Bytewise Operator Demo 1 Overview/Waveshaping

Published on Sep 16, 2015 boogdish

"This is a demo of a new synthesizer module I've designed. PCBs, panels and microcontrolelrs available for DIY synth builders, visit http://www.bartonmusicalcircuits.com/... for more information"

Bytewise Operator Demo 2, Sequencing

My first synthesizer - [Plant dude controlling a pinball modular?]

Published on Sep 14, 2015 nicksworldofsynthesizers

What the hell am I seeing?! Seaweed, moss, plant dude controlling a pinball modular? Tim Burton spirals? He would be proud.

In the following video the knobs remind me of pinball machines. Someone should come up with spring loaded knobs. You can pull them, then release with maximum spring for perfectly timed modulations.

nick horn synth

eowave DIY sequencer and delay

Published on Sep 12, 2015 marcmodular

"first series of modular diy projects , this is a presentation of the 8 step sequencer & a simple easy to build delay"

The Seq Bug. This appears to be a new product. No info on the eowave website yet.

dsp-D8 Single Chip DIY Drumkit Now Available for DIY

"Remember the Drumulator or the Simmons SDS-1?

The dsp-D8 is now available as single chip DIP-28 DIY drumkit.

Drumkit with 8 sounds and separate trigger inputs.

6 of the sounds can be separatly tuned using 6 analog inputs 0-5v.

40KHz sample frequency.

3-5volt power and no external components besides a passiv LPF.

Fully polyphonic.

Simple to use as a soundchip in an analog drumsynth or module.

This is the Drumulator or SP-12 in a single chip!

It's so easy to be an E-drummer that my Granma could do it."

DSO138-2-4-TFT-Digital-Oscilloscope

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

via this auction

Thought this was pretty cool.

"A great way to view the wave forms from your modular synth.
In the pictures i posted are from my modular synth while a simple sequence was playing. Turned the FREQ and RES knobs to capture the different waveform displays.
Comes with dc adapter manual 1/4 patch cable (eurorack) and the scope.
You may want to build this into your modular setup for some great eye candy."

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Noystoise YAMAHA HS200

Published on Sep 8, 2015 noystoise

Some pics and initial details via noystoise. Be sure to click through for more.

"The synth is based off of a Yamaha HS200 that the musician had owned since he was a kid. the keyboard is a regular piece of his performance rig, so the finished product needed to stay compact. i had never had the chance to play an HS200 before it was shipped to me. the keyboard is actually pretty powerful for its size. it has 5 timbres, 4-note polyphony, and sustain. the keyboard had some issues, as most toys of this age usually do, but after a good tare-down and cleaning, the keyboard had a lot of potential. one interesting thing about this keyboard was the auto-power-off function. it was actually a separate dedicated IC made by Yamaha. never seen that before. needless to say, i took it out of the circuit..."

"The HS200 itself has a pitch control circuit that can be modulated manually, by the LFO, by the EG, or by the CV input jack. the range is pretty limited but enough to get some great warping sounds. the keyboard also has a 5-position switch to select the timbre, as well as a single on/off switch that engages the sustain mode...

The LFO is pretty cool. it is the same dual op-amp triangle wave VCO i use a lot, however, this time i added a triangle-to-sine wave-shaper after. the wave-shaper can actually be swept from triangle, to sine, to square-wave gradually. this is a great circuit to have in the toolbox. more fun to play with than a three position switch. might have been cool to add a CV input to control the wave-shape. maybe next time. the frequncy of the LFO can be controlled manually, by the EG, or by the external CV input to the LFO. the LFO has a depth control knob that controls the level to the internal parameter it is set to. the LFO has a CV output, but like the EG CV output, the signal is output at full, and can not be controlled with the depth knob. the LFO has a 5-position slide switch that can be set to modulate either the HS200 pitch, 12db filter cutoff, echo rate, echo HP filter, or echo LP filter..."

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Thomas Henry Megapercussive Synth - DIY PCB & Panel Now Available

via synthCube

"the classic thomas henry megapercussive synth- now made easier for synth diy!

the bundle includes the main pcb from thomas henry and electro-music.com, the new panel daughterboard pcb from barcode, and a beautiful panel design from papernoise!

euro panel 30hp; the panel pcb eliminates the need for flying wires to pots, jacks and switches

the original mps thread is here on e-m: original 2007 mps post

information on the new panel pcb and panel are here: mps euro panel thread"

Brix System by Love Hultén - Giant Wooden Lego Synth & More

Published on Apr 28, 2015 Love Hultén

"Brix System; a collection of functional, hand crafted life-sized LEGO bricks, custom made from wood."

"This conceptual collection consists of eight scale 6:1 versions of classic Lego bricks, each fully functional in one way or the other.

'Like most people, I was raised by Lego. For this project, I chose to work with a set of decorated bricks from the iconic 79-87 'Legoland Space' line, mainly because of nostalgic reasons. These were bricks that would trigger my imagination as a kid. 25 years later, and they still trigger'

Size for a 4x4 brick is 20x20cm, that is scale 6:1

For more info, visit www.lovehulten.com"

Brix System part 2 - Additional music machines

Buchla 245 - Fire up

Published on Aug 30, 2015 Hathor Menat

"First try on my freshly built Buchla 245 clone.
Nothing really fancy, just a few raw functions check.

http://kinestheticmusicbox.blogspot.fr"

How To Build A DIY MIDI Controller (2015 Edition)

Published on Aug 25, 2015 DJ TechTools

"Kyle Mohr walks us through his process for building a Teensy Arduino-based MIDI controller. Think a DIY MIDI controller is for you? Read the full directions and parts list here: http://djtechtools.com/2015/08/25/how..."

Synth Club London Workshop - ToneTrigger 01

Published on Aug 24, 2015 Tom m

"DIY Synth Workshop | 25 Aug
35 GBP
Build and take away your own electronic musical instrument and learn about electronics and soldering along the way.


In this session you will make a tone generator, with four trigger buttons and four adjustable frequencies.

You will be guided step-by step through the assembly of your kit which includes a front panel, components and battery pack.

You will leave with a standalone analog voltage controlled, sawtooth oscillator with four preset voltage triggers,
made by you!

The workshop is 2 hours long and is suitable for everyone, no previous electronics or soldering experience is necessary.
Book Online at synthclub.london"

Hybri - Modi Controller Series

Published on Aug 22, 2015 Brendan Byrne

"STEP SEQUENCER
The row of potentiometers controls the pitch while the buttons toggle the steps on and off. Two additional controllers were added to manipulate the tempo and sequence length.

ABOUT MODI
Modi is a expandable controller bank system designed for AVR microcontroller platforms like Arduino and Teensy. There are four distinct module types available, each consisting of either 8 or 16 individually readable analog or digital controllers. Modi boards can be stacked to support up to 64 inputs making them ideal for MIDI/OSC projects.

Kits can be purchased at the following link...
http://xiwielectronics.com/collection..."

New MoonBox SunVox Powered Raspberry Pi Synthesizer - Videos, Details & Pics

Raspberry Pi Synthesizer - "My Stry Sulfat" jam Published on Aug 23, 2015 cube48

This is the MoonBox posted here. Two videos of it in action. Info and pics further below.

"One pattern twiddle on MoonBox - SunVox powered DIY Raspberry Pi 2 synth.

More info about the MoonBox can be found on official SunVox forum:
http://www.warmplace.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3733"

MoonBox - DIY Raspberry Pi 2 Synthesizer powered by SunVox Virtual Modular Music Studio

Published on Aug 6, 2015

"No music to listen here. Just my low or no playing skills. This is rather about demoing some of the Analog Generator patches of SunVox. First part shows some of the default template sounds, second shows a bit of knob twiddling and a few quick patches I made from the simple 'analog' template I prepared and mapped to 16 knobs of the MoonBox. But SunVox can do a lot more!"

via the forum:

"Let me introduce you the SunVox powered Raspberry Pi 2 standalone synthesizer. The idea was to have dedicated machine/box with SunVox including some knobs. Like a real synth. This vision was maturing in my head for some time but the trigger were NightRadio's comments about upcoming MIDI CC support in 1.9 before the beta was released. I've collected all the building blocks but I was still missing the enclosure. For some time I was designing a custom made 'ponoko' box to be laser-cut. But then I got too impatient and searched through available stuff at home. Wine box for the win :-D

The synth is so far consisting of these bits:

Raspberry Pi 2 B
IQ Audio PiDAC+
5.0" 40-pin TFT Display - 800x480 with Touchscreen
TFP401 HDMI/DVI Decoder to 40-Pin TTL Breakout - With Touch
40-pin FPC Extension Board + 200mm Cable
Guts of the old Evolution UC16 USB MIDI controller (only the main and pot control board)
A bunch of nuts, bolts, spacers and wooden wine box.

Further improvements are still on the todo list:
* jack outputs for L, R and headphones mounted to the rear side of the box
* 5-DIN MIDI I/O connectors on the rear side - realized via USB<>MIDI cable
* some USB ports exposed on the rear side - mounting small USB hub
* power switch + connector on the rear side
* HW volume encoder for PiDAC+ on the top side
* main out GPIO LED volume indicators (this is optional)
* final paint and design tuning

A few notes to the design. RasPi needs to be powered with 2000 mAh adapter to feed all the peripherals. PiDAC+ gives you really powerful and clean sound, also for hungrier headphones. RasPi 2 with stock Raspian OS with ALSA (no realtime kernel, no JACKD, no performance tweaks except disabled CPU power-saving) is able to play decent SunVox synths with 11ms latency without compromising the sound - not ideal but already playable. Lowering the buffer to 5ms introduces occasional noise cracks. I'll try to play with the OS tweaks later but I might stick to ALSA as it is supported by PiDAC+ volume encoder routine. Display is connected via HDMI and USB cables (I'm waiting for shorter and flat HDMI cable). HDMI delivers the image, USB powers the display and touch board. UC16 MIDI controller is connected also via USB (not on the photos above). The only connection hack will be soldering wires to PiDAC+ so I get the normal jack connectors. Current cinch connectors are fine but the placement is not ideal. I want to keep all the 'internal' connections inside the box and expose only the stuff that has to interface outer world and if I would expose the cinch through the rear side, also the HDMI cable would stick out and then coming back which is not desired. The front panel will need some locking or support mechanism, ideally in various angles. The whole thing reminds the Roland's 'Plug-Out' system. You prepare the synth/composition/patch on PC/tablet/phone and then load it to the box if you don't want to mess around with the small screen. But it's actually nicely usable in the box as well as you all know from your own SunVox-on-phone experience. Sun bless Alex for his perfect and scalable UI. RasPi is configured to boot and load up the SunVox automatically, opening the last session. Like a real synth :)

Do you guys have any cool name ideas for the synth? Right now I call it simply SunSynth but that's too obvious. Some link to the SunVox would be cool but maybe something more esoteric :)

Alex, THANK YOU for such a great piece of software! Btw, I hope you don't mind if I put the SunVox logo on the box when it's finished?.."

Berliner Schule plays Roland System 100

Published on Aug 17, 2015 omegaattraktor

"8 Bit Mix Tape 'Berliner Schule' is sequencing Roland System100. 'Berliner Schule' is a 8 Step control voltage sequencer using an atiny84 microcontroller. For triggering the System 100 a trigger converter for the higher voltage of the System 100 is needed."

And a second video from Marc Dusseiller. Not sure what it's driving in this one.

Berliner Schule - 8Step Mixtape

Published on Jul 31, 2015 Marc Dusseiller

"more about the 8Bit Mixtape series:
https://8bitmixtape.github.io/"

Note there are a number of different firmwares including an 8BitMixtapeBeatSlicer and 8BitMixtapeDJ "experimental 8 bit mixtape with dual pwm out and digital crossfade". I created a new 8BitMixtape channel for these moving forward.

The Berliner Schule is a "modified 8step sequencer to run on attiny84, with LED driving and eeprom save"

New Moog Clone Coming From New Synth Maker, frobesynth

Moog Clone Keyboard Test Published on Aug 1, 2015 glkibler

We have a new maker coming. This is the first frobesynth post on the site.

"Test of my 'Frobe' hand-wired (no printed circuits) prototype Moog modular clone. What better way to test if a Moog is sounding like a Moog than with a little taste of Aquatarkus?

FROBE SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS:

100% Hand-wired analog modular synthesizer. No printed circuit boards.

3x Voltage Controlled Oscillators
1x Low Pass Filter (24db/Oct 4-pole)
2x Low Frequency VCO (LFOs)
4x ADSR Envelope Generators:
4x Voltage Controlled Amplifiers
1x Sample and Hold
1x Noise Generator (Pink, White, Random)
1x CV Recorder/Dual Channel Sequencer
1x 4-Channel Mixer
2x Multiples Panel
1x Ring Modulator
1x Gated Slew (Portamento)
1x MIDI-to-CV Conversion
1x +/-15V 1.5A Power Supply"

I asked gkibler if his clone was based on original Moog schematics and if the modules would be available in completed, kit form, or via DIY instructions.

"Yes, it's heavily based around the original and updated Moog schematics but in order for the space savings I had to make some decisions how to strip what I viewed as extraneous knobs and parameters. I originally envisioned building these as complete units with a limited run of around 12 to 15 per year, yet keeping the cost down to somewhere under the $5K price point. Which is a great deal, considering this inhabits 80-90% of the capabilities and features somewhere between a Moog System 35 ($22K) and System 55 ($35K). Hope to have a detailed website available soon with more info."

tiergrinder Jupiter Clone Demos

Published on Jul 17, 2015 tiergrinder

1. Jupiter Clone Demo
"Small audio demo from my jupiter clone project.

Latest additions are JP8's cross modulation section and locig for the preset buttons and display driver. There is no patch memory yet but logic for controlling patches and showing patch numbers on LCD's work.

Arpeggiator melodies are from Roland SH01 Gaias arpeggiator where I made arpeggiator patterns similar to JP8's arpeggiator."

2. Jupiter Clone Demo - Work Still In Progress.
"Small demo to show basic parts that are ready and how those work together.

Volume gets pretty high at the middle part of this demo while playing with PWM modulation stuff.

End parts song snippets :
Europe - Final Countdown
Van Halen - Jump
Synthartist69 - That 80's Sound (Adaption by me)"

3.DIY Jupiter Clone - Broken Date
"Jupiter Clones casing is now done and first boards are fitted in.
In this video three voices from total of four are in use. I still need to build last two oscillator cards to get 4 voice polyphony. Filter and VCA for the last two cards is ready but needs tuning.

DR-202 is sequencing midi notes to Midi to CV converter which controls voices polyphonicly. Additional 808 beats and bassline are audioloops that I added in video editor."

4. Jupiter 8 VCO clone
"Short video from my latest DIY build.
This video shows two DIY JP VCO voice cards build on veroboard. Each containing one VCO with saw, square and pulse witdh modulation. Together these two vco cards make one voice. SH101 sends CV to voice cards and GATE trigger to DIY VCADSR circuit.

These is a small error on the info text in the video. Originals NF510 fet is replaced with 2N3819, not with 2N3918 as mentioned in the video."

The Kabbalistic Synth based on Earth's Magnetic Field, Magnetic Storms of Jupiter & Cosmic Rays

Kabbalistic Synth from sam conran on Vimeo.

via Creative Applications Network where you'll find the full post.

"Created by Sam Conran at the RCA/Design Interactions, the Kabbalistic Synthesizer is a is a musical synthesizer that uses the combination of electric signals to build and create sound bottom up using its raw basic elements. It replaces all usual functions of a regular synthesizer, signal, noise, ADSR, gate and keyboard with alternatives that are generated by live macrocosmic phenomena. The result is a synth that operates itself with waveforms generated by the Earths magnetic field, noise via magnetic storms of Jupiter and keyboard via cosmic rays."

Experimental Druweed Sequencer - sneak preview from Warstat. :o)=

Published on Jul 11, 2015 Druweed

"Arduino based experimental Druweed Sequencer for Korg volca, Electribe 2 and modular synthesizer systems."

nonlinearcircuits BOOLs

Published on Jun 19, 2015 cirtcele

"This module is like a hybrid between the NLC quad logic module and the Sauce of Unce. There are 4 inputs driving chained logic gates (you can choose what logic you want - OR, NOR, AND, NAND, XOR or XNOR by the chip installed). There are 4 gate outputs giving the boolean logic result of the signals on inputs 1&2, 2&3, 3&4 and 4&1. A resistor ladder network gives the stepped output based on what these 4 outputs are doing. From this a S&H circuit with a slew processor gives a smooth output."

BOOLs 3

via nonlinearcircuits

"These are nice. The inputs can be any signal crossing 1V. The logic outputs give 5V gates that are all related to each other as made up of different input combinations. The S&H input can be a trigger, gate or CV. The stepped and slewed outputs an be very similar to what comes out of the Sauce of Unce or Buchla 265 SOU. The ICs are all thru-hole, resistors can be 1206 or 0805 smd. Pretty easy build, has 4 LEDs for blinkenlights.
Using different logic chips gives you some pretty different behaviour so it is worth having more than one of these. The XOR/XNOR chips cn be used as crude ring modulators at audio frequencies.

This is a great module for just patching in any spare outputs from LFOs, sequencers, ADSRs, etc and generating a whole bunch of gates and CVs that are sync'd with everything else going on in your patch.

PCBs - US$18
panels - US$20
airmail - US$5 per order"

New DIY MBLoopA Voxelspace MIDI Looper Vs Alesis Andromeda

[techdemo] DIY MBLoopA Voxelspace MIDI Looper Vs Alesis Andromeda

Published on Jul 1, 2015 Maelstroem3

"First test run of the Voxelspace MIDI Recorder and Looper, that i developed in 06/2015 based on the MIDIbox platform.

The loopa is a small USB-powered device, that records live loops (non quantized, no step recording) of up to eight MIDI clips onto SD card.
Notes (and quarternote beat lines) are visualized in 'Voxel Space'. The clips are looped and beatsynchronized.

The hardware is based on a STM32F4, with a whopping 192KB (yes, kilobytes) of RAM :). The OLED is a Newhaven 256x64x16 bluescale display.

Official build thread:
http://midibox.org/forums/topic/19585...

Hope you enjoyed the demo, it was not musical, just a tech test! :)
More features like session switching, loop length configuration and synced mutes/unmutes should be added, once there is more time :). Yes, I know, there are still a few bugs, especially regarding the position display, that is glitching around a bit, but hey, it has character... :-)

Thanks for watching!
Hawkeye/Maelstroem Records"

via the MIDIbox Forum:

"we recently had some very rainy days in southern Germany and MIDIbox-build-fever struck again, so I had to do something... my project build stack is very large, and even some started projects are not complete yet (MBProgramma), but this one has been on the wishlist for even longer than the Programma, so I just had to start it this year... otherwise it would probably never happen :-).

I have to say, that the MIDIbox platform is phenomenal and addictive! It would be so nice to work on something of this quality on a daily job basis... results can be reached very quickly, the documentation and code base is great. Thanks a lot for everything, TK.!

Let's start...

Motivation
* DAW hate
Turning on the computer and loading a DAW as complex as Ableton or Cubase makes sure any of my already limited inspiration will be gone by the time it is able to record MIDI. I'd like to sit down and "just jam". I felt, very often, that what i played was lost in time, because, of course, the computer was off. So I wanted a simple MIDI recorder, that "just records" automatically a few seconds after turning it on, without any major interaction. If what was just played sounded nice, it would be automatically stored on SD card in compatible .MID format for later playback or even some DAW-based post-processing. If not, well, one could just jam on, or delete the track (called clip in this app).

* Hardware minimalism
Building the unit should be quick and cheap. There should only be a minimum number of buttons and encoders. I managed to build everything including the control surface (yes, i know, it looks cheap, but it also was cheap :-)) on one long weekend - and so can you. We just use standard hardware (STM32F4 core, one DINx4, out DOUTx4 and a nice display). Because there are few components, it is very viable to do it on vector board, no immediate need for PCBs...

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