The mighty audio generator
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Other music related lounges
Forum Name: Tech Talk
Forum Description: Discuss musical instruments, equipment, hi-fi, speakers, vinyl, gadgets,etc.
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=107957
Printed Date: November 22 2024 at 02:22
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: The mighty audio generator
Posted By: Davesax1965
Subject: The mighty audio generator
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 04:27
Ladies and gentlemen of a certain age may remember that Hawkwind employed two hairy lunatics to play "audio generator" onstage in the early 70's. Del Dettmar and Dik Mik got an old audio range signal generator and passed the output through a Binson tape echo (and apparently a ring modulator). This made the audience very ill and was the near apogee of early 70's sound experimentation.  
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Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 04:28
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Just prior to this, Delia Derbyshire had been messing about in the BBC Radiophonic workshop with nine Jason valve oscillators, 12 Advance H-1 sine/ square wave oscillators and a "beat frequency oscillator" nicknamed the "wobulator". Amongst other things, the result was the original 1963 Dr Who theme, an electronic music classic. Delia below, 9 Jason valve oscillators to the right of the monitor.  ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 04:31
Over in Room 2 of the Electronic workshop, there were a bank of Advance H-1 signal generators, a "keying unit" (and there's the famed "wobulator" just above the drawer on the right.)
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Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 04:33
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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand guess what I just bought off eBay ? ;-) Yep. An original 1960's Advance H-1 signal generator. Exact same model as the ones in the picture above. This is going to be wired up to a number of Eurorack effects to create the ultimate (I hope) weird noise machine. It'll be paired with a similar vintage valve oscilloscope in a 10U rack mount, with a row of delays, flangers, ring modulators and God knows what. Expect sonic destruction.  ------------- |
Posted By: ALotOfBottle
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 04:39
Sweet! Great read, Dave!  Have fun with the signal generator you bought! Can't wait to hear it.  ------------- Categories strain, crack and sometimes break, under their burden - step out of the space provided. |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: September 30 2016 at 04:56
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Thanks, AlotofBottle - generator arrives today, got nearly everything else ready for it ! ;-) "His poor neighbours". ;-) ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 07:45
Oh dear, oh dear ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 07:46
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Whoopsy !!! Early sonic tryout. "His poor neighbours". ;-) ------------- |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 08:33
That sinewave doesn't look too pure to me, but then even 1% harmonic distortion can look pretty ropey on a 'scope.  Of course when it comes to using it as an audio source for electronic music that's a desirable thing as your video sound-clip shows.  It's been 40+ years since I've used (or even seen) a H-1 as in the test and measurement business we quickly replaced them with solid state beasties based on the CA8038 and XR-2206 function generator chips that were inherently more stable and could be frequency and/or amplitude modulated easily using a second function generator. I see there is an H1E on eBay for £60 - back in the 70s we were hoiking them into the bin without even stripping out the valves first. Hey-ho. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 08:43
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Oh, the square wave looks even worse. ;-) File under "character". There's so much going on sonically that it's impossible to tell. Seems that a lot of ham radio users picked up H-1's, Dean. There are some J-1's out there as well. Might as well put them to a good use. Weighs a ton. It's like a T-72. ------------- |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 09:23
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^ I can imagine - I presume that the sine generator is a Wien-bridge valve oscillator and the square is created from that by over-driving the output stage, so it will look pretty dreadful simply because of the technology used - I'd wager that the shape changes quite a bit with frequency too. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 09:34
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Oh, it's everything between triangular and oval after 10k, Dean. ;-) ------------- |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 09:53
^ this is where the engineer in me conflicts with the wannabe electronic musician and the circuit-bending experimenter - the engineer thinks - Oh, I can fix that; the musicians say, Oooo - I can use that and the experimenter asks - Ah-ha, I wonder if I can make that happen at lower frequencies too?  [not that I'd recommend anyone attempts to circuit-bend a valve oscillator even if they do know what they're doing and have the utmost respect for HT voltages - being thrown across the room tends to hurt no matter who you are]. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 01 2016 at 10:10
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My brother didn't try circuit bending an old valve telly. He just assumed the capacitors had discharged. Never seen anyone move so fast. ;-) Well, it's all coming along. This all goes into a 10U rack case, with a row of Eurorack modules on the bottom - nearly a whole modular synth. If interesting noises cannot be coaxed from that, I shall be most surprised. ;-) ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 02 2016 at 08:53
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PS Yep, Wien bridge. On the nosey, Dean. :-) It's beginning to sound like Forbidden Planet here. https://soundcloud.com/brotherhoodofthemachine/generator" rel="nofollow - https://soundcloud.com/brotherhoodofthemachine/generator To compound the insanity, I found a local lunatic selling the big brother to the Advance H-1 - a J1-B. So that should arrive this week. And I should be in the Macclesfield wicker man by about..... Wednesday. ;-) Thus.  ------------- |
Posted By: Mascodagama
Date Posted: October 02 2016 at 10:55
They must have realised they have a mad scientist living next door by now though?
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Davesax1965 wrote:Posted By: KingCrInuYasha
Date Posted: October 02 2016 at 18:50
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IIRC, didn't the Silver Apples use audio generators? ------------- He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball! |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 02 2016 at 19:25
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Love those old machines, they remind me of the German stuff from the 1930s conspiracists think were used to distort time, de-materialize people, and soften the atomic structure of solid objects. Let us know if your dog disappears and winds up in the basement. ------------- "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 03 2016 at 06:43
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Half of the synthesizer graveyard, a few synths missing off the video.(Korg and Minibrute) Audio generator and scopes I wonder what all this stuff does ? ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 03 2016 at 07:12
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Silver Apples did indeed use audio generators. There were a dozen in a home made rack which was.... sort of a synthesizer. A lot of newsprint has been generated about them, but the albums were... er. ;-) ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 04 2016 at 08:55
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We are a two oscillator household now. I got a brand spanking new one from 1965. ;-)  ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 04 2016 at 08:56
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It's an Advance J1-B, on top with the big vernier dial. This is a later model and a development of the H-1, below. ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 07 2016 at 05:15
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Audio generator coming on. This is one of a pair I'm building, the other is slightly different. The sub frame is nearly built (that's Eurorack on the bottom) - there's a 5U rack shelf to add to carry the weight of the generator and scope. I've got to build a power supply / distribution board for the Eurorack modules (got the PCB's, waiting for parts and a toroidal transformer.) A nice custom wooden rack case is also on order. So this effectively has a hand built modular synth attached to it. Just add oscillators and you've also got a full fledged analogue modular synthesizer.  ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 15 2016 at 09:18
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More of this rubbish at https://www.facebook.com/theallseeingaubergine/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/theallseeingaubergine/ ------------- |
Posted By: 2dogs
Date Posted: October 22 2016 at 09:20
Ooh those generators make some lovely sounds, and I also enjoyed ImaginaryLandscape. Do make sure to also provide your audiences with a memorable visual spectacle  .
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Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: October 24 2016 at 05:57
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Blimey - where DID you find that photo ? That's a Bruel and Kjaer Beat Frequency Oscillator, model 1024, in the middle. ;-) ------------- |
Posted By: 2dogs
Date Posted: October 25 2016 at 12:03
LOL I assume you are a true expert  . The photo is Cluster around 1972 and appears in the book "Krautrock, Cosmic Rock and its Legacy". |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: December 17 2016 at 07:06
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Update. ;-) After a lot of hammering noises in the garage, we're getting very close to a "mains on" test. ;-)  ------------- |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: December 17 2016 at 07:08
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The generator effects are housed in the top wooden box. You can see the power supply and transformer in it. The box below contains some electrickery I've built and will be used for another project - the Uber Theremin. ;-) ------------- |