Modular progress

Just a quick note on the progress of my modular.

I have desided to make it look like a miniature Prophet 5. I have bought 200 knobs from Dave Smith Instruments, and have landed the design of the various modules. Next up is buying jack sockets and potmeters. I will probably use the same Alpha pots that I used for the Machinebeats.

P5

Here are some photos showing what the P5 looked like when it arrived in norway.


A key to the far left, pressed all the way down




A key to the far right, pressed all the way down. Notice how it hits the wood/metal and how it looks compared to the left one (This is before I inserted the washers.




Here is a screw on the right side that holds the keybed, half way unscrewed. The other screw on the left is missing.





Now, this is not good - the "filt env" pot has been bent towards the back of the synth - or rather, the metal front plate has actually been bent down! Whatever did this must have put quite a lot of force on the pot.


Here is the screw that holds the back of the synth to the wood, right behind the "filt env" pot. It's not easy to see in this pic, but it is actually slightly bent, which I guess happened at the same time the pot was pressed backwards.


Here's the broken mod wheel - also on the same side as the "filt env" pot...

(Not so) short list of stuff I need to get

An update is needed - I was hoping the list would shrink, but it is actually growing ;-)

Korg M1
Roland JP-8000
Roland JD-800
Roland Juno-60
Roland JX-3P w/PG-200
Roland PG-800
Clavia Nord Lead 2 (Because it's RED. And because it's a modern classic)
Oberheim OBXa (Jump! Need I say more?)
Oberheim Matrix 12
Sequential Circuits Prophet 5
Linn Drum

Got'em:
Casio MT-400
Casio VL-1
Crumar Bit-One
Introspectiv 9090
Moog Little Phatty Australian Redback Edition
Novation KS Rack
Oakley Sound Systems TB3031
Roland D-50
Roland MC-303
Roland Juno 106
Roland Jupiter 8
Roland JX-8P
Roland TR-808
Yamaha DX7-IID
Yusynth.net modular

Mungo Analog Modular

Seems like someone has just released something resembling my dream!

http://namm.noisepages.com/2010/01/mungo-namm-2010-video/

This is a polyphonic modular synth (8 voices, 4 VCOs per voice), that is patchable using normal cables, but once you've patched the synth you can store the settings. Next time you want to use it, you can load the patches from memory without using the cables :-D

Niiiiice, just what I want to build!

Update: I was fooled, it's not analogue. Still pretty cool though.

Please reread the schematics...

...and you (I) will discover that the capacitors connected across the input power lines are intended for decoupling. Now go fix the PCB.

SMD based VCOs

The project focus has shifted slightly at the moment. I'm now thinking about building a polyphonic synth as well as a modular. To achieve this, I've started redrawing the modules from yusynth.net to use SMD components. Yesterday I finished the VCO, and the result is a 70 x 32 mm PCB, exactly 1/3 of the size of the yusynth one.

As I have little experience designing audio circuits, I have no idea of how noisy the new design is. To test the new PCBs, I've etched a bunch of yusynth PCBs to use as a reference. These will then be used to build a mono modular :-)

So far I've etched:
3 x VCO
2 x LFO
3 x Envelope generators
3 x VCA
1 x Moog filter
1 x ARP filter
1 x Steiner filter
1 x Diode filter
1 x Ring modulator
1 x Noise/Sample & hold
1 x Audio mixer
1 x power supply (Ken Stone)
1 x Auto bend

I'm aiming for a 6 voice, 3 VCO polysynth, which means that I need 18 VCOs... This will surely take a lot of time and money to finish, so I don't expect to complete the project for some years (if it is ever finished at all...)

Moving to a Modern Modular

A new take on the classic modular synthesizer. A modular that requires no patching cords and uncouples the location of the control surfaces from the location of the analogue audio circuitry, but retains the feel and ease-of-control of a classic modular. A modular where you can store patches and swap modules at will, and even change the way you control the sound without touching the audio modules. Wouldn't that be nice?

This blog will follow my steps towards creating a modern, digitally controlled analogue modular synthesizer platform, where all control surfaces are removable and patching is done through a wide audio bus. Will I ever get there? Who knows, but I am bound to have a great time and learn a lot through the process.