D . A . M . I . A . N .

The Deathlehem Anarchy Machine Intonating Antagonizing Noise - modular synthesizer

Latest update for this News / Blog section - October 0908

NEWS
Nov. 0208 12:41 PM	My 27 years of waiting, could finally be over later today! Since 1st hearing Tangerine Dream (Ricochet) in the Summer of 1981, have I wished for a sequencer that would allow me to operate in similar ways, to the Moog 960 that TD was known for using. My Quadatrix 4x4 Sequencer that I've designed is capable of doing at LEAST what the Moog 960 is capable of, as well as much, much more. I've just finished doing very VERY minor touch-ups, on my 2nd successfully Press N Peel PCB. This one, is the VERTICAL Sequencer, for my Quadatrix 4x4 Semitone Sequencer. (My 1st successful PnP PCB done 2 days ago, was the 1st of 4 sets of 4 step sequencers for the Quadatrix 4x4 Octave Sequencer - mounted and working succesfully. ) Once I get the Vertical Sequencer mounted into the Semitone panel, I will for the first time be able to cycle BETWEEN the 4 sets of 4 step Semitone Sequencers. (3 of the 4 are completed). With the MFOS Sequencer acting as the step sequencer, this will allow my to access any of the 16 steps in each of the Semitone and Octave sequencers, in ANY order that I wish. (Each of the Semitone (Semiblock) and Octave (Octablock) Sequencer sets, will have their own Vertical Sequencers as well.) Each of the Vertical Sequencers have 8 inputs controlled by 3 digital input bits, to choose at what time any of the 4 sets, will play back. At the same time, the 2 digital input bits for each of the sets, allow control over which of the 4 steps will play, at what time. It's early in the day and there're yard chores to do. If all is successful though, I hope to have the 1st Vertical Sequencer installed and working by this evening. When I do, I'll shoot a short video for posting at my Youtube (Dolphinicus) site.
Oct. 1808 2:04 AM	A few little bits of News and updates: - I've decided to change my PCB construction from by-hand, to Press N Peel. I had used that product very successfully in the mid 1990s. Earlier today I ordered 5 sheets of it from AllElectronics and went out and bought a Samsun ML-2510/XAA monochrome laser printer. I started converting the schematic for a 4 step set of rotary switches in Express PCB's Schematic software, yesterday. This weekend, I hope to get the PCB of this module completed, in Express's PCB layout software. Once I get the PCB layout done in Express, I'll be able to use that PCB for the Semitone as well as Octave rotary switch setups. This will be a BIG savings in time, as each PCB for 4 rotary switches, would take approximately 1 hour to do with permanent marker. Once the layout is completed in the computer, each PCB, will take about 5 MINUTES to do! - Earlier in the week, I got most of the setup completed, for the 3rd of 4 set of 4 step Semitone rotary switches done. All I have to do now is put a few parts on the PCB and wire it all up. About 2 hrs. more of work. - Once I have all 4 sets of the 4 step sequencers completed, will I think finish the 8 input multiplexer board. Finally, that will allow me to run all 4 sequencers, in any direction / combination of rotary switch steps, that I wish to. Once that's completed, will I then start on the 4 sets of 4 step Octave sequencers, along with their 8 input multiplexer. - Once the 4 semitone 4 step sequencers and multiplexer are completed though, I'll be shooting at least 1 video showing how everything works, to give all viewers out there, a much clearer idea.
Oct. 0908 1:34 PM	Anyhoo ....... hoping to get this little news bit typed out before the computer shuts itself down unexpectedly ...... As of 2:40 p.m. on October 0808 - the 2nd set of 4 steps of 1V/octave semitone rotary switches in my Quadatrix Semiblock panel, was up and running! I had barely enough time to listen to them together, let alone set things up properly so each of them could play independant sequences, but the THRILL man! 1 step closer (out of a total of 8 portions of 4 step sequencers) to the beginnings of my dream! Once I get each of the 4 rotaries in the 2nd one perfectly tuned, as well as my 2 x Master Dividers hooked up again, I'll be able to play any combination of the 8 notes that I wish and am able to, with the rest of my sequencer controller apparatii. Of COURSE the goal is to have 4 x 4 step semiblocks and 4 x 4 stop octave blocks (octablocks). That's a couple of weeks away though. I have now, only 3 more 12 position rotary switches. Each of them are salvage from my last attempt, as well as at LEAST 10 years old. Corrosion is plaguing at least 1 of them. I DO have 6 x 12 position switches coming in from China though. If their quality is decent enough for me, I'll more than likely be placing an order for 100 of them. Working out to $1.28 each - is FAR cheaper than the $5.75 that I have to pay locally. Anyways - the tuning that I had gotten done in the 2nd one, prior to hooking it up to a VCO for final tuning, was more than good enough (except for a single note, on 1 rotary) to have both of the 4 steps playing a dual melody together in almost perfect tuning - 2 x VCOs, into an ADSR controlled VCF / VCA combo. Pleasure Principal? After 27 years of wanting a sequencer simliar to this - the Pleasure Principal description is a STRONG UNDERstatement! Just wait until all 4 of each are up and running! Then, the compositional fun will begin. Oh yeah. Another bit that I were pleased to find - when I went to do a count to see how many rotary switches that I had in stock, for my 4 x 4 step octablock panel - I very surprisingly found 16 (as needed) x 3 position 4 pole switches! That gives me 3 octaves for the switch instead of 4 but HEY! I bought them longer ago than I can remember for gawd knows what - now, they'll finally have a use! For the PCBs, that I'm going to do for the octablock, I'll be laying out each of the 4 sections individually, rather than all together on 1 huge PCB. (Each PCB will consist of 1 x LM324 quad opamp; 1 x CD4052 dual 4 bit multiplexer and 1 x LM358 dual opamp along with 4 LM336 2.5V references and 4 trimmers. (And resistors for each). And that's it. It'll be much easier to assemble on individual boards, rather than on the 1 for everything. There'll also be a fifth board, for the CD40106 support circuitry as well as the pair of CD4051 8 input multiplexers for plugging the 4 sections into, as well as displaying by LED which section is currently active. (The CD4051 section, is for the VERTICAL sequencing of steps, whereas the CD4052s are for the HORIZONTAL sequencing of steps.) Whilst I now think of that - I'm going to go off to the Design section and start working on a full description OF the Quadatrix Sequencer.
Oct. 0608 11:37 PM	(In the infamous Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling's voice: ) "Imagine if you will - the pleasure center in an oldde, younger man's brain; switched permanently on. "That were the sensation that Ryk John Miller Thekreator experienced, if only - for a little while - on this day in the year of two thousand and eight. (puff; puff again on his cigarette) "You see - since the year of 1981, Ryk had been experiencing the most intense desires for a sequencer with which he could make; melodies and bass lines similar to the German band known as Tangerine Dream. "Folly he did; stumbling continuously in his erroneous ways, over the years in every single attempt to create such a sequencer." October 0908 ...... error. The above news was cut short, by my computer shutting itself down, once again.
Sept. 1908 10:16 AM	Various news bits: - My first recording studio (direct to HD) since 2001 is finally up and running. Getting a 48 jack Neutrik patch bay last week, helped immensely, as well as with setting up the computer for recording and playing back audio. - Development finalization is almost done with the PCB for the Liquid Hihat. - My 2nd attempt at getting "another person's" (name withheld) shrinkage of the Ken Stone VCO down to the Sawtooth waveform only, has failed again. I'm going to be ripping out every part placement of his and doing my own version, which has now been successful, twice. I'll be posting the revision that I'm using, to the schematics section after I get my 2nd edition of it completed. As well as with the other person's, I amplify and shift the +5VDC Sawtooth waveform to +/-5VAC (10vpp). This is the 2nd of my 2 x Ken Stone Bi-N-Tic's converted to VCO only. Also - I just realized, this gives me VCO #5! I haven't had that many VCOs in a modular since my huge Bert & Ernie modulars, in the late 90's. (They had 6 x VCOs). - Earlier this week, I got all of the PCB for the 2nd Gate Sequencer in my G.I.M.P. - Sequencer Engine, installed. I was about to start installing the PCB behind the panel when I realized that I am almost completely out of LEDs! I placed an order for them yesterday and should have them next week. I was GOING to purchase my 1st PINK LEDs, until I saw that they're not super-bright LEDs. Due to the amount of current that standard LEDs use, I stopped using them, over a year ago. - I'm also in the beginning stages of deciding whether to purchase the audio / MIDI sequencing software - Reaper. I'm a former Cakewalk owner / fan, who hasn't been very impressed with their latest versions, looking to switch / missing the old days of Cakewalk 4.0 for DOS. - I've purchased my first of possibly MANY MIDI to CV converters from Marc Papareil Synth Labs - the MCV876. It requires 4 of the DAC0831, or DAC0830 or DAC0832 chips. Luckily, I found 28 of the DAC0831 through my local supplier at only $3.50 Canadian, EACH! I ordered 12 of them. They should be here within a week. Once that PCB is completed (should be here in a week also), that will give me 8 channels total of MIDI to CV conversion.
Sept. 0808 12:53 AM	My first as yet unnamed 'studio' shall be coming live later today. Official permissions were received earlier tonight to rearrange items that are in my way. The pool table room in which my workshop shares the space, currently prevents me from setting up my growing modular as well as support gear properly. Now with permissions to move some antique furniture out of the pool room, I'll finally have the extra square footage that I'll need. This will be the first working 'studio' that I've had since 2001. Though with not as much square footage as I would like to have, I'll finally be able to move the 2 modular synth's cabinets to stand beside the workbench. This will allow me to setup my support cabinet beside the modular's cabinets as well as my new (used) sequencer; keyboards and computer - all together for the first time in 7 years. This may seem like nothing to many of the readers out there, but try being withOUT it for a few years when you're wishing to compose! On a related note: I got my 3rd of 4 VCOs installed into the new panel and tuned to within 0.25% over 4 octaves. It's fine for now at least matching the other 3 VCOs that I have up and running. This 3rd VCO in the panel, is the VCO portion ONLY of my Bi-N-Tic. I added the extra circuitry required to shift and amplify the Sawtooth waveform from +5V to +/-5V (10VPP). There's still another adjustment to be made though, as the top of the waveform is a little rounded off, somewhat softening the output of the waveform. The 4th VCO for this panel will be the VCO portion ONLY of my 2nd Bi-N-Tic PCB, bringing my VCO total up to 5. Just for kicks and to start getting back into the feel of using the Alesis MMT-8 sequencer, I roughly recorded the bassline and melody for the verses and chorus of Kraftwerk's tune "The Model". Big smile right across my face. More work to be done in building more modules, but finally, I'm able to start working on music, seriously, with my modular. 3 years it's been in doing nothing much more than building (on and off). The opening of the new 'studio' as well as finally being able to start composing again also, comes right after yesterday realizing that this year is my 30th Anniversary of being a 'punk rocker'. Who knows where I'll be going in writing tunes - but I shore intend to have fun with it! Enough rambling for now. Smiles to everyone.
Sept. 0408 12:45 AM	Various bits of news: My 2nd power supply has been completed and hooked up in the digital rack! Working beautifullly, a PowerOne +/-15V 1.5 amp unit On Tuesday September 0208, I received in the mail, the Alesis MMT-8 MIDI sequencer that I had ordered from Noisebug in California, for a mere $75! It's in 99% perfect shape and works wonderfully! FINALLY I'll be able to start working on some of the cover tunes that I've wished to for about 3 years now. The 1st 2 that I'll be working on doing are "Elo Kiddies" from Cheap Trick's 1st album and "Children of The Grave" from Black Sabbath's 3rd album - Masters of Reality. I also decided tonight at work, that I'll be covering "Assimilate" from Skinny Puppy's 1st full length album of the same name. I knew my Liquid Hihat V1.00 was capable of a HUGE # of sounds, but hearing it earlier today, being played from my MMT-8 threw such a big smile on my face at the variety of sound coming from it, that the top of my head almost fell off! I was just about to shoot a new video, showing all of this, but for the love of dog, I couldn't find the video camera! I may shoot and have it posted later today. I've got the 1st 2 of 4 of my VCOs (3 being completed) mounted into my new panel that is pictured below. This time, to try and disuade any voltage interruptions between each other, I decided to run individual power lines to each of the VCOs, in my analog rack(s). I'll be doing that all of the time now as both of them are working perfectly, with no troubles. I hope to have the other 2 mounted by this weekend - pending time being available. Now that I have a hardware sequencer again, finally (preferring to NOT use computer software any more), I'll be able to start composing on hardware for the 1st time since 2001. Working mainly with my modular (for solo voices; percussion and sound effects) I'll be vearing away from the hugely layered compositions that I've been well known for since the late 80's - more towards space between instruments. NOT minimalism but definately not hugely layered. I guess I'll find out as I start composing, where I'm headed. Outside of 'ambient' related genres and noise, I haven't consciously chosen any genre set to work within. Times change. Where I'm going with composition, I haven't yet a solid idea, but I know it'll be fun and challenging. ALso - time signatures mixed together - here I COME!
Aug. 2408 4:18 PM	I just finished the panel for my 2nd main power supply. Being power related, I thought I would draw things related to power generation. Soon after I started that earlier in the week, I have finally made my first panel dedication that I have been intending to do for the last 3 years. Early in drawing ideas on the panel, I decided to dedicate the panel to my adoptive dad (from 8 mos. age and on) - Stephen John Miller (Jack - born on April 4th, 1926 in Melfort, Saskatchewan.) R.I.P. dad. Thanks for starting my interest in electronics in about 1969, when I was 6 years old and teaching me how to draw a choochoo train when I was about 4. Later into the panel having just read very cool bits on the history of PAiA Electronics and reading in 2 places that President John Simonton had created the very 1st PROGRAMMABLE drum machine in 1976 and remembering the great email conversations and help for my 2 x PAiA 4700 series modular systems that I owned in 1992 to 1993, with John - I decided to also dedicate the panel to him - in great thanks and respect to him as well. R.I.P. John. Thanks for starting my interest in modular synthesizers in 1973 and all that you've done over the years.
Aug. 1808 2:25 PM	* MUST BE 18 OR OLDER TO VIEW THE FOLLOWING IMAGE! * Good day ladies and gents! (I'm sorry but, kids are no longer allowed to view my entire modular synthesizer. ) Late last month I thought I would make a new panel for combining my VCOs into instead of having them spread across other panels mixed together with other modules. I settled on the 3U (5 1/4 inch height) as that gives me a comfortable amount of room for 4 rows of controls as well as at least 4 rows of banana jacks. In trying to come up with an idea for what type of picture I would draw for the panel, after a lot of thought it occurred to me that I wished to create a panel for 4 VCOs - or in another term - 4 voices ...... Voices ...... Hmmmm ...... (Yes ...... spreading out the distance from the top of the screen, to hide the panel's picture from immediate viewing possibility. ) Voices, are something related to humans ...... Humans! Voices? CHOIR?? YES! As with my usual off-centre / mildly twisted self, I decided to draw 4 people sinnnnnnnging away to represent 4 VCOs, or, voices. Not being too much a fan of acapella, I thought I'd give them some accompaniement as well - hence, the pipe organist with his pipe organ and it's pipes in the background. (Clicking on the pic of course, will open up a larger version of the pic in a new window. Depending on your browser type, you may be able to click on the new version of the pic to see it in its full photographic digital glory. ) (Reflecting overall: ) In other related news, looking at this area of my modular I came to realize that my 3 VCOs were in different panels. I also have a panel in my synth with a LOT of extra holes in it that aren't being taken up by any controls. (This to me, looks quite ugly, in my modular.) The panel with all of the extra holes was originally made for a VCO as well as the Ken Stone Bi-N-Tic module, with a modification that I had come up with, using 2 VCAs for control of the each of the Bi-N-Tic's Filter Cutoff controls. (This modification DID work, very well.) I hadn't been fully happy with the sonic capabilities of the Bi-N-Tic myself - not finding them useful in the area of sound that I MYSELF were wishing to pursue, so I removed the Bi-N-Tic completely, from my machine. Removing the Bi-N-Tic left me with a LOT of extra holes for controls in that panel. Since the removal, building other modules, I never HAVE been able to come up with a use FOR all of the extra holes. Knowing that I would need a 4th VCO for this panel as I'm currently down to 3 VCOs, having destroyed my Tom Gamble VCO 4D - (That VCO had survived for about 2 years, before yet another of it's bugs killed it.) - I realized again, that I have a working VCO, INSIDE of the Bi-N-Tic module! Sooooo - this past weekend, I removed all of the VCF parts from the Bi-N-Tic and powered the remaining module up. No problem! There I have a +/- 2.5V sawtooth VCO. All that I have to do is buffer the VCO output, changing it's amplitude to +/- 5V and it will have the same amplitude as my other 3 VCOs - giving me, my 4th VCO for my new panel. I'll have to come up with another panel for 4 VCOs as well, as I still have 3 more PCBs (1 of them being a 2nd Bi-N-Tic) of VCOs to build. Anyway - I'm rambling in my usual endless babble, with only 3 hours left before I have to leave for work. I'd best shut my fingers down afore I carry on for too much longer. Before I go though, a couple of more bits of news: Further update on the G.I.M.P. - S.E.: more progress has occurred, of course. The current modules that are now working within it are: Ray Wilson's MFOS Sequencer #1 (of 2) with modifications 2 x Ken Stone's new Master Dividers (though only 1 is hooked up) 3 x VC Switch with single input and 2 switched outputs The modules that are waiting to be completed for this panel are: Ray Wilson's MFOS Sequencer #2 with modifications 3 x VC Switch with single input and 2 switched outputs 3 x VC Switch with 2 switched inputs and 1 output A further KAOS VCLFO / VCO theoretical development: Whilst at work last night, thinking over on the KAOS and it's design, I came to a new idea, which could FINALLY be the answer that I have been looking for in one module that I've wanted now for 16 years! A multistep envelope generator with Sustain! I came up with a couple more modifications for the KAOS, that would allow the user to switch or patch, which of its 4 channels are cycling back to the beginning of the LFO's charging state. This would give the user yet another variation possibility in the waveforms that are produced. The other modification idea, thinking along the lines of using the module as an EG, is how to do a Sustain portion for an Attack Sustain Release EG. The solution for that came almost immediately - in THEORY. I will still have to lay out this idea on a breadboard for testing, but - IF it's successful - the formerly named KAOS VCLFO / VCO will then be named: The Day of The Jackal VCLFO / VCO / EG! (Named in respect to the excellent book written many a year ago telling the story of the chap who were excellent at creating disguises for himself). More bits on this whether or not successful, once the testing begins. Right then - off to work on getting power supply #2 mounted to it's panel.
Aug. 1008 7:16 PM	Back from vacation in Calgary, Alberta over the last 7 1/2 days. Had a wonderful time touring through 100's of kilometers of the Rockies seeing the coolest things. Also bought a new (2nd hand) effects unit - the TC Electronics Nova digital delay in perfect condition for $140 Cdn. Very happy about that. Had a couple of new ideas whilst I were out there as well that I shall be implementing in the future: From now on, all new LFOs (all types) and new Envelope Generators (all types) will each have their own VCAs in the same panel. (2 Input with single output; completely patchable). This will allow other CVs to control the amount of patched LFO / EG / etc. that are plugged into them. A normal function that we've had on other synths for years and years. A(n almost) dedicated function, that I don't believe I've seen in anyone else's modular. I also plan on rebuilding ALL of my panels that currently have these modules, so that each of them have their own VCAs as well.. Early in the vacation, I came to the idea of obtaining an ALUMINUM dowel for making knobs with! If I'm able to find a dowel of a proper size for a decent cost as well as able to find a proper way to cut the dowel into proper sized knob lengths as WELL as able to colour them with coloured permanent markers, I'll be changing all 200+ of the knobs in my modular to home made aluminum ones. This, will also give me the ability to insert a threaded bit for tightening them to the pot's shafts. THIS, will solve my 3 years long problem of being able to attach knobs securely, to each of my pots. Speaking of rebuilding certain modules, whilst away on vacation, I also decided to completely redo ALL of my panels who's colours are the 'purple stain' that I used, below polyurethane. Instead, I'm going to make custom artwork for every single panel in my machine. Whether the picture be cartoons; serious reproductions are new ideas - who knows? I want something that I can sit back / stand there and smile at. The purple panels just aren't doing that for me any more. As well, the oldest ones are FADING in colour, turning to something of a brownish purple colour. I'm not happy with that, at all. Now - back to relaxing after a tiring vacation.
July 3008 12:25 PM	The next module is up and running on the G.I.M.P. - S.E.! Woohoo! Earlier this morning, I got the final connections done for the 1st of my 2 x new Ken Stone Master Dividers and powered it up for testing. Each connection is working fine, first time - except, for 2 of them. Upon checking Ken's writeup on the board, I found the 2nd of 2 modifications that have to be done - changing the input to 1 of the XOR gates to another pin on the CD4024. BUT - - not performing this correction modification has turned out to be a benefit to me! The trouble that I was having with putting my Ray Wilson MFOS Sequencer in proper downbeat sync with my 4 step 1V/octave Quadatrix sequencer, put each of them 1/2 beat out of sync with each other. 1 of these 2 outputs from Ken's new Master Divider that was NOT corrected, GIVES me the proper trigger TO sync my 2 sequencers at the normal clock frequency!! I'm leaving this Master Divider's error as it is, to my own advantage! I'm just about finished hooking up all of the connections for the 2nd of the 2 new Master Dividers as well. Though, I'm unable to test it at the moment as I don't have my recent Mouser Electronics order, due to a quadruple screwup from UPS. I still have to phone them to get them to deliver my order (with 25 x CD4070's and other parts) to this place at a time where someone is actually here. (They came at roughly the same time, on 3 consective days.) Here's a photo of the back of the panel, thusly far:
July 2708 12:27AM	Minor news update: Construction on the G.I.M.P. - S.E. is slowly continuing. I have all or almost all of the parts put on to the PCBs for both of the new Ken Stone Master Dividers as well as 1 of the 2 Ray Wilson M.F.O.S. Sequencer Digital boards. 1 more digital needs to be completed. Also, I still have to make the 2nd triple SPDT VC switch (In to A/B) board as well as the double SPDT VC switch (A/B to Out) board and finally, the power distribution board to supply power to all of the PCBs for this monstrous panel. Wiring has not yet begun, except for the 1st of the 2 triple VC switches, which is functioning wonderfully. There're some modifications that I'll be doing to the M.F.O.S. Seq. digital boards: the 4 control bits (for choosing step #'s 1 to 16) will be buffered and brought out to the front panel, for each of them I'll be hooking up a test tri-colour LED to 3 of the CD4094 shift register's output bits through transistors, to check on colour animation possibilities from both of the digital boards. (The CD4094's are used as random # generators). With this being successful, a total of 15 outputs will then be driving 5 x tri-colour LEDs on the front panel for visual entertainment only. ;) I'll be testing a modification where the 4 bits to the CD4514 from the CD4094, that are used for random step # choice, are brough to a 4PDT switch, as well as a switch for the LOAD function on the CD4514. If successful, THIS will allow me to tell the CD4514 which step to start FROM instead of only starting from Step #1. Again, if successful, this modification will be done to both of the digital boards. The 4 bit inputs for the CD4514 will also have buffered inputs added to them from the front panel, for external control of which step is playing and when. I'm trying to be as careful as possible with the build of this 8U high panel, as it's the largest panel that I've ever thought of for any modular synthesizer that I've built over the years. With the successful operation of each of the modules within this panel, it will also by far, be THEE most powerful panel that I've ever made. Construction time is taking a little while. Once it comes to wiring and testing each of the modules, I'm realistically hoping to have it completed by the end of August. Leaving me time still, weather wise, to bring both cabinets outside to shoot a live improvisation performance. :) Other modules that will be coming after completion of the G.I.M.P. - S.E. shall include: a 4 x VCO panel with each of them having rotary switch selectable Octaves, Semitones as well as Fine tune controls (Saw out only) The KAOS Voltage Controlled LFO / VCO (multi-waveform) The Brain (decision making module, based around window comparators) 2 x Ray Wilson State Variable Filters (both PCBs have had all of their resistors stuffed) Buchla 281 clone (dual AD EGs) Wogglebug 2 x Charlie Lamm VCAs (SSM2164 based) At least 1 x AD633 Balanced Modulator The Liquid Hihat V2.00 (external clocking input added to the original, so that any other CV or Sound can be used for modulation) Ken Stone Gate Sequencer Ken Stone Diatonic Converter (not yet ordered) At least 1 more Quadatrix 4 step 1V/Octave sequencer (I have enough switches now for 2 more) I think that's all of the things on my back burner for the moment. That above list will take me at least the rest of the this year to complete. That will include the need for building rack #3 for housing everything as well. (My racks are approximately 5 1/2 feet tall. ) Not to mention all of the knobs that I still have to make! Aiieeyeyeyeyeye. And finding a proper way of glueing them onto the shafts as well, so that they ARE removable without damaging the pot.
July 1208 7:03PM	Here's the 1st video of my MFOS Sequencer, along with my 1V/octave 4 step sequencer and my Liquid Hihat percussion module being played, in the background.
July 0808 1:54PM MFOS Sequencer completed! Mods to be done.	In late June 2008, I FINALLY got my Ray Wilson Music From Outer Space Sequencer completed. The one that I had done the panel for, back in November2007. She's up and running, 99% completed. The final parts to be done is aquiring 4 pushbuttons for their proper functions. For the moment, I'm using 4 miniature PCB mount buttons, hanging off of wires. No modifications have been done to this sequencer. It's stock. I've decided to leave all modifications to future sequencer boards that I have purchased from Ray, last week. On Saturday July 0508, I began design and construction of The Groovy Innovator Manipulating Pulses - Sequencer Engine! Details on this engine may be found in the Design section of this web site through this link: The G.I.M.P. - S.E. Here's a pic of him, for now. There'll be a greaterly detailed pic on the front page once he and the Divide By 7 counter panel, are moved to their new rack, beside the 1st one.
Jan. 2708 8:02PM	Version 0035 Alpha of my Numerology software is available at my mystical site: C.H.A.N.S.S. - down at the bottom of that page. The software is still EXTREMELY early in it's development but there's enough of it written now to be able to get BASIC interpretations of any person's name that you put in to it. There's a LOT more coming to it, in time. Whilst my building time remains 'on hold', I'll be continuing to work on this as well as other software packages. I'm open to anyone's input on the software itself. My appropriate ee-male address is listed on that page as well.
Jan. 2008 11:50AM	Barely related to synthesizer news, but it could quite possibly be in time - I've just purchased my first software for programming in years. Just Basic Gold V4.03 If you're interested in programming for Windows but never have - Just Basic has the BEST tutorial for programming for BEGINNERS that I have seen since GFA Basic for the Atari ST in 1988, as well as almost ANY Dummies book. (Of which I've been a regular purchaser since HTML 2.0 for Dummies, in 1996). My main purposes for purchasing this package as well as getting into programming again for the 1st time in 3 years (I've been programming in various versions of Basic since 1982) is to continue working on softare that I've written for Astrology as well as Numerology, in 2005, as well as begin work on my first computer game that I've worked on since 1992. I'll also be looking into POSSIBLY writing Sequencer software in this version of Basic as it does all control of external things through I/O ports on the PC as well. If the software is fast enough, I should be able to write software for interacting with my modular. Shall see in the farther future though, as I just had yet ANOTHER PCB come in and there'll be another order for 4 MORE PCBs going in this coming week. Adding all of those to my currently growing backlog of stuff to get built.
Jan. 0508 2:55PM	I've added a new sub-section to my personal web page, www.rykhaard.com - Chinese language. I've only been sparsely learning the language over the last 18 months or so, but decided today to start a new sub-section dealing with the language and my growing interests within the culture, on my other web page. Gaitian zàiliáo - (Talk to you soon. )
Dec. 3007 6:46PM	19" rack #3 is completed, except for mounting of it's 2 rack railings. The 2nd last thing to do for it is to mount my new 2nd +/-15V 1.5 amp power supply into it's own panel and screw it onto the rack for completion. Permanent mounting of my railings to rack #2 will set me with 3 x 19" racks for panels, with 1 of them being filled. A lot more room for building over the next approximate year. Off I am now to apply polyurethane coatings to about 20+ knobs that have been drawn for months already. I just bought some 1/4" dowels a couple of days ago which will make polyurethaning many knobs at a time possible, as well as MUCH faster than how I had before. After that, I'll start on wiring the digital and analog boards for my MFOS Sequencer to IT's front panel, finally. My biggest hopes with it, are to have it completed by tomorrow before we head out for New Year's Eve celebrations. Yet ANOTHER thought that I had for my 2 upcoming designed sequencers is building a DUAL sequencer engine, SEPARATELY from the sequencers will full step patching capabilities from the engines as well as inTO the sequencers. That will allow me almost any combinations of the sequencer's steps to run in whichever way that's possible, from the two engines, INCLUDING mixing bit selection outputs FROM the engines, also as well, as modifications to the engine's output BITs FROM other areas. I'll be starting on my 8 step / 5 bit per step, sequencer, after the MFOS Sequencer is completed. Right then - off to building. (Today was the first building time available to me, in over 5 weeks. I'm finally getting to take care of my 'almost obessesion / addiction'. ) Schematics for my sequencers and their engine will be posted once they're available.
Dec. 2907 1:28AM	I FINALLY got out today to pick up more 2"x3"'s to build - 19" rack #3. At the same time, I picked up some more dowels, including a 1/4" thick one, which will make it easier for polyurethaning the MANY, MANY knobs for my synth that have been drawn on, but not yet coated. Also, I picked up a new chow-saw, that were on Boxing Week sale. That'll make building of rack #3 FAR faster than #1 were. Much-o happy about that! It's been a very shitty collection of holidays so far as far as building time goes. No building done YET, in my past 7 days off. Here's to hoping that I'll get in at least 8 hours of building, before I'm back to work on Wednesday next week. Goals are to finish the stock build of my MFOS Sequencer (yet ANOTHER mod. for it, thought up today.) as well as get rack #3 built and the 30+ knobs properly coated with 3 layers of polyurethane. Shall see what happens! Some unrelated by fun-to-me news - with a $20 Chapters Christmas card, yesterday I picked up "Chinese For Dummies - Audio Set" to allow me to properly learn how to speak Chinese! I've been learning from friends and co-workers at work over the last 1 1/2 years and have been loving the language all the more. Some day I hope to be able to fully babble back and forth in Cantonese Chinese.
Dec. 2407 11:38AM	Finally, after wanting to find them for over 30 years, did I come across a small source of paddle switches. 4 x DPDT and 6 SPDT. All the same paddle shape and size. Not having immediate access to any more of them (though POSSIBLY, some in England - no answer yet), I'm going to go ahead and use 8 of them total in one of my 2 coming 1V/octave sequencer designs that I've been brewing. (As you may've seen in the Design section - 2 new (for me) designs are both working, in prototype states. The 12 position rotary switch one will be an 8 step and the 5 bit one will either be an 8 step, or dual 4 steps. We shall see, once I get their engine's designed. Hopefully, the same engine will be adjustable for both of them as well as other sequencers in my building future. On THAT note - being on 11 days off from work on season vacation, I'll be finally coming back to building after an enforced 'break' for at least the last 3 weeks. More words on stuff once I start getting things together.
Dec. 1507 12:37PM	My Ken Stone Wave Multiplier is FINALLY completed / up and running. The only minor complaint, is a detuning to my VCOs when the Pulse Width control is set to anywhere above 0 volts. I'll have to pull the panel out to figure what's causing this problem. (1 minute later) Oh well - there goes the time that I previously had.
Nov. 2207 3:36PM Off work due to flu.	R.I.P. Tom Gamble's VCO 4D. Due to my very first ever working discrete VCO's deciding all of a sudden to change it's mind and play almost 2 octaves / volt, and the rush in which it was built 2 years ago - I decided to permanently retire that VCO today. With the errors that Tom had done in designing the VCO, it would have been WAY too much a pain in the ass to reconfigure everything. I laid out's PCB originally, mostly with how Tom had designed the circuit. It served me 2 years though, at least. Now though, I have wonderfully working VCOs from Ian Fritz, Ray Wilson and Ken Stone. My 1st (working) Ray Wilson VCO will take the place of Tom's in the former VCO / 5 level Pulse Width Modulator / Quad 3 Input mixer panel - for it to become a Ray VCO / Quad mixer panel instead. Also - now that I have a day off of work, I HOPE to be able to COMPLETE my MFOS Sequencer today, now that the art work for it is completed. All I have to do is mount the controls and boards and hook it all together. Though - I don't have the 16 LED holders at the moment that I need. They'll have to be loosely mounted for the moment. Photos and samples will be posted when it's completed. On the SLIM chance that I get the panel completed earlier than I expect to, I'll then shift over to mounting my 4 step 1V/octave sequencer engine in place of 1 of Tom Bug's 2 x Pattern Generators, that I have mounted into another panel - to give it 1V/octave for each of it's 4 steps. This is all of course, if my health holds through the day. Not a lot of energy.
Nov. 2107 11:06PM Update	Mmmm. The webpages have been falling behind whilst I've been building. As ever recently, my backlog has been growing. I've got the current list of things going on: My Quadatrix sequencer project from early October has been brought back to life as of yesterday, with the installation of a new 12 position rotary switch. Last night at work I realized I can probably rid myself of the problems with the other 3 switches by cleaning them! Doing that in a few minutes. Once they're all working properly, I'll then get to work on breadboarding the switching mechanism for choosing which of the 4 steps is currently playing, as well as an octave switch for each of them. With successes in those bits, I'll soon start on a 2nd 4 step 1V/octave module, to bring the sequencer up to 2 x 4 steps The 5U (8 3/4") front panel for my (to be modified) MFOS Sequencer is within 1 hour of having it's artwork completed. Once that's done, I'll be posting a picture of it publicly, for everyone to see and then starting with mounting all of the controls into it I'll soon be breadboarding a wonderful new circuit design from Ian Fritz. The audio results from it are a cross between Ring Modulation and Pulse Width Modulation. A great sonic side effect from it is a 'plucked string' type of ambience! My intentions are to build a panel with 2 of them and a single AD633 Ring Modulator. That'll be a nice combination Our next door buddy, Danny, (who is featured in thanks for his help, in my MFOS Sequencer panel's artwork) got all of the resistors and chip sockets mounted into 2 x MFOS State Variable VCF PCBs last week. I've almost got the wood completed in staining and polyurethaning for it and another module collections panels. (The 3rd module with the 2 State Variable VCFs will be my 3rd SSM2044 LPF.) My dual MFOS ADSR; Pete Grenader S&H; dual Ken Stone NAND Gate; White Noise (and something else, STILL undecided) panel is FINALLY almost completed. Just wiring up the controls as almost everything is working My former Ken Stone VCO / Bi-N-Tic panel now has a Ken Stone VCO and MFOS VCO in it, working. Still trying to decide what the 3rd module in it will be - OR, if I'll drill a completely new panel for it - due to the extemely odd # of pot and jack holes that are in it. (Tough to find something to fit properly - the Ken Stone Wave Multiplier being ALMOST perfect.) I have to make a PCB with 4 x PAiA / Ken Stone drum simulators, to complete the Liquid Hihat panel I have to get some more 2"x3"'s so that I can start on 19" rack #2. (An exact duplicate of the 5 1/2' tall #1. #3 (original #1 is 36" tall)). That's it for the moment, for the things that are CURRENT in construction. Oh yeah. Once I have the Quadatrix 4 step sequencer engine up and running properly, I'll post either a sample or video of it, working. This could possibly be, the 1st PCB that I'll have done professionally. (The 4 step engine, itself.) Once I have the controller section worked out, I'll see what the PCB sizes work out to be, as I'd like to have quite a few of the engines and at least a couple of controllers.
Nov. 2007 2:45PM	QUICKLY! With installation of NEW 12P1T switch, my 4 step SWITCHABLE 1V/Octave sequencer, is WORKING!!!!!!! :D WOOHOO! Rushing to work!
Nov. 1307 11:22AM	My first of many Ray Wilson VCOs is up and running. Not a fault were had. I just have to tune it and set the symmetries for the Sine and Triangle waveform outputs and all is swell. Problem that I'm having though - I'd mentioned on Sunday that I'm going to turn the former VCO / Bi'N'Tic panel into a triple VCO panel - is the huge number of holes that I made in the original for the # of pots required. That has turned out to be WAY more than the 3 VCOs need - whether they're Ken Stone OR Ray Wilson VCOs. (sigh) An alternate idea that I had last night, was to put in Ken's Wave Folder in place of 1 of the 3 VCOs. A NEW problem here, is not having enough JACKs for all of the functions of the wave folder. Of course - thoughts of scrapping the entire panel and drilling a new one have come about, but at $5 + labour for a panel, I'd rather not scrap it. Now - to decide whether to hold the panel aside for another use later or not ....... well anyways - off to tune the VCO. That'll bring me up to 4 live VCOs, with enough PCBs to bring the machine up to 8 VCOs. Getting closer to my ages ago goal of 12 to 16 VCOs. Feels good, in that regard.
Nov. 1107 12:51PM	Wow - talk about a growing backlog! (Which is rare for me, in building). I came up to 10 boards waiting to have parts stuffed into them, in the last few days, when 2 x Ray Wilson State Variable VCFs arrived in the mail. I got all of the parts that I have, mounted into the 2 PCBs for the Ray Wilson M.F.O.S. Sequencer. I'm still waiting for the CMOS chips to come in, that I ordered. Instead of building the panel for the unit, I thought I'd instead start working on my backlog. Way back this year - I had a panel set up for a VCO as well as Ken Stone Bi-N-Tic VCF/VCO, that I had modified and it was working. I'd decided though to UN-modify it, bringing it back to it's original state and THEN modify it again to split the VCO from driving the VCF, so that I would have the option of the VCO and VCF separately. I've removed the Bi-N-Tic from the panel, but haven't yet done that new mod. With the panel having only 1 VCO in it at the moment - I changed my mind yesterday and decided to put 2 of the waiting VCO PCBs in, to finish the panel. This morning, I've gotten 90% of the parts for my Ray Wilson VCO installed. With a couple of more hours of work, that VCO will be up and running. I'll either do the 3rd VCO for that panel next (which will bring me up to 5 x VCOs online, or I'll stuff the parts into the 2 x State Variable VCFs as well as make a PCB for my LAST SSM2044 VCF chip - mounting the 3 into their own panel. (That'll bring my VCFs up to 3 x SSM2044s; 2 x discrete State Variable VCFs and 2 x Ray Wilson State Variable VCFs with VC Resonance on each of them. Whichever next option I choose, once it's finished, the CMOS chips should finally be in and I'll then get to finishing the 1st working sequencer that D.A.M.I.A.N. will have, completed. Very soon after - serious tune writing on D.A.M.I.A.N., will finally be able to commence. Right then - off to preparation for Rememberance Day with my girlfriend's honourable WWII veteran, father.
Nov. 0807 11:23AM	A brief update on what's shaking. Construction of the Ray Wilson 16 step analog sequencer, started yesterday. Once I have the unit completed and working, I'll be modifying it to function as a 2 voice Drum Controller. The standard unit has 1 buss for CV / Trigger / Gate. I'll be adding a 2nd buss to it with the same functions. An ON/OFF/ON rocker switch will be used on each step, to select whether that step is BUSS 1 / OFF / BUSS 2. Also - each buss will be able to be used for controlling a chosen dynamic of the drum sound that it's triggering, and / or, sending a CV to another unit. Another mod that I'll be testing for the busses is LOCK for each of the bits, that choose which steps are playing. This option will allow steps: 1 2-3 4-8 or 9-16 to be locked on, for looping purposes. Once the 3 CMOS chips that I didn't have in stock arrive, I hope to have this complete panel finished within 1 week of today. Upon success of my modifications of the sequencer for use as a drum controller, I'll then order at least 2 more sets of boards, to give myself control of up to 6 drum voices! Following that, will be construction of a quad PAiA / Ken Stone drum simulator, with control over pitch as well as a Control Voltage input, for each of the drums. That in combination with the drum controllers as well as my Liquid Hihat; Cynare Drum Simulator and CVable Shimmer section will give me a good start for an electronic 'drummer' for D.A.M.I.A.N. 1 other modification idea that I will be looking into in the future is 1V/octave operation for the sequencer. More on that later though, once the first unit is up and running. In other news - I got my order in yesterday for my 1st KLEE SEQUENCER! This in combination with the drummer, will finally bring D.A.M.I.A.N. to a music creation stage for the real 1st time in his 29 month life.
Oct. 3107 2:20PM	Briefly, before I have to head to work - The Liquid Hihat V1.00 alpha is fully up and running! I am absutively BEYOND happy about this! At the moment, I'm saving the 1st of 2 videos that I've made of it. (The 1st one was interrupted by a telephone call) The 1st is showing a basic 1/8th note hithat being played, whilst I introduce the 4 x Control Voltage inputs to the module. 2 of them have a Low Frequency Oscillators hooked up to each clock set as well as an Attack Decay Sustain Release envelope generator hooked up to each of them. As well, a 3rd ADSR EG is hooked up to the single Voltage Controlled Amplifier that The Liquid Hihat is being heard, through. There's also an Attack Decay EG driving the VCA. That, boys and girls is the entire hookup. No audio effects, filters or anything. Pure and raw, Liquid Hihat. The 2nd video, has everything hooked up the same, but I take a tour through control of the pitch on the 2 x linear Voltage Controlled Oscillators as well as the 4 x Schmidt Inverter clocks. Later in the 2nd video, I extend the Decay time of the AD EG that's controlling the VCA to give a better audible idea of the Liquid Hihat's native sound, overall.
Oct. 2607	Wow. Talk about delays, all through the week! Sick common-father-in-law; sick cat requiring the vet. Every day seeming like there'd be time to get at least an hour of building in but nada. On top of that - new ideas flowing out all over the place at work, getting no farther than written down. (sigh) Anyways - with yet more delays today, at least I have a few minutes for an update for my loyal followers. The PCB for The Liquid Hihat cooked beautifully: (clicking on it will bring up the full pic with schematic and PCB layout) I've just done the pre-soldering to all of the pads (for the Bernie Hutchins inspired "Poor Man's Surface Mount" building style that I've used for over 10 years, very successfully. Hopefully - I'll have all of the parts added to the PCB this weekend, along with all 13 of the pots for it and I'll be able to give her a go. The samples that are available are from a simpler version of the Shimmer section of EMM / Ken Stone's Cynare. This one has gone full blast with the complete CD40106 structure of the Cynare, replacing 2 of the oscillators, with 2 x CD4046 oscillators which are the voltage controlled versions for what I believe to be - the 1st voltage controlled frequencies hi-hat, in the world. The sounds that this one will be capable of (from past experiences) will blow away the 2 other samples that I posted. Keep your ear tuned to this website, for future examples (including videos). In other news: yesterday I laid out the rough structure of my 1st ever 'Drum Voice'! Tentative name for the module so far is: "The Gawd of Thunder" (nod of respect to Kiss, for the name) Plans for this module include: 2 x CD4046 oscillators 2 x Multi VCFs with LPF, BPF and HPF outputs 3 x VCAs (at LEAST) 3 x Attack / Decay envelope generators (at LEAST) 1 x 1N34 (Germanium diode) based distortion unit (at LEAST) 1 x White Noise Generator POSSIBLY my very last SSM2044 4 pole LPF for a Bass Drum basis Each module portion of the panel will be FULLY patchable, so that each of the modules may be used for other functions as well. The entire setup (without the distortion unit that I haven't yet looked for a schematic FOR) will be tested in D.A.M.I.A.N., live to video as I currently have all of those modules available in the machine, for testing the setup WITH. (The 2 x oscillators will be standard VCO sawtooths, filtered to as simple a waveform as possible). With the above listing of modules, the panel will be capable of EXTREMELY complex drum voices as well as much simpler sounding drum voices, for operating as more than 1 voice. If I include more AD EGs as well as VCAs, it could be capable of 3 or 4 voices. Upon success of The Gawd of Thunder, I'll build a 2nd one at least. The 2 of them along with The Liquid Hihat, my full Cynare as well as VCable Shimmer, will make for a powerful drumset for D.A.M.I.A.N. One of the reasons that I'm including 2 oscillators in the drum panel, is due to the success that I had with making dual oscillator drum sounds in the Propellerheads' Reason software, a couple of years ago. Dual pitches give some great character for drum sounds, that haven't ever been done, in the physical world, with real drums. Also - upon success of my modified MFOS sequencer for a drum controller - the potential for 3 of them along with all of my drum voices will be shooting up there as one of the most powerful dedicated analog synth drum systems, on the planet. Now - if I could only get enough free time to COMPLETE all of the building required! Samples / videos will appear as progress occurs.
Oct. 1407	Wow. Through my 15 year long modular synthesizer building personal history, the MOST troubled module that I've ever tried building, is the Sample & Hold. No matter what; whether everything were correct or not, they'd refuse to work. Out of the previous 6 to my current LF398 S&H, I had only ever gotten ONE discrete one to work, that went out ot a customer. Finally - over the last 2 days, in reviewing what I had done with the current LF398 version from Peter Grenader, did I figure out what the problems were and it's working beautifully. Yesterday in my first re-investigation of this unit that I had salvaged (along with dual 2 input NAND Gates and White Noise generator) from my 1st failed 1V/oct. sequencer board, I noticed that a 0.01uF capacitor was actually a 0.1uF cap., and that a neighbouring 10k resistor wasn't properly soldered at 1 end. Replacing the incorrect cap. and hooking the unit up - I found that I was getting nothing but a slowly rising voltage out of the Output. Hooking up a clock as well as WN input ended up giving me SOMEthing of a S&H effect, with a slight range and HUGE amounts of up going slew in voltage outputs. Digging up the original Peter Grenader schematic to compare it to the board, I found that in my salvaging process I had disconnected one area of GROUND from the circuit. (For the 33nF poly. cap.) Reconnecting this and hooking everything up again - I've had my 2nd only out of 7 S&H's, work perfectly! Pleased, is NOT quite a strong enough word for my happiness at that! Once I get the minor amounts of extra required parts for Peter's Slewing output as well as my LEDs for the S&H and NAND Gates, I'll be mounting the board into the dual ADSR; S&H; WN; NAND; LFO; Comparator / Differencer / Rectifier panel that I already have prepared. I hope to finish the entire panel, by the end of this coming week. After that, finishing the original VCO / Bi-N-Tic panel (VCO, VCO, Wave Multiplier) and hooking up the last 2 of 4 VCAs to the 4 VCA panel - all of my backlog will be completed and I'll finally allow myself to start on new panels again. With only 6U of space left in the new rack I'll also have to build a new rack fairly soon.
Sept. 0307	Closer detailed knob pics are now available at this section
Aug. 3107	Major remodification? Major decision! I've just decided to completely remove my Ken Stone Bi-N-Tic VCO/VCF. (Sounds of shock from the audience. ) I'm going to mount the Bi-N-Tic into another panel at a later date, possibly with my 2nd Bi-N-Tic PCB - unless I decide to sell the unpopulated 2nd one. I haven't decided yet. I'm going to put at least a 2nd VCO into the current VCO / Bi-N-Tic panel. With my implementation of Ken's VCO taking up 12 jacks and 8 pots, removing the modified Bi-N-Tic will leave me with 18 jacks and 24 pots to use. (Deciding right now, where to go with the real estate.) At full implementation, a 2nd VCO would take up another 12 jacks and 8 pots, leaving 6 jacks and 16 pots free. At max, his Wave Folder module uses 13 jacks and 12 pots. Mmmmm. Decisions decisions. Let's look at Richard Brewster's Ken Stone VCO modifcation: 6 jacks and 3 pots, for his. That, is MUCH simpler, real estate wise. Another modification that I wish to do is at LEAST 1 implementation of my own dual set of Pulse Width / Pulse Width Modulation (Saw to PW) waveform converters. Each dual set will require: Jack - Sawtooth wave Input 1 Jack - Pulse Width Modulation 1 CV input Jack - Pulse Width 1 Out Jack - PWM 2 CV input Jack - Pulse Width 2 Out Pot - Intial PW 1 Pot - PWM amount 1 Pot - Initial PW 2 Pot - PWM amount 2 as a bare minimum. (I prefer to have 2 PWM CVs per Pulse Width waveform.) So - let's do some math:
WELL?	NEW MODULE JACK REQ's	NEW MODULE POT REQ's	AVAILABLE JACKS = 18	AVAILABLE POTS = 24
Uh oh.	Ken Stone VCO = 12 Ken Wave Mult. = 13	Ken Stone VCO = 8 Ken Wave Mult. = 12	Jacks left = 6 Jacks left = (-7)	Pots left = 16 Pots left = 4
Mmm.	Brewster / Ken VCO = 6 Ken Wave Mult. = 13	Brewster / Ken VCO = 3 Ken Wave Mult. = 12	Jacks left = 12 Jacks left = (-1)	Pots left = 21 Pots left = 9
Modifications needed ...... I'll do my dual PW / PWM addition, right on the VCO PCB itself, cutting traces where needed	Brewster VCO Jacks = 8 1V/Oct CV 1 Sync Pulse Width Modulation 1 Pulse Width Modulation 2 Saw out Pulse Width 1 out Pulse Width 2 out	Brewster VCO Pots = 8 Coarse tune Fine tune CV 1 amount Initial Pulse Width 1 Initial Pulse Width 2 PWM 1 amount PWM 2 amount Cross Modulation amount	Jacks left = 10	Pots left = 13 I'll add a pot to each of the 2 VCOs for the panel, to allow the amount of modulation from EACH of the VCOs hardwired to the OTHER VCO - like the Cross Modulation that Roland synths of years ago, had. Another addition - Since I will still have 2 pots still available in the panel, I'll add another modulation pot to each VCO, to take modulation for each of them FROM the Wave Multiplier!
And there we have it! A new modification figured out as I think everything out on the webpage	Brewster / Ryk VCO Jacks = 8 . . . . . . . . Ken Wave Folder Jacks = 13	Brewster / Ryk VCO Pots = 8 . . . . . . . . . Ken Wave Folder Pots = 12	Jacks left = 10 Removing 3 .... shit. Can't remove them from the Wave Folder. It's all useful. K. I'll remove the needed ones from the original VCO that's in their now. No problem. Jacks left = 0	Pots left = 24 minus 8 for the Ken / Brewster / Ryk VCO 1 for the Cross Modulation 1 for the Ken VCO Cross Modulation 1 for the Ken / Brewster / Ryk VCO Wave Mult. modulation 1 for the Ken VCO Wave Mult. modulation (leaving 12 available) Pots left = 0
	So - the former VCO / Bi-N-Tic panel will now become: Ken Stone VCO original (minus a couple of minor functions) Ken Stone VCO modified by Richard Brewster (simplifications) and myself (dual PW / PWM, Cross Mod. and Wave Mult. modulation) Ken Stone Wave Multiplier Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I can't wait to get this one completed. By the looks of the lack of free time available, I hope I can have it all completed and ready for photographing and sampling from, by the end of next week. It's a long weekend this weekend, but the girlfriend is making visiting plans. Shall see where I can find building time.
Aug. 3007	Major remodifications have begun, now that enough of my studio is up and running to be able to compose, once again. I've decided to rip the to Ken Stone VCAs out of my VCO / Bi N Tic (VCO / VCF) panel, to place them into the panel with 4 x 3 Input VCAs, as there're only 2 of the possible 4 mounted in the panel. I'll return the Bandpass Frequency controls for the Bi N Tic to their normal pots. Also - I'm separating the Bi N Tic's VCO from it's VCF. This will include: Buffering and level shifting the +5V Sawtooth output to +/-5V Adding my VCO's standard dual PW / PWM outputs to this VCO as well as the other VCO in the panel Adding a buffered Clock Input for the VCF, so that it may be driven by any other input Today I also removed my dual SSM2044 LPF / dual SSM2164 Charlie Lamm VCA, to find out what was wrong with all of my panel controls, as I didn't seem to be able to get proper VCA response from either of them. After about 1 1/2 hours of removing cable ties and (finally - LOL ) labelling all of the controls - I found that there WERE no problem with any of the inputs or controls, but that I had put an "Initial Level" knob, onto the wrong pot. With other knobs missing and forgetting the layout of the pots, I was continually turning the wrong ones, trying to figure out why I sometimes wouldn't get signals! Duhhhh. Now that the panel is properly labelled and I understand where everything is - no troubles at all. ROFL After MONTHS man! Hahaha. I also plan to finish my dual Ray Wilson ADSR panel, which is approximately 50% completed, as of March. I may also take my 2nd Bi N Tic PCB and use it ONLY for it's VCO, as well as build my other VCO PCBs. With all of this done, D.A.M.I.A.N. will be up to 6 x VCOs. With my desires to use them as LFOs as well, I may also build some waveform converters as well. Will have to see what panel space I have available as, with my 5' tall rack, I'm running out of room AGAIN, already! Right then. That's about all of the news for the moment. With the V1.20 Deathlehem Quadraxii P.R.O.B.E. Joystick Controller built and 3 noise tunes recorded over the last month - Deathlehem is ALIVE AGAIN for the first time in 11 years! Doom and Glory to the ears of all! Ooop yeah. 1 last bit. My first new Industrial tune - De-Evolution is under composition, as of yesterday. As a sequel to my Industrial vocal tune Evolution from 1988 ( My tunes ), it'll also be my first vocals tune since Sufring V1.31 in 2001. De-Evolution carries in my world-society analysis that I had started with Evolution and where we've been going since 1988. With the verses being written in 7/4 as well as other time signatures coming within the tune and as WELL again, my desire to NOT write any more tunes in 4/4, it'll be something of a rhythmic freak, for all those that are use to hearing only or mostly, 4/4 tunes over every bloody radio station. As usual, it'll be available in my tunes site, when it's complete - free for all do DL.
Aug. 0207	Data on my new Joystick Controller has been posted in the Design section.
July 3107	I received a couple of packages in the mail today that I've been waiting a little while for, that I've VERY happy about! From another SDIY mailing list member, Mark Verbos - I received 10 sets of guts from joysticks. Here, are a couple of shots of what they look like without any additional hardware:
	My 4 axis joysticks idea that I came up with the idea for, earlier this month, will have added to the joystick paddle itself, a pot like this, at the very top of the paddle:
	as well as a slider pot like this one, added over and around the paddle itself. These 2 extra controllers will allow a total of 4 dimensions to be controlled with a single joystick paddle!
	Other things for this joystick will include: A single colour from a tri-color LED for each of 3 axii Switchable source for each axii of +10V or External In A cover for the paddle that will be illuminated by the internal tri-color LED. (I haven't decided as of yet, whether the cover will be a globally shaped object or an illuminated rod of acrylic or poly-something-or-other. As well, there'll be momentary switches used for generating Trigger signals as well as on/off switches per axii And of course - EVERYthing will be properly buffered. Inputs as well as Outputs and LED(s). Another item that arrived today is my (improper / non-remembered name): aircraft plywood sheets from a musician friend in Winnipeg! I've been trying to find some of this material since December 2006 when I was last working on my MIDIbox SEQ sequencer! This wood will allow me to make my panel for holding all of the parts for the sequencer in the shape that I have in mind. I've never seen any other panel like it in the music industry, in my 32 years of playing around in it. As is the case with my modular synthesizer D.A.M.I.A.N. being the first synth in the world with wooden panels as well as art decorated wooden knobs, I will also have the first instrument panel of my intended fashion in the world. If ANYone know of anyone else who has done this before, please DO let me know and I shall retract my above statement. Of course I haven't mentioned what the sequencer panel is intended to look like, but there - I don't wish anyone else to complete the similar idea of mine before I do, soooooooooooo
July 2107	Tunes: 56 of my tunes from between 1983 to 2005 are currently available at my personal website. Rykhaard Depending on how many I find in my formerly used Propellerheads' Reason tunes directory I could have another 20 to 40 tunes posted, in the next few days. (Many of the Reason ones will be leaning more towards Ambient; Progressive Industrial and Noise genres) as well as some of them being very long in time. (10+ minutes). Designs: I'll be using my new website Deathlehem for D.A.M.I.A.N. for posting all of my new modules / etc. designs, including their drawings; schematics as well as photos taken through the courses of building them. This section will be intended for helping others who may be doing similar things. Current projects on the backburner that could be starting any day (depending on mood) include: 10 finger percussive controller gloves 6, 7 and 8 chime tri-colour LED windchimes with cycling colour LEDs (schematics will be posted) Stationary LED lamps with cycling colours tri-colour LEDs (schematics will be the same mostly as those for the windchimes) Curved panel for my MIDIbox SEQ sequencer As well as more innovations / inventions(?) as they come. I'm also almost ready to write my first new tunes with lyrics since 2001! :D A couple of different burning tune desires so far include: "The B.O.O." (The Bank of Oil) - Who rules the world? The Banks, or Oil companies? "DE-Evolution" (sequel to Evolution - 1988) An analysis of today's societies A Polka for my girlfriend in 5/4 time signature A new meditation CD, HOPING to have a fully 2D sound field around the listeners ears as the 'person in the piece' walks through environments. All that'n more at the new websites. Comments on any of the above? Post away at my Aural Research Facilities Blog.
March 3007 - 11:20am	Continuing the update with a new (to me ) thought as to attempting to tune the Band Pass Filters for my Vowel Filter. I realized yesterday at work, due to possible confusion for me in the display of the Sprectral Analysis freeware, that I could monitor the output of each of the 3 BPFs individually, to try and get a better idea as to what frequency (cies) that each filter is passing, as well as at what amplitudes. The frequency area (nothing specific in this freeware) should show me roughly, where the center frequency of each of the 3 BPFs is at. That, I can compare against the frequency display from my Fluke 83 multimeter to see whether the software is accurate or not. Also - it'll allow me to get a better idea as to the proper resistors combination for the Q of each of the filters. Another idea that I had whilst trying to get to sleep last night, is to put to filters together in series, to hopefully increase the the filter's pole count from 2 Pole to 4 Pole, thereby increasing the amplitude of the center frequency that the BPF is set to. I'll enter another update for this once I've tried these tests.
March 2907 - 11:30am	3 hrs. before I have to leave for work. Continuing the update with a further realization. Yesterday I had started working out the resistor values in combination, to set up my triple BPF so that it could produce the well known choir sound of "Awww" from a male voice. At the same time - I remembered that I had downloaded a piece of freeware Spectral Analysis software. I fired it up, to see what the harmonics would look like with BPF #1 set up for the first formant of "Awww" with the 2nd and 3rd still set up for the "Ayyy" sound. Watching the computer screen, I was a bit confused. There were a whole string of peeks dropping in amplitude all the way up to 22khz. Mmmm. I didn't realize at the time, what it were. I tried decreasing the output level of BPF #2, changing it's 100k summing resistor to a parallel of 100K + 200K (noting the audio difference) and then the 200K resistor by itself, noting that audio difference - finally placing the original 100K back, for an even amplitude from the 3 x BPFs. Time was up. Off I had to go to shower, before leaving for work. When I was in the shower, I remembered the original schematic from Mr. Hutchins' paper in EN #115. There were 2 extra resistors on the output of the opamp in the BPF that I hadn't used, who's values in the chart of resistor values for frequencies, I hadn't completely understood. :O I remembered as well from other schematics, that in order to have feedback in a filter, you have to send an inverted version of the output of the filter, back to the filter's input; directly or through an attenuator. Shower was over and off I went to work. Shortly after arriving, I wandered into my boss's office and asked him if he knew anything about Q in Filters and what formula(s) there were to figure out how to determine it's amount. Whilst babbling my investigations to him / etc., including the inverted / attenuated output back to the input - I came to the full realization right THEN, that it's the inverted output through a pot (with the other end of the pot tied to ground) ITSELF that determines that amount of Q in the filter! Ummm ...... duh?? ROFL!! Then and there I came to the possibly entirely correct realizations THAT: 1 - my BPF's had no Q 2 - the bandwidth specification in the CSound manual portion for the vowel frequencies, can't really be dealt with in such a simple filter construction (having to rely specifically on the # of poles in the filter as well as the Q amplitude) 3 - the peaks that I had seen in the spectral analysis's software, were the peaks of each harmonic in the waveform itself as opposed to the peak frequencies of each of the 3 x BPFs! :P Duhh. So here I am at the moment, just before setting about wiring up a 5K pot, to attach to the inverting summing output of the 3 x BPFs, to watch the spectral analysis software's screen, to see if my realization is correct. Going on other examples that I've seen - I'll be putting the inverted output through a 100k resistor first - dropping the value of the resistor if the Q's amplitude is not high enough. Let's see what happens! 2:14pm Well - setting up the 5k pot through a 100k resistor, brought more questions. I found a couple of hookup bugs on the breadboard. Finally straightening everything out, the results with the 5k pot through a 15k resistor returns a variety of 'close' vowel sounds, using the resistors for the 'Ayyy' sounding vowel. An almost 'Ayyy'; an almost 'Awww' and an almost 'Ahhh'. Odd. Of course though, this is a SINGLE 5k pot, bringing back the Summed Inverted output of all 3 x BPFs. The CSound manual chart is giving different amplitudes from each of the BPFs. (The 1st being 0dB.) My next step, is to set up each of the BPF's with their own Inverters at their outputs and bringing each of them back to the Inverting input Summer so that I can have different Feedback levels, to try and get back to the original 'Ayyy' sound that I had over all frequencies, without any feedback. Overall - the sound IS cool, adjusting the Q pot. I'm still on the anticipation curve, of doing multiple vowel resistor setups. How though - I'm now debating. Yesterday on thoughts at work, I decided to drop it to 8 different vowels, so that I can cycle between them with a CD 4051 Mux. That'll require 1 mux PER resistor set though. So, with 3 Formants and 3 resistor values each, that'll be 9 x Muxes. Still though, the thoughts of sequencing the changes between vowels is quite the cool thought as one of many options, if I do say so myself. Off to work. More experimenting before making a PCB, tomorrow.
March 2707	2007 update of my 1995 Vowel Filter And off I am. I've just breadboarded a triple Deliyannis bandpass filter, borrowed from Bernie Hutchins' Electronotes #115 issue. Success I may say, in having D.A.M.I.A.N. produce the sound of 'Ayyyyyy' when feeding a Sawtooth waveform through it. Seeing the difference in resistor values between Bernie's 39 Bank Bandpass Filter project and the resistor examples that I used from this site: Op Amp Basics as well as having no FULL clue as how to design a filter - I'm completely unsure as to the actual Q values of each of my 3 Bandpasses. :( But the sound that's come from the breadboard is CLEARLY an 'Ayyyyyy' sound, over all of the frequencies that I tried. (Bernie wrote that his design will be about a Q of 25. The writing at the above mentioned website babbles around a formula or 2, around the Q values of 8. So I'm not sure. Heck - I don't even know the formula TO determine the amount of Q in a filter. But I'm happy with the sound in the first test, anyways. ) As far as my brain can figure for the moment, I'll be setting up this 5 opamp total contraption, (Input Buffer; 3 BPF OAs and an Output Buffer / Mixer) to allow me to switch each of the 3 BPFs for the following vowel sounds. (Unless I rule some of them out, due to their sound not being interesting enough, after testin