Well, there was nothing on the telly, so we decided to make two modular synthesizers. ;-)))

By "make", I mean.......

(Awaits technical furore from "Moog fans" who'll just cut and paste stats...... ;-) )

A live gig is possible, this will be "invite only" for people who have properly supported the band. And - no more free music releases after this level of investment. ;-) We will NOT be charging for the gig. 

This is just a test - NOT using the modulars. 

Two Korg MS20 Minis being sequenced by a Doepfer Dark Time with an Arturia Minibrute playing lead through an effects rack with automated drums (EZ Drummer) playing in the background. It's all being played LIVE. 

Add the modulars in and it should be, er, impressive. ;-) Four times the amount of oscillators....

https://soundcloud.com/brotherhoodofthemachine/seq2

Hawkwind used an off the shelf EMS VCS3, a synth so unstable that it was basically no use as an instrument, more - really - as a sound generator. It rarely stayed in tune. This was combined with some simple test oscillators and Binson Echorecs. No modular synths were ever used by Hawkwind or ever have been.

Herr Schulze et al bought a slightly modified Moog modular system from Moog directly. It was so unreliable that it nearly killed them at one point when the power supplies detached in transit and fell through the modules. They switched it on and nearly got electrocuted. But no member of TD ever built a modular. 

Yep, we're back on the VCS3 again. The pin matrix was very unreliable. Erica Synths in Latvia do a touch screen version of it for €350, wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. You have to accept that patching is part of the game and pin matrices wear out very quickly.

So. That's £250 to spend on cables alone. Pretty expensive game. 

We will probably have more analogue equipment next year than Tangerine Dream had in 1975. Scary thought. ;-) 

Two valve oscillators, a Moog style keyboard to play them on and an EMS VCS3 plugboard synth.

That was cutting edge in 1972. ;-)

Moog has reissued the original 55 with original wiring. Want one ? $150,000. Synthesizers.com do a very good replica Moog system for a fifth the price. You can replicate the same system in Eurorack format for about $3-4,000. 

I always get people telling me that old Moogs sounded better due to the poor build quality. These people haven't got an idea what they're talking about, honestly. They simply don't. ;-)

It's looking great Dave. Amazing even. 

I've dreamt of building my own modular synth but always baulked at the cost rather than the effort involved. I did attempt to start building modules from the ETI3800/5600 back in the mid 70s but as each module cost more than the weekly wage of an impoverished apprentice at the time, after completing the first module I realised it would take me decades to complete the whole thing, so the project was abandoned.

If you have a look at Eurorack systems now, anyone can build (or buy, off the shelf) a modular. I decided to build my own as I had electronics as a hobby. You don't have to know much. I am no expert, I can tell you how an oscillator works but not, for example, how to put the waveshapers together. I'm just doing this to save money and for the pleasure of building it myself.

I can well believe that about the VCS3 !!!! You can still get them, y'know, EMS produce them for £1800 each. I was amazed to find out that Peter Zinovieff is still going.....

The sine wave can be sent down, for example, a length of telephone cable. Attach test equipment at the other end, eg. an oscilloscope. Do you see a sine wave at the other end or has it been altered - is there noise on the line ? Could be electromagnetic interference, etc. 

Also used to produce a tone which is even and can be used to test, say, recording studios or environments. Test generators generally died out in the late 60's. You may find a few lying around today.

An oscillator..... a VCO or "voltage controlled oscillator" -  is slightly more complicated. Here's one I built earlier - sounded very Blue Peter, then. ;-) This is a multi waveform oscillator. It can produce sine waves, but sine waves are very boring. So you can also select (via the jack sockets below) sawtooth, square, triangle - etc - waves. There's an octave knob above (the large white one) - set it to 32, very low note, 16, note an octave up.... etc. 9 octave range. And very accurate too, generally to about 2 cents. The numbers refer to lengths of organ pipe, believe it or not. 

So a test generator is a simple sound producer. An oscillator is usually better built, more accurate, multi waveform and designed to interface with filters, amplifiers et al. 

This works on having an input of +5 to -5 volts. Go up one volt, the pitch changes by one octave. "Control voltage" is what analogue synths work on, but all have different standards. Which is a bit of a headache and why I'll have the soldering iron out this afternoon, converting the output from a sequencer to one which my Korg synth expects to have as an input. 

Me too - I even bought the book (which I still have somewhere):

...to a 17 year old fan of electronics and electronic music that was geek-porn back in 1974 (and I don't mean the two ladies bizarrely dressed in regency costume).

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What?

Yep, the Dark Time has a digital heart nowadays. It's only running clocks - the output is good old analogue. ;-)

Mine has Fancy Wooden Sides, as does the Korg MS20 Mini. (Used to have an original MS10 30 years ago).

You can bolt two Dark Times, or a Dark Time plus Dark Energy, or any combination thereof, together. Which I shall be doing. ;-)

Very boring video here - DT to Korg - wooden sides in post ! 

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/3twdmjwh7qq7dtv/AAC1S2UqRbQvHcubTpObLU3oa

{note: I'm a test engineer by profession } We still use simple sinewave generators though not the valve oscillators of old. Interestingly, those worked on the hetrodyne principle (same technique Bob Moog used in his theremin) to produce audio tones from two RF oscillators as it was a lot easier to make stable RF frequencies, which is why they would "swoop" when you adjusted the frequency control. The test generators we use today are far more sophisticated and have price tickets in the $10K range, and because the are so stable and precise it makes them less interesting from sound generation perspective. The equipment I use to test embedded ADCs and DACs employs ($100K+) arbitrary waveform generators that I can preload with whatever waveform shape I care to create.

This is the latest pic of the modular. I'm building some case lighting using electroluminescent wire (look it up) - this is "voltage on." I had one module (which I didn't build) burn out as it'd been shipped to me with the cable on the wrong way around. Reversing polarity is not recommended at all in systems with 1/8W resistors in....

The case has two expanders top and bottom, the logo has gone, room for more modules, in this case, patch connectors. Another two row case will sit on the top of this.

And a link to the least exciting video on the internet - 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qxv8u5bhzwwo8ga/2015-10-25%2014.25.04.mp4?dl=0

There is lovely elegance in the shaping of those wooden cheeks. One of my bug-bears about home-builds is they often look too home-made, when I was an apprentice the phrase "it looks like you made it" was used as a put-down to anyone who hadn't put any thought or care into the finished product. This criticism cannot be levelled at you - everything looks very nicely done sir. 

Just waiting for the Korg sides to come from the US .....

Synth 1 of 2. This is my brother's synth, he bought most of it off the shelf although there IS some hand made stuff in there. 

This is "finished", although he is threatening to add another cabinet. ;-)

I've just discovered electroluminescent wire. Got a kit of 18m of flourescent neon wire plus inverters coming next week. 

Expect a lot of.... this. Eventually. ;-))))
And yes, it can be made to move...... 

Daytime - yep - shots of EL Wire, which we may be using on stage. Neon glow wire, good for case illumination. And it looks, er, fairly good !!!!

There was a Synthi A up for sale around here recently, at ludicrous prices. No takers. 

EMS never did a modular. The closest they got to it was bolting two synths together to produce Tim Blake's Crystal Machine... and Miquette Giraurdy's too, now I come to think of it. There were very few modular synths around at the time. Moog, Buchla, ARP and Serge cover nearly all the early modulars. 

EMS are a weird, weird company. Still going, go see. 

http://emssynthesisers.co.uk/

Yes, that's a new reissue MS20 mini. I used to have an original MS10 - which did PWM as well. I'm a big Korg fan. The new reissue is pretty damn good. There are lots of frustrations about using them, mainly the fact that they don't work on Volts / Octave, but there are workarounds available. The MS20 used a classic Sallen-Key topology filter - the eagle eyed will possibly have noted that I have one built into the modular. 

There's also two Polivoks filters in there - matter of fact, the entire middle row is essentially a Polivoks. This is the beauty of modular synths, you can just add anything you like. ;-)

Imagine the joy when you plug it in and it doesn't work. Or white smoke comes out of it and it's ruined. ;-)

Having said that, you CAN get them ready made. The kit is about £120, assembled, £225. Not a cheap hobby.

What a coincidence...I'm turning green, myself!

 

What you're doing and depicting is ace! Wish I had the time and funds to do likewise.

If you wanted to make a start - well, a 3U 84HP case can be had fairly cheaply if you trawl around. (I say "fairly cheaply", Eurorack prices are a ripoff !!! Doepfer do a kit with a couple of rails, busboard and PSU, you could make your own enclosure, given a suitable donor cabinet.

Popping over to Erica Synths, they do a complete "Polivoks in a box" kit which would get you started for ... well. A reasonable amount of money. Be warned that "reasonable amount of money" means "get the soldering iron out". Still, a lot less than buying a synth, though.

It also pays to keep a weather eye on eBay as some modules are very cheap to buy second hand. 

What do you need to get started ?

One oscillator

One filter

One amplifier

MIDI <> CV interface

and then just build things up from there. 

Korg do a sequencer called the SQ1, which, I believe, works fine with the MS20 Mini as it works on the HZ/Volt standard (or can be switched to it.) It's not as well specced as a Dark Time, though. The SQ1 is quite cheap and a reasonable beginner sequencer. 

With an s-Trig cable, any sequencer will work, with the caveat that results are unpredictable if you go across several octaves, although the results "add character" to the synth. ;-) Doepfer do an s-Trig cable, but it's expensive. It's actually a rip off when you consider it only contains a low noise transistor and a resistor. I made my own for a twentieth the price. 

When buying s-Trig cables, be sure you get a jack plug to jack plug one: older Moogs also use s-Trig cables but the connectors are different - there's some archaic old two pin plug on the end of a Moog one. And the working voltages are different. 

With an s-Trig cable, you can use any sequencer, even, say, a Moog 960. 

Some of the new MS20's have wobbly potentiometers. I'm lucky, I just got one on mine. Easily sorted with a spanner, so long as you know what you're doing and don't stress the PCB underneath. 

The SQ1 is refreshingly cheap. Actually, you can get rid of a sequencer entirely if you hand write the MIDI. 

You've lost me here 

That's the new Korg sequencer - about $99. 

"Wobbly potentiometers" - some of the knobs on the Korg are a bit loose.... on some models. Not a major problem. ;-)

Oh right, I read about that.

Trunk cabling. The bottom 8 connectors are part of an internal bus system which routes signals plugged into them inside the synth.

My MS20 with a walnut side kit. Recommended. ;-)

The synth is coming along. I've just got distracted (you do) (I do anyway) by finding another Doepfer Dark Time sequencer - cheap. Mine's got wooden sides, similar to ........ well, the one below. You can bolt several Dark Time or Dark Energy synths together, so they use common sides, so ! This is what I'm up to. A common sequencer unit which can be used to drive a couple of synths. 

There's going to be a separate bass synth in the mix, here. In this case, I'm using a Moog Minitaur (coming in about January) - this has got the same wooden sides as the Dark Times I'll already have (expecting the second Dark Time tonight). I could have bought a Dark Energy but it's too similar in sound to the Arturia Minibrute I already use. 

But at the time I made mine, I had over 10 years of experience of playing keyboards (primarily through organ lessons).  Therefore for me, the keyboard was the most natural interface to choose. 30+ years later, that is still true, and the keyboard is still the best interface for me.

In fact I would argue, the best interface is the one that you can use most effectively to make music.  If that is a ribbon interface, then great. If it's a keyboard, then use that. Most western music is made up of discrete tones anyway, so a ribbon interface might be fine for avant garde music, but for music conforming to traditional scales and tones, it is not.

Even most instruments with continuous pitch, such as the guitar, have been adapted to play discrete tones (e.g. by adding frets) to fit into that paradigm.  I am a very weak guitar player, so the most effective interface for me is the keyboard regardless of the means of sound production (doesn't stop me trying to play guitar though).

And of course, this is not really an "either/or" choice. You can equip your modular synth with both, and use whatever seems more convenient to you at the moment.

In fact I would argue, the best interface is the one that you can use most effectively to make music.  If that is a ribbon interface, then great. If it's a keyboard, then use that. Most western music is made up of discrete tones anyway, so a ribbon interface might be fine for avant garde music, but for music conforming to traditional scales and tones, it is not.

True. Most music these days (including most prog rock) is in 12-tet, and for that a keyboard is indeed appropriate.

Even most instruments with continuous pitch, such as the guitar, have been adapted to play discrete tones (e.g. by adding frets) to fit into that paradigm.  I am a very weak guitar player, so the most effective interface for me is the keyboard regardless of the means of sound production (doesn't stop me trying to play guitar though). The best interface is the one the player is able to use to make the best music (whatever your definition of "best" is).

Sure.

EDIT: There is of course yet another way of playing a modular synth: route in an audio signal from an external source, such as a guitar. There is certainly a lot a modular synth can do to the sound of an electric guitar!




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... brought to you by the Weeping Elf

"What does Elvish rock music sound like?" - "Yes."

With regards to "an analogue synth can be played with a ribbon controller", it certainly can, and it can also be played with a keyboard. Any non digital instrument is analogue, you could, say, tune a piano in non standard tuning. Piano, hmmm, keyboard. ;-) There are musical scales developed with more than the standard 12 notes. And keyboards to suit. 

Matter of fact, you can do anything you want with an analogue synth, there are no rules, after all, just guidelines. I'm driven away from ribbon controllers as they tend to make instruments sound like theremins. It limits, rather than enhances, them. But there are times when you actually want to get that sound. I'd just rather not have it all the time. ;-)

You pays your money, you takes your choice, after all ! 

OR you can just turn the GLIDE / Portamento up and achieve much the same effect using a manual keyboard. Nearly. ;-)

One of the problems I have with music forums (and a lot of musicians) (mainly classically trained ones) is that they tend to assume that there is a "right way" to do things - or a hierarchy of what is good or bad, or what's better than something else. "Band A vs Band B - which is better ? " - this really gets me ... irritated. It's art. You can't measure or quantify it. Unless you're a professional musician or actually wrote the piece, all you have is an opinion. Well, everyone has an opinion. ;-) So I'll defend Weeping Elf's decision to use a ribbon controller on his (theoretical) synth and anyone elses' right to not use one.... as the mood suits. 

But that's the great thing about modulars. If you can't look at one and see the creative possibilities...... 

31 note scale keyboard. Played against a pipe organ. 

90% of all people who buy a modular are not musicians.... they tend to make "experimental music". 
Draw your own conclusions. ;-)

Bit of work last night  - two Doefper Dark Time sequencers bolted together in a common case, synchronised together. This will allow me to run sequences together on two synths simultaneously. 

This all goes into a mixer. The modular can output audio from various points in the system, so I've also created Mixing Desk Nightmare. If we do a live gig, the technicians will probably attempt to strangle us. ;-)

This is the sequencer section. Two Doepfer Dark Times bolted together and synchronised. The audio is from something else, using a Minibrute (see above). 

The output from this goes into two synths. The synth audio output is then fed into an effects rack and from there into a mixer. From the mixer, it goes either to a mixing desk or directly to the PC. 

Extend the ribbon cable through the back of the case and it can be used to feed the bus system of a second add on synth case. ;-)

It's one third built, the second third will come to life "shortly" and the level of complexity of sound goes up exponentially from there. 

I never want to see another soldering iron again. ;-)

 

So nice to see this, right after I saw "I dream of Wires" I just got and watched.

 

Really cool!

This is my modular - 

https://flic.kr/p/fB1VWF" rel="nofollow"> https://flic.kr/p/fB1VWF" rel="nofollow - full modular by https://www.flickr.com/photos/sduck409/" rel="nofollow - Stephen Drake , on Flickr

- all built by myself, except for the MOTM 650. Kind of an old picture actually, now there's a row of euro stuff (which you can see the start of top left), a TTSH, a Buchla music easel, etc etc. It's always expanding - such is the way of modular synths. 

Nice system, must be great fun to play!

I have a modular but it's much smaller than the other ones pictured in this thread, only has about ten modules.

There are so many interesting modules available and always new modules being released too. Often really hard to choose which modules to get. And unfortunately my disposable income is limited.

https://soundcloud.com/brotherhoodofthemachine/modbrute" rel="nofollow - https://soundcloud.com/brotherhoodofthemachine/modbrute

Quite a feat of soldering, there ! ;-) Buchla never quite caught on in Europe the same way Moog did. Which is a real shame.