Bloop.Blurb #00

Patch notes:

The MI Elements and the Mangrove were the 2 sound sources. The Mangrove was going into the Three Sisters for filtering. The note sequence was from the Voltage Block and the clock was coming from Pamela’s New Workout. The simple kick drum was from the Pico Drum and all of this was fed into the Pico DSP for reverb and stereo out from Rosie.

uGrids build

With my uO&C build I did a few months back, I decided to give another SMD eurorack project a shot. I was wanting to pick up a Mutable Instruments Grids module for gate triggering madness.. but what if I built one myself instead? So I picked up a PCB and panel from Modular Addict. First thing first.. The first project I did was 0805 and the uGrids is 0603 SMT components so I’m hoping that the soldier paste and my hot air station will be ok with the smaller SMT parts. Unfortunately I stocked up on 0805 parts so its going to be a mouser cart order for this project.

PCB and Panel:
https://modularaddict.com/max-ugrids

I almost have this thing fully populated. Waiting on pots and my ATMEL programmer.

That escalated quickly

Looks like I will be working on my second case soon. I knew this day would come at some point. I am slowing down at this point to focus on the modules I already have. Since January 2018, I have been getting modules at a pretty good pace and have been trying to wrap my head around each one as I grew. But, some of the fun is not knowing exactly what each module can do and then exploration kicks in.

DIY uO_c (Micro Ornament & Crime) Working!

With waiting a week to get back from traveling for work, I finally was able to install the last few missing parts. I would like to say it fired right up but in actuality It did not power up the first time around. Busted out the multimeter and found that the regulator was not getting any voltage. Used the hot air station to remove and reset the regulator and biggity bam! it powered up.

Spent the next 20 minutes calibrating it and then ran it through some paces. It is working as it should and now I just need the panel to mount this thing.

OP-1 Travel Casse

Was in search of a small/portable case for my OP-1 for trips to the park and hotels. Looking at different choices that others on Reddit and other various forums used, I went with a hard case. I have used Pelican cases in the past for photography equipment and computer related items but I did not want to spend that much for this case. I was looking for other alternative to a pelican case when I came across the Namuk brand on Amazon. These tend to go on sale from time to time and some colors are cheaper than others.


The Nanuk comes with the standard “pick and pull” foam that is really easy to cut/tear apart as needed.

I added a nice place for my portable speaker to go and ran all the wires under the foam.

Next I will be adding a multi break out so I can use either the portable speaker or some headphones easily.

DIY uO_c (Micro Ornament & Crime) Module

Picked up this PCB from a member over at Muff Wiggler and decided to give it a go. I first went to Amazon and picked up a SMT practice kit to get comfortable with my cheap hot air station. I bought some solder paste from Amazon also that was recommended to me by a friend that does a lot of SMT work. I spent a night trying different temps and placing parts before I got the courage to give the uO_c PCB a go.

Here is the basic build guide for the lager model, but this is almost the same in every way.

It did not take to long before I almost had the board completely populated. I took a break for a few days waiting on some parts.

Most of the parts came in and I was able to continue to populate this board. I am just missing a couple caps and resistors that I forgot to order.. ugh.

So far I am really happy with the results but I guess it will mean nothing if this does not fire up. I hope to have this done in the next few weeks… I forgot, I need to order the panel for it also!

Github location for the uO_c project

BOM for the project

Needed a Power Bus in a Pinch

My modular synth rack has a nice PSU but I had no way to distribute that power to my modules. I was looking for a nice power bus but most were out of stock or going for WAY to much. I decided to grab some strip board and so headers and make one myself.

Pinout:

I went ahead and did headers for the full 16 pins. I will only use 10 pins for my modules since they do not call for 5v or the CV & Gate.

Added a couple jumpers for the 6 ground pins and away we go.

Cassette Tape Player Fun

I have recently been introduced to the art of tape looping. It’s hard to Google for tape loops and not come across the name AMULETS.

If you never heard of him, please take a min and check him out:

AMULETS
Bandcamp
YouTube

He has a few tutorials floating around on the net on making a 5 second tape loop that was really easy to follow.

I had an older/cheap GE portable tape recorder that I wanted to do a pitch mod to. This would give me the ability to slow down the playback speed with a potentiometer. I played around with a few different pot values and found for this player a B25K pot was perfect to get a complete stand still just at 100% of the pot.

Look at the case of your player and see where the best place is to mount the knob at. With the case off the player you will be able to see if you have clearance for the pot/knob. I found a nice little cubby hole right behind the battery compartment that gave me access to the top of the player without obstruction from the PCB or internal speaker.

When you have your tape player open, look for a hole in the PCB that has access to a trimmer. This trimmer is used to set/calibrate the motor speed from the factory. We are going to add a pot to it to add control from the outside of the player.

Now make your hole for your pot in the plastic enclosure. If your careful about it you can do all this while the PCB is still mounted. Seeing all the motors and belts I decided to not take it completely apart. If I did I am confident that it would no longer work LOL.

End results: (Cassette tape courtesy of my wife)

I also wanted to add a MONO 3.5mm jack so I can output it to my modular system. More to come on this later.

DIY 6U Eurorack case

This is the beginning of a huge adventure in to the wonderful world of modular synthesis. Taking the plunge into this means a careful, thought out plan of attack, which I am not good at at all. I want to utilize as much “DIY” spirit as I have and save some money for modules and accessories since there will certainly be quite a few.

I had the following criteria for this case:

  • Sturdy
  • portable
  • Protection
  • Not to big
  • Room to grow

I planned on making this out of 3/4″ birch plywood. this would get me to the sturdy factor. By choosing to make it have a front/cover will give me the portability I want and protection. I want to be able to pop the front cover on and protect the modules and also have room to leave my patch cables in place for transport. Going with a 6U case would be a perfect size to carry around and not feel like I’m hauling around my Fender Reverb Twin (extremely heavy). I wanted something deep enough to be stable standing on its own and be able to stack another case on top to expand when needed and take care of my “room to grow” point.

My father-in-law was a HUGE help in getting this project off the ground. I took a few years of woodshop in school but still needed some refresher guidance and someone on the sidelines yelling at me “you’re overthinking it Cody!”. So to him, thank you.

At the end of this post I will make a list of the hardware I used and where I bought it from.

Here I am gluing the sides in place using some clamps. I used a basic butt joint and Titebond wood glue.

Lets jump ahead a bit, due to the fact that I did not take any photos of the glue process, but you get the idea. This is the box completely glued up and a nice routed edge. Nothing fancy here, just something to clean up the edges. I then took a palm sander and hit it with some 100 grit. My thought process here was to make a full enclosed box and use my table saw to cut off the lid so it lines up perfectly.

Lid cut off and it came out perfect. I was a little worried this was going to bind on my table saw but with my Diablo blade it but like butter. It also helped that I had a few extra hands to help keep things steady on the fence and help guide it through the cut path.

Stained the box with a Miniwax black satin stain and it came out exactly how I envisioned it. I wanted a dark brown color and still see the grain. This picture really does not do the stain justice. I sat the handle on it to see what it would look like. I went back and forth on different handles and finally went with this one. They are used for RV doors HAHA.

I got the power supply mounted and the rails installed. Time to mount the handle, butterfly latches and rubber feet then test fit some modules.

Really happy with the end results. I learned a lot from this process and will definitely make another one soon.

Hardware Used: I bet you can find better/cheaper hardware, I just used what I had access to

 

Roland TR-08

I had been on the pre-order waiting list from the time it was announced. With the announcement of the 909 one I just knew a 808 was inevitable. The 808 is such a sough after sound of so many classic tracks. From hip-hop, R&B to pop and jazz, so many have used to 808 in their sound. WIth the original Roland units out of grasp costing close to 3k I wanted something more than just samples.

The Good:

  • The build quality is fantastic. It has a metal top with really good feeling pots and switches.
  • The sound is what you want from a 808. The sounds are very full and not compressed or ROM sounding
  • MIDI in and out is a great feature.
  • Pass through audio “Audio In” for inserting other modules or instruments.

The Bad:

  • No CV clock/control. This is just sad,   it really would benefit from it.
  • No individual outs for each drum.
  • Pitch controls are hidden behind a menu. No physical knobs for pitch controls.
  • Internal speaker is useless for the bass drum. Headphones needed.

This might be a contender for some hacking. At some point I will open this thing up and take a look at the main PCB. WHo knows,  there might be some points labeled for CV or individual outs.. I doubt it but I can dream.