The DIY Synth/FX/Stuff thread ... =)

[paradigm_x]

Ics shouls ALWAYS go in sockets imo. Huge pita to desolder, risk of damaging board, even if ic is cheaper than socket.

[naphta]

nice thread.
this is a recent project
built with arduino + 3 photoresistors + 1 ultra-bright led + tiny RC-engine
controlling ableton

[Ongelegen]

Capsules are still hanging loose from the ears, the head is hollow and needs to be filled up with some isolation material and the base needs to screwed to the head. Finishing up tomorrow

[Electric_Head]

interesting

[Ongelegen]

Just finished the dummy head. Got pics and audio


The little black dot in the ear is the mic capsule


Balanced XLR outputs, mics fed by P48 from the interface. Same schematic and parts like the omnis I build before this.

How good does it sound? Well simply sounds amazing for a DIY mic. But I'll also provide some comparison with a Neumann KU-100 dummy head (recording made by Kall Binaural Audio). Neumann retails around $6000! Both are recordings of paper. Obviously it's not the same recording, which does not make this 100% objective, but you get the point .

For those not familiar with binaural recordings, listen on headphones or the binaural effect does not work.

My DIY Dummy Head (no processing at all, only normalized to -0.1dB)
Soundcloud

The Neumann KU-100 (recording by Kall Binaural Audio)
Soundcloud

[alphacat]

Worth a watch.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/1491

[Ongelegen]

Anything happing here?

I've been building a ssl compressor clone the past three weeks, it's close to fishished. Installing it in a rack soon. Fired it up for the first time today. Having a blast with it so far

[test_recordings]

Nice, ta for the bump, I'm in to this stuff! How come you want the SSL though? I'm planning on doing an optocoupler with automatic attack and release to preserve transients.

[Ongelegen]

Basically build this because its a great project for beginners. Well documented and the circuit isnt very complicated. Its not my first diy project, but it's pretty big compared to my previous mic projects.

Nice, going for the la2a or something else?

[paradigm_x]

Nice

Ive finished a phaser - http://www.oakleysound.com/deep.htm

And various bits towards a modular, and a distortion box. Kind of kept off the DIY for a while, actually been doing music!

I actually sold the Shruthi that started this whole thread off, then fucking royal mail broke it on route to buyer, then broke it even more on way back, then refused compensation as i couldnt prove value because its DIY! fuckers!

So ive got to fix that. Thinking of doing some mods and putting it in a cool old 70s tape deck i found at the tip...

[Ongelegen]

Nice

Ive finished a phaser - http://www.oakleysound.com/deep.htm

And various bits towards a modular, and a distortion box. Kind of kept off the DIY for a while, actually been doing music!

I actually sold the Shruthi that started this whole thread off, then fucking royal mail broke it on route to buyer, then broke it even more on way back, then refused compensation as i couldnt prove value because its DIY! fuckers!

So ive got to fix that. Thinking of doing some mods and putting it in a cool old 70s tape deck i found at the tip...

Cool, I've been looking at the oakley stuff aswell, still undecided on what to build next, but thinking of a stereo Filtrex. But there is really alot of stuff i'd like to build and it's by no means cheap haha. You have build the filtrex aswell right? Would you say it's easier than the oakley modular. Which modules have you build so far and how much did the parts run you?

Damn thats a bummer man. Pretty cool idea to put it in the tape deck, interested in how that turns out.

[paradigm_x]

I love the oakley stuff, sounds great, easy to build, great documents and no rare/expensive parts.

I did build a filtrex yeah, its great. samples in here somewhere.

Ive not finished any oakly stuff, half done the adsr, PSU and COTA filter, finished up some other non oakley stuff (youll have to google); fonik X4046 VCO, sympleseqs, sequential switches, PS3100 triple resonaotrs, etc, other stuff. Still not got enough to actually make a synth tho yet loads of nearly finished, or 'useless until other things finished' stuff.

Soon will have a badass modular...

The cost is hard to predict, you end up buying millions of parts, which sit around, then more, id say filtrex was about £150-180 all in, case and pots being the most expensive.

[test_recordings]

Any of you lot know how to mod oakley stuff well? I want to be able to use external LFOs to synch and stuff.

Wait, I could just set it by ear.... bit hard on 4/1 though

[Ongelegen]

I love the oakley stuff, sounds great, easy to build, great documents and no rare/expensive parts.

I did build a filtrex yeah, its great. samples in here somewhere.

Ive not finished any oakly stuff, half done the adsr, PSU and COTA filter, finished up some other non oakley stuff (youll have to google); fonik X4046 VCO, sympleseqs, sequential switches, PS3100 triple resonaotrs, etc, other stuff. Still not got enough to actually make a synth tho yet loads of nearly finished, or 'useless until other things finished' stuff.

Soon will have a badass modular...

The cost is hard to predict, you end up buying millions of parts, which sit around, then more, id say filtrex was about £150-180 all in, case and pots being the most expensive.

Nice, sounds awesome. Keep us up to date with the modular. Would love to hear some samples when it's done

[Ongelegen]

Made some progress, dummy front panel for now. Made a short example of drums through it:

http://ongelegen.com/gssl.wav 4 bars dry followed by 4 bars compressed, then repeated.

[test_recordings]

Nice, I can actually hear the difference in punch!

What D/A converter are you using btw?

[Ongelegen]

Yeah definitely, cant wait to finish it up.

Im using a fireface 400.

[alphacat]

emSynth: the affordable DIY modular synth...

emSynth: the electro-music synthesizer is a compact miniature modular synthesizer system designed for anyone with an interest in low cost modular synthesizers. Here you will find affordable modules that plug into a breadboard or custom wiring harness in an enclosure. You can build entire musical systems using emSynth modules alone, or you can mix them with your own custom designs on the breadboard itself. With emSynth the sounds you can create are unlimited!

Traditional modular synthesizers are large, wall-sized investments in sound. They are composed of racks containing modules that cost $300 or more each. emSynth replaces these racks with breadboards holding tiny modules that cost about $15 each. This is made possible by several choices including open electronics and breadboard connectorization, plus the advancements in electronics miniaturization in the past 40 years. Of course, the circuits are simplified - and many are digital as well, adding to the unique quality of emSynth's sounds. You can build an emSynthesizer and reconfigure it at will for under 1/20th the cost of traditional big iron synthesizers. With that you get portability and flexibility also.

emSynth essentially creates a new form factor in the world of modular synthesizers: the breadboard! The history of emSynth goes back to the 1970's when a man named Stanley Lunetta pioneered the use of tiny digital chips called CMOS (pronounced sea-moss) in creating music. Stan made beautiful copper art sculptures out of CMOS chips that blinked and buzzed and whirred with elegant complexity. Fast forward to today and a crowd of modern enthusiasts are carrying on Stan's work and adding to it on a daily basis. Much of the activity is discussed on the electro-music forum named after Stan, the Lunetta forum. The emSynth circuits are derived from this ongoing category of music system exploration. We are just beginning to scrape the surface of what is sure to be a wealth of discovery as time unfolds before us. For now, some of us Lunetta designers have gotten together to bring you a small yet rapidly growing collection of miniature music modules that are collectively known as emSynth.

[Ongelegen]

Interesting. I'm wondering how it's controlled, those pcb are very small, from what I see there wont be any pots on the modules. Same goes for the patching. Would like to see/hear it in action, but it seems like a steal at the mentioned price point.

[paradigm_x]

Lunettas are kind of fun screechy noise boxes but not really a 'synth' in the traditional sense.

Those tiny ones are just pre-arranged lunetta 'modules' but you can make the same ones on perf/stripboard.

Bloke called nathanxl does amazing little sculptures from components without using circuit boards, very clever.

http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-53340.html