Saturday, 20 April 2019

Fairlight - Flash Drive Upgrade.

I've finally got my beloved Fairlight back.
Thanks so much to Peter W for helping me install the kit and upgrade the synth.
Peter runs Horizontal Productions and has decades of experience with the Fairlight.


Its running beautifully.


The 8" floppy drives of the Fairlight are possibly its Achilles heel.
They were always breaking down. Plus those floppies are getting harder to find & more expensive to buy.
I highly recommend the flash drive upgrade.



Thanks to Failed Muso for pointing me in the right direction, and to Benard for making the kit possible.

 I initially attempted this installation by myself and it worked for about half a day until my system totally failed


It turned out that my PSU was overheating  so I called in the expert ... Peter W.

In addition to the flash drive installation here is now a new power supply, cooling fans, MIDI & restored voice cards.

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Fairlight Index

Fairlight IIx Synthesizer Index

 

                --- Page R - Pattern Mode editing 
                --- Page R- Locust Demo


 Hardware
+ The 8 inch Floppy Drives
+ Floppy Disc Controller Card 


Misc


Friday, 19 April 2019

Happy Easter (and a bit about vocoders)

Happy Easter everyone.




A post shared by jono (@dj_jondent) on
The book is a good read too.

The title :"How to Wreck a Nice Beach" is odd isn't it?
It's actually a vocoder distortion of the phrase "how to recognise speech".

The book follows the history of the vocoder from its invention by Homer Dudley (Bell Labs) in 1928 and its use in war, to its contribution to music today.

The word Vocoder is a combination of two words.
Voice + Code = Vocoder

Dudley invented it to reduce the cost and improve the distance of transmitting vocal signals across the Atlantic. Back in those days transatlantic copper cables were very expensive and distances were huge. Vocoded signals were essentially a form of data compression for voice........ like MP3 is for music today.

I have a few vocoders .. the Korg VC10, a EMS 1000 and the Roland VP-03. These are great, though if you really want to know how these things work you can't go past a modular. There aren't however many modular vocoders around these days. Doepfer used to produce one in their Eurorack A-100 series.
Sadly these are hard to find today.


These came under the code A-129. There were 5 modules in the series, though the 1st two (A-129/1 & A-129/2) are I think the most essential.



If you were back in 1928, you could imagine someone speaking into the A-129/1 in NYC and the A-129/2 being at the listening station in London.


The speech input is first chopped up, analysed & converted into 15 control voltage outputs by this VOC A-129/1 Vocoder Analysis  Section module.
The A-129/1 uses 15 steeply sloping filters (13 bandpass, 1 LP & 1 HP). Attached to each filter is an envelope follower which produces the associated control voltage.

These control voltages are transmitted across the transatlantic cable to the A-129/2 module in London.
Here the 15 control voltages are decoded


The A129/2 basically has another 15 filters, but associated with each filter is a VCA.
The filter/VCA's job is to reconstruct the original voice.

The cool thing about this modular vocoder is that these 15 CVs can be modified between the 2 modules.
..... attenuators, slew limiters, LFOs, inverters, etc etc could be used to get interesting results.

The "instrument input" is where you would plug the "carrier" signal .... use something like a VCO.
For best results, the original voice & the carrier signal need to have a similar frequency spectra. ........something like a sawtooth is best as it has a dense audio spectrum. "A square wave has only half  as  many  harmonics,  and  triangle  and  sinewaves are completely unsuitable" (A129 manual).

During WWII vocoding was used to encript voice transmissions. The control voltages could be sent over radio, The receiving unit had to have the same filter configuration to decode the messages correctly.

In 1968, Robert Moog developed one of the first solid-state musical vocoders for the electronic music studio of the University at Buffalo.

In 1979 , Moog Music released this vocoder
It does not have any internal oscillators, so it is designed to be used as a signal processor for external carrier & modulator wave sources. This 16-channel cross-matrix patching system provides incredible flexibility, allowing for full external patching between synth & vocoder sections. 

Below is a pic of Kraftwerks vocoder... made around early 1970.


Buchla 296
Two 296s will give you a vocoder. The 296 has VCAs and envelope followers attached to each BP filter.
It's a lovely module.
In euro, Verbos has a similar module. The Bark Filter processor.
Like the 296, you will need two in order to perform vocoder effects.

Links
+ Doepfer A-129 Vocoder Subsystem

Monday, 15 April 2019

Buchla 251e - my notes

These are my user notes for the Buchla 251e.

The top half of the module contains 4 independent 50 step sequencers and their programmable control voltage inputs and output jacks.
Each stage has it's own pulse output and control voltage output for each of 99 stages.
Each stage is truly independent from the others... they can have their own tempos, time scales, pulse durations, stage lengths, etc.

Incoming “start” and “stop” pulses control each sequencer’s progress.
A “stop” pulse stops the sequence at the current stage number.
A “start” pulse does one of two things:
1. if there is a value entered for the initial delay, it resets the sequence to stage 1, and starts the sequence after the delay time has expired.
2. If a sequencer has a blank in its initial delay field, then the start pulse merely starts the sequence at the current stage number.

 ----------------------------------

SEQ Edit & STAGE Edit
The middle section has a sequencer edit interface and the stage edit interface.
This editing section allows you to set each parameter for a selected sequence.
The sequence can be running while editing a particular stage.
Also, the edit section can track the sequencer, (displaying parameters in real time),
but disabling any editing.


Sequencer edit section:
This manages the general relationships between the 4 sequencers such as copying, syncing, and pasting.
It affects the entire sequence, and not individual stages. (exceptions – “end” & “cycle” are displayed only for the last stage of a sequence, and “sync next” causes the following sequencer to reset to stage 1 whenever it is encountered).
It also manages the settings of each specific sequencer.... things like length, tempo,  cycling,  and the reversing of each sequence.

Tempo 
The internal clock has a range from 10bpm to 300bpm is supported.
Other modes besides the internal clock may also be used to advance sequences or select their stage numbers. Push the tempo knob to advance through five alternative schemes, all of which assign
new and novel functions to the “stop” and “start” pulses:

d A - “stop” pulses decrement the stage number; “start” pulses Advance it.
J A - on receipt of a “stop” pulse, the stage number Jumps to the
         next stage number that contains a “loop begin”; otherwise it jumps
         to stage 00. “start” pulses Advance it.
S H - “start” pulses sample the control voltage applied to the “stop” pulse;
          The sampled control voltage is applied to stage selection.
d i r - a control voltage applied to the “stop” pulse is directly applied to stage
          selection. A ”start” pulse inhibits this activity.
c l o - “start” and “stop” pulses are ignored. MIDI clock is enabled.

 init delay
“init delay” delays the sequencer start whenever it receives a start pulse.
It does not affect the timing otherwise, being ignored when cycling or looping.
The delay is in hundredths of a second, yielding a range from .01 to .99 sec. (Imagine the decimal point).
If nothing is entered in the initial delay (display is dashes), then the start pulse advances the sequence without resetting it.

“reverse” plays the sequence in reverse order.

“copy” copies the displayed sequence. With the copy LED on, hit the display/edit button for the sequence that you would like to copy the current sequence to. The copy LED blinks, and the edit section displays the sequence being copied to. Hit the copy button again to complete the copy process.

"clear" .....With “clear” illuminated, hit the display/edit button for the sequence to be deleted. The “clear” LED blinks; hit it again to complete the transaction.

"end" ................To end a sequence set an “end” in the stage you’d like to be the last. If desired to repeat the sequence, set “cycle”. Remember that in the cycle mode, “init delay” is ignored.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Stage Edit:
This manages each individual step.
To edit a particular sequencer's setting, press the blue "display/edit" button specific to the sequencer in question.
 The associated LED will ignite, and the stage number it is currently on
will appear in the “STAGE EDIT” section.

Solid blue light = edit mode.
Blinking light = run mode (no editing is available)

In edit mode you can select the stage number and its companion CV value.

The CV voltage (on the indicated blue knob) range is 0V to 9.9V.
You can press this knob the display will blink .... this tells you that you are in fine tuning mode.
pressing the knob again will return you to coarse tuning mode.
0.1V = 1 semitone in pitch.



The 1/interval knob selects the denominator for note sub divisions.
1/1 = a whole note
1/4 = a quarter note
etc etc

Turning this knob to the right increases the value from 1 to 64. (single digits only).
If you turn the knob to the left, the values jump (they double) 
between the whole digits :  1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

There is a yellow & green button to the extreme left.

The lower left green button sets the pulse duration outputted for the selected stage 
(the length of the stage itself is set with the "interval" control). .
Pulse durations may be set to fractions of the intervals. 
Press "dur" to cycle thru the LEDs. "x1" gives a pulse out for the length of the stage. "x1/2" gives a pulse out for half the length of the stage. "trans." gives just a short transient pulse at the beginning of the stage. If no LED is lit, no pulse is generated for this stage.  

The upper left yellow button sets triplets and dotted notes. 

 
 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 Loop beginning & ending points are programmed here.
The Master Clock.

When the bicolor LED is off, displaying neither red nor green, the master clock multiplier is exactly 1,
Turning the knob or applying a c.v. to this section will advance or retard this clock.
Max advance = tempo x 1.5
Max retarding = tempo x 0.5

-------------------------------------------------------
Additional features include:
Inter-sequencer triggering
Variable start delay
Retrograde capability
Multiple nested loops
Master voltage-controlled clock

With the 206e or 225e Preset Manager, the parameters of the 251e can
be stored and retrieved as part of a preset.
A 200e USB card is necessary to download new firmware for this module.

Notre Dame Fire - Paris

Just woke to the news that Notre Dame Cathedral is ablaze.
It's 850 years old. !!
So sad. I feel for the people of Paris & France.
I hope and pray that the Cathedral can be rebuilt.



Some drawings from my old diary. I didn't take a camera on that trip. Just drew and bought postcards.


This was in 1993. Such fond memories of that cathedral.



Friday, 12 April 2019

Peter Pichler - Trautonium - Canberra gig - 2019

Can't wait to see this.


Tour details are here
https://www.peterpichler-trautonium.com/english/australia-tour/

Sadly Peter isn't coming to Sydney.
The tour only covered Perth, Melbourne & Canberra.
(Thanks to Andrew of NLC for telling me about the gig in Perth.)

Peter Pichler's Mixturtrautonium. Foto courtesy by Edward Beierle
 Peter Pichler's Mixtur-trautonium. Foto courtesy by Edward Beierle
Edward Beierle [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

Anyway, I'm going to the Canberra gig to see the Alfred Hitchcock classic "The Birds"  to a score using the Trautonium. This is a live performance performed by Peter Pichler....................... quite fitting as a Mixtur- Trautonium was used to make bird noises in this classic film of Hitchcock

The Trautonium is one of the earliest electronic instruments.

Telefunken Volkstrautonium, 1933

It was invented in Berlin, Germany by Friedrich Trautwein in the 1930s. This early version was a commercial failure, though I understand modern ones are still being produced in various forms today.
(Doepfer & Trautoniks).

There is no keyboard. Instead Trautoniums use a resistor wire over a metal plate. The above Trautonium is one of the earliest. Probably less than 200 were made. Enhancements made by Oskar Sala in the fifties. He added a second string/metal plate interface, noise and envelope generators, bandpass filters, and subharmonic oscillators.This led to the well known Mixtur-Trautonium.

"The sounds were at first produced by neon-tube relaxation oscillators  (later, thyratrons, then transistors), which produced sawtooth-like waveforms. The pitch was determined by the amount of resistive wire chosen by the performer (allowing vibrato, quarter-tones, and portamento). The oscillator output was fed into two parallel resonant filter circuits. A foot-pedal controlled the volume ratio of the output of the two filters, which was sent to an amplifier.

Doepfer produce a few Eurorack modules which provide Trautonium possibilities.

The Doepfer A-113 

The 113 module represents the sound generation core of the Mixtur-Trautonium introduced by Oskar Sala . The master frequency is divided by an integer 1...24 to obtain so called sub-harmonics. (German: Subharmonische).

The subharmonic in this module is a sawtooth wave (German: Kippschwinger) and not a sine.

The master frequency comes from an external oscillator. The external VCO is patched into the frequency input of the A-113. Rectangle or square waveforms are commonly used. Rectangle outputs are converted to sawtooth waveforms. Sawtooth waveforms are rich in harmonics.

The frequency dividers of the 4 sub-harmonics are adjusted with up/down buttons as displayed with 2 character LED displays.

The sub-harmonics are available as single outputs and as mix output with adjustable levels for the sub-harmonics. The four sub-harmonics generated by the A-113 contain strong harmonic spectra with even and odd harmonics. They represent ideal basic sound sources to be modified with separate sound processing modules

The output of the A-113 is fed into 4 parallel resonant filter circuits..... Formant filters.
Formant Filters create sounds similar to human vocal sounds.
The 104 is a replica of the lowpass/bandpass arrangement of the Mixtur Trautonium
There is no voltage control so you'll have to do lots of manual knob twiddling.
You could possibly substitute the 104 with four separate 12 dB multimode filters and a 4 input mixer. 

The filters must be BandPass at the very least.
Probably a good combo would be low pass & band pass & off. 
Each filter picks up and amplifies a set of small frequency bands.
The signal is fed into each filter in parallel and then into the mixer. 

Here is a link to an excellent video by Ghost Monkey of a Eurorack version of the Trautonium
Formant filter https://youtu.be/_8krvAdIcIQ





Links
+ Doepfer
+Wikipedia
+ Birds Live score

+ Trautoniks

Saturday, 6 April 2019

Wiard-Malekko Noisering

Thanks to Grant Richter and Malekko for making this module available.
I was searching for another random source module to complement the Wobblebug and came across the Noisering.

I especially love the old Celtic/Gargoyle graphics of the Noisering
 So what's the difference between the two modules?

It seems like the Wogglebug evolved from the Wiard 300 series and is a staple of the DIY scene.
There are many variations. See my post on the Bug here.
It was inspired by the Buchla 265 Source of Uncertainity module and  behaves in a very non-linear way when controlling smooth and stepped random voltages. The wogglebug is a oscillator as well as a source of random voltages. ... it is super useful as it can output gates, CVs, and audio all at the same time.

The Malekko-Wiard Noisering seems to trace its lineage from the Wiard 1200 series. These modules use the Frack rack format.  It is based on comparators & analogue shift registers and it doesn't seem to behave as "crazy" as the wogglebug.:-) So I think it is really useful as a "randomish sequencer".... more than the WoggleB is (in my opinion). You can also use it as an oscillator

 I actually have a plan to use both modules in my rig. Possible patches:

Clock out from the Noisering to the Woggle . This clocks the WoggleB and gives control of the slew. Then I run the  Noisering outs into each of the WoggleB heart ins.

Another possible patch uses the WB Clock/Chaos control in instead of the external clock input.



NoiseR out (either 1 or 2) -> WoggleB Clock/Chaos control in
WoggleB Smooth CV Out -> NoiseR Ext Rate in



At the heart of the Noisering is Noise and a Tone Wheel pseudo-random shift register.
The Noisering can act as a
1  Noise source
2. Random clock
3. Random CV generator
4. VCO
5. Audio processor

In the lower left we have two random CV voltage outputs.
They can operate both in the sub-audio & audio range
1. n+1  (9 voltage levels, 0-10V)
2. Two to the exponential of n (256 voltage levels, 0-10V)

Outputs 1& 2 are normalised to the External rate pot directly above it.
The Ext Rate knob modulates the (overall frequency) Rate knob (right at the top) and effects the noise , clock out and the two CV outs

The noise out is +/- 4V
The Clock output is a +10V square wave. (1Hz-10kHz)


Chance Vs Change

Chance controls the number of 1s and zeros extracted from the internal noise source.
At 12 O'clock:  No of 1s = No of Zeros (Equal balance)
At 7 O'clock :  Mostly Zeros
At 5 O'clock : Mostly 1s


Change controls the Data Recycle through the shift register.
At 12 O'clock: Equal amount of old & new data (Equal balance)
At 7 O'clock :  Only old data is recycled through the shift register
At 5 O'clock :  Only new data is recycled through the shift register

Both Chance & Change have CV inputs above.
In the centre we have a external Chance (comparator) input. This allows you to change the signal feeding the shift register that then produces the CV & clock outputs. You can plug in either audio or control voltages


Above all this are 8 LEDS.
The centre 4 LEDs indicate the shift register state.
OFF = same
RED = greater
Green = lesser

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

These particular Gargoyle Wiard modules are getting old. All through hole.
Everything these days is going SMD.


When this eventually dies (which will happen to all of us one day) I'd like to try to fix it.


Hopefully Malekko will still be making new ones and repairing these older versions.
But just in case these appear to be the parts needed to keep these alive.

IC 2 .... CD 4053 - CMOS triple 2 channel multiplexer
IC 1 - 4015 - shift register
TL 074 - op amp
NE 555 -- timer
LN 324 - quad op amp x 2

cd 4053

cd 4015 --- the shift register

The two LN 324 Quad op amps probably form the comparator circuit. and the 4015 does the shift registering.