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LZX Cadet IX - DIY video Synth - VCO

October 31, 2018, 8:48 pm
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Some pics of the Cadet DIY modular video synth build.
I am an independent builder and have nothing to do with LZX industries.
These aren't official build notes, just my records to help me trouble shoot.
It's a work in progress.
Do let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.
This is module no.9 (VCO IX).

..
Links:
LZX official
Muffs - Cadet series DIY/assembled

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LZX Cadet X - DIY Video synthesizer - Multiplier

October 31, 2018, 8:50 pm
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Some pics of the Cadet DIY modular video synth build.
I am an independent builder and have nothing to do with LZX industries.
These aren't official build notes, just my records to help me trouble shoot.
It's a work in progress.
Do let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.
This is module no.10 (Multiplier X).

It's described as "Cadet X Multiplier is a variation on the Cadet VI Fader circuit,
 configured as a switchable 2-quadrant or 4-quadrant multiplier".
So if I understand this correctly, in 2-quadrant mode it it acts like a VCA and in 4-quad mode it behaves like a ring-modulator..... "it crossfades between an inverted version of the input signal
and a positive version of an input signal"

2-quadrant mode = VCA.
You can control the amplitude with a control voltage (0 = no signal & 1V = max signal)

4-quad mode = Ring Modulator
The amplitude of the output is again controlled by CV.
When CV is negative ( -1V for LZX = max inversion) signal gets inverted.
When CV is positive  ( +1v on LZX = max amplification) signal is non-inverted.




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Links:
LZX official
Muffs - Cadet series DIY/assembled

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Tektronix 620 monitor

October 31, 2018, 8:59 pm
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Finally arrived.
And she survived the postal service.
 i'VE no idea what the Thomson module on the right does.
If anyone can help provide and info, manual, etc , I'd be very grateful.


This runs on 110V

I'm planning to use this to try vector rescanning.
It has the X, Y and Z inputs so hopefully it will work.








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Vector Rescanning - Rutt Etra - Tek 620 monior - first attempt

October 31, 2018, 9:16 pm
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Initial efforts on getting some vector rescanning.
I'm using a LZX video synth and a Tektronix 620 monitor.

...


 tHE patch is very simple.
Horizontal ramps into the X input.
Vertical ramps into the Y input
Video from the camera into the LZX "Color TBC" and out via the Color video encoder.
This video signal is then plugged into the Z input

 The Passage, Bridge are boosting the signals
-------------------------

Patch 2

Slight variation on the first patch.
I'm now mixing the video signal into all 3 inputs.
Ramps and still going into the X & Y ins

....

Links:
LZX official
Muffs - Cadet series DIY/assembled

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Egypt - Mt Sinai

November 3, 2018, 3:55 pm
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This mountain  is in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.
It's speculated that it is a the location of the biblical Mount Sinai.


Well worth a visit even if you are not interested in its religious significance.

Decided to hike to the summit for the morning sunrise.
The hike started at 4am. Very cold ,

mADE some friends on the way.
Ah the trusty packed of tim tams. :-)
They are a hit everywhere I go.
Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus and other books of the Bible, and the Quran.According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, the biblical Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments. 

However, the earliest Christian traditions place this event at the nearby Mount Serbal, at the foot of which a monastery was founded in the 4th century.
 Mount Sinai is a 2,285-metre (7,497 ft) .... A moderately high mountain to climb but not too steep.

 This is a Greek Orthodox Chapel. It was closed.
The chapel was constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church.

 tHE SUMMIT  at last.


The building above is a mosque.

Waiting for the sunrise.

Cold !!! up there.





 
tHE hike back down


















 St Catherines Monastery.
The monastery is Greek Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO , this monastery is the oldest working Christian monastery in the world – although the Monastery of Saint Anthony, situated across the Red Sea in the desert south of Cairo, also lays claim to that title.(Wikipedia)

Sadly it was also closed so couldn't explore inside.

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Buchla, Eurorack, etc - Formats & the origins of names.

November 3, 2018, 5:04 pm
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This post was inspired by a discussion with my friend Adam over the confusion of naming Buchla modules. I have 2 vintage Buchla systems along with what many refer to as "Buchla Clones"

and lots of 3rd party 4U modules which make no attempt to pass themselves off as Buchla apart from the fact that they are 4U and share the same voltage specs.

I love all these modules. ... for different reasons and am happy to use vintage alongside modern modules.
This format has been steadily growing over the years and I think this momentum will only gather pace.

Should they all be called Buchla ????
How do we make the distinction between vintage Buchla modules, their "clones", and modern manufacturers who use the format invented by Don Buchla?
I have recently started describing only vintage Buchla modules as Buchla, and the rest as "Buchla Format". Is this distinction good enough? Should the word Buchla only be used with modules that Don Buchla himself made or commissioned?
I think making this distinction is important to avoid confusion for musicians and their audiences.

Adam & I decided to compare this format to Eurorack.
 Original photo by Nina Richards

The Eurorack system was originally specified in 1996 by Doepfer Musikelektronik.
Doepfer Musikelektronik GmbH is based in Gräfelfing, Germany and was founded by Dieter Döpfer.
It had only 10 modules at the time of release.
I understand that the Eurorack name originated from the computer Eurocard systems which were developed by Acorn computers between 1979 to 1982.



 It looks very much like the modern Eurorack modular synth system of today.

At the time there were other manufacturers like Analogue Systems (AS) that used a similar rack system. AS had small technical differences such as the power connectors but they later adapted some of  their products to offer "Eurorack compatibility".
Over time more and more manufacturers adopted this system.
 This 3U system is now the largest format with hundreds of manufacturers from all over the world. What makes it so popular I think is it's open source nature.
 The A-111 is a doepfer module. It sits happily along side two US manufacturers.

There is of course strict adherence to the format size/and voltage specs, but manufacturers are free to
name their modules what they like, using their own distinctive panel designs and names.
These module manufacturers are fortunate to have the name "Eurorack" to use. It's a generic title.

Is there a generic name that could be applied to all modules using the format invented by Don Buchla?  BF (for Buchlaformat)?, 4U? , 4UB maybe?
I don't think 4U is sufficient as there are other module manufacturers using the 4U size.
4URack ?
4rack?


Links:
+ What U is that synth?
+ Eurorack - Wikipedia
+ Doepfer - wikipedia
+ Eurocard -wiki

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Modular on the Lounge V

November 3, 2018, 7:05 pm
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Yah.
 The day began with the best scampi ever.

The night was all modular. Thanks to Paul, Dee, Adam, Ben, Terry & Andrew for some
 some great stuff.


The 5th Modular on the Lounge.

RENE mark II
Very Pretty !!












pics & videos to come
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LZX - Castle -Modular synth

November 5, 2018, 3:09 am
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Some notes before I begin building The Castle.


The Castle synth is different from the Cadet synth which I have recently been putting together.
These modules were designed by  Philip Baljeu of Toronto and were inspired by early digital hardware video synths.
The main difference seems to be that the castle is a system of binary & logic modules.
Binary = on/off or 0/1
It processes 3 bits in parallel....  3 bit data streams
The 3-bits give 8 possible combinations.....Black, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Magenta, Cyan, and White.

I'm guessing that these modules will be good for producing computer graphics and pixels ??... but maybe more. I wonder what it will be like when you mix these with the analog Cadet LZX.
There are 8 modules in this video synthesizer. Everything is through hole, and 4HP

00_000 ADC - Analog to digital converter
01_001 DAC - Digital to Analog converter
02_010 Clock VCO
03_011 Shift Register
04_100 Multi Gate
05_101 Quad Gate
06_110 Counter
07_111 Flip flops


To be continued .................

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LZX Castle Video Synthesizer - 000 ADC

November 7, 2018, 8:39 pm
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Some build pics of the first module in the Castle series.
This module is in Eurorack format.
iT'S 4HP and all through hole.
Quite an easy build

I must thank the entire team from LZX  and Philip Baljeu for making this DIY system possible.
Building these modules from scratch is a great way to learn.
 tHESE are not official build pics and I am in no way affiliated with LZX.

 The Castle 000 ADC is an Analog to Digital Converter. It's used to change an analog input signal in to a 3-Bit data stream.

To be continued....
waiting for components.

Links
+ ADC overview - LZX
+ LZX industries

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Video Index page
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LZX Castle Video Synth - 001 DAC

November 7, 2018, 9:05 pm
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Some build pics of the 2nd module in the Castle series.
The 001 DAC - Digital to analog converter.
This module is in Eurorack format.
iT'S 4HP and all through hole.

 The 001 MODULE is a Digital to Analog Converter. It's a dual module to convert two 3-Bit data streams into two Analog approximations.

Think of it as a pair of summing mixers.

In audio, a summing mixer turns multitracks into stereo.
With the DAC, the data streams are mixed to make an analog signal with the MSB (most significant bit) having the most amplitude and the LSB (least significant bit) having the least. "Pair it with the ADC to produce a solarize effect counter to synthesize waveforms"




To be continued....
waiting for components.

Links
+ ADC overview - LZX
+ LZX industries

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Video Index page
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LZX Clock VCO - Castle Video synth

November 7, 2018, 9:23 pm
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The Clock VCO is a square wave Voltage Controlled Oscillator with a linear response to CV.
It can be used as a clock source for modules such as the Shift Register and Counter.
You can switch between Horizontal and Vertical square waveforms
It looks like there are also high & low frequency ranges.
It might be useful to have more than one of these modules in your system.
This VCO is the 3rd module in the series and is in Eurorack format.
It's 4HP and all through hole.

+12V Current Consumption: 9mA
-12V Current Consumption: 7mA

 tHE CD4046 - a phase locked loop vco

 To be continued....
waiting for components.

Links
+ ADC overview - LZX
+ LZX industries

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Video Index page
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Inside a Korg PS 3100

November 7, 2018, 9:38 pm
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A friend requested some pics from my Korg PS 3100 the other day so I opened her up.
There aren't too many images of the insides this baby.




 We decided not to remove any cards from the cage.
The synth is working perfectly and we didn't want to disturb anything.






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Egypt - The Alexandria Museum

November 9, 2018, 2:42 pm
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LZX castle 110 Shift Register - DIY Modular video synth

November 9, 2018, 3:54 pm
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What's a shift register?
"In digital circuits, a shift register is a cascade of flip flops, sharing the same clock, in which the output of each flip-flop is connected to the 'data' input of the next flip-flop in the chain, resulting in a circuit that shifts by one position the 'bit array' stored in it, 'shifting in' the data present at its input and 'shifting out' the last bit in the array, at each transition of the clock input." (wikipedia)

LZX describe this as a 4 position memory module.

 tHERE are 3 inputs: Clock, data and reset.

The main IC is a CMOS CD4015
 The CD4015 consists of two identical, independent, 4-stage shift registers. Each register has independent CLOCK and RESET inputs as well as a single serial DATA input.
Only one of the shift registers is used so there might be scope to build a dual 110 module in the future.


Apart from the 4015, the only other major component to buy are the LM6172IN/NOPB.
You need 4 of these.

to be continued.... waiting for parts.


Links
+ LZX industries
+ Vimeo - video
 
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LZX Castle video Synth - 101 quad gate

November 11, 2018, 12:29 am
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Some build pics of the LZX quad gate module.
This is in Eurorack format.
The LZX official site describes it thus:
"The Quad Gate uses a single quad logic chip and combines them in 4 different ways."
(A single CMOS input/output is called a Logic Gate.)



The important component is a CMOS logic gate.
I'm using a CD4070BE in this build but alternatives are the CD4011 and CD 4001



The CD4070 is a quad XOR gate.
It has four Exclusive OR gates. It has two inputs per gate.
A true output results if one, and only one, of the inputs to the gate is true. If both inputs are false (0/LOW) or both are true (1/HIGH), a false output results.
A way to remember XOR is "one or the other but not both". 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Alternatives:
The 4001 - NOR gate (NOT - OR)
It's an inverting OR gate.

 A true output (1/HIGH) results if both inputs are false (0/LOW).
 If either or both inputs are true (1/HIGH), a false output results.
(this is the reverse of the NAND gate)
Notice the small circle at the output on the schematic symbol. This means that the gate is inverting. 
Remember that a NOT gate is an inverter. 
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Alternative:
The CD 4011 - NAND gate (NOT - AND)
It's an inverting AND gate.
This produces a false output (0/LOW) only if all its inputs are true (1/HIGH)
If either or both inputs are true (1/HIGH), a true (1/HIGH) output results.
(This is the reverse of the NOR gate)
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So it may be interesting to build these 2 alternatives.
Back to the build.








wAITING on those jacks.,,, to be continued


Links
+ LZX industries

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LZX Castle - Video synth - 100 MultiGate

November 20, 2018, 3:25 am
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This is the 5th module for the LZX Castle synth.
Its all DIY. A great way to learn electronics.

The module is in Eurorack format

 The Multi-Logic Gate has 2 inputs and XNOR, XOR, NOR, OR, NAND, and AND outputs.
For more on logic circuits read this:
http://djjondent.blogspot.com/2017/08/cmos-useful-chips-for-lunetta-synths.html








SN74HC00 devices contain four independent, 2-input NAND gates.
They perform the Boolean function
Y = A × B or Y = A + B in positive logic.



To be continued ... waiting for parts

Links
+ LZX industries
+ CMOS
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Patch & Tweak - Exploring Modular Synthesis

November 25, 2018, 2:42 am
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This arrived in the post on Friday. What a wonderful wonderful book. 320 pages of bliss.
This follows the hugely successful "Push, Turn, Move" book.

Patch & Tweak covers many of the different formats including Euro, Buchla, Serge, etc

It's packed with interviews of modular artists including Robert Rich, Bana Haffar, Caterina Barbieri, Russell E. L. Butler, Ian Boddy, NODE, Robin Rimbaud / Scanner, Hans Zimmer, Andrew Huang, Richard Devine, Lady Starlight (Colleen Martin), and Hataken


Plus it covers many of the brands important today in the modular world such as Verbos, WMD, Make Noise Music, Intellijel, Endorphin.es, Frap Tools, 4ms Company, Noise Engineering, Rossum Electro-Music, Erica Synths, Mutable Instruments, etc


 It doesn't matter if you are just getting started in modular synthesis, or have been doing this for many years. I'm sure you will really like this book.


The book covers many of the components and methods used in  the modular & semi modular world.
Systems and setups, Audio sources (eg VCOs, drums, sampling), Audio Modifiers (eg VCFs, VCAs waveshapers, effects),   CV sources (Envelopes, LFOs, Random sources, etc), Logic, sequencers controllers & keyboards, etc etc ... lots of ground is covered. There is so much in this book.


and also covers its history.

There are articles on rare modules, patching techniques, software, computers etc 


The author is Kim Bjørn  & the co-author is Chris Meyer.
The foreword is by Suzanne Ciani.



Links:
+ Kickstarter
+ Push Turn Move
+ Learning Modular
+ DivKid interview
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Cadet 111 Flip Flops - LZX video Synth

November 25, 2018, 3:35 am
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Some pics from my build of the Cadet Flip Flops module.
It's a Eurorack format video module.


The module has three D type Flip Flops that share a common Clock and Reset.

So what's a flip flop? The Flip-Flop is also known as a latch. It's a fundamental building block in computers & sequential logic. Flip Flops have two stable states and can be used to store data.

A D-type is also known as a Delay Flip flop, Data Latch or D-type Transparent Latch. They are used in Sequential Circuits..... more of this later.




Waiting on a few parts... to be continued.

Links
+ LZX industries
+ CMOS
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LZX visual cortex - inputting external video - composite vs component

November 26, 2018, 1:49 am
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Just some quick notes to remind me (and hopefully help others) about inputting external video into the LZX Visual Cortex. When I first bought this module I was confused to say the least.

The camera is a pretty old Sony HDR-XR260VE

The yellow input is a standard composite. going into the top "y" input.
This will only give you a black/white luma output.
 To get a full colour input you need to use all 3 component inputs: Y, Pb, Pr.

When I began many years ago, I didn't understand the difference between composite and component.

In Composite video all the video information is combined into a single line level signal that is used in analog television. The video cables do not carry audio but are often paired with audio cables.
In the photo above, the composite is the yellow, and the red & white are the left & right audio (and thus remain unplugged).



In Component video , the video signal is split into two or more component channels. 
Like composite, component-video cables do not carry audio but are often paired with audio cables.
Component video usually refers to analog YPBPR component video with sync on luma (Y).  


In the pic above, the green "Y" input is termed Luma for luminance or brightness. 
It also importantly carries the sync signal.
Pb carries the difference between blue and luma (B − Y).
PR carries the difference between red and luma (R − Y).

YPbPr is the analog version of the YCbCr color space; the two are numerically equivalent but YPbPr is designed for use in analog systems while YCbCr is intended for digital video.  
I have tried plugging a DVD player with YCbCr outputs into my Visual Cortex --- it just doesn't work !

The advantage of using the YPbPr inputs is that the quality of the extracted image is nearly identical to the signal before encoding. S-Video and composite video mix the signals together by means of electronic multiplexing (though S-Video does far better as it gives the whole video bandwith to luma and transmits chroma separately). So if you can use S-Video throughout the whole signal chain do it.


The rear of the Visual Cortex.


In the pic above I've plugged into the Y input a simple CCTV camera. Thus there is only a Luma output.
This is mult'ed into the Castle 000 ADC (analog to digital converter) and its output is passed back into channel B of the Visual Cortex. The Castle Clock VCO is triggering the Visual Cortex.
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LZX Castle - shift register patches

November 28, 2018, 10:52 pm
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Just experimenting with the LZX Castle shift register... module 110
Some quick patch notes ...............

..



The module has three inputs. Clock, data & reset.

This is my first patch ... really basic.

Lumen from V cortex ------> input of ADC
Data out from the ADC ----> data in of the Shift Register
Clock is from the VCO clock
Reset - use a second oscillator... eg prismatic ray or a sequencer

There are 4 outs.
I plugged three into the V Cortex (no particular order).

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