Rare Fonitronik Analog EFM 1900 and 3500 Modular Synthesizer Modules, Kits, and Parts

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via this auction

"Manufacturers of similar modern modular synthesizers include Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments, Doepfer Musikelektronik, Macbeth, Moog Music, Synthesis Technology, PAiA Electronics, Pittsburgh Modular, Analogue Systems, and Synton.

This lot of complete modules and parts are from the EFM series 1900 and 3500 series synthesizers from Tom Gambles Electronics For Music. Nearly everything you need to build a beastly analog modular synthesizer!

Full lot contains the following:

Complete Modules
4 x 3541 VCO
1 x 5x3 multiplier
1 x DEG2A dual ADSR
1 x RX-CV Midi to CV gate
1 x EGLFO1A ADSR/LFO
1 x VCO4E Moog Rogue
1 x VCA5B hybrid VCA/mixer
1 x VCF1E Oberheim 2pole HP/BP/LP filter
1 x PSU 12V power supply

PCB’s only
2 x 3506 – LAG slide/glide/pitch bend
1 x 3541 - VCO
3 x 3508 – ADSR
2 x 1605 – VCF6C EMS diode ladder
1 x 4303 – LFO5A vc lfo/s&h/noise
1 x 1003 – RMP1B ring mod/lfo/preamp

Components
5 x PT146 precision resistors
50 x MF1/4DL3303F Metal Film Resistors - Through Hole 330K
4 x 064W503 Trimmer Resistors - Through Hole 50K 10% 3/8"MULTITURN
100 x 1N4148 Diodes - General Purpose, Power, Switching 100V Io/200mA BULK
25 x CHB471k1H821 ceramic capacitors
25 x C1C101J1H551 ceramic capacitors
100 x 3319P-2-503 Trimmer Resistors - Through Hole 9MM RND 50KOHMS 25% 0.2WATTS

Integrated Circuits
20 x NJM072BD Operational Amplifiers - Op Amps Dual
16 x NJM13600D Transconductance Amplifiers Dual
10 x CD4001UBE Logic Gates CMOS Quad 2-In
5 x NTE912
10 x NJU4066BD Analog Switch ICs CMOS Quad
20 x LM393N Analog Comparators 2-36V Dual
3 x NE555N Timers
90 x 8 IC socket
30 x 14 IC socket
25 x 16 IC socket

As well as miscellaneous LEDs, ~100 knobs, ~40 Al faceplates, resistors, capacitors, diodes, and trim potentiometers.

Sound Samples
bntic.mp3
PS3100_02_15V.mp3
modular6_07.mp3
SL01.mp3

The Plan....The whole point was to design a series of small boards that could be used as building blocks as well as individual modules. They can be mounted on a panel or put on a motherboard and used a single board modular. Most of the boards are designed with the i/o connectors all on one side of the board. Using 90 degree headers they can even be mounted vertically.

More information about the modules, diagrams, and mods can be found here"

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Rare DIY modular synth - EFM Wildcat

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

via the seller: "I built this somewhere in 2008, got the midi and vcos working, then the chips in the moog filter let out the smoke and this project went on hold till I get more chips. Seeing how I haven't had a chance to work on it since, it's time to pass the torch.

Included: fully stuffed PCB, semi-working (in 2008 anyway), fully built front panel with pots, banana jacks, and clearly marked connectors, all printed documents, which are also available on internet.
Also included hundreds of banana plugs and test lead wire, so you can make as many patch wires as you like, and two tubes of CA3046 and LM13600 chips, so you don't have to worry about burning a few more."

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Wildcat Modular Synthesizer System Diy by EFM

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated. via this auction
"We found this diy kit tucked back in a box in our tech bench when we bought our current studio space. I believe this is the first Wildcat Modular Synth Board and it appears to be semi populated and needs work by a experienced Synth builder. In the box is a zip lock bag of components and a static free bag of programmed chips and a notebook with printout schem and parts list. Their are also 6 Additional single modules From EFM (Electronic for music).

Description From Synthdiy: The Wildcat is a modular system designed to be flexible enough to to build many types of synthesizers as well as remain unique. The most comprehensive system is naturally the most expensive to build. However the Wildcat board can also be used to construct a much less expensive synthesizer. A full blown Wildcat Modular could cost more than $1000. The Wildcat Modular-1 was close to $600. About $100 went for ribbon cable and headerconnectors.

If you want to direct-wire and you already have or build your own case you can cut it down to under $500.

Contents Of This Bid:
* EFM WILD CAT MODULAR SYNTH REV: A
* EFM VCF2F model: H&L-1 1104
* EFM Midi to cv model: H&L-1 2805
* EFM 3508 - ADSR model H&L-1 1805
* EFM 3534 - Sample & Hold model: H&L-1 2805
* EFM 3541 - VCO H&L-1 model 2805
* EFM 3501 - PS ( Power supply model H&L-1 2805
* Large bulk Bag of components.
* Static free bag of Pre burned Chips."

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EFM Wildcat

via this auction

"Some info and manual can be found here"

Tom Gambles EFM 1900er series PCBs on fonitronik

old EFM forum topics
"olf EFM forum topics
I built several of Tom Gambles EFM 1900er series PCBs. He made a close out and sold his remaining stock in april 2007. there are a lot of these PCBs spread all around the world, many unbuild yet, i guess.
BAD NEWS: When these PCBs where actually released there was a forum at the EFM site. This forum is gone.
GOOD NEWS: Many thanks to Dave Kendall who filed many of the topics of the old EFM forum, and now i am glad to publish them. Thanks to Tim Stinchcombe who provided me with additional files to complete the list. Any helpful information is appreciated so don't hesitate to contact me if you have some files available that you might want to share here. The topics discuss errors, tweaks and modifications - VERY usefull:" [link]
Be sure to check out the rest of fonitronik modular synth diy.

EFM Wildcat analog modular synth board

via this auction
"This is a blank printed circuit board for an EFM (Electronics for Music) Wildcat modular synth. This is basically a diy modular synth on a single board. This auction also includes the special PIC (programmable integrated circuit) chip required for the midi to CV part of the circuit...

Here are a couple of good online sources of info about this board:

www.dontlisten.com/sdiy/wildcat/efm-wildcat.pdf
http://www.yusynth.net/Wildcat/index.html
I believe this is the rev1 board."

Modularen

flickr by Modularen
(click for more)

full size

TH XRVCO x 2
TH VCO-1 x 2
MFOS Dual VCA
MFSO ADSR
CGS Wavemultiplier
CGS Digital noise
CGS Analogue shift register
CGS VCA
CGS Suboscillator
CGS Wavetable
CGS Gate to trigger
CGS Synthacon
Fonitroik PS3100 Resonator
Fonitronik Dual Buchla Lowpass Gate
Fonitronik Dual Buchlaesque CV processor
Topp 281 Function generator
EFM LFO
EFM ADSR + VCA
EFM Transistor Ladder filter
MSC175 Dual VCS

EFM VCF6c Diode Ladder Filter

"The Electronics For Music EFM VCF6c is a very distinct sounding filter. It will self oscillate nicely at higher resonace settings. Changing C9 to 100 uF (or more) will extend the lower range.

It's a good idea to match all of the diodes for same forward voltage drop. I also matched Q1 and Q2 for hfe. In both cases take pains to make sure they are all at the same temperature! Let them sit in a thermally stable environment (away from drafts, windows, heat/AC registers, etc) for a while beforehand, and only handle them with tweezers or pliers. Don't hold the tweezers in your hand for long, either."

You can find more info including the schematics here.

EFM Users and the EFM 5700

click here for more including pics and videos. If you use an RSS reader like Bloglines, you can subscribe to the site.

I also realized I didn't have an EFM label, so I added one. Be sure to check out the previous EFM posts by clicking on the EFM link below the image. You'll find a number of modular systems with EFM based modules.

via kokoon.

Modular 2003

YouTube via liquidcolor.
"This is a short video of the modular from 2003. There is a Tama Techstar drum brain in the top right, but I don't recall if it was wired in. Sounds like it could have been. Wiard, Blacet and DIY EFM."

Modular Synth DIY

Remember this gorgeous modular?

Previous Posts

Title link takes you to matthias [fonik] herrmann's Modular Synth DIY page with more.

"Rather a musician than an electronics engineer I was always looking for new sounds. This finally(?) let me to modular synth. Once I purchased some Dopefer modules for a modular guitar effect the plan rose to build my own modular synth... this was about 2 years ago and I never held an soldering iron in my hands before.
I (accidentally) decided to build the synth in eurorack format, so I built a cabinet from ProMa (actually the provider of Doepfer) and incorporated a Power One Dual Output Power Supply. That spared me a lot of money if I really would have spent a thought of the expensive Doepfer cabinets, though I use a Doepfer Bus PCB for the first cabinet. For the 2nd cabinet I etched my own Bus PCBs.
The modules are built from Ken Stones (CGS Synth), Ray Wilsons (MusicFromOuterSpace) and Tom Gambles (EFM) PCBs mainly.
The following pages will show my efforts. And remember, the page is still under construction..."

EFM

flickr by javanavolt

Title link takes you to EFM (Electronics For Music) where you will find a numbe of PC boards for various music based projects.

Yusynth DIY

Title link takes you to Yusynth DIY. You will find information on known DIY manufacturers and a ton of custom designs. The following is an example of some of what you can expect. via sequencer.de.

"The ARP4072 filter equipped mostly the famous ARP2600 semi-modular synthesizer. I always wanted to build one. In the first place I gave a try to the EFM VCF7b. After correcting some PCB design errors I found this filter was sounding real great.

Eventually, I designed my own version of this filter. I have included in the design an input buffer stage and an ouptut buffer stage. The output buffer stage is also used to compensate the loss of low frequencies that is generally observed at high resonance in 24db/octave filters such as the famous Moog ladder. Curiously enough, neither Bob Moog nor Alan Ron Pearlman cared to compensate for this loss. This is strange knowing that it is quite a simple modification. Such compensation was introduced by Roland for the filter of their nowadays very sought after TB303!

On the two boards I built of this filter I obtained pure sinewave auto-oscillation at high resonance within the range 20Hz-20kHz, for the first board, and within the range 60Hz-20kHz for the second board. My design uses japanese dual transistors (2SA798). Because people may have difficulties to source 2SA798 I have also designed a PCB to use regular PNP transistors (BC557), however I have not tested this second design yet."

logo-64

gerald of logo-64 sent in the previous post on Babyland. I decided to check out logo-64 and liked what I heard. I noticed the following listed as band memebers: gerald - synths : S.A.M. - C64 vocals. I was curious what S.A.M was as well as the modular in the shot and any other synths he used. gerald replied with the below (also be sure to check out the update at the end of this post for an interesting bit of trivia via Cynthia Webster of Cyndustries). Title link takes you to the logo-64 MySpace page.

"S.A.M. - a speech synthesis program for the C64 "Software Automatic Mouth" The modular is my DIY synth. Paia, Blacet, CGS, and EFM modules. Plus a "FracSid" - midibox SID in a modular format with 6 analog CV ins, 8 analog and 2 gate outs. Will take some pictures, record some sounds and make a web page about the FracSID some day... probably put it up on my erinys site.

Synths used for logo-64

Elektron Machinedrum
Elektron Monomachine (by the way, it ships with a preset I made for it - B6, kit22 "gerald", the benefits of being a beta-tester!)
Access Virus Indigo
DSI Evolver
OB Matrix1000
Yamaha DX200
Crumar Performer
Nord micromodular
Casio SK-1, SK-5, SK-60, RZ-1, CZ-101, HK-700, RapMan
Yamaha CS-01
Roland TR-55
Simmons SDS8, SDS400 and clap-trap
Commodore SX-64 with midi-cart and M-64 (http://gallium.prg.dtu.dk/anyware/)

That's all I can think of right now - lots of junk scattered about... all of the synths below the Nord were thrifted."

Update: Interesting bit of trivia via Cynthia Webster of Cyndustries:
"the S.A.M. Software Automatic Mouth listed as a band "member" in Logo-64, was software written back in 1979 or so ago by none other than Designer Mark Barton of Cyndustries Zeroscillator fame, (he wrote the MacinTalk speech synthesizer program a few years later as well!)"

The Ocean - True Analog Synth by R.J.Vleck 2005

Title link takes you to a post on this absolutely stunning analog synth. Sent my way via Dennis Verschoor. Make sure to click through for more shots. Thanks Dennis!



Details:
Oakley spul:
3 x VCO (Oakley Sound)
2 x ADSR/VCA (Oakley Sound)
1 x VC-LFO (Oakley Sound)
1 x Equinoxe Phaser (Oakley Sound)
1 x Super Ladder Filter (Oakley Sound)
1 x MidiDAC (Oakley Sound)

Eigen PCB's:
1 x Ring Modulator (EFM design)
1 x Power Distribution Board
1 x Dual VCA (EFM design)
2 x Dual CV Mixer (EFM design)
1 x Sample & Hold (Ray Wilson design)
1 x Steiner Synthacon VCF (Ken Stone design)
1 x LAG (EFM design)
1 x Main Ouput Bus & Headphones Preamp (Ray Wilson design)
1 x Noise Source (Polyfusion design)
1 x VCO Octave Switch