2010 Build Pictures

[alain6870]

Hello everybody at electro-music.com,

Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and your ideas! Here you'll find a pict of my new synth. It includes:

- 1 VCO : MFOS type
- 1 LFO : own design
- 1 MIX: own design
- 1VCF: the early MS20 clone by J. Haible (Level Buffers own design) this Filter kills!!
- 1 EG: the 555 on by Yves USSON
- 1 VCA: by Yves USSON
- 1 Joystick: own design
- 1 KBD: MFOS type

More to come in the next weeks...

Cheers,

Alain

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[adambee7]

Want one. Great work. Post some mp3s so we can hear this beast. What keyboard did you use. Like the way you have made it patchable.

[TekniK]

Nice Look Alain

[TheAncientOne]

Very nice indeed. A patchable microsynth - quite Buchla-esque in some ways.

[alain6870]

Here a crappy MP3, it seems that MP3 compression introduces a lot of distortion in the 20 first seconds of the recording, anyway here it is:

Basic patch: saw wave + sub osc (with PWM by tri LFO) + filter (Moded by same LFO) + short attack time (2ms) + decay + release on the EG.

Effect: small chorus with ALESIS picoverb

0:00 HP filter and Res
21:00 LP mode and Res (this is normal distortion)
34:00 playing with the mixer for SUB level
46:00 octage range starting from Low to high.

I built this synth as a controller for my mini modular thats the reason why a made it "patchable". I was quite surprised by the "power" of the beast as i undertook the first audio tests.

About the construction:

I used an old keyboard and removed the rubber contacts and replaced them with microswitches and added the resistor ladder. A lot of work that I would not recommend. Its the first synth i've built with integrated KB normally I use MIDI-CV converters, wich are easier to implement and much accurate than the old S&WY designs. But for this synth I wanted to give it a special look and a vintage touch...

have a small look at the mess inside

Anyway DIY is a lot of fun, reading, learning, building, debugging, playing

cheers,

Alain

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[delayed]

Hi, Great looking synth. Could you please post some images of the keyboard section? I am looking to make a keyboard layout like this and would love to steal some ideas from yours.

[alain6870]

Hi delayed,

here some informations about the circuitry I used for my keyboard. But as I mentioned it in my previous post, it is not that easy to build and it needs good mechanical skills to achieve the construction. Anyway it still can inspire you so I post a small drawing to explain you my work. This is ten time easier for me than explaining it to you in my muddy english.

As you can see in my drawing I used an old KB from a dead synth and modified the diode matrix switch PCB to a resistor chain PCB being able to connect the keys to this circuitry: http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/analogsynth/SINGLEBUSSKEYBOARD2007/SINGLEBUSSKEYBOARD2007.php

An other way to do such a controller would be to buy a cheap midi keyboard with a DIN midi out plug and to disassemble it. Buy a midi to CV converter (like this one: http://www.midimplant.com/ sooo small and fast and accurate) and to assemble everything in the box of your synth as I did.

happy building,

Alain

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[delayed]

Hello,
Thank you for the nice drawing. I have made a few of the MFOS controller using push buttons, but had not though of the mini type you used under the keys. Does pushing the key cause any clicking sound from the contact of the tiny buttons you used?

And your English seems fine to me! Much better than my French.

[delayed]

Here is what I tried with the MFOS

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[alain6870]

Hello delayed,

cool design! (Like accordion?)

For the construction of single bus KB, you'll have to choose of course really good microswitches. I took some push buttons with a very high mechanical lifetime (eg 1 000 000 cycles minimum). And you have to be sure that when you depress the key you won't push too much on the button, else you will maybe destroy them too quickly.

The design is really noise immune but this is due to the real good circuitry by Ray. Normally you should hear no noise because the KB is on the controller side of your synth and not on the audio path. The only "noise" that can be heard is the double triggering of the button's contact. With the KB you "naturally" trigger less easily that with a single button. Anyway, if you experience problems you can change the C21 capa with a higher value (max 1nF) to get larger waiting time between two triggers but, then you won't be able to play as fast of course.

I also did the wiring of the grounds in a "star" way to avoid ground loops. I also added a 20R resistor on the rails of the VCA to be noiseless ( this is not recommended by Ray but, I think it helps a lot).

cheers,

Alain

[azot]

Hello everybody,
the photo demonstrates current condition of my growing modular synth:

Finished, with front panel:
- 3 VCO : Yusynth,
- 1 Signal mixer: Yusynth
- 1 Noise source: Yusynth
- 1 VCF Minimoog: Yusynth
- 1 VCF ARP 4072 Yusynth
- 2 EG: the 555 Yusynth
- 2 VCA: SSM2164 Mike Irwin
Faceplates made from the flat aluminium bar, marked up by "The Magick Touch" transfer technology

Finished, tested:
- 1 V/OCT KBD: MFOS mini kbd
- 1 ARP2600 VCO clone: 4027-1 with waveshaper
- 4 ARP 4027-1 clone (perfect tracking!!)
- Dual gated slew: Yusynth
- PSU: common design with LM723

In progress:
- Buchla inspired enclosure
- discrete SSM2040 VCF
- Oberheim SEM VCF clone


Cheers,
Andriy

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[adambee7]

Good looking panels man. How do you apply those trnsfers and keep them secure. Really interested in using those myself.

[Inventor]

azot, I love those panels and the metal knobs make them look like they belong on the space shuttle. I must joke with you though, when I glanced at that photo, the way all the parts are scattered about made me think you were playing your synth too loud and it exploded! Haha, good luck with your builds...

Les

[joshco]

nice work, those silver panels and knobs are looking very neat!

[TekniK]

yes those modulles looks great!

[azot]

Thanks !!)

Ahaha, Inventor, it’s really looks so!)))

I entered synthdiy inspired by old analog synths and modular systems like Moog modular or 100M and first have planned classical black with white legend panel design, mooglike knobs etc. But in way of economy made test panel from anodized aluminium with aluminium knobs. That looks so neat, so I decided implement all faces in this style.

“The Magick Touch” http://www.themagictouch.com/ is enough simple for home implementation. It’s a sort of decol paper for laser print. The transfer process is cold, no thermal press needed. After drying baking is desirable for better adhesion. The surface is waterproof, well steady for abrasion. I had an accident when drilling - the drill goes wrong and left just insignificant scratch!

[loydb]

Love those knobs. I've got a bunch of aluminum bar stock, I may try turning some.

[adambee7]

Built a couple of Soundlabs with mods a la UnkleKrunkus strip board layout. Haven't put ics in yet as I want to wire it up and check power rails. One might have two more oscs added and another one or two envelopes aswell not sure yet as Unkle's osc3,4 layout-ish. Diy sequencer is the usual baby8. Haven't got a clue what to do about front panels for anyone of them yet. Too many ideas at the same time. Sorry about quality of pics. Crappy phone camera.

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[adambee7]

Baby 8 has a clock speed swithch for really slow to normal Bpms. There is an external clock in via a switch which also acts as a STOP when in internal clock mode.

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[crashlander42]

I've decided to ditch my acrylic panels in favor of aluminum panels. Now that I've got a good supply of aluminum. One of my friends chopped up some old street signs on his table saw for me. Here's my first attempt. Only 33 more to go!

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[creekree]

crashlander,

are IN1 / In2 attenuators for the MS20 filter clone?
how did you go about when you added the second input?

i noticed that mine sometimes just goes silent when the input signal is too strong... on the other hand i have a feeling that the output is rather low as well. i guess it needs a bit more work...
(it is the rene schmitz version i am talking about, using the jörg schmitz pcb)

[Rykhaard]

[crashlander42]

[TekniK]

Fixed filters..

[adambee7]

stunning as always teknik.