X1L3 - ALLEYKAT - DEV - NINE LIVES - NO REGRETS - module test build - swinsid - eurorack module

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The ALLEYKAT gets a front panel.

"First and flawed test build of the Alleykat module.
Nine lives - no regrets......

Completed the next schematic revision today ready for submission to fab. In doing so i ended up spending an hour on this flawed test piece knocking this up for a bit of fun.

When you consider how good it sounds (in a c64 kind of way) in it's current state, it becomes quite obvious how cool it will be when the filter is online and all the parameters are active. The test boards had numerous errors on them which have rendered the ring/sync and octave hopping inactive. The filter cutoff and resonance were also mis-routed in the schematic which rendered the filter unusable.

Swinsid in circuit this time. Does a decent enough job, but i've yet to see how it performs in comparison to a real SID or a superior clone when the ring/sync and filter come into play. The only difference i hear using just the waveforms and pwm compared to the usual 8580 i use for testing is that the swinsid doesn't sound as bright.

With a bit of luck i've fixed everything that was wrong with the first attempt and the next revision will work properly."

X1L3 - ALLEYKAT - DEV - ALL SYSTEMS OK - 8580sid - 3 voice test demo

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"ALL SYSTEMS OK ! ! ! !

The last one until it's a module.

Everything is in place. It's time to draw up the boards for it and submit it to fab for a test run 🔥🔥🔥

No denying that it's quite capable of recreating the sound of the C64........

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X1L3 - ALLEYKAT - DEV - GOATED - 8580sid - all parameters brought to the front

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"Quick control voltage+gate read / register write test before moving on. And a quick look at the module front panel...

Apart from ring/sync on voice A, which i have no room for on the module design, all parameters of the 3 voices of the chip are now broken out to the user interface.

Voice A juggles the tune and drum work. Voice B is hard synced to voice 1 for the gnarly 'pro1' sound. Noise is strobed over pwm on voice 1 for the 'snare' hits.

ALL SYSTEMS GO - As 80s Williams arcade games would have said 🔥🔥🔥

There are likely a few minor bugs in the code that i'll spot as the module comes to life. But all that remains to be coded is the hooking up of some shift registers to get control of the 28 leds.

Given that this is technically a single voice demo. I'm fairly confident this machine will be capable of sounding quite authentic to the Commodore 64 and the world that moved on when it's complete and has some nice compositions made for it 🙂

GOATED ! ! !

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⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⡅⠀⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
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X1L3 - ALLEYKAT - DEV - GOATED - 8580sid - oscilloscope view

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X1L3 - STARSTRIKE - mission complete - chip tune - YM2149f - eurorack module

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"Starstrike module running a YM2149f with final release front panel fitted.

** MISSION COMPLETE **

The sound of victory from before the world moved on.........

3 CV inputs to the 3 voice pitches, Voice 1 CV multipled to modulator rate and one gate to the noise gen on voice 3. No cheating and trying to sound like a SID with filter support, and no VCA support so no volume control either. The skill level was set to hardcore - making it sound nice while it's acting as not much more than a 3 voice drone machine 💀😅

Modulator permanently active on voice 1 for gnarly grit pitch tracking and the ringmod near the end.

YOU HAVE ENTERED THE HALLS OF THE ALL TIME GREATEST !

PLEASE ENTER YOUR NAME !

1: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
2: X1L3
3: ZXAV3N
4: 1337
5: ALLEYKAT
6: IRIDIS ALPHA
6: ROBOTRON
7: ANOTHER VISITOR
8: PASTFINDER
9: MONTY ON THE RUN
10: KORONIS RIFT"

X1L3 - THE WRETCHED - circuit bent drum machine - eurorack module - final rev test

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"Testing the first complete unit of the first build run.
Placed in my rig as my personal unit to replace the solder bridged and wires around the back mess that i used for fault finding and tweaking that's lived in my rig for over a year.

No frills demo cycle - just the machine lazily cruising along doing a good impression of a circuit bent Yamaha DD drum machine without using the resonant filter and ruiner sections that were a part of my old circuit bending works. Using those things are where you can really go dark and mess things up, but you don't necessarily need them to do the whole 90s drum rompler bent thing.

You could probably do a lot worse than use this as your go to circuit bent drum machine, but to use it as your main driver in a track is i think a matter of taste. If you don't mind your drums sounding like they're done on an Amiga tracker, which i don't, then it works. If fidelity is your thing i'd probably pair it up with something a bit more hifi to pin down the 8 bit cronch.

Anyone familiar with a circuit bent and midi retrofitted Yamaha DD will know how close this thing is at recreating the sound of one. Except it does what they do better, with more control, more finesse, and without the annoying toy footprint of one of those machines. A circuit bent Yamaha DD14 was used heavily in the creation of what this module has become.

I'd go head to head with a flag ship bent TR505/707 with this thing and feel pretty confident in coming out the other side on top. It takes all that is good about a bent drum machine and leaves behind the compromise that's often inherent to them.

Will be released when the Alleykat SID module is complete. Alleykat, the AY/YM chip module and this will all come out at the same time. I'm taking time out to have a break and chill before i put these new machines out there."

Update:

X1L3 - THE WRETCHED - circuit bent drum machine - cat rom

video upload by X1L3

X1L3 - ARMALYTE is ALLEYKAT - SID 8580 - DEV - 3 voice test - love action - scope render

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"More work on the SID module. Another 3 channel test.
Those chorus sections 🔥👌❤️

The meow song (love action) by the Human league....

The floor is lava..
Baba is you...
And Armalyte is Alleykat 🐱🐾🐾🐾

Project Armalyte is now called Alleykat. My long time feline companion, Maddie, passed away two weeks ago. She would sit and chill with me for hours while i coded and toiled away on this and other projects. She'd see me off when i went to work and be waiting for me when i got home. She'd ride around on my shoulder, sleep on my bed and follow me everywhere. From the scared and timid cat who had a massive alopecia bald patch on her back and who i think had had a bit of a bad life as the frightened girl who crept into my shed all those years ago, she became a gentle, funny and loving companion. She was 18, she was my friend for many years, and i miss her 😔

The module is now a tribute to kitty cat. And she'll be appearing on the back of it.

Nine lives - no regrets ❤️

Nice cover of the meow song for her. When the module is complete i'll come back and tweak it for a proper demo, where it will be paired up with the song 'tell me when', which also has a meow in towards the end 😂

Sounds somewhat like a Hubbard outing for the verses, but then you hit the chorus and it goes full sublime Galway - Ocean loader. It sounds wonderful. in a kept in the loft for 30 years way 😊

Tuning is still as crap as my Korg Monopoly on a good day. But a bit of pitch bend wheel keeps it sweet enough. The day i move it off the breadboard and get a precision reference in there for 1voct tracking can't come soon enough.

Currently waiting for some parts to make the next big leap. This is where the last few registers will become active and all the ringmod/sync/wave mixing kinds of things will come to life.

Than chorus though..
I fucking love this thing.....
The nostalgia feels are something else ❤️❤️❤️"