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Mr Swirling Vortex Man
Joined: Jun 13, 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Australia
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Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:26 pm Post subject:
Music From Outer Space! Subject description: One being's quest for inner harmony through resonant sound waves. |
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Thrill to the site of an alien life form piloting her bizarre contraption through an endless ocean of stars! Be amazed to learn that it is powered by a pair of 9 volt batteries! Stand speechless as she surfs through black holes by weaving weaving a force field of never ending waveforms!
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Preparing to dock with the CV interface module on approach to Xlyabeejjjeeeg 9. |
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Qybjybz pilots her Sounlab into outer space where it takes its rightful place amongst the stars. |
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Qybjybz adjusts the resoance control on her Soundlab as she prepares to take off. |
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elektro80
Site Admin
Joined: Mar 25, 2003 Posts: 21959 Location: Norway
Audio files: 14
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Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:53 pm Post subject:
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COOL!!!!
_________________ A Charity Pantomime in aid of Paranoid Schizophrenics descended into chaos yesterday when someone shouted, "He's behind you!"
MySpace
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mosc
Site Admin
Joined: Jan 31, 2003 Posts: 18197 Location: Durham, NC
Audio files: 212
G2 patch files: 60
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dnny
Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Helsinki, Finland
Audio files: 8
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Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:45 pm Post subject:
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very nice indeed
that chaos thingy looks nice also. any schematics for it maybe? _________________ Association of experimental electronics
www.koelse.org
flickr: cable porn group |
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Coriolis
Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 616 Location: Stilling, Denmark
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Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:14 am Post subject:
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Yeah, now we've seen it - you gotta tell us how it works! Such are the ways of the DIY vultures!
But seriously, what is it? And does the display do anything or is it just for show?
C |
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Mr Swirling Vortex Man
Joined: Jun 13, 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Australia
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Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject:
What is all of this CHAOS about>>>>???? Subject description: The mysteries of a wierd CV sequencer revealed.... |
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OK, the box on the left labelled "CHAOS" is a kind of control voltage sequencer.
When I was studying a while ago, we had to build a micro-controller kit which we then developed into a working project that would control an external device, complete with interfacing and programming. Some decided to make lighting or motor controllers. I decided that I wanted to control an analogue synth. (What else would an electronic sound nut make??!!?).
The screen does indeed work. On startup, it says "Welcome to CHAOS". It then asks for a "preset", followed by a "mutation", then a "rhythm" and finally a "speed". What does this all mean??? Read on! --
At the time I was very interested in algorithmic computer composition and used a number of different Atari based programs. I decided to use the algo-comp concept in my hardware device. The "preset" that it asks for is a preset table of "notes" (in binary number form). There are 9 preset tables which the user can choose from the keypad. A table forms the basic source material for a sequence. The user then selects a 'mutation" operation which changes the notes in the table in various ways. This is done by performing mathematical or logical operations on the table values. There are 9 available mutations. The user next selects a "rhythm" template. There are 9 templates which range from a note playing on every step through various combinations of notes and rests. Finally a "speed" is selected (again a value between 1 and 9). The display then says "Now playing!" and the green LED pulses to the tempo. To stop a sequence, the user presses any of the 3 keys on the bottom row of the keypad.
All of this effectively provides 9x 9x 9x 9 variations on the basic source material, yielding 6561 sequence choices (I think...). I suppose that's why I ended up naming it "CHAOS" -- because it allows me to roll musical dice by randomly pressing numbers on the keypad.
Now, what about the box in the middle with its mysterious hidden labels that say "Space Cadet Mk II" and "Made in Australia"....? |
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dnny
Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Helsinki, Finland
Audio files: 8
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Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:46 pm Post subject:
Re: What is all of this CHAOS about>>>>???? Subject description: The mysteries of a wierd CV sequencer revealed.... |
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Mr Swirling Vortex Man wrote: | OK, the box on the left labelled "CHAOS" is a kind of control voltage sequencer. |
great, i like random things in music, but also in my everyday life.
Mr Swirling Vortex Man wrote: |
Now, what about the box in the middle with its mysterious hidden labels that say "Space Cadet Mk II" and "Made in Australia"....? |
yeah. whats the story? - don't hold it. _________________ Association of experimental electronics
www.koelse.org
flickr: cable porn group |
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v-un-v
Janitor
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 8933 Location: Birmingham, England, UK
Audio files: 11
G2 patch files: 1
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:08 am Post subject:
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nah!! This is more about gloating about that rather nice system 100 expander below- isn't it? .........What it isn't?? ....ahem that's a very nice system 100 expander underneath! I had one of those recently on a sort of 'permanent loan' basis- or until it's owner found out how much it was worth
- oh yes and my bloody girlfriend who said it was too big
There was once upon a time when I used to gloat about her having a Nord Micromodular- that I used to pinch off her all the time These days the Nord has been superseded by 2 ever growing organic oscillators _________________ ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN. |
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Uncle Krunkus
Moderator
Joined: Jul 11, 2005 Posts: 4761 Location: Sydney, Australia
Audio files: 52
G2 patch files: 1
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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:51 am Post subject:
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Hi Mr Swirling Vortex Man,
you are of course going to post schematics for the so called CHAOS machine of which you speak are you not? And a hex dump of the program no doubt? The Space Cadet sounds very me. I think we'll need to be extracting some information about that one too! _________________ What makes a space ours, is what we put there, and what we do there. |
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Mr Swirling Vortex Man
Joined: Jun 13, 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Australia
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 4:22 pm Post subject:
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Hi v-un-v, Thanks for your observations on the System 100 expander -- I am indeed very happy to own this machine and find that the Soundlab and System 100 compliment each other very well as each one has certain features that the other doesn't. I hope to add a few more mods to my soundlab soon so that the 2 devices will have more opportunities to interact with each other! Perhaps you could tell me a little about your organic oscillators???
Hi Uncle K and others. I can certainly look for my documentation and program files on the Chaos machine. It was all programmed in assembly language. Its been a while so I'll need to hunt around for it. I'd like to develop the program further, but unfortunately don't have an eprom programmer, so development has stayed frozen since I left study.
Now about that Space Cadet.... Uncle K - If you are a "Forbidden Planet" fan then the Space Cadet may very well be you... (In case anyone is wondering I'm referring to the little grey box between the Chaos and Soundlab boxes in the middle photo). Basically, its a device based around a single IC: UM3561. Its supposed to be a siren sound generator. Some of you may have played with it before. Below is a datasheet link (today is the 1st time I've actually seen the datasheet!):
http://www.datasheet4u.com/html/U/M/3/UM3561_UMCCorporation.pdf.html
Many a year ago when I longed to make electronic noises but couldn't afford a synth, I experimented with this chip. Its designed to make 4 siren type noises at a fixed frequency set by a resistor, for use in toys.
It uses very little power so battery life is very long. In my experiments I found that by connecting various combinations of IC pins I could get quite a few different sounds ranging from evil sounding "white" noise, through various sirens, bleeps and pseudo sequences. I guess I was "circuit bending" without knowing it.
My constructed Space Cadet has 12 switches that switch in the 12 presets I found through my bending experiments. Its possible to switch on a few "presets" at a time and get even more sounds, although some switch combinations will make no sound at all. I've also added a pitch range switch and a pot that provides continuous frequency change. Its worth noting that this manipulates the audio oscillator frequency and the pitch LFO frequency simultaneously, creating some weird effects (especially in the highest range). Finally I've got a few ways to switch the device on: a momentary switch to make it manually bleep. A "gate" input that can switch it on and off rhythmically from an external device. A on/off SPST switch to switch on and drone away.
I've had my Space Cadet in operation for quite some time with no evidence of damage to the IC (which only cost a couple of dollars anyway). It makes a nice little sound source to process with filters, ring modulators and effects pedals. So, I encourage all of you to have a go if you can get hold of the IC. However, as I'm sure you will all appreciate this is at you own peril -- if you destroy a mixer or other device while using it please don't blame me!!!
Best regards,
Mr SVM. (AKA just plain Adam!) |
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Uncle Krunkus
Moderator
Joined: Jul 11, 2005 Posts: 4761 Location: Sydney, Australia
Audio files: 52
G2 patch files: 1
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Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:23 am Post subject:
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That looks like a cool little IC.
It's like a WSG all on one chip.
I used to have a similar 'noise box' which was based around one of those SN76xxxxx type sound generators. Wish I still had it. _________________ What makes a space ours, is what we put there, and what we do there. |
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Mr Swirling Vortex Man
Joined: Jun 13, 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Australia
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Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:41 pm Post subject:
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I remember reading about those chips... but I think they are out of production now. I wonder if there will come a time when all those classic analogue music ICs are produced again? I'm having evil thoughts at present of tearing apart an old hybrid synth that has a number of self contained VCF/VCA chips... just for the IC harvest! |
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Wild Zebra
Joined: Apr 28, 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Ohio
Audio files: 5
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Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 7:25 am Post subject:
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There was some brainstorming about that chip a ways back in a few posts http://www.electro-music.com/forum/topic-9685.html It'd be cool to get it going again sometime. They are still available. There is a link in the post somewhere. _________________ "your stripes are killer bro" |
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Mr Swirling Vortex Man
Joined: Jun 13, 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Australia
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Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:59 pm Post subject:
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Thanks for the link Zebra. It sent me off on some interesting reading within the electro-music forums. Some fairly clever folks hanging out around here!
I also had a look for the IC and mainly found large suppliers that want to deal in bulk with other companies. There were also a few ebay sellers asking quite a bit. The saddest information I found was a blog where a guy had commented that he had just bought the entire stock from a retailer in my home city for a few dollars each! Well... not sad for him I guess. Hope they don't just end up on ebay at inflated prices though. |
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Uncle Krunkus
Moderator
Joined: Jul 11, 2005 Posts: 4761 Location: Sydney, Australia
Audio files: 52
G2 patch files: 1
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:48 am Post subject:
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What is your home city Vort? _________________ What makes a space ours, is what we put there, and what we do there. |
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Mr Swirling Vortex Man
Joined: Jun 13, 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Australia
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:18 pm Post subject:
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I'm in Melbourne. Back in the early eighties I used to live in Coffs Harbour, but I haven't been back that way for quite a long time. I just had a look at a map of your stretch of coast line and became kind of nostalgic! I'm sure its all changed a lot since I was there. |
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Uncle Krunkus
Moderator
Joined: Jul 11, 2005 Posts: 4761 Location: Sydney, Australia
Audio files: 52
G2 patch files: 1
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:30 pm Post subject:
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We (my wife, Felicity, daughters, Indigo, Hanna and I) only moved up here about a year and a half ago. It's a beautiful place to bring up kids. Bit isolated (not a Jaycar for 300kms), and I still don't have a job, but I can't complain! _________________ What makes a space ours, is what we put there, and what we do there. |
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