I was perusing the website of chiptune king nullsleep the other night and I stumbled across some really interesting info on NES modification. Most interesting probably is the nsf playback cartridge guide. It's some serious assembly-based stuff, but would be fun to look into. I guess I'm hoping for an open-source version of the MIDINES, which is an awesome idea, but hard to obtain (as far as I know). It's always a little depressing to me when someone comes up with an excellent idea and decides to sell it rather than share it - but all power to them.

-Colin

Check out these little monsters. Adachi Tomomi, a composer and artist, creates small noisemaking boxes inside of plastic containers. They're called Adachi's (does anyone know what that means?) He seems to be able to select the ideal buttons and knobs to create a really excellent aesthetic. Check out this video of the "Tomomin Synthesizer II":



I've always felt like device-makers with a distinctive look have the right idea (take Mike Ford for example). I've always resented a little bit that I give 100% control to the people who order custom boxes, just because I love the look of brushed hammond boxes and those classy knobs with the metal center (have you noticed that at all?)

-Colin

I know I've posted this before, but I pulled it up for the umpteenth time yesterday and thought I would post it again. Wikipedia has this very useful list of CD4000 series chips. No datasheets, (alldatasheet has them) but if you're trying to figure out the right logic chip for the job this is the place to go. There really are a lot of them, so normally you can find an ideal one for your application. I tend to use the 4000 series pretty exclusively unless I find something from a different logic series that fits my application better. The problem as always is that sometimes you need something specific but you don't know the name - google helps!

-Colin

Here's a really cool listen. It's Bob Moog talking through one of his early synthesizers in the studio of the University of Iowa. Definitely a good explanation of the workings of an analog synth if you're not familiar. It's also a great source for samples if you're into that



You can download the whole thing at this blog which posts various albums involving moog synths. Thanks to matrix for the link.

-Colin

Something I've been thinking a lot about for the last little while is microcontroller synths. That is, digital synthesizers programmed onto PICs or AVRs. Most analog synths out there are monophonic and have fairly unwieldy circuits if you want tracking, MIDI, etc. I've always loved chiptunes, so SID synths have always been cool to me, but I don't like messing with out of production technology. So, in my googlings and musings on DDS (direct digital synthesis), I found the avrsynth. The avr synth is a brilliantly programmed (in assembly no less) synthesizer with a built in ADSR, "VCA", "VCF", LFO, and MIDI control. Even better is the avrsyn, which extends the AVR synth in that it has more controls and features.



The only problem? It's monophonic. The solution? Scale the code down to an ATTiny2313 (an 20-pin microcontroller, with enough pins for MIDI, xtal, V+/gnd, and the DAC output - well, at least part of it ) and make ALL of the parameters MIDI CC controlled. Then, build a separate controller that inputs MIDI data and handles the voicing. Each chip would be a completely independent voice. This was the approach used in early polyphonic synths, except the entire voice would be on one simple 20-pin chip! Now all I need to do is sit down and try to get some semblance of a understanding for the monster of a asm file that is the avrsyn source code. Or, I could try to convince one of you to do it by talking about how amazing it would be... wait a minute...

-Colin

Well, here are the promised videos of my lecture at Circuitastrophe. Thanks to the junkyard catalyst for snapping the video. Unfortunately, I'm pretty incomprehensible at some points due to a band practicing in another room. Seriously, who practices at 10 am on a Saturday morning? If you watch all 48 minutes, I'll be impressed!



Hopefully this doesn't shatter your image of me as a mad scientist, pro football player, rock star, etc. Note the EA t-shirt I will try to post the accompanying handout soon. If you see something or hear something you're interested in, feel free to ask. The lecture was basically me writing a really long forum post out loud, after all.

-Colin

Hello everyone,

So it has been a couple weeks since my last post. Personally it always really bugs me when blogs lapse between posts, so my sincerest apologies for that. I most definitely won't let it happen again, finally stuff has become more stable and I can post again as much as I want. Here's what I've been up to:

1) I moved, as I do at the end of the summer every year, and stopped accepting orders. I've been busy sending out Parallel Universes, now just a couple are left. The RPS-10 has sold, and the stereo chorus/vibe is still available (but sort of on hold, people keep asking about it) and the enclosures are still available. This year, the move rendered me internetless for a number of weeks (or at least, limited use, enough that I couldn't post). But finally, thanks to Verizon, I'm back in action.

2) I hosted a workshop at circuitastrophe. Cincinnati is about four hours south of me right now, so I left early Saturday morning to catch my time spot at 10 am. The audience was small but about the right size - I posted about voltage control (analog and digital) of bends. I will hopefully post more info about this soon. I got to meet Alex and [url=highlyliquid.com/]highly liquid[/url] and Mr. Ghazala and a ton of other excellent folks. Getlofi and Highlyliquid gave workshops, Highlyliquid turned into a sprawling wired circuit bent MIDI music session, which was very fun. I had to leave sunday, but it was definitely fun, and I will certainly go next year. Vidoes are also forthcoming.

3) I've set up a recording studio that can rock reel to reel's. That's what's been taking up most of my time. It's at a radio station, and is intended for recording bands on the air - so mostly overdub free stuff. Pretty excellent.

4) My basement flooded and my pedals got soaked. They are drying (it has been long enough that I'm going to test them tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed).

So that's it for me, at least what I can think of - more mentally enriching posts are forthcoming, I promise!

-Colin

Good news and bad news - the S-TC populated circuit boards are sold out. I'm looking forward to seeing what the 11 purchasers have come up with. I've posted the schematics, layouts, etc online, and started a discussion here, so even if you didn't get one (and you're brave) you can make one. Also, if you have any tips or mod ideas, do feel free to post them!

The RPS-10 and Chorus Panner are on hold (but if you want them, let me know and I will put you on the list of people to contact if the deal falls through). I also fixed the chorus panner video, you can view the new one here There are still enclosures of both kind available. The Parallel Universes are vanishing, here is the updated picture showing which have sold:



Thanks for your support as always!

-Colin

The summer is nearing and end, so as per usual, I'm selling a bunch of things. I've finally finished a run of updated Parallel Universes (despite setbacks). They cost $175 each.



I also recently finished a pedal that I really love. It's a variation on the Chorus Tremolo thing I've been doing for a while - this one is stereo. Into two amps, each with reverb, this thing really shines. It also does really nice tremolo, vibrato, chorus (or any combination therein) in mono. More information is in the custom work page. I also posted a video here (now it works!).



I'm also selling a modified RPS-10 with an accompanying footswitch box. This is one of my favorite delays, and one of my favorite mods to do. More information is also on the custom work page.



I'm also selling the enclosures left over from the Pedal Parts Plus fiasco. They are $15 apiece, and come in two varieties: One with holes for five pots, the other for holes with four. More information in this post.



I'm also selling, for $60 each, the circuit boards for the Space-Time continuums that I didn't make. They are complete PCBs. More information on that is also here.



Please email me if you're interested in anything! That's it for me for a while, hope you can find something you'll like. Thanks for reading.

-Colin

I've decided on a (partial) solution to the problems I had with Pedal Parts Plus' drilling service. (To recap - I ordered 24 drilled and painted boxes for Parallel Universes and Space-Time Continuums. I checked them out a couple months after receiving them, and they were drilled wrong, but PPP won't refund or do anything about it because of the time lapse). After some emails with Steven (aka Para) from The Squarewave Parade I've decided to actually make the Parallel Universes, and sell everything else as parts.

The drilling error with the original Parallel Universe enclosures was that two of the holes for the jacks on the back (the expression jacks) were offset to one side. Because I'm using board mounted jacks, this was a big problem - they wouldn't fit. However, I found that if I enlarged the holes for the jacks a bit, in most cases I could fit the boards in there. Unfortunately, because of variability in the hole spacing and the placement of the jacks on the PCB, not all of them would fit normally like this. I am using the Neutrik board mount jacks, which are necessary if you have also mounted something on the board that goes vertical (footswitches in my case). In the cases where there was a problem, the jack's face would be too far away from the enclosure, making it hard to screw in the nut. This would often end up with a nut that was a bit skewed, making jack insertion difficult. To get around this, some of them have metal washers instead of the plastic ones on one of the jacks. This might not make a whole lot of sense, but the net result is that with some kludging, I've been able to build all of the Parallel Universes. It's just that some of them look like this:



I like to think it makes the PU into a pirate. That's the input jack. Really it doesn't affect the functionality in any way, however funky you think it looks. So, I will be selling 12 of these for $175 each. I will post shortly with all of the details if you're interested, as well a couple other boxes I recently finished.

So what about the Space-Time Continuums? Well, those boxes were much more inappropriate for the circuit boards, so I can't come up with a way to make those. I could find someone else to drill the boxes, but for the sake of closure, I've decided just to sell them. It's been a really long journey with these (I had problems with the PCB manufacturer and part supplier too), so I figure I will just start fresh, and maybe tweak the design a little. As for the 20 enclosures I have that are drilled incorrectly and the 11 circuit boards (I'm keeping one), well, I am hoping to sell them all at cost.

First off are the boxes. I am selling them for <b>$15 each</b>. These are painted and drilled 1790NS enclosures. They're painted a gloss black, adn the paint job is really excellent. Let me also stress that the drilling is really good, it just won't fit my circuit boards! There are two varieties, and I have 10 available of each. Both of them have three holes for footswitches, and three corresponding holes for LEDs. They also both have 6 holes drilled in the back for jacks, and one for a DC jack.



Notice that the DC jack hole is smaller than typical - you will have to drill it out if you want to use the panel mount kind. Where they differ is that 10 of them have four holes drilled for pots and the other 10 have five. The set of 10 with four holes drilled also have the jack holes a bit closer together. The 5-hole variety's spacing is large, but the holes on either side (input and output, typically) are close enough to the edge of the box that you may need to drill those out a bit to fit the jack in there (I had no trouble doing this). Here's the four hole variety:



Please note that these are very well painted and in perfect shape. 1790NS' cost 11.25 from smallbear, so you are only paying 3.75 for a really nice paintjob and pre-drilling. This is more holes than your average box, but at the very least it will help you think of more features to add! You can always drill more holes for pots and switches, too. This would make a really ncie box for a complex TB looper or something along those lines. And, if you think you have too many holes, you can always fill them (perhaps with a part that does nothing - or you could wire multiple input jacks in parallel or something). If you are interested in purchasing a large amount of these (all 10 of one kind for that production run you've been wanting to do?), please let me know. $15 doesn't cover the price I paid for these, but I want to move them. For completeness, here is the 5-hole variety:



Aside from the enclosures, I also have 11 space-time continuum circuit boards. EDIT - These are SOLD OUT. The S-TC is a low-fidelity digital delay based on the PT2395 echo chip. The PT2395 is behind such excellent delay tones as the Visual sound H2O (I think), the Danelectro PB&J, and other boutique delays (SIB Mr. Echo I think?). The S-TC takes it an extra step and allows the chip to be dramatically underclocked, allowing for long, bit-crushed delay times. It also features hold, an effects loop, and expression control of delay time and feedback. I really love this delay. It's definitely lo-fi though - the delays are fairly crunchy (but warm!) and it is not a noise-free box by any means. I owned a RE-201 for a long time, and at the risk of having someone hunt me down and kill me, I would say this is the closest I've heard a delay to a nice broken in tape echo. When most people attempt to emulate, they carefully tweak digital filters, but the S-TC just happens to sound very lo-fi. It's a bit more crunchy though. Here's the board:



Every component needed is there; it's a fully assembled board. Again, $60 does not cover the price I paid to make these, but I want to move them. The footswitches, jacks, pots, and ICs alone from smallbear is already over $60, and that doesn't include the PCB and all the passives. There are two boards connected by an IDC cable, one for the pots and one for everything else. Here's a picture of just the main board:



The boards were made by a professional boardhouse, they are silk screened with a solder mask and plated holes. Keep in mind that these will only fit in a 1790NS with some very careful drilling and some tweaks to the circuit board (I can explain if you're brave). Otherwise, I would recommend putting them in a larger box. All nuts needed are included. Here's the back of the board:



Keep in mind that this isn't your typical delay - it is a lo-fi beast. There is a certain amount of noise with the board just raw, but with some tweaking (and once it's in a grounded enclosure) it's just a little more than typical. Hopefully everyone who buys one can start a discussion and we can get everyone a delay they really love. If you're still unsure, I will be posting a demo video sometime soon (of the one I am keeping). I will also post full schematics and board layouts for everyone.

Phew, that's a lot of info - I will post more about the run of Parallel universes shortly, as well as some other pedals I have for sale. I'll also summarize the S-TC stuff for convenience. Stay tuned!

-Colin