New module preview : QUAD VC-PANNER and OUTPUT MIXER

[yusynth]

Soon to be available a new yusynth module, it's the Quad VC-Panner + Output monitor

Here are some previews of the prototype :

[patchdub]

nice!! been hoping for something like this to come along.

[Uncle Krunkus]

Very nice!

[Sebo]

Great Yves!!!
Is time to start thinking in a new cabinet!!!

[emdot_ambient]

Very sweet!

[yusynth]

I have updated the page with the wiring diagrams. I still have to write the trimming procedure before the official release.

Bridechamber will provide PCBs for this module.

Cheers

[TekniK]

[emdot_ambient]

People are going to want to know where they can get those vintage style VU meters. I haven't been able to source them. They look like the same kind used on the Roland Space Echo. Very nice.

[yusynth]

[loydb]

Want.

[kkissinger]

Excellent!

[emdot_ambient]

[yusynth]

[Abby Normal]

Wow!!! I was drooling over that same module on your website not very long ago! I've been wanting a panner/mixer module like yours for probably 8 years now.

I'm probably going to have to get this one...

Thank you, Yves...

[sduck]

I have one of the pcb's from bridechamber for this, and it's next up in my project line. I'm just doing a 2U motm format version of the vc panner - no add-on meters or such. Sounds like a great module, and something I need very badly.

Sorry for a possibly stupid question, but I couldn't figure this out from any of the resources I was able to find - on the power connectors, which side is positive?

Thanks!

[yusynth]

Hi sduck

The power connectors are following the Synthesizers.com standard, that is, looking at the connector from outside the board, from left to right
x -15V 0V (5V) x +15V , where x means unconnected and (5V) optional 5V power rail (not used in my modules).

Or check the drawing of the other board at my site :

[sduck]

Thanks!

And I found a small mistake in the BOM - there are actually 12 150K resistors instead of 8.

[yusynth]

[sduck]

Just finished this -






and the low budget bracket I used for this - I am waiting on an order of brackets from the bridechamber, but wanted to get this done, so made a bracket out of 2 pieces of stair flashing from Home Depot - 44 cents each(!). It's not the sturdiest thing in the world, but it'll work for this.



It all seems to work fine! I still haven't calibrated it - what do the trimmers do anyway? I suppose I could just mess with them and find out. I do notice that in the default way it's set up with the trimmers in the middle, that I'm not getting a complete pan - I'm still getting a pretty big signal in the left channel if I pan it all the way to the right (and vice versa).

[yusynth]

Beautiful panels indeed !

Yes I realize that I forgot to put the trimming instructions on my site. I will fix that ASAP, until then...

Concerning the trimmers : these are used to adjust the midrange for the paning.
Basically you can simply use a voltmeter and adjust the trimmer in order to measure -4V on the wiper pad.
Then send a triangle wave (1kHz) with an amplitude of 10Vpp (-5V/+5V) on the input of the channel you wish to trim.
Set the PAN LEVEL pot to 0, and the PAN pot to 12 o'clock.
Connect a dual channel oscilloscope at the outputs. You should obtain the triangle with equal amplitude on both channels, then turn the PAN pot from Clockwise to Counter-clockwise position : you should observe the disappearing of the triangle on one side and the increase in amplitude on the other side.
Now, adjust the trimmers such that when the PAN pot is at 12 o'clock, the amplitude of the two triangle waves is roughly half of that can be measured for one wave when the PAN pot is set to clock-wise or anti-clockwise positions.

But if you have set the trimmer to -4V before you should be very close to the right setting.

[kkissinger]

The stock Aries Output Module is so noisy that I never used it and in order to accomplish panning I had to tie up a VCA pair. Thus, Yves' module solves many problems.

The panners all work well -- clean, accurate, and easy to use.

The output section is extraordinary. For starters, it is very clean. The headphone driver has sufficient power to drive my AKG headphones which have 600 ohm impedance. I can only imagine how well it would drive lower impedance phones.

I will admit that I wasn't sure if I'd really use the tone controls very much. However, they are fantastic -- well-designed. They are more than simple tone-controls -- they really boost and attenuate high and low frequencies without any distortion -- even when the Treble is all the way up there is very little noise -- much less than one would expect. Having used them for a couple of days I can't imagine how I managed without them. (I'm not sure what cutoff frequencies Yves' chose but they are well-chosen and musically useful.)

I've already etched three more Yusynth circuits: a quadrature LFO, the EMS filter clone, and the Moog Filter Clone. I can't wait to get these finished!

In order to fit the VC-panners and Output module into a 6 x 9" space, I had to limit the knobs to four columns. The solution was to arrange the input channels (1 thru 4) into three vertical columns of three rows each and to place the output controls across the fourth row.

Thank you, Yves for making this superb module available.

[yusynth]

Hi Kevin

Thanks for this very interesting report. I tried to do my best to make module as useful as possible. I also tried to design in order to handle high levels (without distorsion) such as those available in a big modular.

For the tone control circuit I designed it in order to obtain the same frequency response as that of the Moog 984 module which is famous for its tone cuves.

I'll be happy to add a picture of your module in the gallery of my site. Your compact panel design may be a source of inspiration for other SDIYers.

[echoer]

Populated the board with all the parts I have in stock and now I am putting together my order to finish this module up. But I can't find the 47 uf NP caps anywhere. I've bee combing through the Mouser book and their website but I can't find anything

If anyone knows where to source them I would appreciate a point in the right direction, or if there is a replacement that will work please let me know. Thanks!

[kkissinger]

Very hard to find large value NP caps and very expensive. I just used polarized caps and they work fine.

[yusynth]