Living VCOs

[Luka]

mad

[oscilloclast]

Well I built the Living VCO (everything worked right from the start) and I'm really happy with it. I have a few simple modification questions I was hoping someone can help me with.

1. I designed the unit so that it will have a course and fine tune pot for each VCO. I have the course pot set up (100K) and it works fine. My question is how do I add the fine pot (I'm using a 10K). What I'm looking for is a lug to lug description if someone can provide that.

2. I would like to slow the vibrato speed down. Is there a cap I can change to do this?

Thanks,
David :D :D

[jhaible]

[oscilloclast]

Thanks for the info, the mods work great!

David

[julian]

I have resisted commenting here recently, for fear of it seeming like im spamming the place, but i now feel compelled to post -

Somone just asked me for a quote on one of Dave's panel designs. This one -



I quoted them out at £69.61 unmilled (milled is 10% more), which seemed quite a lot, so I then worked out Shaefers inclusive price (before delivery) and it came out at £116.01072 !!!

Again, i really dont want to come across as simply touting my wares here, but that seems so much of a saving that it'd almost seem bad not to mention it : /


edit:

after posting, i saw the "total posts = 6" thing... im the same 'julian' from analogue heaven, and sdiy, just in case anyone is wondering

[davebr]

[julian]

Hi,

I used this file -

http://modularsynthesis.com/jhaible/lvcos/4U%20DJB-LVCO.fpd

and clicked the pricing button, and got euro 108.32

germany has a 19% sales tax, so that then goes to euro 128.9008 before shipping.

google currency converter says 128.9008 Euros = 109.589268 British pounds, so slightly different from the figures i came up with before, but in the same range (possibly my exchange rates are a bit out, but then google only uses the median rate anyhow)

i suspect why my figures worked out so different from yours was due to the sales tax, becuase without that, im getting £97 with the exchange rate that i used in the previous calculation, which isnt a million miles off your figure.

in short, i wasnt trying to mislead : )


my prices always include all taxes that need to be paid by EU customers, and i think that is why, sometimes, the saving doesnt look as good as it'd otherwise.

its not so bad though, because, even before the sales tax issues, there's still a saving to be had ordering from me : )

as a side note - when ive looked before, it seems that Shaeffers american branch and EU branch give pretty much the same pre-tax figures (when converted).


with regard to drilled / milled -

my base price is for the engraved panel only. what im really trying to do is offer the work that people cant do at home themselves. i can drill or mill panels, but id always rather not, hence the 10% extra for panels like these.

when i get around to it, im going to do a webpage on panel drilling as im aware that often people do find it hard, but its really not too bad with a few (cheap) tools, and some time. the most essential tool (besides the drill) is a centre punch so as the drill doesnt wander, and then a set of drill bits to drill small pilot holes to start with.

some tape over the panel before drilling helps protect the surface from spinning swarf when drilling, but its a pain to remove afterward.

drilling is just dull and time consuming really, which is why id rather get people to drill their own panels : )

[davebr]

[jhaible]

Nothing against a front panel with many, many knobs - but before you all go that way, consider this.

You will *never* need all these attenuators at the same time!
Sometimes less is more. When I built the JH-5, I decided to wire a lot of CV inputs directly to the jacks, without a pot. You could do the same, and then just have 3 potentiometers with input and output jacks (passive attenuators) to be placed on whichever CV input you need to attenuate.

Just an idea. (Edit: And of course it's not my own, but taken from Moog.)

JH.

[julian]

In reply to Dave,

I dont actually engrave a cross hair any more, insted favouring a small dot.

I have found that a cross hair is more troublesome. Although it visually marks the position, when you use the center punch, there is still possible movement in either of the 4 directions. You have to align the punch visually, by looking carefully from different angles.

With a tiny dot there is a point to locate the center punch in exactly. Typically i dont even look at the tip of the punch, but simply feel when it is located correctly.

Not only is this easier, but also quicker, and less prone to error.

And, yes, all the panels i engrave are engraved with points marking the center of the holes for exactly this.

(i realise the old photos on the website show cross hairs, but all recent panels are supplied with points)

[/mr]

[julian]

I havent considered the electrical function, but i find this panel more visually pleasing -




Jurgen,
Following on from your last comment, do you have any suggested panel shots?

(appologies if this has been covered previously)

[Funky40]

[numbertalk]

I just finished my fully decked out Living VCOs module and it's all looking great! I just wanted to make sure, though, that I'm not getting any locking among the 3 VCO circuits, since I daisy chained the power supply. If I were, I wouldn't be able to slightly detune the VCOs, right? Either by ear or on the scope I wouldn't notice them beating or on the scope they would be either totally in sync or one of them would look like a hard-sync'd waveform, is that right? If so I think I'm good, since I'm not seeing that and I am able to slightly detune them and they stay out of tune, but I want to make sure.

I'll post some photos next week - my wife is out of town with the camera at the moment.

Thanks!

[jhaible]

[numbertalk]

Excellent - thanks!

[/mr]

[numbertalk]

Thanks for this suggestion! Just tried it and still seem to be free of any lockups I'm happy to report

[jhaible]

[Peake]

[quote="julian"]I havent considered the electrical function, but i find this panel more visually pleasing -



/quote]

That definitely "breathes" better than the "pure grid" version. Nice work.

[numbertalk]

Ok, my wife is back with the camera, but it's busted. So here's the best photo I could get with my phone.

EDIT: Was having problems inlining the image from the web so attaching to this post.

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[Girts]

Hi,
I wonder if LivingVCO PCBs are still available or I am too late?

[jhaible]

[Girts]

Suppose that I will build one of the Living VCOs ''bad'' , i.e. no polystyrene caps, no 0,1% metal film resistors, no tempco resistor at all... instead just polyester cap and approximately matched carbon resistors. will the linear detune function became meaningless in all this badness?

[jhaible]