Wednesday, 16 March 2022

Zagreb - part 1 - Croatia

 Some pics of Zagreb, Croatia.
It's Croatia's capital

This building houses the Croatian State Archives.
On Marulić Square , it is part of the splendid, architecturally planned "Green Horseshoe".
The building is Art Nouveau.
It's a fusion of early Viennese Secession with modern European, especially German architecture  
The architect was Rudolf Lubynski.
It houses important documents ... I think it's like the National Library in Australia. 

The building was inaugurated on the November 29th 1913.
 
The bronze statue above is of Marko Marulic.
He was a Croatian poet, lawyer, judge, and Renaissance humanist who coined the term "psychology". 
He is the national poet of Croatia.
Born: 18 August 1450, Split, Croatia
Died: 5 January 1524, Split, Croatia
 
The statue was made by Valdo Radas
 

Tomislav was the first king of Croatia. He became Duke of Croatia c. 910 and was crowned king in 925, reigning until 928. During Tomislav's rule, Croatia forged an alliance with the Byzantine Empire against Bulgaria.




 
Above is the Zargreb Art Pavilion.
The Pavilion is located on the Lenuci Horseshoe, Lower Town area of the city, south of Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square, on the northern side of the King Tomislav Square which flanks the Zagreb Central Station. Established in 1898, it is the oldest gallery in the Southeast Europe.
The building was completed on the 15 December 1898


 
The city is very beautiful. The style of architecture is 18th- and 19th-century Austro-Hungarian.
This city was part of a much larger empire.
 
 
Below is the Croatian National Bank
It was established in 1990.
The white stone  is from the island of Brač.
Situated on Trg hrvatskih velikana (Square of Croatian Greats), at the intersection of Martićeva Street and Franje Račkoga Street.  
The architect is Viktor Kovačić, and the building was completed in 1927.
It was originally built to accommodate a stock exchange.


Saturday, 12 March 2022

Moog Model D - restored

 Thanks to Ed for restoring this baby for me.

Lovely job.
 

When I purchased this decades ago, it had lost its protective metal back so the internals were exposed to the elements. 
Ed & I searched for a suitable replacement, but we finally decided upon a bespoke acrylic back.
I really like that I can still see the electronics.
 


As this is an original MiniMoog D it uses S-trigger rather than the conventional V-trigger (used on most modern synths and on the re-issued 2015 Minimoog D ).
S-Trig just means that there is a constant voltage present before "the event" (such as the start of an envelope).
This is shortened to ground when the event occurs. 
 

The S-Trigger uses a Cinch-Jones connector
 
 
When the two prong plug is inserted into the S-trigger socket, the contour generators  are "on" continuously. 
You can connect this to an accessory foot switch for manual external triggering of notes.
 
There are 4 additional inputs:
Loudness, Filter, Oscillator pitch and what I think is a MOD. SRC. INPUT **.
The last input is I think a non-factory modification.
 
The original Minimoog had a foot pedal called a 958.
It supplied a continuous control voltage ranging between 0-5V
 
Any CV controller (with voltages in the range of 0 to +5V) can be used to control the volume of the output, 
the cutoff frequency of the filter (timbre) or the pitch of the oscillators. 
The input jacks use TRS (Tip/Ring/Sleeve) connectors with a current-limited +5V on the ring. 
The manual states that up to three may be used simultaneously to control all of these functions.
 
I've not tested this, but maybe something like a modern EP-3 will also work
 

 
I have a old Phillip Rees MIDI to CV device. I think they are discontinued now, but you should be able to find a modern equivalent.  Something like the Kenton USB solo or the Pro-solo works well.
Plug the V-trig into the Cinch Jones socket, and the pitch CV into the Oscillator socket.

 --------------
**
On the reissued 2015 Minimoog D you will find a MOD. SRC. INPUT 
Here a varying control voltage signal connected to this input jack can be used as a modulation source. Inserting a standard 1/4” cable into this jack breaks the normalled connection of the Noise modulation source, and any external control voltage applied will take its place. With no cable connected, this jack remains normalled, connecting the Noise send to the MOD. SRC. input, and NOISE can be selected as a modulation source 
--------------------------


Friday, 11 March 2022

Polyend tracker - The fill function

 
There are 3 ways to enter notes or automation into the grid
1. Record live (using a external midi keyboard)
2. Step edit
3. Fill function
 
The fill function is a unique & very creative way to add randomness to your sequences.
It allows entering multiple-step values to a selected edited area with a single click. 
 
Before you can use it, you need to highlight the notes you wish to change.
 
To make any changes in the patterns, press the red Rec function key to activate the Edit mode.
A red frame will appear around the currently selected step/steps.
It will mark the currently edited positions. 
In the Edit mode, you use the arrow keys for navigation.  
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some basic navigation shortcuts:
 
To Go to top of grid (start) : 
Press Shift + Home (Song or pattern mode)

To Select all Steps : 
Press Shift + Home (Song or pattern mode)
then Shift + Up 
 
To Select all steps on all tracks 
Press Shift + Home (Song or pattern mode)
Press Shift + Up arrow, twice
 
To Select nearest track : Shift + right or left arrow 
 
Shift + Up arrow -  marks more the one step on one or more tracks.
 
To Select a number of steps (rec/edit mode) : Shift + up/down arrows
 
By pressing "Insert"  we can pull  highlighted notes forward.
or pressing shift + backspace, we pull notes up

You can copy more than one whole tracks from one pattern and paste into a new pattern :
1. Highlight the pattern/s
2. Press PATTERN button
3. Press Copy
4. Open a new (virgin) pattern using the jog wheel and pressing the pattern button
5. Pattern + Shift + Paste


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After you have selected the steps, enter fill mode
by pressing the "fill" button.
 
The Fill tool can be used on. 
Notes
Instruments
Fx 1
FX 2. 
 
Press the green/yellow, pink or blue button to select.
 
Under "notes"
the first column has a "where" selection.
Note/no note/ fx/ no fx, random / each euclidean

other columns are:
Scale, fill type and note
These let you choose a scale and if they are random or 
within a range.
 
use the jog wheel and the arrow buttons to change settings.
 
---------------------

example starting from scratch
 
1. pick an instrument
    listen to its sounds 

2. enter fill

3. Notes
   choose random
  minor scale
  notes between 63 and d7 

4. press Fill

 
 

Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Synth Sounds Festival

 This is coming up soon, Sunday week ... the 20th MarchSun 20th Mar, 4:00 pm - 10:30 pm AEDT   
Yes, that's 6.5 hours :-)

It's a virtual, you tube gathering with members from all over the world.
Join Nadia Struiwigh and Ed Kuschel as they explore electronic music, sounds and production 
with special guest artists.
 
- Panic Girl
- True Cuckoo
- Heymun
- Mike Metlay
- Marc.wav
- Anthurium Sounds
 
You'll hear performances,  listen to interviews, reviews and see workshops about workflow, artist inspirations and techniques.
Get inspired to explore your own instruments and get creative!
It's also a fundraiser for Ukraine
 
 
Main Sponsor: BJOOKS
Giveaways: Native Instruments, Modal, Elk Elektronik
 
 

If you can't attend at the time (4pm Sunday arvo in Australia) , you can purchase a ticket which 
allows you to watch it at your convenience.
 
You can purchase tickets here:
 
For more info, check out Ed's facebook page
 
Some links of the various artists:
 

- Panic Girl
   + Website
   + Youtube

- True Cuckoo
    +Youtube 
    + Website

- Heymun
    + Bandcamp
    + Website
    
- Mike Metlay
    + bjooks.com

- Anthurium Sounds
    + Instagram 
    + Youtube 
 
Nadia Struiwigh
    + Bandcamp 
    + Instagram 
 
 

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

Driscoll Synth - Panel 6

 This is a job in progress.
The Driscoll synth is pretty rare.
These are some pics before starting any restoration.
I first purchased 3 Driscoll panels in 2013. It was part of a larger Serge system.

 
Then followed another 3 in 2021.
 
Panels 4 & 5 are here:
 
This final post covers panel 6 
 
The panel has 3 VCOs & 3 filters, plus 2 VCAs

The 3 filters are identical



The extreme right has 4 mults.

HP

 
 
"Slava Ukraini!"
I saw a post on instagram about a girl in Russia who wanted to protest the war.
Apparently, all Ukranian flags are banned.
She came up with the idea of holding two Harry Potter books in her hands.

Sunday, 6 March 2022

Syria - National Museum of Damascus


The National Museum in Damascus was established under the supervision of the Ministry of Education in 1919.
 





Tekkie Mosque of Damascus



Damascus Army Museum
 
 

 


Jupiter V - New album

 New on Bandcamp

 

Wednesday, 2 March 2022

Mutant Hot Glue - buildnotes - part 1

 

Mutant Hot Glue

Some pics of the virgin PCBs. These are not official build notes. Just my personal doodlings to help trouble shoot if I encounter any probs.



The upper PCB has the jacks, pots etc that fit into the front panel

 
The Hexinverter  Hot Glue was once available as a DIY product, in PCB+panel format, as well as full eurorack kits. 
It might still be available. Anyway, here's the DIY project information for building it.

 

 DIY RESOURCES 

Resistors & IC sockets 


The THAT4301 Dynamics Engine & THAT 2180 VCA are rare.
Almost impossible to find.
Purchased The 4301on ebay - about $70AUD 

THAT2180 Blackmer VCA
THAT 2180-series pre-trimmed Blackmer voltage controlled amplifiers (VCAs) ICs are high-performance current-in/current-out devices with two opposing-polarity, voltage-sensitive control ports. They offer wide-range exponential control of gain and attenuation with low signal distortion. The parts are trimmed during wafer processing to minimize THD and control-voltage feedthrough. After packaging, the parts are tested and graded based on the degree to which the trim survived packaging. No further adjustment is required to achieve the guaranteed distortion and feedthrough performance
 
Out of stock on synthcube.
Ordered on Mouser. 887-2180CL08-U
38 weeks lead time??
 
THAT CORPORATION THAT2180BL08-U
 

 


Some words of warning about DIY builders :-)

I needed to drill some holes into the panel as some of the pots had thick shafts.
 
I decided to try soldering some pots and a few jacks just to test the height.
The electro caps esp the 10UF need to fit under the panel.
The build notes suggest they be less than 12mm height.


These are the headers that join the two PCBs

100nf caps monolithic ceramic x18

22pf ceramic caps
47nf polyester



PCB-mount 10kB (linear) pot
PCB-mount 50kA [or 100kA] (audio) pot
PCB-mount 100kB (linear) pot



--
The electro caps are quite tall so I soldered them thus to fit under the panel. Watch for shorts.


Finally arrived from Mouser.
Took 38 weeks :-) I'm sure it will be worth it.


purple LED - ordered from ebay
finally arrived

------------
TL072 op amps
IC3, IC5, IC10, IC11, IC12, IC15, IC4, IC16, IC17, IC19
 

 

-----------------------------
The rest are 071 opamps
 

We are almost there.

To be continued...

Mutant Hot Glue - part 2 - build notes