"Here is a very sought after vintage musical device: The Simmons Clap Trap with Humanizer function. It is the last of the analog versions of the Clap Traps before they went digital. It is an analog handclap synthesizer with controls that allows you to shape the handclap sound from a thin click to an almost drum slamming sound, and play them back on the unit. It also provides different trigger inputs in the back and the ability to alter the sensitivity of the trigger signal. This unit was used on such 80s hits as Gary Newman's CARS and Kim Carnes' BETTY DAVIS EYES."
"This is a Synth/Noise Generator/Toy/Portal I built completely from scratch. The circuit I designed starts from basic schematics you can find in the datasheet of the main sound generator IC (40106 and 4046). The ways the oscillator interact are based on almost random routing and wiring, going through several logic gates, including a 4066 if I remember well, for automatic switching.
There are 2 LDR, although the video don't make much justice to their function. If on certain setting, it will produce different sound at night rather than during the daytime. You can experiment pointing a torch to the LDR or to bend over them to modulate the sound (it affects the behaviour of two oscillators, in ifferent configurations).
There is also a nice area with bolts sticking out. If you touch two of them, particularly after licing your fingers, you can dramatically control the sound.
There are switches that controls the routing of the oscillators or enable larger capacitors, LEDs to make it funky, and some sort of CVin (minijack). I played a bit with conductive dough I made with my son, but it would be cool to try it with veggies and fruits, more bodies touching while exchanging fluids and so on.
The case is made of stained recycled pallet wood (pine) which I joined using fingers joints and then it's been sanded and polished several times using danish oil. The panels are old circuit board that were skipped in an educational environment and that I recycled from being dumped. Rather than using them as PCB here they are used like panels."
"Stochastic Sequencer with probabilistic and direct access notes and control over:
legato scale root note transpose loop in and out portamento dynamic envelope shape variation 2 cv ins routable to 8 parameters note size accents center octave same note / different note 4 other algorithms mode (stochastic bubbles, GOL, Markov) MIDI out.
"The DB-01 doesn't have tracking by default, but it's easy to activate by CV. There's some other internal CV patching that can give interesting results as well!
0:00 Setting up filter tracking
0:45 Tracking with noise
1:14 LFO in noise mode
1:40 Useful resonance
2:36 Clock to Gate In
3:12 Clock to CV In
3:55 Odd 'delay' effect
4:30 Adding white noise"
"Like the title says, the music is obviously from the movie Blade Runner, the legendary soundtrack by the mighty Vangelis. This isn't really intended to be a cover per se, but more of a Blade Runner Theme inspired jam to check out some new gear that I acquired over the weekend. I don't even know if I'm playing the right notes or if I'm in the right key, so please don't be offended if I have butchered some things. In fact, I may have borrowed from the Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack without realizing it, since I watched that movie recently. So I'd better give props to all the greats: Vangelis, Hans Zimmer, and Benjamin Wallfisch.
Background: Fresh in over the weekend is the Alesis MIDIVerb II rack unit and CME XKey 37 (with poly aftertouch). Tonight I turned on the MIDIVerb II for the first time and quickly found preset 29, "XLarge Warm 15 seconds". It seems to work very well with the Sequential OB-6 on the GeoSynths 016 preset. Is the MIDIVerb II a poor man's Lexicon 224? Probably not, but I think it still sounds very nice and has that thing called "character". It's definitely very digital and very 80's. The CME XKey 37 is plugged straight into the MIDI In port of the OB-6. This is my first time ever trying to play anything with polyphonic aftertouch. For those who are not aware, the keyboard of the OB-6 does not transmit polyphonic aftertouch, but the synth responds to it over MIDI. I set the sensitivity on the XKey as low as possible (I think), but as you can see (and hear), I still struggled a lot to control it, and that's with hardly any aftertouch depth dialed in on the synth, like 2 semitones of pitch bend at maximum pressure. The effects on the synth are turned off and there are no other effects besides the MIDIVerb II. The mix on the MIDIVerb II is approximately 45% dry and 55% wet. There is no additional processing. The sound you're hearing is straight out of the MIDIVerb II's outputs directly into a Focusrite audio interface, recorded to a single stereo track.
I think it sounds pretty good. Imagine what it would sound like played by someone who can actually play.
"I needed to upgrade a power supply for my large format modular synth so I thought I'd document most of the process I typically go through.
Index: 0:00 Introduction 1:28 Safety Warning 1:56 Parts Description 3:50 Power Inlet Install 5:23 Main Unit Install 7:13 Banana Jack Install 8:23 Distribution Board Build 11:58 Distribution Board Install 13:03 AC Wiring 17:13 DC Wiring 19:56 Done, Comparison, and Thanks Richard Brewster 20:49 Image Of PSU Installed (improvised music starts) 21:09 Bonus Section - Building Cables (no talking) 22:50 (music continues with random video clips) 25:28 End
The main parts I used: JLR UPP custom rack panel from https://www.frontpanelexpress.com Qualtek 864-03/001 AC inlet, filter, fuse, switch Bel Power HAA-0.8-AG linear power supply MOTM-900 power distribution board from https://synthcube.com
Video gear: Canon C100 MkII camera and Canon EFS 10-18mm lens Voiceover gear: Neumann TLM-193 mic and John Hardy M-1 preamp Music gear: Modular synthesizer, Mellotron M4000D, Yamaha FS1R, Strymon pedals
As always, thank you for watching, rating, following, and commenting! 🥳 Please consider "buying me a coffee" if you found this content helpful or entertaining: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/JohnLRice"
