Tuesday, 19 January 2021

Korg WaveState - category selection, set lists

 Menu diving on the Wavestate can be a bit confusing.
 
Picking sounds for each layer is easier if you understand how the wavestate
divides the sounds into categories.
 
 
1. Pick a layer. (A, B,C, or D)
 
2. Go to the performance page.
    The top box is highlighted.
 
3.  Press the right arrow >
the cursor will go to the next box down

4. Turn the value knob



5. Press SHIFT and >
You will now enter the category section.



The Filters & Sort Order page appears.
Select the Category or Collection parameter, and turn the VALUE knob or press ENTER. 

Monday, 18 January 2021

Andromeda A6 - Alesis Part 1 - Basic intro

This is part of my exploration of the Andromeda synth.
It's a wonderful synthesizer, which even after owning it for over 5 years I'm still just scratching the surface of what it can do.
 
The A6 is intimidating at first glance. 72 knobs, 144 buttons, 16 voices,  16 VCAs.
There are 2 oscillators and 2 filters per voice. (That's 32 VCOs & 32 filters)
The filters are a multimode 2-pole and a 4-pole lowpass.
 
 
The official manual is really long (as you'd expect) from such a complex synth, so this is my attempt to break things down, into smaller parts for myself. If this helps someone else, that great too. 

I'll constantly add to these posts as I discover more about this wonderful instrument.
Let me know of course if I have made any mistakes. I'll correct them ASAP.
 
 The overall signal path runs from left to right.
 
Each VCO has 5 waveforms (sine, triangle, square, up saw, down saw).
There are three LFOs, each with six waveforms and they can be synced to MIDI clock. And there are three 7-stage envelopes.
There is a built-in arpeggiator and 16 step sequencer with MIDI sync.
Effects - Digital reverb, chorus, echo, analog distortion, quad pitch-shifting, flange, and more
Memory - Program Memory: 256 preset and 128 user-defined
Mix Memory: 128 user-defined
Memory Card Slot: PCMCIA-format
 
I think the best way to view this synth (and the same goes for any synthesizer) is to 
break it up into it's parts. Imagine this as you would a modular synth. 
The A6 is made up of VCO's, Filters, Mixers, VCAs and EGs.
In fact the Andromeda is very much like a modular synth.
You can “disconnect” some of these modules from the audio and control paths by 
setting their values to zero, in effect turning them off.
It's really easy to view the settings for each module and see how they are
connected to the other modules. 
For such a complicated beast, it really is quite logical and not difficult to use 
once you grasp the architecture.
-----------------------------
 

Setup. 

Before we begin, lets make sure the synth is tuned. Press the auto-tune on the extreme left.
(you need to press this button twice) 


The LED will flash and the display will show the status..  that the synth is tuning filters, VCOs etc.
This takes a few minutes.
 
The A6 operates in one of two play modes: Program mode and Mix mode.
They are really just two types of presets
 
Program mode:
The keyboard plays a single sound across the entire keyboard. 
Program mode has 3 banks: User, Preset 1, and Preset 2.
There are two banks in Program mode (one User and one Preset)
Each bank has 128 different Programs, so you have a total of 256 Programs to audition. 
You can move among Banks by pressing the < BANK > button
 
To select a Program, make sure that the A6 is in Program mode: the LED next to the PROGRAM button should be on. If not, press the PROGRAM button.
 
Program mode also contains a third function called MANUAL
This is used when creating new Programs. It is only active in Program mode. 
Pressing this button causes the A6 to exit the current Program and create
a new Program based on the current settings of all front panel controls. 
It provides a good starting point for a new program.

Mix mode:
The A6 may play different sounds in different ranges (a split), a stack of sounds on top of each other, 
or combination of splits and stacks. 
There are two banks in Mix mode (one User and one Preset) for a total of 256 Mixes.
 
To select a Mix, make sure that the A6 is in Mix mode: the LED next to the MIX button should be on. If not, press the MIX button.
 
Mix mode is also used when the A6 is connected to a MIDI sequencer for multitimbral recording and playback. Each Mix channel can be assigned to a specific MIDI Channel with unique MIDI controller assignments.
 
The row of rectangular buttons just below the display area are used to select the Programs within a Mix. When a Mix Channel is ON, its associated LED will light. When a Mix Channel is currently selected for editing in the display, its LED will blink.
 

Presets

Called "programs"  or "mix" here.
Press the program button (or mix) + ten's + ones
 
 There are 127 presets (factory & user).
 

You can also use these left two knobs to scroll the programs, banks & DIRectories
and the two buttons on the right (see pic).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

If you wish to write a new patch, press the red "store" button.
Compare - compares the edited patch.
Manual - resets all parameters according to the front panel settings.















Each module has a view button.
In fact the A6 is littered with them on the LFOs, filters, VCOs, EGs Mixers, ARPs etc
 
This is what makes the A6 behave like a modular synth. You can view each module in isolation.

Pressing these buttons will display the settings of that module on the display.



Oscillators


We have 32 oscillators spread over 16 voices.
Two per voice.
 

These are the controls for a voice.
 
You have the two main oscillators, two sub oscillators, external input, noise, ring mod, filter feedback
 
Press the mixer view to get a overall idea of the various audio inputs


 You can mix oscillator level, noise, external inputs, 
 
The oscillator view button brings up a view of that VCO in question 

 yOU can play with PWM and levels, turn on /off the different wave shapes, etc

 

Filters


Filter 1 is a 12db multimode 2-pole.
Filter 2 is a 24db 4-pole lowpass. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

When filter 2 input is set to mix, both filters are working in parallel.
That is, both filters are independent.

Thus the LP,BP, HP of filter 1 & the LP of filter 2 are all available
at the same time.

 


 

 You can mix both filters plus the pre filter.

Pre filter includes Osc 1 sine, OSC 2 sine, & Ring mod 














Envelopes

There are 3 with 7 stages per voice


When you touch any of these knobs or buttons, the associated envelope will be displayed on the screen.
 

They have delayed onset, attack, two decays, sustain & 2 releases.
You can loop selected stages.
There are 3 possible modulations for each envelope. 

LFOs

There are 3 LFOs.
Each LFO can be sine, tri, saw, square
You can change the freq, polarity, phase
 

and of course the source & destination.


eFFECTS



tHIS has two parts:
Analog distortion & Digital effects



The digital effects include: chorus, delay, reverb

Clock



This sets the timing for the arp , sequencer, LFOs








------------------
I understand that the name 'Andromeda' comes from The Andromeda Strain.


 It's a 1971 American science fiction thriller film produced and directed by Robert Wise. Based on Michael Crichton's 1969 novel of the same name.
It's about a deadly alien organism that when it infects, crystalizes the blood.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
--------------------
I'll go into greater depth in future posts. J
 

Saturday, 16 January 2021

Korg WaveState & TR-707 drum - Midi Clock

 Syncing the Korg Wavestate with a Roland TR 707.
 
TR-707 as Master
Works !!!
 
On the 707:
1) Enter Track Play mode.
2) Press the STOP button (to stop the rhythm if it is running).
3) While holding SHIFT, press SYNC MODE to change between the 
different slave/sync modes.
 
Display will show:
5-n = MIDI Sync 
 
4) Make sure you go back to PATTERN mode.
If you are using Midi sync, any of the 16 channels will work ok
 
On the Korg Wavestate
1) Go to Utilities
2) Scroll to Midi (page 2)
    Global Channel : 1
    Local Control: On
    Clock : External or Auto
 
 
Starting the drum won't start the Korg wavestate until you press one of its keys.
They should be in sync with the drum
 
TR-707 as slave
I wasn't able to sync the two machines.
Setting the WaveState's clock to internal, external or auto didn't make a difference.
 If anyone has found a way to fix this let me know.

--------------
From the manual:
 
Clock
[Internal, External, Auto]
Internal: The wavestate will use the Performance’s Tempo setting (also shown and controlled by the TAP TEMPO
button). Use this when playing the wavestate by itself, or when you want the wavestate to control the tempo of external
MIDI devices such as a sequencer or drum machine.
External: The wavestate tempo will synchronize to incoming MIDI Clock messages from either 5-pin MIDI or USB. If
MIDI clocks are not being received, tempo-related features will not function.
Auto: This combines the functionality of Internal and External, so that you don’t have to manually switch between the
two:
If MIDI Clocks are not being received, the wavestate uses its internal tempo.
If MIDI Clocks are being received, they control the tempo. If the clocks stop for more than 500 ms, the wavestate
switches back to internal tempo
 
--------------------------------------------- 


Wednesday, 13 January 2021

DIY Stereo (Headphone) Eurorack/Buchla output module - TL074 op amp

This is a quick and dirty guide to building a headphone output.
I have a odd  combination euro / buchla performance case which needs a bespoke headphone output.
 
The first question is what is a  safe headphone range?
There is no one answer.
As far as I can tell there isn't a standard for a headphone out.
And the type of headphone you use is important.
Most headphones have an impedance around 16-32 Ohms with some crazy "audiophile" headphones having higher impedance (e.g. 300 Ohms). 
DJ headphones generally range from 25 to 70 ohms.
 

 
 The ancient 0dBU commercial line out specification is that the voltage needs to be able to drive 1 milliwatt to a 600 ohm load. For a sine wave, this means a voltage of 0.77 volts RMS (2.2 volts peak-to-peak).
 
The "line level" out on something like a CD player, for example, typically has an output impedance of 500-1000 ohms, whereas a headphone out will usually have a much lower impedance to be able to drive headphones.
 
Eurorack audio signals are hot. ... generally 5V peak to peak. Eurorack treats audio & CV the same.
You shouldn't plug heahphones directly into any jacks.
Thus a Eurorack headphone output should reduce or attenuate the audio from 5V to about 1V p to p.

Buchla on the other hand treat audio & CV differently.
Audio is always at line level (1V p-p) so you can safely plug headphones into a audio output.
So a passive audio mixer is usually ok (though not great) for this .
 
Sometimes you may also wish to boost the audio slightly if the venue you are playing in
has lots of external background noise.
 
There are plenty of great headphone modules out there in euroland if you're not into DIY
 but if you have some time and enjoy learning electronics, they are easy to build.
 
This post uses op-amps for this.
Mainly the TL 074. Though you could try swapping the op-amps for something better
if you socket the IC first.
My mate Justin has suggested the OPA2134 & OPA 4134 as alternatives.
 
 
I decided to try to build one in a 1U format.
I chose the TL074 (quad op amp) mainly as they are cheap and I have a stack of them in my store.






Some pics of the module



Keep in mind this is still experimental / prototype stuff


These are the rough schematics to build a simple 1 channel  stereo mixer.
It's a basic unity gain inverting configuration. In the first half the left & right inputs enter the inverting inputs of the first op-amps. Since the output signal from this op-amp is inverted, the 2nd op-amp  re-inverts it. 

Thanks to Ken Stone for the original circuit.
Adapting it to reduce the final output will require some tweaking of resistor values.

 
The two resistors at the left (labelled 1 & 2) of the schemo are important.
They determine the level of amplification.
 
To reduce 5V to 1V 
try a 100K resistor for 1 
and 20 K resistor for 2.
 

I also tried simply changing the value of resistor 1 only.
If you fix resistor 2 at 100k, change resistor 1 to about 500k ohms.
This will reduce the output by 20%
Just experiment till you get what you want.
(I like an output a bit louder than 1v pp)


Circuit bend Elmyra v1.3 for external input!

Circuit bend Elmyra v1.3 for external input! Neutral Labs has released a new hardware revision - Elmyra v1.4. The new...

Posted by Elk Elektronik on Monday, January 4, 2021

Elk Elektroniks workshop - Jan 2021

 The next Elk Elektronics workshop is scheduled for 
 Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 2 PM UTC+11 – 6 PM UTC+11

Price: Free · Duration: 4 hr
Public Anyone on or off Facebook.
 
Synth Sessions are an opportunity to meet with other synth nerds, make some music and learn about synths.
You will have the opportunity to hear talks on different topics, live performances and DIY kit-building classes.
Synth Sessions are intended to engage people who are interested in synthesizers and provide an opportunity to meet other like-minded people, share knowledge, ideas and listen to synthesizers!
 
 
 
You are very welcome to bring along a synthesizer that you would be happy to have on display or demonstrate during the Session.
If you have something you would like to perform, that would also be very welcome. I just ask that you please let me know what you are bringing or how long your performance is so that I can coordinate these things.
If you would like to give a talk on a particular topic or would like to prepare a performance for future Sessions please contact Elk Elektronik with your idea.
The cost is $10 at the door.
Since the numbers are limited, we will confirm attendance closer to the date.


 
COVID-19
We are constantly monitoring the COVID-19 impact on restrictions in the Wollongong/Sydney area.
At this time we are able to operate small events with some COVID-Safe precautions in place:
- Please do not attend the Synth Session if you are feeling unwell or have cold/flu like symptoms
- Limit of 10 visitors to the Synth Sessions (11 including me)
- You will be required to register on arrival for contact tracing
- Please observe social distancing rules
- Hand sanitizer will be available and require regular sanitizing while participating in the Session
If the situation in NSW changes we will adjust our plan of events accordingly and cancel events if necessary. Updates to event details will be reported here
 

Monday, 11 January 2021

GenoQs Octopus - Basic Navigation

These  basic notes are for a friend who may be purchasing one of these.
They aren't official in any way.
 
The Octopus is a beautiful handcrafted instrument. I think the wood is beech. 
I wish more manufacturers would build devices like this today.
I have owned this sequencer for over 10 years
and each time I decide it's time to sell it, I change my mind. 
Music is art. And I feel that an instrument which is a work of art helps inspire the musician.
 

GenoQs Co. was dissolved some years ago, thus the Octopus & Nemo aren't in production anymore. Nevertheless, the former owners appear to provide continued support, such as repairs & OS updates (latest OS: 08/2017). 
 
I think reading the manual is essential to truly grasp what this instrument is capable of.
There are so many sequencers out there, and none are perfect. Many are boring and conservative. 
This is neither.
 
The Octopus has a tree like structure.
Because there is no screen or display, all information is communicated with LEDs.
Reminds me of the Latronic Notron (though they are not related).
 
 
This decision to not use a liquid crystal display makes it both beautiful and cryptic.
 

 
On the left is matrix consisting of rows of 16 by 10 LEDs with a round ball below each.
These are buttons, and they feel beautiful to touch. 
On the right is the spiral (reminds me of a galaxy of stars).
This is where you find things like chords, tempo, transport, sequence chaining, and mode selection.
 
A good place to start is to just play a few simple sequences.
The transport buttons & tempo controls are on the right .
 

The main tempo control is the top right encoder.
Turning the encoder will change the LEDs indicated. They are a kind of bar graph.
Pressing the LED/buttons will also jump you to various fixed tempos.
 
The lower transport buttons are start, stop, pause, FF, etc . 

When you first turn on the sequencer, you will enter what is called "Page Mode".
This is what most people would expect to see in a standard sequencer.

 
Pressing the play button, will start the sequencer. 
You will see a row of 8 LEDs move across the matrix from left to right.  You are on your way.
Pressing LED/buttons will enter steps. Adjust pitch (PIT) and Velocity (VEL) , etc
 


 
There are 4 Modes:
1.Grid
2. Page
3. track
4. Step
 

 
 
 
GRID mode
At the top of the tree is the GRID mode.
This is your view of the universe.
The universe (GRID) is divided into 144 pages. 
Each of these 144 buttons is your gateway into the page.
 
Page Mode

When the Octopus powers on , you will immediately enter the page mode.
To toggle between page & grid  modes, you can double click the 
selected page LED button, press ESC or PAGE + selected page LED button.
 
I find just using the ESC button is the easiest way to toggle between the two modes.
 
A flashing page LED indicates you are in PAGE mode
to go to GRID mode press the grid button.
The grid LED will now flash and you will see lit LEDs in the matrix section indicating a active page
To go to page mode press the page button 


 
 
To jump to different pages, press the desired LED/Button.
It will go green.
Hit ESC.

To create a new page, Press a unlit button/LED
Hit ESC.
 
 

 The important ESC button
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Track mode
Burrowing down past PAGE view is TRACK view.
Here, you can inspect & tweak fine track parameters. 

To enter track mode, double press the button (selector button) to the left of the track you wish to edit.
You will see the track LED flash in the MODE section.
 
 

 
The 10 Track attributes:
 
PIT - pitch (this represents the base value)
VEL - velocity (this represents the base value)
LEN - length (this represents a multiple to the value in step mode )
STA - start (this represents a multiple to the value in step mode )
POS - position - this shifts the steps around
DIR - direction - (Forward, rev, ping-pomg, browian. rnd.)
AMT - amount - amount of random
GRV - groove
MCC - Midi CC
MCH  - Midi channel







 
STEP mode


Burrowing down past Track view is STEP view.
Here, you can inspect & tweak fine step parameters. 

To enter step mode, double press the step button you wish to edit.
You will see the step LED flash in the MODE section.



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

Saving the machine state 

1.To perform a save of the machine state go to GRID Mode and press and hold the GRID button.
   (The grid LED will flash orange).
2. Hold down the GRID button. (the Program LED will start to flash red). 
3. Press the Program button.This will start the save operation. 
    Expect the save operation to take about 5-10 seconds.
------------------------------------------------- 


Saving individual pages 
 
Occasionally it may be useful to save individual pages only, as opposed to the full instrument state. For this to work the machine has to be stopped, and you have to be in GRID mode. 
 
1. While in GRID mode, make sure that the EDIT LED is lit up orange, otherwise press it once to make it light orange.  
2. Now press and hold the matrix button corresponding to the page you are about to save. This will reveal a red blinking Program button (among others). 
3. While holding the matrix button pressed, click on the red blinking Program button to save the respective page to memory.
--------------------------------------------------
 
fACTORY RESET
tHERE is a large button on the underside of the sequencer.
Holding this down while turning the Octopus on will force it to boot into the factory settings.

 


----------------------------------------------------------
Links

The Hainish Cycle - Ursula K. Le Guin

The Left Hand of Darkness is the most famous book in the Hainish cycle - The LHOD was published in 1969.
 

The novel is set in the fictional Hainish universe and many readers describe it as part of the 'Hainish Cycle
although  Le Guin herself often discounted the idea of a "Hainish Cycle", writing on her website that "The thing is, they aren't a cycle or a saga. They do not form a coherent history. There are some clear connections among them, yes, but also some extremely murky ones.
 
The Hainish Cycle is also sometimes referred to as the Ekumen Cycle .
The Hainish Universe consists of different civilizations of human beings on planets orbiting a number of nearby stars. The idea is that humans did not evolve on earth.
 
 Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the people of the planet Hain colonized a large number of worlds including Earth, which they named Terra. Most of these planets were similar enough that humans from one world can pass as natives of another. 
 Hainish civilization eventually collapsed and the colony planets (including Earth) over time lost contact with one another and eventually forgot that other human worlds existed.
 
Ekumen (or the League of All Worlds,
Genly Ai in The Left Hand of Darkness explains that there are 83 planets in the Ekumen, with Gethen a candidate for becoming the 84th

The Hainish novels The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Dispossessed (1974) have won literary awards, as have the novella The Word for World Is Forest (1972) and the short story "The Day Before the Revolution" (1974). 


 You don't necessarily need to read these books in any order.
I read the Left Hand of darkness first.
All the books are pretty stand alone. Left Hand of Darkness is a great place to start! ...

Order of publication

 Rocannon's World (1966), 
 
 
 
 
 

Hainish Reading Order by Ursula LeGuin:
  1. Rocannon's World.
  2. Planet of Exile.
  3. City of Illusion.
  4. The Word for World is Forest.
  5. The Left Hand of Darkness.
  6. The Dispossessed.
  7. A Fisherman of the Inland Sea.
  8. Four Ways to Forgiveness.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ansible

An ansible is a category of fictional devices or technology capable of near-instantaneous or faster-than-light communication. It can send and receive messages to and from a corresponding device over any distance or obstacle whatsoever with no delay, even between star systems. As a name for such a device, the word "ansible" first appeared in a 1966 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. Since that time, the term has been broadly used in the works of numerous science fiction authors, across a variety of settings and continuities.[1]
 
The word was a contraction of "answerable", as the device would allow its users to receive answers to their messages in a reasonable amount of time, 
 
 
 








 Sci Fi
 
My sci fi index. 
Synthesizers and Sci-Fi go hand in hand. 
Electronic music is about Futurism. 
Synths and drum machines represent a new future where science and technology 
hold the promise of a better world.
 
From special effects, to movie soundtracks they feed off each other. 
I owe programs such as "Dr Who" and movies like "Star Wars", “Forbidden Planet” and “The Day The Earth Stood Still” a great debt for introducing me to electronic sounds and music. Those early films and programs were enhanced by those synths and they in turn paved the way for commercial artists like David Bowie and Pink Floyd to expose the masses to electronic music.

 I'll update this post over time. .. The link can be found in the index to the right.


Asimov's (Isaac) Foundation
+ Asimov  - I, Robot -  - novels & Magazines
+ The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov

+ Dune - The Chronological order of the novels
+ Dune Universe Timeline
+ The Hamish Cycle - Ursula K. Le Guin
 

 

 


+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1950's
+ Hugo Awards Best sci fi novels of the 1960's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1970's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi Novels of the 1980's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1990's
+ Hugo awards Best sci fi novel of the 2000's (2000 - 2009)
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels for the decade 2010-2019

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
+ vorkoisgan saga reading order - Lois McMaster Bujold