Friday, November 23, 2012

Catching up with Esoteric Devices

Here's what's been going on in Esoteric Devices land:

I sold a Grand Moff distortion effect pedal I designed on Etsy. I don't know if I'll be building any more distortions because I'd like to focus on synth modules and effects pedals.

I've been messing around with what could be a modulated filter pedal, using an MS-20 style low pass filter modulated by a triangle/square wave LFO, powered by +/-9VDC from a MAX1044 integrated circuit. I've even got a PCB in the works for this.

I built a 19" 6U rack space out of an IKEA RAST bedside table. I stained the pine wood black and drilled some holes to mount the racks with some heavy duty screws. It turned out beautifully, really happy with this build. I've left the wood unfinished but it's something I could possibly revisit if I run out of other projects to complete (hah!).

I've been building a modular analog synthesizer. I've populated one frac rack with a PAiA 9700 series MIDI-to-CV converter and a dual VCO (plus AR envelope generator), a Music From Outer Space dual linear/logarithmic VCA, an adjustable regulated AC to +/-DC power supply (I'm running on +/-15VDC), a MFOS state variable 12dB filter, and one DIY module that's a little more... esoteric. In the past couple years I've accumulated a few glorified potentiometers: two Radio Shack TRS-80 joysticks, and one Ensoniq CV foot pedal. The TRS-80 joysticks use male 5-pin DIN plugs very similar to MIDI plugs, except the pin spacing is slightly different, and the Ensoniq foot pedal uses a stereo 1/4" jack. So, my DIY module is a way for these controllers to interact with the modular, to extract CV signals from them. It's basically a bunch of jacks (DIN-5, 1/8", 1/4") mounted on a panel and connected to the power supply.

I also purchased an Arduino and have been experimenting with that. I fear I'm spreading myself thin with too many projects!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

In the works

I've got a couple new projects in the works. One is tentatively titled the Filter Modulator, a low-pass filter modulated by an LFO's pulse or triangle wave with adjustable pulse width. The other is an Amplitude Modulator, and performs tremolo as well as audio-range AM (similar sound to ring modulation) using an oscillator again with pulse or triangle wave with adjustable pulse width.

I'm making a PCB for the Filter Modulator right now... here's a sneak peak:
Filter Modulator PCB

Friday, February 25, 2011

Friday, February 18, 2011

GRAND MOFF distortion effect coming soon

Yessir, yes'm, a distortion stompbox is in the works, on the breadboard, and waiting to get nasty.

Here's a basic mock-up of the controls and legend:

Monday, January 31, 2011

Weird Sound Generator available for $150!

A Weird Sound Generator

ƎϨOƬӘɌιC ƊӘVICӘϨ presents, for your consideration and amusement, one genuine article Weird Sound Generator. The WSG, built from a printed circuit board provided by Raymond Wilson of Music From Outer Space fame and fortune.

The WSG is housed in a nuclear blue box and is provided with its own 1/4" output cable built into the unit. The WSG runs on a 9V battery.

Examples of sounds produced by the saucy little WSG are conveniently hosted at http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/mfosweb/navigate.action?MAINTAB=SYNTHDIY&PROJARG=WSG2010/wsg_page1.html&PHOTOURI=&TOOLSURI=&CATPARTNO=WSG001.

We are asking for US$150 in exchange for said Weird Sound Generator.

Have A Nice Day.