Updated 1. February 2000
Here you will find info on my DIY modular synthesizer. It is meant as an inspiration, so I hope you'll be at least a tiny bit inspired. (thinking, "I can do that" or something.) I have made the page around the pictures. So take a look and read the description.
All righty, here's me and the Synharmonium sitting in the garden. Nuff
said. (Note however that the T-shirt that says "Right
Religion" is not a statement of religious fanaticism, it is
merely a parody on the "Bad Religion" T-shirts. Visit
the ROSE
homepage.)
Here it is, patched up and resting on the Nebulus synth in the
background.
The keyboard is from an old Soliona organ. I tore it
out, put it in a crued plywood box and made a circuit that puts out 1v/oct CV
and gate signal. This design is from Tom Gamble's EFM site. Visit the EFM site.
The gray
metal case that holds the modules is an old box that used to hold microwave
communication equipment, I think. Kindly given to me by the school.
You are looking at a close-up of the front panels. As you may recognize,
this is a very similar to the MOTM design sold by Synthesis Technology. Visit the SynthTech site. (thanks to Paul.)
I chose this form because I plan to buy a "proper" modular (meaning a MOTM
system), and I want to be able to mount them in one big rack together.
Anyway, the top row contains the ASM-1 modules, which make up most of
the synth. There is two saw/square VCOs, one two-pole state variable VCF, two
3080 OTA type VCAs, two ADSR envelope generators, and the module to the far
right is an LFO, a lag processor and a noise generator with white, pink and
random outputs. At the bottom there is to the far left a power supply (a Power
One regulated linear PSU), a patch module consisting of two power outputs and
three 4x patch points, a dual ring modulator that is Jürgen Haible's design (visit JH's page), and a reverb
circuit constructed from a tech note by Roy Mallory. And at the very right you
can see behind the modules, the reverb tank, which also comes from that old
Solina organ.
As you can see, there are three blank panels. I
simply haven't gotten thus far quite yet. One panel will become a mixer / master
module, another will be a phaser and the third I am not sure yet. Also you see
that to the very right there is room for yet another module. But I'm all out of
aluminum. Anything else I need to mention then? Oh yes, all of the front
panels are brushed aluminum spray painted black; and all the graphics are hand
drawn. All holes are drilled with a simple hand drill, so they are not totally
evenly spaced apart from one another. Looks a bit.... well, it looks DIY. And it
is. :-)
Here is the back of the synth.
At the left you see the
reverb tank, at the top the ASM-1 board sits,
at the bottom center you see the ring modulator frontpanel -- the vertical line
is the PCB sticking out: I had to mount it perpendicular to the front panel. At
the bottom right you see the Powre One PSU, and below that you see all the power
wires running to the power distribution panel. I used DIN plugs for that,
because I had a sack lying around. Works good.
Here now is a close-up from behind.
At the top you may
behold the worthy ASM-1 PCB. I used
brown 24 AWG hook-up wire from Mouser between the PCB and all the panel pots and
jacks. I wired it so that by loosening the four screws that holds the PCB to the
panel, one may flip the PCB up easily and access the pots underneath. That is
why you can see the thick bundles of wire running at the top. You may also see
that there is no wires running to the leftmost module, and that is because I
simply ran out of wire. I'll have it fixed in a couple of weeks.
That's all I have to say right now. I may update this page once I get
more modules up and running, but until then you'll have to settle with this. I
might, though, sample a few noises for you to hear, while you wait. Feel free to
bother me. I mean, send me an e-mail. Check back on this page every now and
then.
1. February 2000: I've been working on other projects lately: a clone of the Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Sythesizer -- completed and works very well. And I've been building a Mad Mouse (another Tom Gamble thing) which is also nearing completion. Praps I'll have a web page for these things as well, soon.
A large thank you to Bjørn Are Nygård who took the pictures for me. Visit his page.
Oh yea, here is my e-mail. mailto:%20hhelland@mailandnews.com