New Analog Bytes tbDSP Eurorack Module with Knob Touch Detection

"tbDSP is a modular synth that’s currently under development. It will be available in 2014. Here is a picture of the current prototype (remember, the front panel aesthetics and screen graphics aren’t finalized yet)"

"With tbDSP we set out to create not only the most powerful DSP synthesizer platform in Euro, but also a platform that could evolve over time. At the heart of this goal is the ability to add functionality and make improvements once the module has been released into the wild. To support this, we put a USB port on the module and developed PC and Mac applications so that when a new idea pops into our heads, we can share it with everyone that owns the module. Likewise, it will allow users to influence development.

HP: 26
Engine Control Knobs
Coarse/Fine Toggle Button for Engine Control Knobs
LCD (2.4” diagonal, 320x240)
Selection Knob
Selection Enter Button
USB Port
Navigation Buttons
Navigation Shift Button
Inputs (+/-10 V, Audio or CV)
Outputs (+/- 5 V, Audio or CV)
Engine Buttons

tbDSP features three chips that share the processing duties:

Altera FPGA - graphics, SD, and audio processing
Analog Devices SHARC - floating point audio processing, FFTs
Microchip PIC32 - USB, Firmware Update, and housekeeping

The FPGA processes audio at sampling rates as fast as 98MHz, and the SHARC can compute over 24,000 1024-point FFTs per second."

You can find additional details and follow progress at http://tbdsp.tumblr.com. The following are a couple of videos and audio demos.

"My appreciation of the old Atari POKEY sound chip compelled me to recreate its guts in a tbDSP engine. Some might argue that doing so is a waste of perfectly good DSP, but I saw an opportunity to make an engine with features that I wish the original chip included. The new engine is called POKE. I want to cover two of the new features here."


Published on May 18, 2014 tb DSP·1 video

tbDSP Spectrogram Example



"POKE engine modulating LPF CV alone, then processing rate CV alone, then both simultaneously"

ModJam 080711

ModJam 080711 from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

"Messing around a bit in the studio.
Just another short modular jam."

ModJam 070411 RCD Pulse Divisions

ModJam 070411 RCD Pulse Divisions from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

"Just experimenting w/ the RCD with pulse divisions and mixing them back together. Inspired by JRL (thanks for the inspiration! : youtube.com/​watch?v=oI8CkYrcJfc ). I just got the Anti so i got to play with that a bit too. :) Just some noodling around. Main synth line is running through the A-199 reverb. dry and reverb out, anti and pokey are then mixed together using the Unify by Circuit Abbey. Headphone out ran direct to camera."

Mod Jam 050511

Mod Jam 050511 from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

"Got the SubMix-7 working correctly today. and so far i'm really digging it! Pokey.Synth Module provides the kick and snare/HH tracks.. while the uLFO multi wave outs are fed into the submix as well as the hertz donut. woggle bug modulates the cutoff/res on the SEM20.. the rest os pretty obvious."

Mod Jam 041211

Mod Jam 041211 from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

"New Goike Cab is up and running. This session isn't the greatest, but i wanted to get something up. Enjoy."

POKEY.synth Manual Version 1.0

via Skrasoft Dev Blog (Analog Bytes)

"I wanted to get a manual of some sort uploaded before shipping the rest of the first batch of modules. I will be stepping through the names on waiting list soon to see who is still interested and ready to buy a tested module..."

POKEY.synth demo jam 3

POKEY.synth demo jam 3 from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

"Pokey Osc 1 = Kick drum. Envelator 1 controls Osc 1 Vol Input
Pokey Osc 2 = Snare/HH's. Envelator 2 controls Osc 2 Vol Input
A-147 Saw output to V/O input on Pokey Osc 1.
Envelator 1 "end" out resest A147.

uStep + Shuffling Clock Multiplier OR combined through the Short Bus. Outputs sent to clocks of Z8000 Row 1-4 and Column 1-4, Also sent to Gate inputs of Envelators.

Z8000 controlling Pokey Osc 2 V/O.
Envelator 2 + output also going to Borg 2 CV in.
uLFO Sine out to Borg input 1, Borg to A-132 (being CV'd by Z8000), to Pokey Aux INput. SR Input controlled via z8000. uLFO v/o input controlled via Z8000."

CLICK FOR MORE »

POKEY.synth demo jam 2

POKEY.synth demo jam 2 from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

"Using only the pokey.synth module for sound source. I'm also running the uLFO sine wave through the Aux input to demonstrate the SR function.

I'm using my uStep/Short Bus to trigger Envelators which are outputing CV Into the "vol" input on the Pokey. The Pokey module has 2 built in VCA's! :) which is pretty awesome! Z8000 is also being clocked via Short Bus/uStep which is controlling pitch for pokey osc 1 & 2, uLFO pitch, SR CV (on pokey) and Wave CV on Pokey."

Analog Bytes Pokey.synth in the Flesh

via Logan

Pokey.Synth ambient Jam demo from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

"just a quick jam / demo before i have to pack up and head to a show."

Analog Bytes Pokey Progress

via Skrasoft

"The Pokey synth main board PCBs are going through surface mount manufacturing this week, so modules should be ready to test and pack in the next couple weeks. In the meantime there are manual pages to write and front panels to assemble. Here’s a shot of some front panels waiting for main boards.

Once the modules are tested and ready to ship, I will start e-mailing everyone on the waiting list. All sales on this first run will be handled directly through Analog Bytes."

Analog Bytes Pokey Synth Progress

via Skrasoft where you'll find some more pics.

"All the hard-to-get parts are in, so I’m sending out for production-ready prototype PCBs. If those don’t have any issues then I’ll have a run of 25 modules done a couple weeks later."

Aaron of Analog Bytes and the Atari Pokey at the PNW Synth Gathering 2010

YouTube via matrixsynth | July 27, 2010

http://www.analogbytes.org/ - click for more info including sound samples.

PNW Synth Gathering 2010 Pics

flickr set by matrixsynth (click here for a full screen slideshow - 127 photos)

It was a great event this year. Speakers included John Bowen with the Solaris, Dougcl with a Buchla 200e, Aaron of Analog Bytes with the Atari Pokey module, Carbon111 with the Yamaha VL1, David Skinner with new modules from Synthesizers.com and the Korg MicroSampler, Scott Jaeger of The Harvestman, Scott Rise of Division 6, John L Rice and his massive modular, George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular, Sonja of flight of harmony, James Husted of Synthwerks, Computer Controlled with the Bitchen Sync and other gear, Jeff Sanys with the OLPC, Lorne with various noise makers, and Dana Countryman with the Ondioline and his DIY pitch controller based on the Ondes Martenot.

This was also the last PNW Gathering to be hosted at the Renton Technical College by our gracious host John Marshall. Carbon111 and Laura picked up the cake below for him.

Videos of each talk will follow through the week. I took 23.7 G of pics and video. Big thanks to John L Rice for his 16 G memory card! And Jarett for loaning me his PC to move pics and vids off my memory card.

Pokey Panel

via Skrasoft

"Just a quick post this time… The Pokey module panel graphics are finished and being sent off to get made. Here’s a rendering.'

"This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Modular Synths, POKEY (Atari)."