Saturday, 19 March 2022

The Fenix 2 rises again

 Thanks Ed for another great job


 
 
And don't forget about tomorrows online meeting
 

 Sun 20th Mar, 4:00 pm - 10:30 pm AED  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
 
 

Thursday, 17 March 2022

DIY Acrylic Bender

 This looks like a useful project to do.

Bending acrylic for making all sorts of synth enclosures.

...

 If you don't have a benchtop power supply, use a laptop computer power supply .
They range from 12V to 18V or 24V.
As the wire is not electrically insulated, I don't want any voltage above 24V.

Definitely dont connect this directly to your mains 120 or  230V 
 
In the video, the voltage was 10V at 10A.
Best to experiment with this.
 
So you also need this:..Nichrome wire.
80% nickel, 20% chromium.
About 10AUD
You could also recycle for free ...an old and broken device, such as

- a toaster
- a hair dryer:

You need 2 springs also, as the wire will expand and contract as it heats up/ cools down

When you heat up the wire, it will go red hot.
 
Aluminum u-channel also found locally, half inch (1.27cm) square works best.
The wire must not touch the u-channel
 
If this is all too hard it may be better to just buy a bender.
They are around 200 AUD on ebay
 
The MDF board was 2 ft x 2 ft (60cm x 60cm)

PolyEnd Tracker Shortcuts

Live Performance Controls

When performing, you will probably use Song mode mostly, 
and jump to/between Pattern, inst parameters, Performance & Master 
Each project you create can hold 255 patterns with
up to 128 steps each
 
 
Tempo BPM : Song key + jog-wheel.
                       Or in song mode use the screen key + jog wheel
Control Main Volume: Master Key + jog-wheel.
                                    Or use Master mode (3rd page) and use jog wheel
Display 8 Channels : Press Pattern + any of the coloured keys (Note/instrument/FX1/Fx2) 
                                   Press Pattern + 2 of the coloured keys displays 2 parameters (eg note & instrument)
Mute tracks: Press Shift + Screen Keys (Works in pattern & performance mode)
 
Mute tracks (in Master View) :  Press Master key twice. Then press appropriate screen key/s
Solo Tracks (in Master View) : Press Master key twice. Then press shift + appropriate screen key/s
 
Go to top of grid (start) : Press Shift + Home (Song or pattern mode)
 
Loop a pattern (in song mode) : Press shift + Play 
You can also use the screen keys  

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

The usual view has the first 4 tracks.
The Polyend is a 8 track synth.
So to compress the view press " Pattern" + "note&instrument"
or
" Pattern" + "Fx1&FX2"

To return to the 4 track view press "pattern"

 
-------------------

Transpose notes (live)


Transpose while in edit mode (record is on).
Pick the steps you wish to edit.
Use the jog wheel to transpose.
watch the pitch of the notes change as you turn the wheel. 

Use Shift + Jog Wheel to transpose in octaves 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Navigation

 
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)
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 
 
To Select a number of steps (rec/edit mode) : Shift + up/down arrows

After you have selected the steps, press preview to hear them.
-------------------------------------------------------


Recording and Editing tracks

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

+ Insert/Home key >
   always work as the onscreen Enter key corresponding to the
   selected screen key,
 
+ Delete/Backspace key
   always works as the onscreen Delete key corresponding to
   the selected screen key

 
+ Toggle Live Recording Mode
    Press Rec + Play  
   
+ ARM tracks (for recording in pattern mode) : 
    Press Shift + Rec & screen keys 

+ To Copy/Paste entire Pattern {edit mode (Rec is on)}
   Press Pattern +  Copy > go to new Pattern > Press Pattern + Paste (Shift + Copy).
 
+ To copy/paste more than one cell (SongMode)
    Shift + Arrow to highlight cells
    Press copy
    move to the cell/s you wish to paste to.
    Shift + Arrow to highlight cells (if you are pasting more than 1 cell)
    Press shift + paste
 
+ Display keyboard
   Press Note (Hold it down for at least 1 second)
 
+ To shift notes (Edit/rec & pattern mode):
    Press insert to move notes forward (down the grid).
    Press shift + Backspace to move notes back (up)

+ Renaming Tracks
   Go to master screen first page. Hit record. 
   Edit will appear under each track. Hit the edit button of the track you want to rename.

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

Effects

 
There are 2 effect rows (FX1 & FX2) 
These are more like automation info rather than your usual type of effects.
Eg rolls (great for HHs) , ratchets, micro-timing, volume, panning, 
random notes/instruments/vol/FXvalues, glides, tempo

Effects can be added to individual notes, whole tracks, or entire patterns.
To add an effect to a whole track, you need to enter edit mode, then highlight the track.
ie:  Press Shift + Home (Song or pattern mode)
      Shift + Up 
Now press The pink or green FX button
press Fill

--------------
New Projects

If you are working on a track and wish to save it as a new project.
1. press FILE
2. Press Save As ..
3. rename

Ibiza 2 -old town

 
Ibiza - Old town streets.






















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