Klee Wood

Wood panel version of the Klee Sequencer.

via Sendling.

The Thomas Henry Mega Percussive Synthesizer

via Scott Stites on this electro-music thread. Keep an eye on the thread for updates. If images or samples come in, let me know.

"I guess I better extricate this from the Clangora thread before it derails that fine conversation. I hope I don't sound like I'm hyping this thing unnecessarily, but I truly am buzzed by this design. This one has been as hard to keep quiet about as the Mankato Filter. In fact, I often think about this as the Mankato of drum voices, it's that good. I'll start at the top:

This summer (summer 2007), Thomas quietly developed a drum voice that just sat me back in my seat. I'm not sure I've ever seen him work so hard on a single design - I'm sure he has, but in my experience breadboard testing things, I'm certain this one took more work than I've experienced with any other project. He literally designed this thing from the ground up, and we very thoroughly rung it out.

In the Clangora thread, Thomas mentioned how versatile it was (and it is extremely versatile). On top of that, the sound of this drum voice for me is simply stunning. A good deal of that is due to an innovation Thomas threw in there; it's something that I've never seen on any other drum voice. It was an idea that he picked up from an interview with Roger Powell years ago (it was Roger Powell, wasn't it Thomas? I'm kinda fuzzy here). It has to do with the impact circuit - I swear, it literally sounds like someone is striking this think with a real stick/mallet/hand/sledgehammer (depending on how it's tuned).

Just to give a rundown of the elements: the voice has three oscillators, a noise source, a balanced modulator (that can be unbalanced as well), three envelope generators, two VCAs, a noise source, a LP/BP switchable resonant VCF, and a versatile mixing section with send/receive loops. This one is a blast to tweak as it plays, BTW. It's the only drum voice I've played that can dissolve from a cowbell to a landing alien craft in a very non-seventies, non-disco-era Simmons way (though it can do that, too, if that's your thing).

Fortunately, Thomas designed it, so it is a very elegantly designed circuit (translation, it will fit on a single PCB). There are a lot of controls, so it won't be a small panel.

Right now, the target for the project is as the next electro-music PCB series, in the same vein as the Klee project. We're working on drafting a certain man from Nambucca Heads to crank out a PCB, and we're going to Klee team it to make sure what you get will be the best quality PCB we can offer. The documentation part already is very well done - can't beat those Thomas Henry schematics! I'm hoping to avoid the whole reservation process which is really a pain, but this is all in the prelim stage so far.

Expect samples. Very Happy

Cheerio,
Scott"

Klee 2 sequencer

YouTube via timsynth.
"Short overview and demo of the Klee 2 sequencer for analog synthesizers. This is a DIY project and the video was shortened for YouTube...Enjoy!"

THeff's Model 2 Klee

Via Scott:
"THeff has built the only Model 2 Klee I've ever seen other than what I have on breadboard. The guy built the thing on perfboard - one board! It's a Model 2, which differs a bit from the electro-music Klee Sequencer PCB project, but the difference is pretty minor. His thread is here.

A couple of pics of the sequencer here and here [pictured].

And some samples he's posted in the thread (he's picked up on it pretty quickly - programming a Klee is definitely a different process than programming a standard step sequencer):

1st_klee_demo_210
happy_klee_718
leave_it_to_kleever_330"

Update: I asked Scott for a little more info on the Klee. Here is what he had to say about it:

"the Klee is something I pretty much cooked up in this thread:

http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12940

It's a lot of reading, though =0). Earlier this summer, Andy Sharp, Tom Fenn and I cooked up a scheme to produce PCBs of the project and sell them at a small profit, which we're donating to the electro-music forum for operating expenses, and to go towards a new server (a bit late on that one, judging from the recent crash there).

I've got a fairly complete (but not totally complete) draft of the Klee theory here:

http://electro-music.com/forum/download.php?id=8646

It's from this thread:

http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19278

The doc explains what the Klee is and does and how it differs from a "normal" sequencer. It's a draft with a couple of minor typos, and I haven't yet gotten into the last part of the functionality - the interval switch."

The New and Improved Scott Stites Synth DIY

Currently listed:
- Triple Wilson SVVCF
- Thomas Henry UD-1 Drum Voice
- Thomas Henry SN-Voice
- The Thomas Henry XR VCO
- MultiPhase Project Journal
- MultiPhase Project
- The Mutant Vactrol Filter
- Looney Mod For Ray Wilson's Wacky Sound Generator (WSG)
- Sundry Items
- Dim C/TZF
- Construction of the Dim C/TZF
- Dim C Finished!
- Dual René Schmitz Late MS-20 Filter
- The Model 2 Klee Sequencer
- Klee Samples

Title link takes you there. Birth of a Synth pictured.

Birth of a Synth

Title link takes you there. There's a ton of samples and more on site.

Via this post on electro-music.com. Check out the schematics for the Klee Sequencer in the post as well.