Synth Secrets Exposed!

November 8, 2015 by Elliot Williams 2 Comments

If you’re at all interested in synthesizers, but haven’t gotten as deep into programming them as you’d like, you absolutely need to check out the old “Synth Secrets” column from Sound on Sound magazine. Across 63(!) articles, the author [Gordon Reid] takes a practical approach to learning synthesizers: trying to copy the sound of one real instrument at a time, with concrete examples built up on one particular synthesizer.

[Gordon]’s approach to synthesis is straightforward, but that’s exactly what makes it useful. After the first couple articles, which introduce you to the common functions of many synthesizers, most articles follow a simple pattern: listen to the instrument’s characteristic sounds, look to the physics behind how it produces them, and then figure out how to replicate as much of the sound as is necessary (or possible) to capture the essence of the instrument. Sometimes when the instrument’s sounds are particularly complex, as in this series of articles on the violin, he’ll break this simple formula up across multiple articles.

Now you might complain that you don’t have a Korg MS-20 or an ARP Odyssey or whatever particular old synth is being used in any particular article. But the “Secrets” are actually so fundamental, and by-and-large worked out on such simple analog synths, that even if you can’t make exactly the same sounds as [Gordon] does, you’ll understand how he got where he got, you’ll probably get pretty close, and you’ll have tuned up your ears along the way.

Plus, you’ll learn a tremendous amount about the character and capabilities of your synthesizer by trying. Working through the “Synth Secrets” examples would be a great way to get to know a new synth in your rack, even if you’re only into space noise and not interested in reproducing real instruments.

But if you are into space noise, also check out our own Logic Noise series. You won’t learn anything about real instruments, but you’ll learn a heck of a lot about the 4000-series logic chips and the abuse thereof.

Thanks [Greg Kennedy] for reminding us of this gem, and for re-installing the “Synth Secrets” bee in our bonnet!

Compressorhead: Best Robot Band Ever?

November 7, 2015 by Elliot Williams 12 Comments

We’ve written about Compressorhead before but we’re writing about them again. Why? Because Compressorhead is the most amazing robot band you’ve ever seen, and because they’ve just opened up a Kickstarter to fund building a lead singer robot and recording an album.

And because they’ve released a bunch of new videos, one of which you’ll find below the break.

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Logic Noise: Digital To Analog With An R-2R DAC

November 5, 2015 by Elliot Williams 28 Comments

Making sound with digital logic usually calls for a Digital to Analog converter. Building one can be very simple, and the sound quality out of an R-2R Ladder is actually pretty good.

In the last edition of Logic Noise, we built up a (relatively) simple VCO — voltage-controlled oscillator — that had roughly one-volt-per-octave response. I even demonstrated it working mostly in tune with another synth’s keyboard. But what if you don’t have a control-voltage keyboard sitting around or you want to combine all of the logic-based circuits that we’ve been building with other circuits under voltage control? That’s where the digital to analog (DAC) voltage converter comes in.

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Controlling Guitar Amps With Servos

October 9, 2015 by Brian Benchoff 27 Comments

[fichl] plays electric guitar, and with that hobby comes an incredible amount of knob twisting and dial turning. This comes at a cost; he can’t change the settings on his small amp without taking his hands off the guitar. While larger, more expensive amps have multiple channels and footswitches, this tiny amp does not. Instead of upgrading, [fichl] came up with a device that turns his single channel amp into a completely programmable one, with just an Arduino and a handful of servos.

The amp in question – an Orange Dark Terror head – has just three knobs on the front of the chassis, volume, shape, and gain. [fichl] had the idea of controlling these knobs electronically, and the simplest solution he came up with is cheap hobby servos. These servos are mounted in an aluminum box, and mount to the knobs with a few shaft couplings.

The footswitch is the brains of the setup, with three buttons, four LEDs, and a DIN-5 output jack that delivers power, ground, and three PWM signals to the servo box. With the help of an Arduino Nano, [fichl] can change any of the knobs independently, or switch between twelve programmed settings. It’s an interesting setup, and something that could serve as a prototype for a much larger system on a much larger amp.

Tape Loop Echo Made With An Actual Tape Loop

October 7, 2015 by Bryan Cockfield 10 Comments

A lot of digital processes are named after an old analog device that they’ve since replaced. It’s not uncommon to “tape” a show nowadays, for example, even though the recording work is actually done by a digital video recorder. Sometimes, though, the old analog devices have a certain je ne sais quoi that is desirable even in today’s digital world. This is certainly the case with [Dima]’s tape loop echo which is actually made with a physical tape loop.

The process of building the tape loop hardware is surprisingly non-technical. By positioning a recording head and a playback head right next to one another, a delay is introduced. An echo is created by mixing the original live sound signal with this delayed signal coming from the tape By varying the speed of the tape or altering several other variables, many different-sounding effects can be achieved.

Although in practice it’s not as simple as it sounds (the device required a lot of trial-and-error), the resulting effect is one that Pink Floyd or Beck would surely be proud of. Analog isn’t the only way to go though, there are plenty of digital effects that are easily created, and some with interesting mounting options as well.

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The Launchpad Pro, which now has an open-source API

Novation Launchpad MIDI Controller Moves Toward Open Source

September 30, 2015 by Eric Evenchick 8 Comments

The Novation Launchpad is a MIDI controller, most commonly used with the Ableton Live digital audio workstation. It’s an eight by eight grid of buttons with RGB LED backlights that sends MIDI commands to your PC over USB. It’s often used to trigger clips, which is demonstrated by the artist Madeon in this video.

The Launchpad is useful as a MIDI input device, but that’s about all it used to do. But now, Novation has released an open source API for the Novation Pro. This makes it possible to write your own code to run on the controller, which can be flashed using a USB bootloader. An API gives you access to the hardware, and example code is provided.

[Jason Hotchkiss], who gave us the tip on this, has been hacking around with the API. The Launchpad Pro has a good old 5 pin MIDI output, which can be connected directly to a synth. [Jason]’s custom firmware uses the Launchpad Pro as a standalone MIDI sequencer. You can check out a video of this after the break.

Unfortunately, Novation didn’t open source the factory firmware. However, this open API is a welcome change to the usual closed-source nature of audio devices.

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Spinning A Pyrite Record For Art

September 26, 2015 by Cameron Coward 8 Comments

Anyone with a record player is familiar with the concept of translating irregularities on a surface into sound. And, anyone who has ever cracked open a CD player or DVD player has seen how a laser can be used to reproduce sound digitally. Combining the two would be an interesting project in its own right, but [Dimitry Morozov] took this a couple of steps further with his pyrite disc sound object project.

Pyrite discs, also known as pyrite suns or pyrite dollars, are a form of pyrite in which the crystallization structure forms a disc with radial striations. Pyrite discs are unique to the area around Sparta, Illinois, and are generally found in coal mines there. They have no real practical use, but are a favorite of mineral collectors because of their interesting aesthetics.

[Dmitry] received his pyrite disc from one such mineral collector in Boulder, CO, with the request that he use it for an interesting project. [Dmitry] himself specializes in art installations and unique instruments, and combined those passions in his pyrite disc sound object called Ra.

The concept itself is straightforward: spin the pyrite disc and use a laser to convert the surface striations into audio. But, as you can see in the photos and video, the execution was far from straightforward. From what we can gather, [Dimitry] used an Arduino Nano and a DIY laser pickup on a servo arm to scan the pyrite disc as it’s being spun by a stepper motor. That data is then sent to a Raspberry Pi where it’s synthesized (with various modulation and effects controls), to produce sound that is output through the single speaker attached to the object. Generating sound from unusual sources is certainly nothing new to regular readers, but the beauty of this part project is definitely something to be applauded.

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