Happy Holidays / Download Fotosis EP

* The new link to our EP is here.

About two weeks ago we embarked on a little project to remix a track by another group. It was to be a fun project for Christmas that would be released on the web etc. etc.

Anyway we started messing around with this track and after a few hours of cutting and pasting and applying effects in Audacity it was decided that we take a break and since we had all or our gear set up it might be fun to jam a little and record the results.

Well two days later we had 28 minutes (10 short tracks) of music that we were very happy with. An entire EP comprised of sounds created using a collection of household objects a bank of guitar effects pedals and our very own home made instruments. I suppose the resulting collection of tracks could be described as a blend of ambient electronica, dronescape experimentalism and randomized improvisation.

We do not claim to be professional musicians in any shape manner or form but we were extremely surprised with the results. One visiting friend who was the first person aside from ourselves to listen to the EP described it as "Dark" as if it didn't fit our personalities:-)

Well the track we were supposed to be remixing was sort of forgotten and buried under the responsibilities of everyday life coupled with a heavy dose of procrastination and was eventually returned to only for us to find that our dark electro souls didn't really lend themselves to Christmas songs and so we failed in our mission to create the next Xmas number one:-) But we did end up with a collection of really interesting little tracks as a byproduct.

Below you will find two links, one where you can listen to our tracks and the other where you can download a zip file that contains all the tracks and a text file relating to the methods and equipment used to create our music.

You can download and listen to the tracks here or get the entire EP zip file here (In.solit.us the site we use to host our files is a bit weird you have to scroll down to get to the button that lets you grab the track, its below the stupid banner ad).

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year,
John & Connie

Archive Photos - The Bob Moog Foundation on Flickr

Been browsing through this archive today and I am surprised that there aren't more comments for these great shots. The photostream includes one of the last MiniMoogs ever made, MoogerFooger prototypes and a hand drawn schematic that is quite touching to see for its' simplicity.

From the Flickr profile:

"Documenting the archives of prototypes, schematics and a lifetime of innovative engineering that Dr. Bob Moog left behind. His instruments changed the sounds of modern music and many of them were built with the tools laid out before you in this photo gallery."

Go have a look.

The Bob Moog Foundation's Photos
Bob Moog Foundation

- C

(picture from the bob moog foundation archives)

Custom Order: Bar Set, Cardboard Keyboard and Cardboard Amp / Part Two...

This is the second post concerning the bar set order, we decided to throw in some little extras, a cardboard keyboard and a cardboard amp.

The keyboard is a simple enough affair as it is based on a simple circuit that involves a 555 timer chip to produce a square wave. The casing was created by laminating lots of layers of cardboard together using glue and wood screws. In the video below we are playing the keyboard into the ring modulator of one of our earlier instruments, Fotosis No. 003. The resulting sound is the effect of the square wave noise section from Fotosis No.003 being fed into the carrier input of the units ring mod. and keyboard on the main input.



The amplifier is actually three amps and three speakers in one box. The amps are LM386 chips providing 2.5 Watts each. This set up allows us to play three separate devices into the amp where each device will have its own input, volume control, amp and speaker.

Part one of this post can be viewed here.

- J

Custom Order: Fotosis No. 006, Bar Set, Optical Sequencer, Egg Beater Theremin / Part One...

Connie here. We've been working on a custom order set the last 4 weeks for someone I am very close to. If anything, I wouldn't think anyone else would be capable of supporting 'fotosis' like he has with this one project. In the infancy of our little 'business', it's the friends and loved ones who help us get through the days of uncertainty; the ones who understand our simple dream and allow us to feel that for everything we make, they truly want to be a part of our growing passion and humble expertise. (FYI - I thank all our friends at the end of our blog and also through regular posts)

This set will be showcased in a local popular bar downtown that is known for weekly live music. The requirements were in keeping with our love for recycled materials and parts, as the need for the instruments to be durable to withstand euphoric drunken customers and also the respect of a handmade retro aesthetic including Meccano pieces & salvaged vintage connectors.

We really enjoyed designing and creating this interactive ensemble, something that anyone passing by would want to touch (very important) and an experienced musician could properly plug and play with.


Here is John with the specs;

The optical sequencer contains two oscillators one generating a sine wave the other a square wave. These oscillators are set up as optical theremins, their frequency being determined by three LDR's mounted on the front or the unit.

There are also a number of patch leads, permanently connected at one end to the outputs of a micro-controller. These leads can be connected to banana jacks on the front panel allowing the micro-controller to send trigger pulses to opto-couplers that reroute the frequency determining components connected to the oscillators. The time between trigger pulses is set by a value read from another five LDR's that are connected to the analog inputs of the micro-controller.



Both sound producing sections of the unit are then fed into and mixed by a passive ring modulator before amplification. The resulting noise is a random series of beeps blips and noise that you can interact with by applying lights or shadows to the eight LDR's on the control panel.

The sound producing chips I used for this build were the XR2206 (Sine Wave) and a 40106 (Square Wave).

As this unit is for public use it was important to make the controls as simple as possible so the pots are all dual pots. Example the volume also controls intensity and the filter is also square wave frequency.

The matching theremin with the Egg Beater for an aerial is a solid state unit based on a modified schematic we found online a while back.

All of the materials used to manufacture the casings were found objects like Meccano, random collected screws, bits of metal and wood also a strange French industrial on/off switch.

The whole setup runs off a single boss PSA 230, 9v DC supply.

Part two of this post can be viewed here.

Custom Order: Recycled Portable Theremin

Another artist and musician ordered a portable theremin a couple of weeks ago. I just recently made this one that allowed for an interchangeable aerial which means you can connect the clip to a spoon or a guitar, or say, a drum set while you're touring with your band (right leftoverking?). This handmade theremin would be similar to that one. LOK and I agreed on using a recycled theme and he wanted something durable, which is the idea - portability, ease of storage and tough.


The case is made out of recycled wood, newspaper, cracker packaging and bits of steel & aluminum and has 2 vintage knobs. John made the crocodile clip. It's a unique little instrument that I hope the new owner will enjoy experimenting with.




- C

My previous posts on theremins:
Portable Theremin
Saw Theremin