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Modular synth madness
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verslibre View Drop Down
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Points: 17168 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 14 2019 at 11:35
Look at those beautiful knobs.
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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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There's the Dark Time sequencers. Ignore the Moog Minitaur synth. ;-)

More woodwork, I must stop doodling at work. Just requires casing up and a breakout panel being made. 

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Slight pause whilst I put together a (non MIDI sync) clock generator - this will feed into a clock divider (which I'm also building) - this provides clock out for the sequencers. And LFOs. And anything which requires a clock. 

I really should stop doodling at work, as I came up with an idea for an angled 19" base unit which the main case sits on, which will contain two Doepfer Dark Time sequencers (which I've got) bolted side to side and acting as the master (MIDI in / out) sequencers for the system, sending clock and gate to an accessory cabinet with eight sequencers in it. I've got all the stuff, it's just woodwork time. ;-)

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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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Done by one of my friends. 

"2001 - A Case Odyssey". ;-)

After this one's finished (proof of concept) I've got some vague plans around commercially producing a few synths which will be nearly this size but based around the older Moog format. They'll be modular - you buy the case and power supply - the case will be oak and 20mm thick ("built to last"). There'll be an inbuilt keyboard. Probably 49 key. 

You then choose three 5U panels populated with various pre-made modules. For example, one will have two oscillators, a filter, voltage controlled amplifier, low frequency oscillator and an output module: another might have one oscillator and two filters. There will be a number to choose from, all pre-built. You just mix and match.

The only construction required on the part of the owner is to plug a power connector into the back of the panel and then attach the panel to rack strips using four screws. I've got most of a home built system designed, well, the important bits, so I'll look into it later. Avoiding using Kickstarter, I find it a dishonest system. May be a year or two off, but if you want a big Moog modular, watch this space. 

Alas, it won't be all that cheap,  but it's not going to be a complete rip off, either. ;-)





Edited by Davesax1965 - May 07 2019 at 06:15

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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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And that's less than half the stage setup. ;-)

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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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It then gets to live with two little friends..... and eight other analogue synths, two basses, six saxes, a flute and six guitars....

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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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When varnished, it gets reassembled and the internal wiring loom connected. I then check voltages, if they're OK, this is what goes in next. And it all has to be calibrated. 

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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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Points: 2839 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Davesax1965 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2019 at 09:34
Oh, they all had soldering irons, no one stopped them from making their own. ;-)

Too cold and damp to apply a varnish coat today, but here's the Interocitor taking shape. 

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Points: 17168 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 05 2019 at 14:25
^Yes, it's not fair, especially since 45 years ago only 1 in 5,000,000 people had one. Haha!
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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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Points: 2839 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Davesax1965 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 05 2019 at 08:20

Keith Emerson's modular synth - recreations of which cost $150,000

Versus mine.

Specs for the Keith Emerson Moog -

Oscillators: 6 - mine has fourteen
Waveforms: Pink Noise, Pulse, Pulse Variable, Saw Down, Saw Up, Square, Triangle, White Noise
Osc Modulation: Envelope, Fader, Input, Keyboard, Knob, LFO, Oscillator, Pitch Wheel, Glide / Portamento, Ribbon, Ring Modulation, Sequencer, Sync Hard

Envelopes: 7 - mine has ten
Evelope Paramerters: Delay, Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release

Filters: 4 - mine has twelve
Types: 24dB Slope (4-pole), Low Pass, Resonance
Filter Modulation: Envelope, Input, Keyboard, Knob, LFO, Mod Wheel, Oscillator, Pedal, Portamento, Ribbon, Sequencer

LFO: 2 - mine has seven
LFO Parameters: Sample & Hold, Saw Up, Saw Down, Square, Triangle, Freerun, Key Sync

Sequencer - One 16 step sequencer with customizations
Mine has nine, all with  eight steps, chainable, and two external 16 step sequencers.


Mine also has delays, waveslicers, ramp generators, phasers, a whole shedload more. There's a lot more planned. 

However.

Comparing a 1970's Moog with a modern Eurorack system is not really all that fair. Moog had enormous problems with getting hold of suitable electronics - which is a piece of cake, now. Printed circuit boards had to be expensively hand made in the 70's - I can design mine in a couple of hours and get them manufactured in China for nothing. Components had such wide tolerances then that everything had to be hand checked, and that's really not a problem any more. So whilst my system is far in advance of an old Moog, that's not the complete picture. 

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PS Case "half full of modules". "Test for fit" time. 

Everything fits. ;-)

That's a multi colour rack light on the top, incidentally. With the amount of knobs and cables this thing has, you tend to need good illumination, especially in a stage setting. I'm vaguely thinking of converting two BNC gooseneck LED lights as extra illumination and having them pluggable into the case on panel mounts. Means more routing. I went nearly deaf routing the damn side handles in. ;-)

Coming along nicely. If I switch it on, no fuses blow and I get a stable 12v out of it, we're in business. 

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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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PS Hi FransSacco, sorry for the late reply, I was taking a break from the forum. ;-)

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The case is being currently stained (why not ? ) and will be varnished and reassembled tomorrow. Two coats of "Brooklands Green" wood stain and then probably three coats of gloss varnish with sanding between coats. It then gets reassembled, then all the internal wiring is reconnected, tested and I can start populating the case. 

The fun then starts as it all has to be calibrated. To do this, you need an oscilloscope, a volt meter and the ability to swear a lot. For several weekends. 

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Back again, got completely irritated by a pair of people behaving like imbeciles on here. 

I've been a busy little beaver. Firstly, I've reopened the music website and started a Facebook page for the band. Secondly, I was completely messed about by flightcase builders. The scam is that they expect to make an additional profit by insisting that they supply the hardware, which gives then about an extra £15 profit. Or no profit at all when you say no thank you then. They could actually charge me an extra fifteen quid, I wouldn't be bothered, but no, silly games time. So I told them all to stuff it and contacted a friend, Guy Mitson, who does chunky studio furniture out of reclaimed wood. 

I asked Guy to make me a 21U high rack (101cm all in) with rubber feet on, rack strip, 200mm depth and to add some rubber feet. He makes cases out of reclaimed wood. A few weeks later, the case arrived. Lovely. I got the router out and added side handles, a top handle, put a 5.5mm ply back on it and here's the result, before stripping, staining and varnishing. 

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Points: 6 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote FransSacco Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 08 2019 at 10:25
Hi..they're really nicely put together. I got one of their systems back when I knew next to nothing about analogue synthesis, so the straight forward design was a great benefit for me.
There's been times when I've been tempted to sell it so that I can get some of the fancier new modules that have come out over the years, but I'm glad I've never succumbed to that urge.
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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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Case design done, now to get some quotes in !!! 

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Perspex plate to cover the AC side of the power supplies - this stops small metal objects falling in, such as screws, and keeps fingers away from mains current. 

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Power distribution backboard wired up. Next step, order a custom flight case..... which will be done next week. One to four weeks later, a 21U case arrives, the backboard is screwed in, the power supply is as well, the frames are installed, switches, fuses and power indicators are wired in, I make an earth plate and common the earths - then it's Grand Switch On time and check the output voltages before reinstalling everything in the case. 

Then it just all has to be calibrated. ;-)

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More Arts and Crafts this weekend cutting frames with an angle grinder. Abu Hamza here we come....  ;-)

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One sad aside. I wanted to be a maxillofacial surgeon (it's a long story) (very long story.) 

The one handed sax came about as a result of the enormous amount of injured WW1 soldiers, and also the coincidental "saxophone craze" of the 1920's. 

I was also reading about the French department which made tin facial prostheses for soldiers with facial wounds. The UK one, the "tin nose shop" kept extensive records about their patients - the French didn't. Over 20,000 French veterans had a facial mask made.... they just vanished into obscurity. Apparently a lot of UK veterans got jobs as film projectionists, so they could work at night and alone, avoiding the general public.

When you then read up about Krukenberg amputations (and I suggest you don't) for soldiers who were blinded and had lost both hands - a Krukenberg amputation splits the forearm in half and relocates a muscle so the arm becomes a giant chopstick.... but retains sensation, where artificial limbs don't - you start realising how appalling WW1 was. 

"Watch waterfalls of pity roar". 

Completely off topic. Oh yes. Well. After a few incidents, some in the family, I wanted to be a maxillofacial surgeon but essentially decided to do so too late. A long story and hey ho, there you go. ;-)

Edited by Davesax1965 - February 05 2019 at 10:39

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