homemade monosynth

i made a 2 osc analogue monosynth, with a lfo / ar envelope / multimode 12db filter. it's got cv tune inputs for both oscs, osc sync, and it runs on batteries. you can also put an audio signal thru its filter with the audio in jack. all built into a gutted old soviet geigercounter.

a little live demo, with just a smidgen of analog bbd (delay) from the mixer:

the lfo has a pretty large range:

and some pics, made with my laptops webcam:

NICE.

So how'd you learn to do it?

thats tightttttt

niice!

Awesome job.

Nice!!

Good knobs! They look alot like the ones in my modular.

Is this a mod of Ken Stone components? Sounds ace!!!

man I wish I had the chops to build my own stuff.

  ten fingers ten toes said:

Is this a mod of Ken Stone components?

no, its loosely based on ray wilson's (MFOS) designs

i'm working on a device which uses ken stone CGS modules though, i'm using 12 of his PCBs, in combination with some circuits that are based on chaotic systems, to make a monster CV generator, which is gonna be fully modular. it'll also have OSC implementation to hook it up to a computer.

  ten fingers ten toes said:

Good knobs! They look alot like the ones in my modular.

i thought it would be nifty to have a geigercounter fitted with moog knobs :)

dang, you beat me to it :) the soundlab i mean. but i guess my efm wildcat will beat your whatever ;)

here's two geigersynth improv tracks, with some effects etc but only geigersynth as source

  kokoon said:

dang, you beat me to it :) the soundlab i mean. but i guess my efm wildcat will beat your whatever ;)

nice, the wildcat is a huge beast! it'll definitely overpower my puny geigercounter synth, but it is pretty pricy. ive only spent 200-250$ on this thing. how is the assembly of the wildcat coming along?

btw be careful with the EFM designs, some tend to be flawed & riddled with errors! but when you're tackling a large project like a wildcat i assume you know what you're doing, so those errors will probably be evident to you :)

  iep said:

  ten fingers ten toes said:

Is this a mod of Ken Stone components?

 

no, its loosely based on ray wilson's (MFOS) designs

 

i'm working on a device which uses ken stone CGS modules though, i'm using 12 of his PCBs, in combination with some circuits that are based on chaotic systems, to make a monster CV generator, which is gonna be fully modular. it'll also have OSC implementation to hook it up to a computer.

Ahhh, I have the MFOS design in a magazine around here somewhere, cool stuff!

The fully modular CV generator is drool worthy. Post when done!!

wildcat assembly? it's somewhere between 0.00% and 0.01%, the only thing i've "done" so far was to buy a toroid transformer for it. i've still got the freakin reverb sitting on the workdesk cause the guy i gave the frontpanel to engrave to is still taking his time. but yeah, the wildcat is a huge, wild cat. it's gonna cost me a fortune but hopefully less than a comparable rackfull of DIY modules.

good luck man, to be honest i've never heard a postive story about an efm wildcat. i hope you'll make an exception. the thing looks great on paper!

  Quote

The fully modular CV generator is drool worthy. Post when done!!

well, i'm still in the ordering-components & making-designs stage. in a few days i'll do my first prototyping of the chaos-modules on veroboard. it should be interesting to hook one of those modules up to my geigersynth, i'll definitely post some sounds/pics when that's going down ;)

did you buy the pcb or make it

You should make me a metal detector guitar for our performance.

  iep said:

good luck man, to be honest i've never heard a postive story about an efm wildcat. i hope you'll make an exception. the thing looks great on paper!

well Yves Usson of yusynth.net has a positive story and it's what made me decide on the wildcat. see http://yusynth.net/Wildcat/index.html

but... yeah. it's gonna be tough, i know :D

btw... the CV generator... basically it's just a modular synth, you're building right?

  Dr. Elemeno von Hat X: PhD said:

did you buy the pcb or make it

i bought it from ray, there was no way that i could etch & drill such a pcb for 30$ (the price i payed for it)

yes, i know that it can be vero'd but i'm not enough of a masochist for that :)

  Basi Goreng said:

You should make me a metal detector guitar for our performance.

i don't do guitars, they aren't electronic music enough for me, but you can try asking that french guy from mu-board who built this thing

just add a gasmask!

  kokoon said:

btw... the CV generator... basically it's just a modular synth, you're building right?

well... since it doesn't make any sound, it isn't really a synth, its more of a controller. but yeah, i'm going to set it up like a modular synth - bunch of modules, each with their own patchpoints, etc. its going to be unlike any other controller :) lots of pseudo-random, generative modules, etc, should turn out interesting!

well... it does make "sound" if it can output CV oscillations above ~20hz right? another thing is how you use it.

those ijfritz circuits have been on my mind for a long time now, especially the double-well chaos. i mean... pictures like this probably give inspiration to anyone:

i just haven't thought of a good way to put it into use. but a carefully planned modular approach sounds like the best option, really. you planning to include a sequencer too?

  kokoon said:

well... it does make "sound" if it can output CV oscillations above ~20hz right? another thing is how you use it.

 

i'll use it to control analog cv-capable things, plus i'll use it to control software via OSC. controller.

but when i end up using it to connect it to my mixer and listen to it, i'll edit that previous post.

then again, its been a long time since i've read wie der zeit vergeht so you might have a point ;)

  Quote

those ijfritz circuits have been on my mind for a long time now, especially the double-well chaos. i mean... pictures like this probably give inspiration to anyone:

 

i just haven't thought of a good way to put it into use. but a carefully planned modular approach sounds like the best option, really. you planning to include a sequencer too?

its cool how he managed to translate sets of diff equations into such simple and elegant circuits & also give a clear consice explanation of how he did it. i'll build a few of those driven double-well modules on vero, plus one of two of the 3th order jerkster & put all the in & outputs on a panel. so, not really a careful approach, more just fucking about and seeing what kind of patterns i can make with it.itmight be interesting to replace some of the potmeters (like the negative feed / damping pot in the double-well) with photocells and see how patterns change with lightning-changes.

i'm not planning on including a real sequencer but i did order a weighted random switch pcb and a switch matrix from ken stone, which, i figure, will together work as a kind of perverted sequencer when driven with a steady clock.

  iep said:

Fair play for the effort, but what a fucking horrible looking guitar

  Solo Strike said:

Fair play for the effort, but what a fucking horrible looking guitar

Thank God, it looks like there's a guard to keep anyone from actually touching the strings.

There are still some geiger counter soundlab kits for sale.. if anyone else is interested. Pretty good deal too as you get everything you need to construct it for a reasonable price.

Just browse the electro-music.com forums.

  WWBJD said:

There are still some geiger counter soundlab kits for sale.. if anyone else is interested. Pretty good deal too as you get everything you need to construct it for a reasonable price.

 

Just browse the electro-music.com forums.

ye i got the geigercounter case from someone over there, might be the same guy - recommended!