Sinister Tone Generator Brings The Bass

June 1, 2011 by Mike Nathan 8 Comments

sinster_tone_generator

[RichDecibels] wrote in to share a new device he built called the “Sinster Tone Generator”. It’s basically a bass drone synthesizer that uses two pairs of heterodyning oscillators to generate the output. If you swing by his site, he has a long audio demo of the device in action with a bit of reverb and filtering applied to enhance the sound. After listening, we agree that it sounds pretty sinister!

The device is relatively small and handsomely packaged in a plastic project box he had custom cut by Ponoko. [Rich] says that this particular unit is a one-off that he has produced for a charity auction, and that bidding is open through Sunday if you really want to get your hands on it. If you happen to have the time to build one yourself, he has uploaded schematics and layout files to his site (as usual), so feel free to stop by and grab a copy.

Making The Case For Cool Project Enclosures

May 16, 2011 by Mike Nathan 11 Comments

luna_mod_case

Quite often, we see project boxes that seem to be constructed more as an afterthought than anything else. That’s not to say there is anything wrong with stuffing your latest creation into a nondescript black box, or even cardboard if it happens to fit your needs. Sometimes however, an enclosure embodies the spirit of a project, making it all that much cooler.

[Adam] recently picked up a copy of Make magazine and decided to build their “Luna Mod”, a sound effects generator and looper based on a PICAXE-08M. Aside from the micro controller the Luna Mod includes a couple of pots, a switch, and a few LEDs – nothing incredibly striking. Once he had everything assembled on a strip of protoboard, he started working on his enclosure.

The enclosure is made from an old record, which after some trial and error, [Adam] got just right. The record was heated and cut, then bent into shape. While it’s not necessarily a hack, we think it looks pretty slick. It really fits the theme of the Luna Mod and is far more attractive than a plain plastic box.

Stick around to see his sound generator in action.

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