Music Projects
March 16, 2006
So… There’s some music projects I really want to do…
Here’s my current thoughts:
– Finish my x0xb0x, #231.
– Finish rebuilding the FatMan, complete with subharmonic oscellator, hard sync, and diode mod.
– Add a MIDI input to my Casio SK1.
– Build a 9090.
– Make some nifty effects, or possibly start work on a full modular synth.
wow.
When all is done, that will be one swank set up. I’ll be interested to see pics of the build of the 9090. :-)
I’m really curious about the sk-1 midi mod – I just found an sk-1 but that looks a bit over my head – I think your patience is far greater than mine. ;)
There will only be two complex parts there… One, photoetching the PCB since they are no longer for sale, and building the eprom burner. The rest would be trivial… Hell, if I had a PCB and the eprom for it, I could probably mod one or two per evening.
Have you had that 9090 board awhile, or are they available again?
Oh, I haven’t ordered them yet, but the site has them listed as for sale… US$100 for the set, shipped.
Without a sequencer, though, and with my not having a step sequencer (except for a computer — which I prefer not to use) it’s not too useful, though… Although I was thinking I could just build a step sequencer too and shove it all in a nice desktop enclosure. That could be really beautiful, too… Black metal, cherry sides… Mmm…
You might want to email Colin to make sure. The 9090 section of his site hasn’t been updated in over two years, and last I heard he was done with the project (and had no more boards).
As for the step seq thing, yeah, I know how that goes. I really wish that some enterprising DIYer would make a project that had an 808 style step-sequencer that spit out 16 drum tracks, each one on a midi note, with accent and swing.
It would be great for things like the 9090, or my Waldorf Rack Attack, or old Tama/Simmons drum brains that are easy enough to midi up for a DIYer.
Oh, crap. Well, maybe he’ll release the Gerbers, then I could get panels made and sell them?
I think the sequencer you want is the Sequentix P3. That’s one nice board there… I just wish they were still available in kit form.
If he doesn’t have boards anymore, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d let you get the gerbers for personal use. Not sure how he’d feel about someone else selling the boards though…
The P3 is intended more for melodic sequencing, innit?
I’m envisioning something with a 16-position switch, a button to switch to the accent programming for any given selected sound, an encoder for swing, and 16 buttons w/LEDs for pattern programming. A throw switch for the 808’s A-A/B-B feature would be nice, too. And then just whatever else they want to throw in for track/pattern chaining or song mode or whatever. The p3 is not only overkill, but kind of the wrong UI style for it. You can kludge the midibox seq project to do this stuff, too, but it’s the same kind of deal, just not as well-directed to the task at hand, not as immediate for drum sequencing.
Hmm, also, check this out… http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_seq.html
And yeah, that’s true. Someone has got to have made one… I wish I knew more about electronics, then I’d just do one from scratch. Maybe I should finally get a degree… EE or something…
I’m pretty sure I mentioned the midibox seq in my comment above ;0)
It’s got a drum mode, but it can only do a couple sounds at a time in each pattern, then you have to set it up to play multiple patterns at once to get a full kit going. Kludgey.
Doh, sorry. I’m half thinking about work, half about the stuff I’m reading, then replying to things at the same time…
I guess I really should play with an 808 to better understand what you’re talking about… Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to put something like that together.
I’m pretty sure that, given the right software, the digital section of the x0xb0x could be made to do exactly this. Hack the analogue backend off, rearrange the bottom buttons to be linear instead of keyboard-style, and it would be just about perfect. The problem is that it would need a very extensive software rewrite.
Hmm… What about using the USER B or USER C modes and adding it to one of those, and just deal with the keys being staggered?
I’m tempted to write up a very specific request for functionality, then submit it as a request…
I haven’t really dug into the software for the x0xb0x, but I think it’s more than just a new user mode could deal with. You’re touching things like data format and such, that will have tendrils throughout the rest of the system.
And besides, x0xb0x kits are *expensive* and *rare*, the idea is to have a different project based upon a slimmed-down board design with all readily-available modern parts to reduce costs.
Yeah, that’s quite true… It would be shoehorning this into something else.
I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the idea of starting a new sequencer, so I’m going to spend the rest of the day on the FatMan. I still need to design the panel… I’m just not sure how to actually label it. :\
Oh, and I emailed him. Problem is, I’ll have to get 3-5 of each board made… I sure can’t use that many of these. Heh.
One thing is for sure, I wouldn’t be putting it in a rackmount case… Probably some sort of nifty desktop or something.
Don’t forget:
– Buy those nixie tubes from BleuLlama and make a few clocks
Hehehe… The other problem with that is I want side-view nixies for my clock. :\
;)
understood. The side-view ones have the potential to make for a cooler looking device. (look at the clock JWZ just got, for example…)