Sunday, April 21, 2013

MFOS into Dotcom

Finally got around to ordering a blank panel for the MFOS Noise Cornucopia PCB that I built over a year ago.  I had aspirations of getting a screen and printing the font and knob markings on the blank panel, but, that's a lot of work, ya dig!  Ended up going to Michael's and getting a white paint pen.  Doesn't look the best, but it does the job.

At any rate, the Noise Cornucopia board is a pretty kickass noise source.  More on it here.   I'm really diggin the Graininess Noise.  Very cool as a mod source.  Haven't been able to check out the Random Gates yet (wrong IC).   But yeah, more noise sources in one module that I know what to do with!



MFOS into Dotcom

Finally got around to ordering a blank panel for the MFOS Noise Cornucopia PCB that I built over a year ago.  I had aspirations of getting a screen and printing the font and knob markings on the blank panel, but, that's a lot of work, ya dig!  Ended up going to Michael's and getting a white paint pen.  Doesn't look the best, but it does the job.

At any rate, the Noise Cornucopia board is a pretty kickass noise source.  More on it here.   I'm really diggin the Graininess Noise.  Very cool as a mod source.  Haven't been able to check out the Random Gates yet (wrong IC).   But yeah, more noise sources in one module that I know what to do with!



Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Juno-106 Active LED Indicator MOD RECALL

Turns out there is a flaw in my design somewhere.  I hadn't noticed it when I had it breadboarded, but last night I was hearing a lot of distortion when I had the resonance kicked up.  After fussing about for a bit, I decided to pull the power from the Active LED Indicator board and the distortion went away!  So, until I can suss out the issue, I have removed the schematic and YouTube video.  Sorry to anyone that was interested in this mod.  Also, if you happen to have a clue as to what may be the culprit, please drop me a line!  It's a bit bothersome that I have 6 holes in the top now.  Grr.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Anushri build

Just finished a build for a client. Really enjoyed this one. It was bought as a kit then shipped to me. Didn't have to put a mouser order in or try and find those damned 3.5mm jacks, which are impossible to find in the states (that will fit the Anushri footprint). It'd cost over $40 just for 12 of those from the EU.

Anyway, I'm hoping I can get a bit of playtime to have her and dotcom get familiar, knowiamsayin?



Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Juno Bling Complete

Well, I opted for repurposing the red LED's I pulled out of the Juno and replaced with the blue ones. The blue LED's were a bit to bright and I felt it would look better in red. Anyway, drilling the holes sucked, as anticipated. I need to get a drill press.





Juno Bling pt 3

Board is done (other than the LED's).  I let the circuit sit for about 4 hours today and the Juno running through an arpeggiation.  I noticed that if I set the resonance high, the LED would get brighter.  If I then adjusted the cutoff, the LED would overload and begin to dim.  I ended up adding a resistor to each one.  This tamed it and keeps the LED output intensity steady.  Wired the 6-Voice-Cable-Harness™ to an Arduino 6-pin header.  Also added a couple headers for the +5V/COM.  Gonna see if Fry's has some blue diffused LED's tonight.  If so, I should have it all done by tomorrow.




Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Juno Bling cont.

Got the PCB laid out and parts soldered in. I added a diode between the Juno and the 3904 Base. It's highly unlikely, but I wanted to protect the Juno from any stray voltage. Mods to old synths always make me nervous. Now to get the LED's and drill the holes.



Monday, April 8, 2013

Juno Bling

Occasionally I will work on a synth purely for aesthetic reasons.  The Juno-106 works perfectly and doesn't need any servicing as of yet, but, if I can customize it, I will (as long as it's out of warranty).

I try not to buy pre-packaged "diy" kits from eBay, but I looked for just the display elsewhere and was finding it to be more expensive than buying the diy kit on eBay that comes with the display and all of the LED's.  Swapped 'em out today (rather quickly I might ad.  Solder wick is awesome).  Looks pretty rad.  Along with the African Blackwood End Cheeks, it's lookin pretty slick.  Also was able to get the voice LED indicators working (ala DSI PolyEvolver).  There's never too many LED's.  I don't have enough 3904's laying around, so getting that complete will have to wait until next mouser order.  Word.




Also, if you want to do the Active Voice LED mod, here's a "how-to" vid: