Friday, 2 September 2022

IDM - intelligent Dance Music

I'm heading out to see  μ-Ziq & Low Flung in two weeks and am preparing a list of some tunes
in the same vein to listen to on the car ride there (Canberra).
u-Zig's music is sometimes referred to as "IDM" (intelligent dance music).
 
The term "intelligent dance music" was likely inspired by the 1992 Warp compilation Artificial Intelligence  , though the term is widely criticized and dismissed by most artists associated with it, including Aphex Twin, Autechre, and μ-Ziq. In 2014, music critic Sasha Frere-Jones observed that the term "is widely reviled but still commonly used". (Wikipedia)

I agree... I love many types of electronic music and don't think one is more intelligent than another.
 
These are some of my fave artists in this genre.
IDM is focused heavily on experimentation.
It's cerebral in nature ... better suited to home listening so it should be great for the car.
If anyone has some new suggestions send me a email.
 
Aphex Twin - 
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex Twin
Avril 14th 
Xtal 
beetles

Autechre 
 LP5
Leterel 
melve 
Foil
 
μ-Ziq/ Planet Mu
Lunatic Harness  
Hasty Boom Alert

The Black Dog
Virtual
Spanners
Psil-cosyin
 
Future Sound of London
 ISDN
Accelerator
 
Squarepusher
Hard Normal Daddy
Massif 

Mira Calix
Skin With Me
 
Luke Vibert /Plug / Wagon Christ
I love Acid - YosepH


808 State
Prebuild 
 
Kevin Blechdom 
I Heart Presets 
 
Venetian Snares 
Greg Hates Car Culture 
Hajnal 
Ongyilkos Vasarnap
 
Arovane 
Tides 
Salome IV

Boards of Canada
Roygbiv
An Eagle in your Mind
Music is math
 
The  Orb
Little Fluffy Clouds
 
Amon Tobin
Slowly
 
Radiohead
Kid A
 

Thursday, 1 September 2022

Encephalo Adjuster - NLC - Build notes - part 2

This is part 2 of the Encephalo Adjuster  build.
This is a 24 stage phase shifter. 
 
The most common commercial phase shifters (such as the MXR Phase 90, Univibe and Small Stone) have four stages.
The MXR Phase 45 is a 2-stage phaser
The MXR phase 100 has 6 stages.
The Mu-Tron Bi-Phase consists of two 6-stage phasers which can be cascaded into one
another for 12-stages of phase shift.  
Note that the MXR Phase 45/90/100 all use FETs, and the Small Stone uses
operational transconductance amplifiers.
 
The Encephalo Adjuster uses LDRs (light dependant resistors) to work its magic.
The Mutron Bi-phase also uses LDRs.

Nonlinear Circuits also has a few phasers you may like to try out:

Phasers work by creating notch filters & then modulating the centre frequency of these filters.

Links
Wiki
BOM

part 1 is here:
 



Soldering the headers.
These join up the 3 PCBs.
There are electrical connections via these headers between the PCBs so be careful not to short things .
 


I started off joining the bottom & middle PCB.
The bottom one has the jacks / pots etc.
 

The headers make a lightproof box.
 
 
So this actually is one big vactrol consisting of 24 LDRs and 3 LEDs

Then solder the headers that connect the middle PCB with the top PCB

 The top PCB has the blue white trimmer resistor.
 


--------------------------------------------
Time for the "vactrol"

Andrew writes:
"The 24 220k resistors can be left off if using GL5506 or GL5516
LDRs. The trimpot can be used to preset the phase shift. I suggest
leaving them off no matter what LDRs you use and then just use the
trimpot to get a good operating range from the Phase pot. If you
cannot get a good range, then add the 220k."


I only just read this  and already added these resistors.
I'll see how the module performs with them on and remove if I want to change things.
 

Im using GL 5516s

No Silicon Heaven?



LEDs

..using yellow
 

6 100K pots .. linear taper


Plug the 3 boards together

Finally done.




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You can find more NLC builds here.
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Pulla _ Croatia - 1

 Pulla Croatia,
 
Thats St Anthony's church in the distance.

Pulla castle (Kastel)
Gradinski uspon 10, 52100, Pula, Croatia
French-style defensive fortress built by the Venetians in the 1600s, with views of the city & bay.
built in the period 1630-1633. 
Stones from the old Roman amphitheater were used in its construction
Today it houses the historical and Maritime Museum of Istria.
 
 







..
 
This small Roman Theatre from the 1st century was erected on the slope by the castle.
Istria, Croatia
It could hold between 4 - 5 thousand spectators.



Pulla's ampitheatre is really impressive

..

The Pula Arena is a Roman amphitheatre located in Pula, Croatia. It is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to still have its four side towers entirely preserved. Built between 27 BC and AD 68, it is among the world's six largest surviving Roman arenas.

Able to accommodate approximately 20,000 spectators, Pula Arena would have played host to gladiatorial battles under the Romans and tournaments of knights in medieval times

 



For more travel postcards click here:

Thursday, 25 August 2022

Encephalo Adjuster - NLC - Build notes - part 1


This is a 24 stage phase shifter
It uses LDRs (light dependant resistors)

Links
+ BOM



The build looks like it can get crazy  with a huge number of LDRs ... twenty four.
I understand it has wide sweet spots and is an excellent sounding phaser. Should be fun to build .

Doesn't look like there are any hard to find parts.. apart from the 13700 op-amp which seems to be in short supply from some shops






 
There are 3 PCBs
 
..

 

The name of the module comes from a mind control device that appears in a few  of AE Van Vogt's Sci-Fi novels.

Van Vogt began publishing science fiction with “The Black Destroyer,” the first of four stories which became his novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle. 

His other major works include Slan, The Weapon Shops of Isher, and The World of ­Ā. (Null A) which is of course a NLC module.

+ NULL-A - mini synth - 2VCOs, 2 filters, etc - Build notes


The Voyage of the space beagle was first published in 1950, though most of this book was written much earlier and published separately:
- Chapters 1-6 appeared as "Black Destroyer" in the July 1939 edition of Astounding Science Fiction;
- Chapters 13-21 appeared as "Discord in Scarlet" in the December 1939 edition of Astounding Science Fiction;
- Chapters 22-28 appeared as "M33 in Andromeda" in the August 1943 edition of Astounding Science-Fiction.



There are eight TL074s and one LM 13700
 

 


Get the ICs on first.



Rest of the caps, resistors.
 


Trimmer - 100k

 
Trannies - BC587 & 547
















schottky diodes





to be continued....,.


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You can find more NLC builds here.
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Elk Elektroniks workshop this Sat - 27th Aug

 Elk Elektroniks are holding a workshop this sat.
The Neutral Labs Scrat Steiner-Parker filter.
This is a eurorack DIY kit.
 
" You can change the resonance flavour by plugging in components like diodes, capacitors or resistors (even LEDs and/or light-dependent resistors) directly to the front panel. A set of preset cartridges is also available, which gives you instant access to a variety of filter sounds. You could even make your own. Or go all in and connect some jumper wires to a breadboard for pretty much endless possibilities."