The Q165 Prototype module gives the electronics experimenter a convenient way to implement custom circuitry for their 5U Moog-panel-format synthesizer.
The panel provides placement for knobs, jacks, switches and LEDs. White blocks provide space to write labels using a fine-point ink marker.
The prototype board provides center and side power rails, and enough space for 4-6 integrated circuits - typically op-amps. The pad-per-hole array accepts most common thru-hole components and is arranged like a typical proto board and solderless breadboard, but with additional holes on the sides to accept MTA connectors. The power entry section is laid out for +15V and -15V entry filters along with +5V for digital circuits.
A variety of parts are provided in the kit including PCB mounting spacers, MTA connectors for power, jacks and pots, along with a variety of common resistors, capacitors, transistors and diodes. Op-amp and an OTA ICs are also provided.
The user must supply the circuit design, tools, additional electronic components, and of course the skills.
The Q165 module accepts a standardized Synthesizers.com 6-pin MTA power connection.
"CPU Emulation: While the reference FPGA ships with a 32-bit RISC-V CPU running at 100MHz, it can be reconfigured to emulate a wide range of retro-CPUs, from the 6502 to the Z-80 to something we’ve never even heard of. Furthermore, Precursor’s FPGA-based design can accurately emulate old sound chips in hardware, and its modular keyboard can be swapped out for an alternative that more closely resembles your favorite old controller. Be warned, however: it will no longer fit in your pocket if you mount a joystick on it."
Audio features:
Audio with safe defaults
Integrated 0.7 W speaker for notifications
Vibration motor
3.5 mm headset jack
No integrated microphone – audio surveillance is not possible when headset is unplugged
SOUND SEMICONDUCTOR INTRO’S NEXT GENERATION VCO CHIP
First New Electronic Music VCO IC in Decades
September 16, 2020 – Sonora, California – Sound Semiconductor today announced the first new audio-band Voltage Controlled Oscillator (“VCO”) integrated circuit in decades, the SSI2130.
The SSI2130 VCO provides unprecedented performance and features for electronic music systems, audio function generators, or other devices that require high-integrity audio waveforms. Based on a precision- generated triangle core, the SSI2130 also produces saw, reverse saw, pulse with width control, and open- collector square wave outputs. Great care was taken to provide glitch-free waveforms.
In addition to buffered voltage outputs, the triangle, saw, and pulse signals are internally routed to a five- channel VCA mixer with two auxiliary inputs. The mixer output is current-mode for easy summing with additional SSI2130 VCO’s and connection to current-input voltage controlled filters such as the SSI2140 and SSI2144.
The SSI2130 also includes a sine shaper that provides a low-distortion sine wave from the triangle output, and a unique “time reverse” pin enables through-zero FM and PM synthesis with the addition of comparator, dual op amp, and handful of discrete components.
The analog multiplier has excellent exponential performance over a ten-plus octave range, and on-chip temperature compensation outperforms all previous VCO IC’s. Exponential input setup is easily accomplished through one or two trims in analog systems, or automated by CPU-based systems. Both hard and soft sync are offered.
The SSI2130 is packaged in a 32-lead QFN package and requires minimal external components. Pricing is $2.25 at 1k pieces and the SSI2130 is in stock now. Samples and an evaluation board are available to qualified OEM’s; hobby and DIY enthusiasts are served through a growing network of Sound Semiconductor’s authorized resellers.
"Our design team has been anxious to develop a new-generation VCO,” stated Dan Parks, President of Sound Semiconductor. "We knew the SSI2130 was going to be good, but it greatly exceeded expectations."
Sound Semiconductor is composed of musicians and technologists with the goal of developing affordable, high- performance integrated circuits for music creation. For more information, please visit www.soundsemiconductor.com.
"This is a homemade analog synth that I've been working on for close to a year now. It is a classic monosynth with 3 oscillators, 1 modulating LFO, and a 24dB/oct VCF. The core modules (VCOs, VCF, VCA) are built on the submodule boards available from Electro-Smith (links below).
The case has ~96HP of Eurorack space, and also houses the Arturia Keystep controller. It is made of poplar with walnut stain. The case is powered by an old Elpac PC power supply that provides +/-12V and +5V."
This newest version comes complete with a 19 inch rack mount kit and an optimized case that allows to optionally remount all PCBs/ports to the case bottom to save rack space. It features the unique midiphy L4 superellipse keycaps and the new light|shields, that protect keys from receiving unwanted "stray light" from their neighbors.
If you can't DIY, but would like to own a midiphy SEQ v4+, you can ask one of our Trusted Builders to build one on a commission basis for you: https://www.midiphy.com/en/builders
"The Triple Cap Chaos(C^3 Chaos) is a 2hp analog, chaos based, noise oscillator, pseudo ring modulator/harmonics generator, and audio mangler Eurorack module available as a DIY Eurorack kit, PCB and Panel, or built.
This video demonstrates the X and Y outs, emanate and width controls, some cv control from a triangle wave lfo on the skew fade, and then i input an audio rate triangle wave from the dual vco.
"The Triple Cap Chaos(C^3 Chaos) is a 2hp analog, chaos based, noise oscillator, pseudo ring modulator/harmonics generator, and audio mangler Eurorack module available as a DIY Eurorack kit, PCB and Panel, or built.
It is a unique module, like the Diode Chaos, because it has never existed as a musical instrument until now. There is also no other module to my knowledge that can do exactly what the Triple Cap can do. The circuit(with several modifications) is based on the paper 'Simple Autonomous Chaotic Circuits' by J.C. Sprott and Jessica R. Piper. As opposed to the Diode Chaos that generates control voltage this module focuses on the audio rate.
The “Emanate” potentiometer controls the coarser overall spectrum of the chaos, from lots of activity counter clock wise up to less chaos and more of a steady oscillation. The “Width, CV ATT” potentiometer can be thought of as more of a fine control for the chaos/oscillator. When something is inserted into the “CV” in the voltage normalization from the width knob is broken and the potentiometer now acts as an attenuator for the incoming cv. The Triple Cap is not a traditional volt per octave exponential VCO, and has a sort of narrow frequency range to exploit the chaotic behavior.
It expects a +5v to -5v max signal in to modulate the chaos. The “IN” jack is an A.C. coupled input for audio in, although cv and audio can work for both the “CV” in jack and “IN.” The “IN” will interfere and interact with the onboard chaotic oscillator depending on the frequency of the input, which may take some experimentation. It can create ring mod ish sounds, to added harmonics, to almost bit crushed sounds depending on the “X” or “Y” output. The “X” output is a more windy noisy sinusoidal based output and the “Y” output is more squared off and aggressive, harsher sounding output.
Some quirks about the Triple Cap: The “X” output can offset negatively or positively a little bit depending on the pot settings, but both outputs tend to stay around 10vpp. With the “Emanate” and “Width” pots all the way up the typical frequency will be around 150hz although some will reach 200hz at this setting. With the “Emanate” pot full counter clock wise “Width” pot full clock wise the frequency will be around 250hz. It is possible to send signals into the triple cap that can bring it out of the desired range causing the oscillation to cut out.
The Triple Cap has a double sided panel. meaning one side has the classic graphics and the other is Soulless with less graphics(see image gallery to the left).
Width: 2hp
Panel Material: PCB/Double Sided
Reverse Power Protected
Current Consumption: +12v: 15mA, -12v: 10mA
Depth: 37 mm or 1.46″
Ships with M3 black nylon screws
Expandable: no"
I designed a pedal for BandOrg. It is for syncing everything. It can pretend to be a "tap pedal" and tap tempo on guitar pedals++, it has gate outputs to send and recieve sync to analog gear, it sends and receives midi clock, via USB and 5pin DIN. It even has two gate pattern sequencers that can run in parallell. Sends and receives sync on everything!"
"!!! Available immediatelly at http://syntaxis.com.pl !!!
Today I have something very special to show. In this video you can see and hear synth made from Syntaxis Micromodular set. Instrument is assembled from basic set of micromodules (uVCO, uVCF, uVCA, uLFO and uADSR), but it sounds quite versatile. User is able to assemble synthesizer on it's own, in modular way, but much cheaper and without necessity of use dedicated multipliers - breadboard does it already! Usually building subassemblies of synths on breadboard makes circuit unreliable in longer term. But with Micromodules it works like it was soldered together - you can assemble you own synth, get plywood, drill holes for potentiometers, screw them in place and carry your own synth around for gigs."
"This is a set of components for building a basic but complete analog synthesizer on a breadboard. Although it might not have professional look, you will be surprised with its professional sound.
Here is the PLL Organ after being redesigned, soft keys, new layout and calibrated for better tone and user interface.
2. LFO Low Pass test, PLL Organ Kit
Assigning the multi wave LFO in the PLL Organ to the Filter makes a cool addition and opens up a lot of hidden classic Synth sounds.My favorite the sample and hold settings.
Same LFO can be assigned to do vibrato as seen in the previous demo.
Thanks for watching !
3. Testing PLL Organ Synth Kit first test
This is a new Cmos Organ I’ve designed, with love to Italian sixties organs. This is 24 keys keyboard it has 6 octaves, vibrato with six wave shapes , optical Tremolo,Delay,Filter with resonance,Touch pad , headphone output, amplified output (connected here to a small speaker) line output and can be powered with 9v Battery.
Coming very soon !
Sign up at Arcadiaelectronics.com to be the first to know when this kit is available.
This one is in via Joshua. Links to additional info in the description below.
"I built an 18th century harmonograph and connected it to a 21st century modular synthesiser.
A harmonograph is an old scientific device that uses pendulums to create illustrations of harmonic motion, called lissajous figures. On this harmonograph each pendulum is connected to a sensor which triggers different elements of the synthesiser so that every time it makes a drawing, it also plays an accompanying synth soundtrack. There's also a contact mic on the drawing board to pick up the sound of the pen.
It uses three pendulums - two connected in a linear way to the pen and one rotary pendulum connected to the drawing board. You set them all swinging, lower the biro pen to the drawing board and let the pendulums run down over a period of about 5 minutes, after which both the unique drawing and soundtrack are complete.
MODULAR MECHANICAL REMIX of The Paralian by Andrew Wasylyk
"This is a kind of live remix made by mangling one of my favourite records through my modular system. I'm using a DIY turntable sequencer I built using an arduino. Here's a link to the video of how to make it - [below]
The record is The Paralian by Andrew Wasylyk. It's a cracker so go ahead and enrich your life by buying a copy.
https://aotns.bandcamp.com/album/the-..."
HOW TO SEQUENCE YOUR EURORACK SYSTEM WITH A RECORD PLAYER
"Convert any turntable in to a programmable rotary gate sequencer for modular #Eurorack systems with just a few components and a simple bit of coding.
- Control tempo with your turntable speed control!
- Sample from a record while staying in sync!!
- Build yourself two and beat match with dual turntables!!!
- Make your live #modular set more visual so thousands of people come to see you play instead of your three best pals.......TRUST ME!
Components:
x1 #Arduino Nano
x4 proximity switches / reed switches
x4 10K resistors
x4 3.5mm mono jacks
x4 LEDs (optional)
x4 100 Ohm resistors (optional)
x4 SPDT toggle switches (optional)
x1 vero board
.... + some camdenboss terminal blocks if you're in to that kind of thing.
For my device I used some flush cable proximity switches I got from a lab clear out. They're no longer available but this is pretty much the same thing: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/produc...
The neodymium magnets I used are 4mm diameter by 2mm deep and any mild steel sheet metal will do for the plate.
I included some LEDs in my circuit as visual indicators plus some toggle switches so you can mute each channel, but neither are necessary."
"synthCube is pleased to announce availability of new custom translucent caps for synthesizer LED slider pots.
These are now in stock--- amazing LED slider caps for synth modules---- these are a dark smoky translucent gray. You'll see your LED shine diffused through the top and sides, then it'll be full bright when viewed head-on through the gap on the face... originally designed for the TTSH v4 project, these have a great look and feel to them -- and will enhance most modules that make use of LED sliders-- enjoy!!
"Great news. Our sister company Coolaudio who designs mixed architecture semiconductors has just released the holy grail of synthesizer chips - a clone of the BA662A.
It is the THE chip responsible for the unique sound of so many classic synths.
Not only has Coolaudio cloned the BA662 “A” version, which is the highest specified version, they also managed to greatly improve noise performance and included even two chips in one packaging.
We’re beyond excited:-)"
The BA662 was used in the Juno-6/60/106, JX-3P and TB-303, Jupiter-4, and Jupiter-8.
"The BA662 is a custom made DC controlled variable transconductance amplifier (or OTA) that Roland had manufactured by Rohm from the late 1970’s and is now obsolete. There are two types of chip with different suffices; the A version has been selected for lower offset than the B version. They are further classified by gain/gm. The BA662B can only replace another BA662B, whilst an A can be used in either application.
To quote Roland from the 100M Service Manual: 'Color has great importance in circuits of some models'. However there is nothing mystical about the sound of the BA662, it is just a reasonable good OTA chip which is often carefully matched and selected."
"They just don’t make IC’s like they used to, and is this case, they just don’t make them at all! So, we decided to bring the BA662 back to life, in all it’s Frankenstein glory. This is a direct replica (to the best of our knowledge) of the now obsolete OTA, made from well matched transistor pairs. It can be used as a drop-in replacement for most applications. So if you have an old synth or effects pedal that is no longer synth’ing or effecting, this just might be the cure...
The BA662 clone is a replica of the very rare BA662 OTA which was used by Roland in a number of their synthesizers and effects pedals from the 80's. The internal wiring of the BA662 was reverse engineered from an original part by applying external voltages and currents, and seeing how it responded. For example, you can find out how many transistors are at the top and bottom of the output stage by measuring the saturation voltages. From this it was found that they used Wilson current mirrors. Also, by measuring the current consumption under varying signal levels, the value of the emitter resistor on the buffer stage was found. A fair bit of the anaylsis was based on recollections from seeing a datasheet a long time ago, and the fact that OTA's have very similar topologies."
"Based on a tweaked E&MM syntom II percussion synth circuit, the drumBs PCB can be built as a standalone percussion box or as a Eurorack module.
Its driven by standard analogue trigger pulses and has controls for:
Decay
Bend (Oscillator frequency & noise filter cutoff)
Pitch (Oscillator)
Cutoff (noise filter)
Resonance (noise filter)
Mix (between oscillator and noise)
Pulse (the attack pulse on the front of the sound)
Roll (the speed of the drum roll function triggered by a gate signal on a eurorack build, or a switch on a standalone build)
On this video the black module is doing the hats, the green one provides the bass drum, and the the red one is producing the clap/snare noise sounds."
"Testing SYNA, 13 voice DIY polyphonic analog synthesizer. Reverb added to master output."
This post is in via Janne Hanhisuanto - Synastasia, a musician and engineer from Finland who develops synthesizers in his free time. He created SYNA, a 13-voice poly analog synth as his thesis work. Above is a quick test video. Directly below is an album featuring the synth followed by a playlist of videos during the development of SYNA and a few other DIY projects from Janne.
"Synastasia is an album created using only SYNA.
Janne Hanhisuanto
"SYNA was a 13-voice polyphonic analog synthesiser. It was designed and built by Janne Hanhisuanto. Synastasia was composed shortly after building was finished.
2020 remaster available here: https://jannehanhisuanto.bandcamp.com...
And a playlist of Janne Hanhisuanto DIY synths and audio equipment (mainly DIY test videos):
Playlist:
onenote syna keyboard testing x 2
Diy analog Syna basic functions
DIY Stereo analog phaser test
Syna drone
testing syna
SYNA testing
3voice SYNA TESTING
syna2 first demo
testing syna2 iteration2
syna2 iteration2 VCA test
analog phaser v2
syna2 through phaser
The device is based on the school experience of imitating bass lines at the desk and a fun way to disturb teachers. The instrument can be classified as an automated plucked contrabass monochord.
The pitch change is implemented by quickly changing how far the ruler is extended relative to the nut. Movements, plucks and presses of the ruler along the nut are driven by powerful and fast motors, which allows to play pretty fast lines. Two pressing motors can work simultaneously or selectively, which allows to choose the register: the range and amplitude of oscillations depends on the place in which the ruler is clamped before the pluck. Motors may not press the ruler at all, leaving the string / ruler "open". Thus, from one position of the ruler, you can get 4 notes that are different in pitch and duration: open (lowest), clamped by the upper motor (highest tone), clamped by the lower motor (low) and clamped by two at once. The sound is picked up by a small piezo element, which is getting hits by a ruler directly (the instrument has no resonator). The instrument is equipped with 12 touch keys, each of which can be reassigned to a specific length of the ruler. A small OLED display is used to select modes, tune notes, and indicate processes and states.
See the vtol label for additional unique creations.
"Introducing the Open Amiga Sampler - an affordable, open-source, 8-bit/mono, parallel port sampler for the Commodore Amiga featuring stereo mixdown and an input preamp with physical gain control.
Over the course of the Commodore Amiga's active lifespan, a great many samplers (also known variously as sampler carts/cartridges, sound cards, audio digitisers, audio interfaces, etc) were manufactured to exploit audio capabilities that were unmatched by any other home computer of its time. In 1989 an Amiga 500 with a cheap 8bit parallel-port sampler gave you the means to produce professional sounding music in your bedroom for a few hundred pounds - about the same as it cost to hire a recording studio for a few days. Acid house and techno were exploding; hardcore, jungle and drum'n'bass were just around the corner. Even if your sample-based Amiga music wasn't quite professional sounding by the standards of audiophiles and hi-fi enthusiasts and the old-fashioned music industry, it was probably good enough for underground clubs and illegal raves! Countless dance, bass and electronic music superstars got their start with an Amiga and a cheap sampler.
Some samplers back then cost a lot of money and offered advanced features or higher quality than the rest, although there was (and still is) a fundamental limit to the sound quality it's possible to squeeze out of an Amiga. This project is a clone of the typical low-budget sampler design that flooded the market in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They're often referred to as 'carts', but they're actually not cartridges: they're usually small 25-pin parallel port dongles whose circuit boards and connectors are housed in the type of plastic shell that systems like the C64 and the VIC-20 used as cartridge housings. But some manufacturers called them cartridges, and we've been calling them carts for decades, so we'll stick with that. Some live in separate boxes attached by a parallel extension cable to the Amiga's printer port, and some connect to both parallel and serial ports, or even to a joystick port, as a hacky but clever way of getting up to 16bit resolution. Interesting stuff, but out of this project's scope for now!
The common features of these cheap sampler carts were:
8bit sample resolution
Stereo or mono
Typical maximum sampling rate of ~55Khz in mono (~37Khz for stereo)
Usually claimed to feature impressive SNR, anti-aliasing filters, and special ~90Khz frequency modes (sometimes these claims were even true!)
The feature set of the Open Amiga Sampler is:
8bit sample resolution
Mono
Typical maximum sampling rate of ~52Khz
Input amplifier with variable gain"
