Unusual DIY Synths by Kaufmann

flo kaufmann shows his "satrap activ" portable analog synthesizer made out of a vacuum cleaner

YouTube via elmzki

"The "satrap activ" is a old vacuum cleaner from the 70ies, converted into an analog synthesizer.
It contains 2 cmos based VCO's , a Moog ladder filter, a 555 based ADSR, a cmos based 8 step sequencer, a PIC based vc to midi interface and a PIC based auto trigger unit.
There are 4 tunable knobs on top, mostly to play bass-lines, and 2 conductable wires, which act as voltage dividers to generate variable tones. the wires do not vibrate. so it is not a cord instrument. satrap activ can also control other synthesizers either by midi or cv/gate interface.
check out some other projects on:
http://www.floka.com/bricol.html"

flo kaufmann presents his "FLooper" a multi-channel 8bit sound looper without a microcontroller


"The "FLooper" is a 8bit , multi-channel sound looper.
Here you can see the very early 4 channel prototype.
The sound is sampled by 8bit ADC with samplerates up to 200k and stored into a SRAM.
Because of the 8bit design you get very punchy sound. very similar to an old analog tape loop. some background noise as well.
In contrast to most other loopers you have totally independant channels and you can change the speed, volume, mute or reset to start point for every channel.
As long as you dont do anything sound is repeatet forever similar to a tape loop. if you press the record button of a certain channel it starts recording sound at that positiion.
On 2 channels there are steiner-parker voltage controlled filters in series.
I redesigned the FLooper and made some PCB's and the whole project will be open-source very soon.
check www.floka.com"

acu synth by flo kaufmann. a modified acupuncture needle stimulator converted into a synthesizer


"this 70ies needle stimulator was used in acupuncture treatment. i received it as a gift from a doctor and i converted it into a synthesizer. i have various oscillators and waveforms that can be mixed together and in combination with analog filters (steiner parker diode filter or moog ladder filter) th acu-synth sounds just great."

typo synth by flo kaufmann.an electrified mechanical typwriter makes music


"this is one of my typewriters i converted into an instrument.
you can play the typo synth on various layers.
layer1. is the mechanical sounds of the machine are captured by various piezos...
layer2. the keyboard. ever letter produces its own sound with a build in cmos based tonegenerator.
layer3. the cv-gate interface. every action on the keyboard produces a cv, gate signal to control analog synths.
layer4. the magnetic tapes around the rubber cylinder are recorder with some small sound samples i can play arounf
layer5. infrared sensors in different places produce trigger signals to control external gear.

the video can also be found on the new nicolas collins book. there is a dvd packed with videos..."

flo kaufmanns disc-o-mat , mechanics detail1


"a video of the disc-o-mat mechanics.
this video shows how the empty record is loaded and the recording heads moves to the turntable.
the disc-o-mat is a record vending machine built by flo kaufmann. www.floka.com/discomat.html
you enter a recording booth, you put in a SFR5.- coin and can record a 7inch record into polycarbonate and after a short time the record is ejected on the side of the box. it works like one of those photobooths but instead of a picture you get a recorded disc."

disk-o-mat by flo kaufmann mechanical details part2


"a video of the disc-o-mat mechanics. this video shows how the empty record is loaded and the recording heads moves to the turntable. the disc-o-mat is a record vending machine built by flo kaufmann. www.floka.com/discomat.html you enter a recording booth, you put in a SFR5.- coin and can record a 7"

flo kaufmann plays "the model" by kraftwerk on satrap synth


"'bricoleur universal' plays "the model" by kraftwerk with his homemade synthesizer.
cmos vco, 7555 ADSR, moog ladder filter and simple vca (all except the vco is uses the yusynth pcbs)
drum comes from a sequential TOM drumcomputer.
all this electronics is now part of the "satrap activ" vacuum cleaner synth."