fonik's Jim Patchell Vocal Filter

I ran across an old thread from 2009 via fonik on electro-music.com.  I couldn't find a post here, so I thought I'd put one up.  I did get the start of it on flickr here. Below is a demo and to the left you'll find two pics, one of the front and one of the inside.  See the link above for additional details and demos.

"Recently i stumbled over Jim Patchell's Vocal Filter. i listened to the samples at his site which are amazing. these samples convinced me to want this filter. so i downloaded the gerber files and sent them to futurlec. they made this PCB for me (below). it's a huge project. i will keep you posted... "

VocalFilter 2 by fonitronik
"Klee2 Sequencer controls VCO and Vocal Filter to create a nerveous arpeggio. Some tracks added to show how it could sound in context."

via Jim Patchell's site:

"This is yet another huge project that I am working one. It was not intended to be huge, it just happened that way.

I would classify this as an advanced project. This is not for beginners. There are 479 components on the PC board (at the current count).

This filter was designed to simulate the vocal tract of a human. To do this, there are three resonant filters that will be tuned to different frequencies. To make it so that the phonems can be selected via voltage control, there are three CV shapers on the board. These will allow you to make a more or less arbitrary function to control the filter frequencies. Now, I will be the first to admit that setting the function generators up is going to be a big pain in the ass!, and to do so will require the use of a scope with X-Y display capability.

Now, as of today (7-3-2001), I have not really tried this circuit out. Now, I did another breadboard of a simpler circuit a while back (you will find it elsewhere on this website), and the results were encouraging, but, not very spetacular. And, with 479 components, I am not sure if I want to build up a bread board, and due to layoffs at the place I am working, I have imposed a spending freeze, so PC boards are out of the question. So, for right now, this project is on hold due to lack of funds. As soon as I get the PC Board layout done, I will post the gerber files, and maybe some other brave sole will give it a try."

Jim Patchell's SMBC

The Synth Module Board - Cheezy Version

via Jim Patchell on the SDIY list:

"When I lost most of my eyesight, I didn't think I would ever do something like this again...but here I go again.

Back around 1999, I did this project:

http://www.noniandjim.com/Jim/smb1/smb.html

This board was huge (15" x 10"). And it was so big, building it was a real problem. (Although, back then I could see). I don't remember the component count, but it was a lot.

Well, I got the hankering to give it another try. But this time, I was going to keep it much smaller. I have got the schematic about 95% complete at this time, and after counting the pages, it came to 32. Hmmm....not exactly as minimalist as I intended. I call this one the SMBC, which stands for Synth Module Board - Cheezy.

It includes an AVR X-Mega controller which will do Midi/Sequencer/User Interface duties. Anyway, here is a very prelim schematic.

http://www.noniandjim.com/Jim/SMBCheezy/100-1059.pdf

And the webpage is at:

http://www.noniandjim.com/Jim/SMBCheezy/SMBCheese.html"

Synth Trivia: Jim Patchell worked on the Mattson Mini Modular filter featured here.

SDIY Assorted random project ideas

See http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~lanterma/ems11/projectideas_sp11.html. I mirrored this below for the archives as it's on an edu site and they have been known to disappear after interest is gone. There are some interesting details on various synth designs including the Rhodes Chroma VCO, Yamaha CS-80 filter, Roland Jupiter-6 filter, Korg MS-20 sytle VCO, Buchla 148, Tau 1005 Utility VCO, Korg Delta, and more.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Synth-DIY Southern California - April 3, 2010

YouTube via thisfear — April 03, 2010 — "A rough drive-by shooting at the Synth-DIY analog/digital synthesizer gathering in Sante Fe Springs, CA. See the Synth-DIY mailing list and the Analogue-Heaven mailing list for more info. If you see yourself here, (a) sorry for the vid quality, (b) please make a comment so others can find you."

Update: Two pics of Jim Patchell's modular via George Mattson. Note these images are from the PNW SDIY gathering a few years ago. steelydang in the comments asked what modular it was so I thought I'd update the post with these images.

Vocal Filter 17

flickr by fonitronik
(click for more)

Jim Patchell Vocal Filter by fonitronik

full size

www.fonitronik.de

Vocal Filter PCB stuffed

flickr by fonitronik

full size

note the Jim Patchell on the PCB

click on the labels below for more

PNW2008: Jim Patchell Demos the DSM1 FPGA Synthesizer

YouTube via matrixsynth.

"Jim Patchell Demos the DSM1 FPGA synthesizer at the Pacific Northwest Synth Gathering 2008."

Remember to click on the pnw2008 label below for more.

PNW Synth DIY 2008

flickr set by matrixsynth. Click the pic to bring up the controls and flip through the pics. I actually ran out of space on my video camera, which led to me switching to my camera for video, which let to me running out of space. I took a ton of images and video, but not as much as I would have liked to. The turn out was big this year with MMM, flight of harmony, harvestman and John Bowen as far as manufacturers. Tons of cool gear and tons of cool people. Be sure to check out the images in this set. Jim Patchell was there with his DSM1, FPGA synth with a whopping 512 oscillators. Big thanks goes out to John Marshall for being a more than gracious host this year as usual. P.S. It looks like I reached the limit for labels (20) for Blogger.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Jim Patchell DSM1

"Here is what I have in mind for the moment. This, I propose, to implement in a Xilinx XC3S1000 fpga. I am going to use a Diglent Spartan 3 Starter board with that part mounted on it. This should be able to cover all that is proposed. I will be controlling it with an Atmel ATmeaga2561 microcontroller.

I should be able to run this at 96KHz sample rate, my goal is, however, to run at 192KHz sample rate. The tough one is going to be the filter. I am currently writing the code of the low pass filter. I know that 512 of anything seems like a lot, but, that is just sort of how things break down in the Spartan 3. If it works...I don't think I will need to worry about running out of oscilators. I still need to figure out some way to get modulation into the picture, but, that I am sure will come later. I want to get the basic system down first. It would be kind of keen to be able to do FM modulation from channel to channel..."

More info on the Jim Patchell DSM1 here. Note the filter for the Mattson Mini Modular is based on a Jim Patchell design.