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The DIY Synth/FX/Stuff thread ... =)
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:31 am
by paradigm_x
So i built my first DIY synth
http://mutable-instruments.net/shruthi1c
Yay!
Well it works, which is amazing enough in itself, but it also sounds great. Gritty 8bitness with analogue filter, and lots of modulation options. Filter isnt quite as good as other analogue ones ive heard but pretty decent, and i think it still needs a bit of tuning. Screens a little bit wonky too, but given my problems yesterday im chuffed it even works. Very inspiring.
Did record a demo tweak of some of the presets and me jamming but it ended up a 45 min long recording so i doubt you want to hear that. Some great little noises in the presets (a few great vowel wavetables - YOIYOIYOIY) in there and loads of room to make patches and pretty easy to use. Great little project.
Best thing about it is i kept thinking, hmm, wouldnt it be nice if it had a mute button, or a dedicated filter knob etc, and i can just go back and add them!

Completely customisable. Hardest part will be drilling the plastic case!
Well worth it. Looks loads better when its boxed up rather than a pair of pcbs. The real deal. And it was about £150 all in which compares well to bought synths. And ive learnt a ton of electronics along the way.
Next up ive got a pcb for a 808 kick clone. So im thinking of making it but with a midi pitch trigger, for genuine 808 jungle bass line bizness. Also got the monotron mods and MIDI interface to do and ive got a really clear idea of a distortion/filter unit i want to build. Proper analogue dubstep machine, parallel filters, ditsortion, MIDI synced LFOs...
Theres so many schematics about, moog, ms20, JP8 filters...
WRT The shruthi, also thinking of getting and making the other two filter boards, and having a 3 way parallel filtered monster, with the audio input being usable too as an effects box. Pretty simple. Could even add a little distortion pcb too.
All good!
Cheers
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:33 am
by deadly_habit

was just about to say should pop an ms20 filter on that
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 12:22 pm
by Phigure
wicked! customizability sounds really nice. effects box is cool idea as well
looks really nice too! and i bet it sounds great
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 12:29 pm
by deadly_habit
you always have a habit of linking product kits when they are out of stock

Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 1:32 pm
by paradigm_x
sorry man these things go in a day.
next kits out 1/1/2011
email to pre-reserve is what i did.
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 1:48 pm
by deadly_habit
heh after shooting through phono's blog and youtube channel i think a monotron modded is gonna be my next endeavor
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:35 pm
by mks
That's awesome man! I was pretty chuffed when I built my own synth with Reaktor, but I couldn't even imagine trying to build a hardware synth. I would just get solder everywhere...
How long did it take you? I'm sure you definitely learned more about electronics by doing that.
EZ
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:58 pm
by paradigm_x
it took 4 days, on and off, lots of breaks, prob about 8 hours in total building then a whole day trying to sort out one tiny little issue.
From this
to this
Did record a demo tweak of some of the presets and me jamming but it ended up a 45 min long recording so i doubt you want to hear that.heres the raw recording, edited and layered a bit, up to 5 at once. No effects or processing. 909 live jam added on top for a laugh. just a 1 bar loop. Poss not best example of the synth but i started to get carried away... some more traditional stuff on youtube.
http://www.paradigmx.com/audio/Shruthi-test2.mp3
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 9:24 pm
by mks
That thing sounds badass!
Nice techno jam too.
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 9:38 pm
by Y_H
Nice stuff!!
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 9:58 pm
by Big MD
huge respect for that man!

Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:24 am
by EDN
Yeaaaah bwoy!
I wanna build myself a xoxbox real bad, am also thinking about doing a little run of them if anyones interested?
Obviously you can build your own, but I'm considering a little side project in handmade acid biznizz.
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:43 am
by paradigm_x
The x0x is quite a bit more difficult than this from what i understand. They are fantastic tho. I bought mine built, which inspired me to get this thing built. Sounds awesome tho. And so much fun!
FWIW, There are a number of people who already build x0xen, as theyre known. You can buy a pack of the rare parts from a guy called gaetano and the rest is easy enough to source.
Tons of great projects around. And even more schematics.

Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:58 pm
by Kochari
That sounds amazing man, big up!
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 6:29 pm
by FSTZ
I am looking to get into DIY stuff and I was checking this out earlier
my thing is.. I haven't soldered anything since 10th grade and yeah.. that was a few decades ago
so I think I am going to start with this
http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008- ... emin-cheap\
and stick it in this:
http://www.hammondmfg.com/pdf/1599KTS.pdf
except I am going to make it with a 1/4" jack out instead of a speaker and stick a power supply on there instead of having it battery powered
wish me luck
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 6:50 pm
by paradigm_x
cool man! good luck with it. Be warned tho its very addictive
Funnily enough, ive literally got to replace one component in my x0xb0x (2nd) then thats finished
If i may make one suggestion; get a
switched jack socket and a speaker; you can then use the speaker out and about, and use a jack which will will cut out the speaker.

up to you tho.
Battery and/or wallwart is slightly trickier but still easy.
Good lcuk with it

Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 7:18 pm
by Ongelegen
How hard is it to build the Shruthi-1 for someone with very little knowledge and experience?
Is it hard to mess up? My only experience with soldering is 3 pairs of DIY binaural mics, which is only 12 wires I had to solder.
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 7:21 pm
by Ldizzy
im stoked, it sounds so good.
and it is different, it has something raw i love.
how much should it cost in total to a noob?
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 7:21 pm
by [and]obey
This is awesome beyond measure mate ! did you have any pre-knowledge in terms of engineering and programming ?
Re: Finished building by first DIY synth!
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 7:22 pm
by FSTZ
paradigm x wrote:cool man! good luck with it. Be warned tho its very addictive
Funnily enough, ive literally got to replace one component in my x0xb0x (2nd) then thats finished
If i may make one suggestion; get a
switched jack socket and a speaker; you can then use the speaker out and about, and use a jack which will will cut out the speaker.

up to you tho.
Battery and/or wallwart is slightly trickier but still easy.
Good lcuk with it

thanks man!
yeah I realize this can be addictive...
I am already planning projects and I'm not sure if I have the patience for it yet.
fortunately, I have a friend that is willing to teach me the basics and help me with the first couple endeavors
Project EX wrote:How hard is it to build the Shruthi-1 for someone with very little knowledge and experience?
Is it hard to mess up? My only experience with soldering is 3 pairs of DIY binaural mics, which is only 12 wires I had to solder.
those look so cool
I am hoping to get on that level one day