buildings around the world such as the Guggenheim in Bilbao Spain, the Walt Disney concert hall in LA & The Vitra Design Museum in Germany. I think this style more closely resembles the Nationale-Nederlanden building  "The Dancing House" in Prague..... bit like a crushed cardboard box.


I like how the windows jut out from the curves


A close up of the brickwork



tHIS internal stairway is a reflection on the Guggenheim & the Disney building .


I was struck by how thick these block of wood are.























pICS of the bulidings mentioned:

Bilbao... Guggenheim


By Taguelmoust 


Walt Disney Concert Hall , LA.


Vitra design museum, Germany

Thursday, 4 April 2019

Suzanne Ciani ‎– Buchla Concerts 1975

jUST picked up this album.
 Supberb.

The record cover features a 248 MARF (multiple arbitary function generator) and a 221 keyboard



It comes with a booklet of patch notes.
The record features two Ciani performances:
1. The WBAI Free Music Store that was located in a deconsecrated church in New York
2. Phill Niblock’s loft space. Niblock was a minimalist composer

These performances date from a time when Ciani was an employee Buchla. Don was producing the 200 series at this time.




+ Check out Ciani's Logo Presentation Reels of 1985. This is a collection of
    Ciani’s electronic advertising music
 
Links
+ youtube

Wednesday, 3 April 2019

Borg filters

These just arrived in the mail.

I love the old Gargoyles designs on Malekko/Wiard modules.
I wish there was a such a panel for the Wogglebug

There are 2 variations of Borg filter. The white knob on on the left and the black on the right.

The Borgs are described as:
"The Borg I (white knobs) has a slower response and a more mellow sound compared to the Borg II (black knobs). Thanks to its longer decay time, the Borg I is best for recreating the famous Buchla bongo patch, and the Borg II is best for a faster, more aggressive response." (Malekko)

Notice the use of vactrols:


The Borg 1 is on the left.
The Euro Borg 1 is sanctioned by Grant Richter of Wiard Synthesizer Company. This module is exactly the same as the original 1213A (Blacet Frac Rack compatible 1200 Series module), only in eurorack format. 


These filters are influenced by the Buchla 292 Low Pass Gate and the Korg MS20.
That's where the name comes from: Buchla/Korg

" In Low Pass Gate (LPG) mode, the Borg will act as a filter and a VCA simultaneously.
 When the resonance knob is turned “on” with a click, the Borg becomes a 12db filter influenced by the MS20."

"Two outputs are provided, output 2 has a slightly more aggressive resonance. Removing a jumper on the back of the Borg makes the resonance “scream” even more!"

 Thanks to Grant Richter, Thomas Holley and Paul Barker

There is also a Dual Borg module:

 Combining the best of both filters
You can link the two filters in Parallel or series with the flick of a switch.

The 300 series Borg is a dual filter design. It has additional LFOs with square, tri & saw outs.
You can link the two filters up to make a 4 pole.
The eurorack borg 1 is a replica of the Wiard Model GR-1213A Borg Filter (not the 300 series)
This was a Frac Rack (Paia, Blacet) rack system compatible 1200 Series module.


The 1200 Series were produced between 1999 to 2002.and in very very small numbers.  Estimates are that about 50 (possibly less) of these exist.


+ Wiard Synthesizers
+ Malekko
+ Patch examples
+ Patch ideas - muffs
+ Modular Grid

292r

Some build pics


292r





I used B10K pots





Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Buffered Multiple with LED indicator

Multiples aren't the sexiest thing to build but they are essential in any system.
Really easy to build.
The choice is between buffered and un-buffered.

Building a buffered one today.

Here is the breadboarded test circuit.

The basic schematic


The opamp can be a TL084 or TL074
The pinout is identical for both ICs


This particular circuit uses a 074


One change I decided to make was to add a LED to give some sort of indication as to the type of signal this multiple was carrying.
Inspired a bit by the makenoise CV bus

To quote the manual:
"The CV Bus was originally designed for Alessandro Cortini's personal Make Noise system. It provides visual indication of level, rate and polarity for up to 4 control signals that will be shared throughout a patch. ..."
The MN CV bus is I understand passive/unbuffered & those jacks have LEDs built into them.

Here is my 1st perfboard 2HP module.

And the rear
I used a 1K LED resistor. ... experiment a bit.
This LED is standard so will only indicate rate & level.
I'll need to use a bipolar LED to get an indication of polarity.


It works !

I'll build a few versions with different coloured LEDs and try some bipolar ones too.


Bipolar LEDs work well.
(cATHODE  to ground)
Use a 470R resistor for green-red LEDs