Sunday 31 January 2016

Next..!

Just as I was finishing up the wiring for the Voltage to Rhythm Converter yesterday, the post arrived...

...This is a nifty little random voltage generator based on part of the Buchla Music Easel, and it's going to be a good match for the CatGirlSynth Weighted Random Switch which needs four random voltages to operate properly. Unfortunately I need to put in a small Farnell order to finish this (hurray for free shipping !)

This super little board, and others available from Fluxmonkey

Saturday 30 January 2016

It Lives (Part Five)

The voltage to rhythm converter burst into life earlier this evening. I don't know how I managed to live without it...

Friday 29 January 2016

Voltage to Rhythm Converter

I've been edging forward with this one for a couple of years now, the Barton BMC006 Voltage to Rhythm Converter. I finished the board a couple of months ago, drilled the panel out yesterday and applied three coats of lacquer this afternoon. I've wired the ground and +5V busses, now comes the joy of wiring up twenty jacks, twelve switches, eight LEDs and three pots. Is that the last of the complicated builds ?

Nope...

Wednesday 27 January 2016

The Wavy Bittercress Experiment

Last year I discovered Wavy Bittercress starting to pop up around the garden. Now this stuff is quite invasive but also pretty tasty so I decided to save some of the better specimens and grow them in a large herb pot. Will they escape ?

Monday 25 January 2016

Another Diversion

This little hobby has been bubbling under the surface for close to thirty years now ever since I got to use the printing presses at design school. In recent years i've slowly been collecting rollers, made an inking plate out of the glass from an oven door, and now a chance encounter on eBay...   ...oh dear

Saturday 23 January 2016

Worms...

...In the compost bin obviously. Nice of you chaps to finally show up.

Friday 22 January 2016

It Lives (Part Four)

A clone of the Roland CR78 snare drum courtesy of a nice chap in Manchester. The Muffwiggler build thread is here

Tuesday 19 January 2016

For The Man Who Has Everything

A jardiniere once owned by The Human League. I'm not saying it's staying there, it just seemed like a good idea at the time...

Monday 11 January 2016

It's...

...What is left of the xmas tree after I shredded it. Some went on the garden as mulch and the rest was crammed into jars. Drill the lids and leave on a handy radiator...

Friday 1 January 2016

MMXVI

HNY and all that...

Just when I thought maybe I'd reached 'peak module' - a 5U version of the RF Nomad pops up, a nice chap over in Manchester designs a CR78 clone, and I've a real urge to build a couple more of Ken Stone's excellent boards. I'm putting Bridechamber panels on a few modules, I've four Calrec mic amps to finally wire & case up properly - and that's without even starting on the old videolab equipment.

Meanwhile 2016 sees the apparent anniversary of the Dadaist movement. Usually pegged around the opening of the Cabaret Voltaire on 5th February 1916, some have claimed that it began in New York in 1915 when Marcel Duchamp moved there, or a more likely theory, that the movement originated in Romania via Tristan Tzara and friends as far back as 1912. Either way, I celebrated the centenary back in 1987

To celebrate in 2016 would be...   ...well...   ...far too obvious...