Gordon Brown - Acid House King

YouTube via sharkinthepark.
"Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Great Britain and TB-303 ninja shows the nation what he can do on the little silver box."

Tony Blair was sent tons of guitars while in office, maybe Gordon Brown will be sent a ton of synths!

MMV Cut-out - The Virtual Virtual Analog

Build your own Arturia MMV. Title link takes you to the pdf, also mirrored here.
More cut-outs on SDIYCUT.

Keytar Love

As the image says, "You're Doing it Wrong". BTW this is a Lync LN1000 and it's up for auction along with a ton of other keytars.
via Suit & Tie Guy

Phatty Oscillators

flickr by gattobus.

And...

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Acidlab Bassline Impressions

Ryan Lunenfeld sent the following to AH. With some of the comments coming in on this post, I thought it would be interesting to post his first impressions of the synth. I asked him if I could post it here and he gave me the thumbs up. Thanks Ryan!

"hey i just recieved an acidlab bassline, and having not really seen any reviews on here of it i thought i'd let my brain leak a little...

the construction of the unit is great, all metal, and very light. i was suprised how light. i think maybe the exact size of a tb303 ;] nice feeling knobs, no real resistance, which i like usually, but with the tweaking on this, no real need;]

on the sound, i think its the first 303ish type synth that actually has the square wave down the best. it's not 100 percent perfect, but the closest i've heard. and having the square wave my personal favorite, i'm happy with that ;]

the filter is great, and can really squeel.

the bass on this thing is great;] i haven't heard this much bass out of a synth in a while, amazing...

the sequencer is gerat too, i think it is rather hard to get to like a real 303, and this leads to very interesting sequences. due to thek nob to change notes, i make more around the same note sequences, cuz i get lazy, and i forget hwat i do, so it gets randomish heh;-]

also having everything just with switches makes things lots easier; ]

great synth, i dont know what else really to say about it, cept i wish there was a filter on it, and the outputs were quarter inch doh and that it could run on batteries...

but apart from that a great synth; ] it really seems like klaus makes these synths out of love and cares about them ; ]"

Alpha Juno-2

flickr by gattobus.

One last shot. Be sure to check out the rest. There are some really nice ones in the set.

Roland Juno-106

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

NE566

via this auction.

Details:
"Want to know more about the NE566?
Actually, the NE566 can be made to sweep a continuous 1000:1 frequency span with just one fixed timing capacitor. Imagine, continuous linear tuning 20 Hz - 20 KHz or 1 KHz - 1 MHz without switching. A simple op-amp circuit provides the precise voltage control necessary. You set the range with the selection of the timing capacitor.

In our lab tests, we used a 0.047µF timing capacitor to achieve a sweep from 23 Hz to 49.5 KHz. That's an amazing 2150:1 ratio! Waveform symmetry does degrade at the very low end however, so if that is critical, a 500:1 or a 100:1 ratio may be more acceptable.

Even at a 500:1 ratio, only two timing capacitors (one hardwired, one switched) will allow you to sweep across the range of the NE566 from 4 Hz - 2000 Hz and then 2 KHz to the 1000 KHz, FMAX. Frequency is inversely proportional to the capacitance. Use the 0.047µF as a reference. Double it to halve the frequency, halve it to double the frequency, etc. Voltage, tolerances and circuit layout affect results so you cannot predict exactly what capacitor values to use for your desired range. We can only get you started with the schematic. After that, you'll just have to experiment. Not hard at all.

E-Mail us for the schematic.

The NE566 is also found in many of the vintage pinball machines such as Asteroids to make those familiar warbling "UFO" sounds.

Another use for this chip is as a transmitter for a high quality, low distortion Remote FM Speaker System described in AN-146 (132K PDF).

Finally, for you musicians, an excellent book, "Making Music with the 566" by synth guru Thomas Henry shows how to do tricks with the NE566 that even the manufacturer didn't know it could do. We highly recommend it. Google the title to find it.

Typical Applications:
General uses: Communications, Test, Music.
# VCO - Linear / Exponential
# FM Modulation
# FSK Generator
# PLL (Phase Lock Loop)
# Pinball Machine "UFO" Sound
# Clock Generator
# Pulse Width Modulation
# Triangle / Square Wave Function Gen
# Tunable Noise Generator (music)
# 455 KHz IF Sweep Oscillator

If you recognize the utility of '555 timer, you'll be WOW-ed by the versatility of this scarce, Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) / Function Generator.

Only 3 external parts are needed to create a linear voltage-controlled oscillator with both triangle and square wave outputs. [Example below shows Pin 5 with a reference voltage supplied by a resistive divider, but the source can come from anywhere, provided it is within the specification limits.] Add the simple Sinewave Shaper #1 or #2 (Click here) for a complete generator on a budget.

Operating V+ is 10 to 24 VDC. Single or dual supplies. Positive or negative ground.

Apply a variable DC voltage to the '566 control pin (5), and you can easily sweep a full linear 10:1* decade, frequency tuning range with a single timing Resistor / Capacitor pair. Switch in other R1 / C1 combinations to make a very simple, multiple decade function generator up to 1 MHz. That's twice the FMAX of the NE555!

Related application links for the NE566 by Thomas Henry:
ADV-Bass
Tunable Noise Generator (131K PDF)
Sinewave Shaper #3
UD-1 Drum Voice"

Electro Harmonix Space Drum

via this auction.

You can find an online version with samples here.

SIMMONS SDS9

via this auction

Details:
"Simmons then made the SDS-7. It now featured digital sounds, rubber pads, and a sophisocated module. Simmons then made the SDS-8, a cheaper model with no digital sounds. Their next big leap was the SDS-9. This had real-sounding drums, changeable shells, and a new pad surface. The surface had more rebound. It also allowed the use of E-PROMS for the snare, rimshot, and crossstick sounds. It even had a built-in delay effect. The SDS-9 was popular due to its acoustically sampled snare sound which made it virtually indistinguishable from an acoustic kit.


The official description:
The SDS9 is a 5-drum kit, comprising bass, snare and 3 tom-toms, triggering up to 40 complete “drum kits” (20 factory and 20 programmable presets).

Hitting a specific pad triggers the corresponding channel on the ‘electronics’. A microprocessor controls the dynamic (or volume) of each individual ‘hit’ giving a sensitivity to playing previously unheard of in electronic drums: a ‘real’ drum feel, in fact!

The Simmons SDS9 gives you the sounds, feel and control of acoustic drums plus all the sounds and advantages of electronic drums.

To add to all this ‘reality’, the small pads (snare and toms) have a floating head, the snare also has a rim shot/cross stick facility and the bass pad is piston loaded – giving you the feel and playability of acoustic drums.

The SDS9 electronically synthesises the sounds of each drum. The bass, snare and toms use different methods of synthesis – each the most appropriate for the sound and control you require. The bass is software generated directly by the computer. The snare/rim are digital samples of acoustic drums. The tom-toms are synthesised using analogue circuitry. The tom also have unique ‘second skin’ switch to match the sound and response of a double headed acoustic tom.

The program/store memory facility allows you to build up your own drum sounds. These programmed sounds can be saved to tape, giving you almost limitless capacity to store new sounds, or recall previously stored sounds.

There is also a sophisticated automatic trigger that allows sounds to be reviewed without hitting the pads, and a mode where the drums can be triggered by button tapping.

The SDS9 is the first drum kit that has a built in MIDI interface. This is completely assignable in terms of voice changes and note values. By using the MIDI interface you can directly interface with many available keyboard synthesisers and play their voices from the pads. You can also use MIDI real time recorders/sequencers to record your playing and then playback the SDS9 exactly as you played it.

Another interesting feature of the SDS9 is its built in programmable echo. This programmable effect can be used for single slap-back echo or for long repeating echoes to produce stunningly unique rhythmic-ic-ic patterns and eff-eff-ects-ects.

We have done a lot of work using the latest high technology and computer aided design tools to develop the SDS9 – a new instrument, using new voicing techniques and new materials to give you everything any acoustic kit has to offer and much more besides – the kit that’s destined to add a whole new dimension to your art."