DIY Kit Building - geeks r us.

[Paradigm X]

Yeah, they all look good. Had to replace my multimeter recently, just over a year old (hence out of warranty). Paid about 2/3s as much for one thats loads better.

Never buy at Maplin! (RadioShack in US).

Theres a super simple 'beginners' sequencer project as well, worth a look;

http://shop.hexinverter.net/category.php?id_category=5

Not done an APC myself, easy and fun tho.

[bobule]

hmmm sequencer kit looks cool!

[Paradigm X]

/\ got two in my ever expaning backlog

Ok well finished up the filtrex, all worked first time, yay,after a few mini errors. Other than the LFO depth which doesnt, think its a dodgy pot, the lfo works, leds light up and it triggeres the EG, but no classic dubstep wobble im afraid,

thing is dirty as fuck, brilliantly so. Very complex, still getting my head round how to get the best out of it. Its a filthy fucker tho, proper nice distoriton, and two contantly variable filters to go from 'sort of' 5pole LPF to BPF and loads in between.

Heres a quick play in my first 30 mins or so (mp3 is only 8 mins). Bit rough and reeady but still learning. On x0xb0x, with no knob twiddling on that at all, all the filtering is filtrex. Bit of 909 accompaniment.

did i say it was dirty?

Will be amazing on albino/massive/reaktor, bit of analogue warmth.

pics etc later, sounds are more interesting.

edit blx, locked out of server. Sendspace a gawrn.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/rsbtpv

[sackley]

Productive day then! Dude, 1:10 That's hotness.

Got that starter kit and other items I listed before. Pretty happy with the purchase. Got both of the included kits put together just now. Simple LED light-up patterns, first one is sloppy but works proper; second one is much neater but seems like the lights don't go though the right sequence. Spent some time trying to figure it out, maybe I'll come back to it. Important thing is I'm quite happy with my soldering results.

I'm just as excited to make these things as I am to play them. Going to go on synthrotek and order up a NAND 4093, Fuzz Face and the Lofi Delay. Seems like a good scaling to try before ordering a shruthi... and all useful bits in the long run.

My ToDo is growing hourly Found http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforu...?topic=87780.0 which could be done with synthroteks Lofi Amp, but that'll have to be down the road for me.

-Sack

[Paradigm X]

cool that toptop bloke posts a lot at deathlehem;

http://deathlehem.com/php

its a great site, very small, but as a result dead 'personal' and friendly, aimed at 'noise' but everything there really. Loads and loads of small simple cmos (like the nand) stuff, which are called lunettas. def worth signing up. The hardest captcha ever but you can email the owner if you get stuck. took me literally about a month to sign up. say i sent ya

the cmos stuff is called lunettas, after th guy who invented them.

Also muffwigglers.com and http://electro-music.com/forum/index.php?f=112 are the most popular/useful/helpful sytnh diy site. including a lunetta forum.

good luck

[safetyboy]

I just got an 808 omg!!!

[sackley]

Story?

[sackley]

Just finished the distortion (lofi fuzz) and it doesn't seem to be working.... although there were a few parts that were different from the instructions, so it took some research to figure out what to do, and even then it was kind of an unsure stab....

Will try the NAND synth and hope that works, was trying to route audio all over with this thing too, so that could be a source of confusion... maybe a simpler pathway will help (NAND > Fuzz > Speakers)

[sackley]

Built a working NAND Synth on the first try!!

Couldn't figure out what was wrong with the lofi distortion, but I'll figure it out at some point. Will probably take a shot at the delay soon.

[sackley]

Woo Hoo! The delay kit works! I switched the sleeve and tip wires on the input, and had the 555 chip in the wrong direction, but I was able to figure that out. Spent some time with the multimeter checking voltage across the components and triple checking my solder joints first though, but it all works well now. I even swapped out the 1/8" jacks with 1/4" so I can use it easily with a mixer in the (near) future.

I would definitely recommend these kits to a beginner. The NAND especially, was easier than the distortion in my opinion (Bigger metal contacts on the board, the distortion seemed like everything was miniature...). The delay was a bit more involved, but totally worth it. I quickly learned that the key to a successful build is to organize all the parts and go over the BOM before starting anything.

Think I may order up a Shruthi... just want to make sure I'm prepared. Anybody have input?

[Paradigm X]

Nice one

If you order the kit its pretty easy, otherwise youll have to order all the parts. The docs are very good. Def recommended.

[sackley]

Started sorting out all the bits this morning. A bit confused about some random resistor measurements and a couple caps, but generally seems like it will go together well. Will have Thursday afternoon to dig in... wish me luck!

Edit:

Thursday Update - Got the power supply section built and everything tests out OK. The PCB layout is different from the pictures in the instructions and the BOM is slightly different, but the included (updated) picture, the printed values on the PCB and some intuition sorted it out thus far.

Saturday Update - Olivier responded to an email I sent with a link to the right (mk II, not mk I) instructions Which should make things easier

[sackley]

Got it together.... and it works! Just had a little listen to the oscillators/wavetables, seems like it will be a fun box.

Onward to a spring reverb.... and more research on an Arduinome so I can get some TR sequencing jamming.

I would definitely recommend the shruthi-1 to anyone who knows how to solder well enough and wants a little mono synth. Learned a lot, and having it work on the first try is so encouraging and rewarding.

Question: How hard is a x0xb0x? Is there any kind of "prerequisite" project(s)? I really want one (as it was something on my original DIY "want" list) but am a little daunted by the difficulty. I don't have an oscilloscope either, and don't know how that would affect a build... but I'm tempted to just go for it and hold off if it's too much...

[Paradigm X]

i did what you did and did the x0x after the shruthi. to be honest, id look at getting a kit now ... the parts are only going to get rarer. DO NOT under any circumstances buy a mode machines one ! complete crap. get kits from x0xshop.de or willxyz. but tbph id wait and do a couple more bits.... its a lot more involved than the shruthi. mine did work first time but needed some tweaks and fault finding (intermittent!) which is really hard work.

[sackley]

Nice. I've been eyeing Willzyx's kits. We'll see how funds go - I just got a mackie 1202 mixer to hook up my stuff, so I'll have plenty to do with that along with making a lofi spring reverb. I'll post something for that if I ever get it together...

I'm going to get http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10003 and a breadboard and some veroboard just to have a bunch of parts to work with for various projects I'm finding...

LM386 Op Amp for a lofi spring reverb
MS20 Filter Clone (got to suss that out - hard to find a noob friendly tutorial, but I'm learning more and more about how to go from schematic to breadboard/veroboard)

I think I'll tackle those two plus trying to fix the lofi distortion kit that doesn't work...

Loving this whole thing so far. Has been very satisfying to make hands-on stuff and feel like I can really tailor a hardware setup with "My Own" kit.

You've been beyond helpful PDX. I'll have to spot you a pint some day.

[Paradigm X]

Cool im only a year or so ahead of you so had a load of the same queries, others have helped.

The threeler at bridchamber is a sort fo MS20 but loads more, and you can buy an entire kit. Thats again something ive been looking at but loads of variations. I did breadboard one version but a pot literally caught fire

i was a bit brief lazst time; re the x0x, i got it working but it wasnyt quite perfect. set it off to get it fixed properly and apparently it was pretty much perfect, in terms of components etc, just cold solder joints. he suggested a bit hotter iron. So it all boils down to soldering skill/confidence. the problem with the bigger kits is torubleshooting. the x0x is more complex still as its a 303 clone, they (rightly or wrongly) kept the original designators (R11, C42 etc). But as its a totally new board, theyre all over the place. And its double sided, and has digitial and analogue parts

Like i say i pretty mich got it to work so im sure you can too. Its a lot more work than a shruthi tho.

cheers

[Wilshy]

Still not started the Sammich or done any soldering of note time isn't on my side.

[sackley]

Probably best to wait for a clear weekend... I wish I could get a Sammich, but they are no-more I guess...

Keep us posted! Good luck man.

[Paradigm X]

ive finally wired all the gubbins together in the liquid hihat. Few problems, fixed most of them now, seems i have to change the banana sockets to jacks... grounding issues. Was very puzzling (and frustrating!)

Ive spent 6 months on this on and off. Still not done. Built that filter in the meantime also. But very very cool.

Got another pcb, have to build another version!

Willshy,

get on it.

[sackley]

Those liquid drum modules look sweet. I was wondering if anyone has built a 808/909-ish clone that's sequenced with midi rather than an internal sequencer. Would be cool if someone figured out a USB midi controlled analog drum module with the classic parameters on the panel for live tweakage.

Are you building up a modular PDX? What's up with the banana plugs on the liquid hihat? Apologies for my ignorance, I know I should just google it,

[Paradigm X]

9090 http://www.introspectiv.eclipse.co.uk/

Although IMo its allllllll about the sequencer.

MB808 is the one.

[sackley]

Nice! That 9090 looks like a beast! Time to get on with an arduinome 128 so I can get my step sequencing on. Using TS-808 for now, actually pretty happy with it for real time tweaking, just need to map it out proper... Trying to go after a modern setup (ease of software for saving/recalling/editing) with the hands-on feel of hardware. Feels great so far! Just hooked up the shruthi to a mackie1202 I just got, running the outs of my AK1 into two mono ins so I can send one to the lofi delay on the aux send. Maybe I'll record a quick jam tomorrow if I can come up with a good acid line for the shruthi.

[Paradigm X]

Ive gone for a different approach this week, going thru all my backlog and fitting what i have in stock, rather than building ione thing at a time. So i now have lots of half finished things, but its loads quicker, and i also can order the missing parts for several projects at once.

I now have almost finished, bar wiring (heh)

2x sysmple seq sequnecers
1x X4046 VCO
1x Quad vca
1X Sequential switch (a switch that can switch between 4 inpouts to one output, or vice verca clocked/synced/manually operated... autechre madness)
1x oakley deep equinoxe phaser.
Much quicker way of going about things.... and i dont spend loads of money on multiple orders. I just spend it all at once

Obligatory crappy photo;

pcbs.jpg


Also got a bit further on the old liquid hihat, painted the front panel again, bit better, bit worse.

And ordered a klee sequencer, bit of a beast, bit worried tbh, the wiring is



Front,



edit: holy crap:

[Paradigm X]

front.jpg

[soul pride]

wow that looks awesome man, can you make a video of a jam with your gear?? would be sweet