1st pics of Stylus Keyboard Case

bugbrand · Last edited by bugbrand on Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:39 am; edited 1 time in total

Whoop, though its not quite finished yet...

Porta-modular case holding 7 fracrak modules, 1v/oct stylus keyboard and footswitch functions!

Built from Ray's MFOS design for a 1 octave keyboard but built with a simple stylus interface (allowing compact size and a wierdy feel!)

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

!!!Plus YouTube Demo Video (edit - now online)!!!

Whoop!
This is so fun to play with.!.
Still a few little bits to tweak/do -- low leakage hold capacitor & quality opamp for the keyboard S/H, redo the env gens, put in the footswitch sockets and wire up the passive output...

But its working already! Today I had fun playing it with my newish cranky ISD1416 lofi modular sampler (VC-pitching - not 1v/oct yet though..)..

Features::

Case - similar style case to the BugBrand DroneMachine but a bit deeper.
Holds 7 Fracrak-width modules.
Internal +/-12v power supply..

Keyboard - 3.5 octave chromatic stylus keyboard with wobbly wand!
Trigger output (plus LED)
Gate output (plus LED)
Two drum style env outs -- vari-decay rate fired from the trig output.
(based on Thomas Henry Electronic Drum Cookbook ideas -- but not actually working quite right at the moment.. silly mistake!)
CV1 - 1v/oct output with glide
CV2 - 1v/oct output with glide, pitchbend / offset dial (add or subtract roughly 1v (ie 1 octave) - needs a little tweaking), range switch adds or subtracts 2 octaves (+ or - 2v or 0v -- centre off switch)

Then in the same panel there's:
Footswitch (/panelswitch) - electronic switch with momentary or toggling response. Also trigger output - 1ms pulse each time the button is pressed
Footpedal - +5v signal range passed through an attenuverter - giving attenuated + or - 5v range.
Passive output - simple / useful audio output (not yet wired up)

Whooop!
The panel is based on thin wood, painted over (yukky green!) and then a laminated laser-print acetate is stuck on top and varnished --- I think the idea of laminating the frontpanels (I hadn't done so on the drone machine) comes from Mikmo's webpage of his DIY frontpanel experience -- Thanks! ..Its still not a perfect solution, but its pretty simple and effective.

toybox · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject:

i'm always vary impressed by your equipment cant wait to see the video Shocked

crashlander42 · Joined: Oct 21, 2006 Posts: 292 Location: Orlando, FL (US)

That looks like fun.

How do you tin your homemade pcbs? I did a couple of searches and came up with nothing.

bugbrand · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:38 am Post subject:

Thanks a bunch!

The keys are just covered with solder - hence the slightly dirty nature of them..!.. I'd not really thought of tinplating before but it'd be good, no? Rapid (my regular supplier) has crystals for tin plating

YouTube Video is now up - playing the DroneMachine

synth_ollie · Joined: Sep 11, 2006 Posts: 149 Location: sweden

I just must say that kbd looks great !

bugbrand · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:09 am Post subject:

Thanks Ollie!

.....I've just uploaded a schematic for the simple electronic switching circuit - uses a momentary button to generate a momentary or toggling gate output, plus trigger pulse of c.1ms. Easily made into a dual unit using the spare gates.

http://bugbrand.co.uk/pages/electronics.htm

electronic_switch.jpg

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Electronic Mom/Tog switch schematic

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para · Joined: Oct 16, 2006 Posts: 276

nice work tom! great additions to the control too

Uncle Krunkus · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:51 am Post subject:

Very impressive!
I don't completely understand what the extra controls are for though. Then again, any extra controls have to be a good thing! Very Happy

Scott Stites · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:19 am Post subject:

Typical BugBrand goodness!

Do you etch the keyboard PCB or put a Dremel tool to it?

Cheers,
Scott

Wild Zebra · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:17 am Post subject:

Bugbrand, that is awesome. Nice work.

bugbrand · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:15 pm Post subject:

Hey, thanks for all the goodness!

Boo I didn't have much of a play today - sidetracked by laptop hardrive death = badness

...

Uncle -- the controls are varied.. The gate/trig is standard, but the trig is also taken direct to generate two vari-decay drum style envelope gens. There're then two CV ouputs - the first just has glide, whereas the 2nd (also having glide) has offset controls - a 3 position switch gives +2 oct, normal, -2 octave (ie adds or subtracts 2v) and there's a bend dial - centre-detent knob that is meant to range between -1v and +1v thus giving an octave shift in either direction (though the range isn't set quite right yet) - basically the 2nd CV can be offset from the 1st CV in a nice easy manner direct from the keyboard module....

The other parts are to use up the space -- feet functions and just a simple passive output to 1/4" jack (from banana)

....

Scott - yeah, that's just an etch - I took the image from an SN942xx (?i think) project from a German mag, stretched and multiplied it into 3 and a bit octaves.

...should be setting up a CNC router before too long, so more experiments in store.

Inspiration from this amazing Buchla Magic Flute image I saw today:: wow ::
Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

(via MatrixSynth & The Audities Foundation (check their other Buchla models too))

shawn · Joined: Dec 13, 2005 Posts: 209 Location: savannah

CNC router huh? Biter! j/k Smile

Finally getting to do your xr2206 on the router. Had to do some conversion from the image from the pdf to the actual eagle pcb so I can redraw the tracks (guess I could have just asked you for the file)
Way off topic but I wanted to point you to a good website regarding eagle pcb and cnc routers.

http://www.brusselsprout.org/PCB-Routing/

That keyboard looks pretty amazing. Kudos.

bugbrand · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 5:04 am Post subject:

Hey thanks a load Shawn - that's really damn useful 'cos I'm using Eagle & will be using Mach3 too - so, spot on!

PS - yeah, I can certainly send you the XRVCO eagle files if you'd like (and if its not too late) - I'd also be very interested to see what results you get from either method!

shawn · Joined: Dec 13, 2005 Posts: 209 Location: savannah

I'll pm you my email address. Smile

synthmonger · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 11:40 am Post subject:

Wow! That is some very swanky work Bugbrand!