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This was my first major disaster. I’d decided I needed a noise generator for synthesising percussive sounds and other noise-related duties. I’d also started looking at surface mount (SMD) soldering as many of the interesting projects I’d been looking at involved SMD. Surface mount soldering is quite different to what I’ve been doing so far, … Read morePure Noise

Looking for cheap DIY power options, I ended up back at Frequency Central again, where I found the Routemaster combined PSU/bus board PCB. This looked like a perfect solution for my new case, with a dozen power headers and plenty of power. It was easy enough to build and fitted nicely in my prototype case. … Read moreRoutemaster PSU

I’ve been looking into options for creating more interesting timbres. A cheap and easy option seems to be a passive ring modulator. I found some simple schematics online and put one together using germanium diodes. I made a panel out of cardboard for now. Works a treat!

I’ve established that I need some more space for more modules, but I’m not 100% sure what form that’s going to take. As a start, I picked up a set of 104hp rails. I’ll need to fit a power supply and build a proper enclosure for it, but for now, I’ve just made a cardboard … Read moreMore Rack Space

Well, sort of. There’s a tiny 2hp gap at the bottom right, but the next thing I’m going to build is 4hp, so I’m calling it full! I had initially thought that this case would be big enough for my needs, but it’s become apparent that I’m going to need more space. Time to starting … Read moreSecond Row Complete

I stumbled across these PCBs in a thread on the muffwiggler forum (I know, stupid name!) and it occurred to me that some dedicated LFOs could be handy – this was another thing that was tying up my Maths. I contacted the guy who’d made them and he had some left, so I grabbed a … Read moreMiscreant Dual LFO

The first dedicated drum module. I figured a kick drum would be a good place to start and found a cheap and simple option in the Thomas Henry Bass++. Overall, a pretty simple build. It worked well first time, but the output was a bit quiet. This seemed, from researching the issue to be known … Read moreThomas Henry Bass++

The digital revolution. I’ve decided that I really want to sort some drums out. I’m really drawn to being able to modulate analogue drum sounds so I’m definitely going to be building some dedicated drum modules. So, I need something to sequence them. My clock divider is going to be woefully inadequate, so I’ve found … Read moreRobaux SWT16

As my voices have increased, I’ve found myself needing another envelope generator. I’m also starting to think about synthesising drums and looking for something really snappy. Maths does a great snappy envelope, but I don’t want to tie it into that role, so I’ve looked into DIY options and once again, found myself back at … Read moreSystem X Envelope

Having read a lot about the use of low pass gates in West Coast synthesis, I fancied adding a couple to my rack. I found this super cheap kit for a dual passive LPG, the VG2, from Laurentide SynthWorks. Really quick and easy build using vactrols and it definitely wins the title of most metal … Read moreLaurentide SynthWorks VG2