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Electrofringe 17

October 21, 2017, 5:36 am
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Cant wait for this.
Electro Fringe 2017

I'll be helping Andrew (Virusinstaller) perform a set at EF17 .

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Electrofringe's #EF17 is creating a cosmic rip in 107 Projects to liberate artists, hackers and musicians into Sydney's expanding space of electronic art. From scattering rays to altering consciousness, EF17 sets an open platform for experimental ideas, practices and techniques. Interact with bioelectrical machines, dance to a raw music program, and learn how to mousejack your housemate's computers all for FREE over one day

This is a sample


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Saturday, November 4 at 1 PM - 11:45 PM
107 Redfern St, Redfern. Sydney
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EHX Big Muff - Basic build

October 21, 2017, 2:59 pm
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This must one of the most studied, rebuilt, cloned, copied circuits ever.
The famous Mike Matthews Electro-Harmonix Big Muff guitar pedal. Pink Floyd used it. So did the Smashing Pumpkins. Jimmy Hedndrix gave it immortality. The list of artists is endless.

There are countless variations too. You can buy kits on the net with PCB & parts supplied to save you the hassle of understanding the circuit. But I like to know how things work. I'll build this on perf board.
So here is the basic circuit. Many thanks to Kit Rae for a wonderful website.
If you haven't visited it yet here is the link:
http://www.kitrae.net/music/music_big_muff.html
This is the site to go to for everything you could ever need on this topic.

The first pedals came out in the late 1960s and over the last nearly 60 years the designs have barely changed. It says a lot about how good the basic design is. Of course there has been lots of tweaking over the decades. At one point the four transistor design was changed to op amps. And for another one of those decades Electro-harmonics transferred production to Russia.

Today the company is strong and still building Big Muffs. I highly recommend the modern versions (I own a few and love them) but I think it is fun and educational to explore the older variations. These go for astronomical prices on Ebay & Reverb today. Vintage "Triangle" and "Foxey Lady" pedals regularly change hands for over $1500.
If you can afford the real vintage thing go for it as I think nothing really beats vintage components. They have a persona which only the years can give. But probably the only chance I will have to experience something like the vintage sound will be to build my own.  So below is a brief comparison between the different variations. It's a great way to explore the evolution.

Starting with the early "Triangle" pedal

Triangle V1


Circa 1971Circa 1971/2Circa 1972-73
R1


R233k33k33k
R3100K100K100k
R42.7K2.7K2.7k
R533k33k39k
R610K12K12k
R7390K390K390k
R833k33k39k
R9470k470k390k
R10150R100R82R
R1115K 15K (or 12K)22k
R128.2k8.2k8.2k
R1315K10K (or 15K)22k
R14100K100K82k
R15470k470k390k
R16100K100K82k
R17470k470k390k
R1810K10K12k
R198.2k8.2k8.2k
R20100K100K82k
R21100R100R150R
R22100R100R82R
R231K820R820R
R24100K100K100k
R25100K100K100k
R26100K100K100k




C10.12uF0.1uF0.1uF
C21uF (or .1uF)0.1uF0.1uF
C31uF0.1uF0.1uF
C41uF0.1uF0.1uF
C50.12uF0.1uF0.1uF
C60.12uF0.1uF0.05uF
C71uF0.1uF0.05uF
C80.01uF0.01uF0.01uF
C90.004uF0.004uF0.004uF
C10500pF500pF500pF
C11500pF500pF560pF
C12500pF500pF560pF
C130.12uF0.1uF0.1uF




Q12N5133FS36999FS37000
Q22N5133FS36999FS37000
Q32N5133FS36999FS37000
Q42N5133FS36999FS37000




D11N9141N9141N914
D21N9141N9141N914
D31N9141N9141N914
D41N9141N9141N914
 

The values seem to have changed slightly over those 3 years.
There is a lot of scope to do some tweaking to find that sound that's right for your needs.
Maybe play around with carbon vs metal resistors? In the 1970s those carbon resistors would have been 10% tolerance or more ???

R24, 25 & R26 are the pots.  
Vintage USA Big Muffs (V1, V2, V3) used single-gang, linear taper, 24mm,100k potentiomers.
A possible future mod could be to use B100K for R25 & R24 & A100k for the Tone (R25).
Log pots (A-100K type) have a longer usuable mid position and less at the ends. ... better fine tuning.
Could be useful for the tone section.

 Leakage current for the 1N4148 as 5 µA .... I think the same as the old 1N914

What transistors to use???
They need to be NPN bipolar
BC549C, BC550, BC239, SE4010, and 2N5210 work according to Kit Rae.
2N5088, 2N5089, MPSA18, 2N3904, 2N4401 are possible candidates.
It might be best to use sockets to allow experimentation.
Were the transistors matched in the early pedals?

Kit Rae's valuable diagnosis identifies three sets of components which alter the BMPs the most.
1. The clipping blocking caps. (C6, C7)
2. The feedback / filter caps. (C10, C12, C11)
3. The Tone stack filter. (C9, C8, R8, R5).

The clipping blocking caps
" C6 & C7 determine the bandwith to be clipped by the diodes". They are usually identical in value and have a great effect on the sound. The smaller the value, the more bass. From the photos I've seem it looks like these are ceramic.

Feedback Filter caps;
C10,C12,C11 usually have identical values. They determine how buzzy/fuzzy the pedal sounds. "They filter the amount of high frequencies. Larger values roll off more highs and smaller values give more crunch and buzz to the sound. The better sounding vintage Big Muffs tend to have the larger values and sound smoother and warmer. Modern Big Muffs tend to have the lower values and sound a bit more buzzy/fuzzy." (Kit Rae).

The pics of vintage units indicate ceramics.

The ToneStack filter.
These 4 components surround the tone pot (R25).
 
C8, C9, R8 & R5. This section influence the mid frequencies. The more mids that are removed, the deeper & darker will be the sounds and the more the muff will probably stand out in a mix. The two resistors determine the amt of mids removed. Looks like 33K was the most common value for R8 & R5.
"Higher values have less mids scooped out and lower values have more mids scooped. This resistor also works in conjunction with the high pass tone capacitor (.0004uF in the example above) to affect the treble at low tone settings. Reducing this cap to .003uF alters the range and scoops slightly more mids. Increasing to .004uF reduces the scoop. Combined, a larger high pass cap and smaller resistor decreases the treble at low tone settings." (Kit Rae)

The pics of vintage V1 boards suggest C8 is a polyester  & C9 be ceramic.

Links:
Muffs Guts (Kit Rae)
Electro-Harmonic's Time Line

To be continued......


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Ibanez FL-303 pedal

October 25, 2017, 4:34 am
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Vintage Ibanez FL-303 Flanger.
Picked this up the other day on Reverb.

 Great sounding pedal. Runs on two 9V batteries.

speed (or rate), width (range or depth)
Regen : The regen (intensity or enhance) knob feeds some of the delay output back into the input.
It intensifies the flanging effect

 The delay Chip is a Reticon SAD 1024. My favourite BBD IC.

The MCI4013. ... CMOS Dual D-type Flip flop. ?

SN72L022P .... I think it's a dual general purpose low power op amp, using the standard pinout for a dual op amp (same as a TL082, LM358, etc.)


For more on SAD 1024 BBD - Bucket Bridge devices
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Buchla Easel - Portabellabz bob expander.

October 26, 2017, 3:41 am
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These are my build notes for the Bucha easel BOB by Portabellabz.
You can find the docs here .
It's quite a neat little unit. And it's expandable.



The two ICs are a TL071 op amp and a CD 4093. The TL071 is I think used to invert the EG.... the second left output jack.  The 4093 is I think used for converting gates to triggers ???... for the pulser trigger out ???

The trimmer sets the voltage level of the pulse trigger out. ... If using eurorack the voltage level of the pulse out can be reduced to 5V


Papz has left a section on the right blank to add your own circuit.
I'm putting in a LFO/audio oscillator which you can find in the build notes.
I first tested this on some bread board.

Used just one 741 op amp, one capacitor 220nf & 7 resistors.
 Yup. It works both as a modulation oscillator and a audio oscillator.

Now to build it into the board.





So the the connections from left to right are:
- sequencer pulse in
- envelope inverted out / envelope trigger out (switchable)
- pulser pulse in
- pulser trig out (the internal short pulse occuring at the end of its cycle, not the ramp on yellow bananas)
- MO modulation switch CV
- LPG1 mode switch CV
- LPG2 mode switch CV
- LPG2 signal routing switch CV
- extra oscillator - switchable between LFO & Audio.


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MXR Time delay

October 26, 2017, 5:10 am
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Picked this up on Ebay.
I am addicted to Reticon bucket brigade chips. So couldn't pass this one up.

Heavy, and built like a tank.
This one dates from around 1981 to 83.
M206/Series 2000
Serial No. 206-001729


The seller described it thus:
"This is a supremely luscious vintage analog delay. Thick, decadent delay repeats you could cut with a butter knife. Forget that Panasonic/Matsushita malarkey: Reticon did it right."  Yes !!!!



Reticon SAD4096 bucket-brigade delay chip with in'n'out running through a NE571 compander. It's socketed as are the op-amps (MCI458p)


NE571N Compander
....SCL4013BE ... CMOS chip ,,, its a dual D-type flip flop

 Built with love in beautiful Rochester
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The Clifford Pier - Singapore

October 28, 2017, 11:36 pm
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Located at the first floor of The Fullerton Hotel Singapore this beautiful and historic building is well worth a visit.
Built in 1933, it was a landing point for immigrants and a ferry terminal to the southern Islands like Kusu & St. Johns. It was the melting pot for the interaction of different races and cultures.

In the early days, the car park surrounding the entrance was transformed into a hawker centre. It was the meeting point for musicians, night owls, and lovebirds. Today it's still a meeting place but it's been transformed into a something very stylish.





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Click here for more travel postcards
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MXR Stereo Chorus - M205

October 30, 2017, 4:45 am
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 The MXR dates from around 1983. Its very heavy.

 It's a great sounding pedal

The era of BBD based delays & chorus appears to have just been very short . Between 1976 and 1983 ?
So this comes from the very end. It appears that pedal companies all released digital  based delays in the 1980s killing the demand for the BBDs.

..
Uses a Reticon SAD4096.... super long delays.
 The SAD4096 is super rare. It's a general purpose 4096 bucket (2048-sample) n-channel BBD. It's useful where a long delay is required. (2ms to 250msec). The delay is controlled by the clock frequency.

The RC4558 is a texas Instruments General purpose dual Op amp.
The MCI458p is also an op amp
The SCL4013 is of course a CMOS logic chip. Dual flop flop.

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EHX Black Russian Big Muff

November 2, 2017, 4:23 am
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I think this Electro-harmonic Big Muff dates from around 2004.
Power was from a 9V battery only. A red LED light shows when the circuit is on.
Note the “chicken head” style knobs 
.....and the lack of an AC power adaptor jack. 
Notice also that there are only 4 screws .. therefore it's most likely a second edition V8.
The 1st edition had 6 screws.
 
 Versions 7-8 only run on 9V DC power. The V8 was the last Big Muff ever made in Russia.
For some first editions and all second edition V8s,  the words "MADE IN RUSSIA" on the back panel was moved under the input jack.


 The resistors all look to be metal film.


The V8's used 547C transistors, and all second editions had a true bypass switch, which this has.








Links:
+KitRae
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Moog Mother Drums

November 8, 2017, 2:44 am
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A great little synth. Versatile.
Trying to use it as a drum .,... a bit lofi. I can see why more than one would be very handy.

A post shared by jono (@dj_jondent) on

I'm using the CVs from the Kb output to modulate the mix between VCO and noise .
The lower the CV's octave the deeper the sounding is the note.
Higher octaves trigger more noise and brighter sounds.

The ARP 2500 clocks the Moog mother 32 perfectly.

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Linear Power Booster 1 - Electro-Harmonix

November 8, 2017, 3:19 am
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This is the "pedal" that started it all.
Note the chicken head knob.
This pedal boosted the signal and made the guitar stand out. Most of the examples I've seen have a jack at the amp output allowing you to plug this directly into your guitar amp.  You could just sit this one on the floor or use it earlier in your signal chain, between effect pedals rather than at the end. I'm guessing this is from around 1969 to 1971 ??? The pot markings are obscured with solder making this difficult to date.

What a shock. No PCB.

Good Old Eddie

The schematic is uber basic.
R1 = 1M
R2 = 1M
R3 = 100K
R4 = 10K
R5 = 390R
R6 = A100K (volume pot)

C1 = 100nF
C2 = 100nF

Transistor 2N5088

It's interesting that C2 is ceramic & C1 a polyester.
I think they are just coupling caps to pass the wanted audio (AC) signals, while blocking any DC.

The first part of the circuit (C1 & R1) works like a high pass filter.
Increasing the value of C1 should let in more bass. If you decrease it, more treble should appear.
(Making R1 a variable resistor would be a interesting mod).
With 0.1uF, most of the input signal goes through.


The trannie is a 2N 5088. Its a NPN. They are cheap as chips on Ebay.



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EHX "Booster" pedal family

November 10, 2017, 3:27 am
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I've recently been exploring some of Electro-harmonix early pedals... The LPB-1, the Screaming Bird & the Mole. They are really simple circuits & fall into the family of Boosters - all using a transistor for amplification.
The component values determine if the circuit boost all frequencies, bass or treble.

The LPB-1 boosts all frequencies, cutting nothing out.
R1 & R2 can be 430K & 43K respectively.
The transistor is a 2N5088 on my vintage example but you could also use a 2N5133 or BC239
if building your own.
 The Screaming Bird boosts treble.

The LPB-1 and the Screaming bird pretty much are the same circuit apart from
two capacitors (C1 & C2). The first part of the circuit (C1 & R2) work like a high pass filter.
Increasing the value of C1 should let in more bass. If you decrease it, more treble should appear.
With 0.1uF, most of the input signal goes through. In the case of the screaming bird, EHX have indeed reduced C1 to introduce more treble.

The Mole has a slightly different design even though one can see a family resemblance to the LPB-1.

EHX added two caps (C3 & C4) and again changed the value of C1 & C2 (the coupling caps).
R2 & C3 form a passive Low Pass RC (Resistor-Cap) filter .
R3 & C4 do the same. We have two LP filters ... before & after amplification.

Links:
+ Electro harmonix time line
+ My LPB-1

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NLC - Envelope follower - build notes

November 27, 2017, 3:29 am
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These are my build notes for the NLC - nonlinearcircuit Envelope follower. It's a eurorack module but it's design was based on the Envelope Detector of the Buchla 208 (Music Easel).

The 208 has a a hi/lo switch. Andrew has substituted a gain pot.
The NLC version also has a additional comparator stage to give a gate output.
The NLC build notes are here:
http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/data/ENV%20follower.pdf

The module uses just two op-amps (TL 072)


I mixed the 101 (100pF) and 2M2. - it does not matter as they are in parallel anyway.


To be continued.....


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Click here to return to the NLC Build Index:
http://djjondent.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/non-linear-circuits-ncl-index.html  
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CEM3340 VCO - NLC - Build notes

November 27, 2017, 3:15 pm
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These are my build notes for the CEM3340 VCO module. It's a  Nonlinearcircuit eurorack module using the CEM3340.

The CEM3340 is a completely self contained VCO on a single chip.
It featured 4 waveforms : triangle, pulse, square & sawtooth (though they are at different levels). The VCO is extremely stable eliminating the need for a temperature compensation tempco resistor.
The CEM3340 is extremely unusual in that it offers both Hard and Soft Sync inputs (pin 6 and pin 9).

It has featured in many famous synths of yesteryear including Roland's Super Jupiter MKS-80 & SH101, Sequential's Prophet 5.3, The ProOne, the OB-Xa & Prophet T8 and Moog's Memorymoog,

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There are 3 trimpots:
10k trimpot 10 turn - Tadya A-586
20K single turn - A 2504
100K single turn  A 2506
I only had the 20K on hand so used some non tayda pots for the rest. I'll see how this goes.
Might have to replace them in the future.


Links:
* CEM 3340 data sheet
* NLC Build notes 
* Electric Druid - VCO designs
* gear junkies - Update about the new Curtis CEM 3340
* NLC Blog

To be continued.....

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Click here to return to the NLC Build Index:
http://djjondent.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/non-linear-circuits-ncl-index.html  
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Nara Japan

November 28, 2017, 3:07 am
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Some pics of Nara.
A very short bus ride from Kyoto (1hr). Well worth a visit.

Below is Todaiji Temple. Constructed in 752.
Todaiji's main hall, the Daibutsuden (Big Buddha Hall) is the world's largest wooden building,
The present building is a reconstruction, built in 1692. The original hall was 1/3 larger than todays building.

Nara used to be Japan’s capital. It was founded in 710 AD. The capital was moved to Nagaoka in 784 in order to lower the temple's influence on government affairs..

Along the approach to Todaiji stands the Nandaimon Gate, a large wooden gate watched over by two fierce looking statues. Representing the Nio Guardian Kings, the statues are designated national treasures together with the gate itself.





Deer roam in Nara Park, site of Tōdai-ji temple.




Daibutsu, Tōdai-ji's 15m-high bronze Buddha, is displayed in a large wooded hall.



 


Kasuga Grand Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the city of Nara. Established in 768 AD

 



..
...

For more travel postcards click here:
http://djjondent.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/travel-postcards-index-my-travel.html

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Brain Custard - NLC Build notes

November 28, 2017, 6:39 pm
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My notes for the Nonlinearcircuits Brain Custard Eurorack module.
This version of the module will be for audio rates, but you can also build this to produce CVs.



It's kind of like the Jerk Off module in that it uses chaotic oscillators.
The Brain Custard has "9 audio rate chaotic signals mixed to form 'neuron clusters'
The idea is that the low frequency patterns will emerge from the mayhem.
Really it will be vaguely controllable noise and lots of it.....with LEDs."

No rare or hard to source parts. Yah !!!
Just four TL074s & one TL072
Mostly SMD passives.
"c" = 100K
"1" = 1K

For the Audio version install all eighteen 10K resistors.
For the CV version six of the 10k resistors need to be replaced with 47k resistors


Links
+ NLC Build notes
+ NLC Blog


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CellF Action - Build notes

November 30, 2017, 10:50 pm
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Finally getting around to this.
Andrew put these out in 2015 (along with the CellF Voice).


TLP291-4 - quad opto-coupler package.

Links:
+ NLC Build notes


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Modular On The Lounge

December 2, 2017, 7:50 pm
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The first MOTL (Modular On The Lounge) .... held at a secret location in Wollongong, NSW, Australia.


All my synth friends were dying for a chance to get together, chat about synths, and get some performance practice.
 So we found a living room and couched it for the night.

 A great turnout.
 
 We set up a projector and a Video Synth.

Justin from Metro Modular showed us some of his new modules.






Hopefully there will be more of these nights in the future.


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DIY index

December 2, 2017, 8:35 pm
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Tokyo Tower - Japan

December 5, 2017, 2:56 am
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Some pics of Tokyo Tower in Japan.

At 332.9 metres (1,092 ft), it is the second-tallest structure in Japan. Built in 1958, Hisakichi Maeda, founder and president of Nippon Denpatō, the tower's owner and operator, originally planned for the tower to be taller than the Empire State Building, which at 381 meters was the highest structure in the world at the time.

Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, it is claimed the tower can withstand earthquakes with twice the intensity of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.







 

 

.


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Buchla 200e explores space

December 5, 2017, 4:00 am
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Have you ever wondered about the origin of the names of some of Don Buchla instruments?
Esp the later 200e series. Skylab, LEM, Aquarius, Spider, Snoopy ????
I must thank my friend Justin for enlightening me.
They are all references to NASA space exploration vehicles.

Skylab
Skylab was the United States' first space station, orbiting Earth from 1973 to 1979.
 The Buchla Skylab. It's a 10U size system designed to be portable.
LEM
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program


 An amazing piece of engineering to say the least.

Named the LEM 208, it's a BEMI easel, minus the 218 keyboard.

Aquarius
Apollo 13 "Aquarius" was used as a lifeboat. It burned up in Earth's atmosphere April 17, 1970.


Below is the Buchla LEM7 Aquarius

Spider
Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the United States Apollo space program and the first flight of the Command/Service Module (CSM) with the Lunar Module (LM, pronounced "lem"). It launched on 3rd March 1969. It was a luna module test flight. This was the first space docking of two vehicles with a crew transfer between them. The CSM was named "Gumdrop" and the LEM was named "Spider".


The Buchla LEM Spider.


 Snoopy
Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the United States Apollo space program, and the second (after Apollo 8) to orbit the Moon. Launched on May 18, 1969, it was the F mission: a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing, testing all of the components and procedures, just short of actually landing.
As you have probably worked out my now, Snoopy was the name given to the LEM.

The Buchla LEM Snoopy


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