Max does it again! Beautiful little mini synths...
"the last drones built for my friends, playing with me in Elisha Gray band.
on the left FESTER, the optical theremin.
on the top Ag0 LOLLOSO, the weird sound generator.
on the right WHAT A MESS(INA), the atari punk console."
(Photo by Max Farnea, Source: MAKE magazine)
Hello world, its been some months since we have completed anything in the realm of homemade electronics. Basically we have had our world turned upside down lately, I am now living in a whole other country working at a new job and trying to do as much Fotosis related work as possible on my off time when I come back to Lyon on the weekends.
This project was a custom order that challenged us to develop several new systems, most notable a sample and hold circuit and a micro-controller based trigger pulse generating system.
There are too many controls to list individually and descriptions would be difficult because I don't think it would be possible to find similar controls on another system to compare them to. This will probably be the last time I try to make an all in one unit this complex due to the time it took to develop build, test and debug the various circuits and programs that it contains. I feel in the future it would be better to build each of the systems individually and house them in separate enclosures that could be attached to some sort of board that gives them power etc.
Anyway here it is in action Fotosis No. 007...
There are still two more sections to complete, a CV interpretation module that will take in a control voltage and convert it to trigger pulses that can be used with the trigger pulse system and also a rocker pedal that will control the pitch of the oscillators as well as several other functions.
The sound range from more conventional synth noises to full on noise as well as different patterns of beeps and tones created by the trigger pulse generator. It would be the type of instrument ideally suited to someone wishing to create strange little samples for use on their tracks or it could be used live as a bizarre noise generating unit.
So essentially I am not going to go into details regarding the technical elements because there are just too many, so please just bask in the glory of this weird and interesting creation.
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.
I've been admiring Max's work since (again, I know I am obsessed with them!) CDM posted about this incredible modular synth from their flickr pool back in August. Here is the "The Sound Destruction Unit" if you haven't seen it in action.
I have just conducted an interview with not only Max the creator, but also Audrey his wife and fellow artist. These two co-exist with music making, circuit bending, robots, recycled art, dancing, photography and japan. Amazing. It's an interesting and long read, it's in full over on my mog.
Here's more,
"MAX: since I was younger, in the early 80s, electronic music, video games and home computing were my first interests and I lived electronics and computer technology always with a creative point of view. I went deeper in my hobbies studying for some years electronic engineering and taking piano lessons for seven years. Thanks to my studies in electronics I went addicted to robotics and I built a mini-robot for a couple of national competitions."
"AUDREY : my interest in making art with recycled stuff has started when I was watching Max making his electronic experiments and all the junk or surplus material he left on the table. Since now I like finding shapes like faces or body parts in every plastic or metallic piece I take in my hands. After I find such shapes, assembling them is really a natural process. It’s funny when you image me into skip diving in Verona, really funny indeed, but it’s incredible how many unused things can be found simply at home. One of the most beautiful aspect of this kind of art is giving a second life to things...Watching max working on his instruments I’ve found a lot of ideas to make my robots more alive and interactive with little lights and circuits."
"MAX : More than half of my retro and vintage stuff was mine when I was child or teenager. Other hardware comes from friends or eBay bids. The line in balancing the old and new when I’m making a new instrument is always different and is traced putting the old stuff in a modern context, and if needed ignoring also the original rules on which it was based on."
I am really impressed with these two. Everything they make is done in their spare time, and not for profit (though they are both planning to sell work in the future). I wish them the best and hope that they find more avenues to show off their talent.
For more about Max and Audrey. My mog interview.
- C
I have been giving props to every online and offline entity that has helped us lately so I feel it's appropriate to mention a few other blogs that have given us some much needed traffic and exposure. You probably already know them but I really need to say thanks from John and I. Not only that, but like the many websites or people we mention, their content is always interesting and a great way to start your audio surf session.
AudioLemon - One of the first blogs to feature our cardboard synth, this blog has everything related to analog, synths and experimental music. One of their latest features is about Scanner, or Robin Rimbaud who uses a radio wave scanner as an instrument.
"The scanner picks-up mobile phone conversations, police/airport/hospital communications which which manipulates and mixes with his music live. He also uses recordings of electronic sounds particular to an area, such as the walk now signal/police siren, to make a sonic map of specific locations."
Read more about it here.
Matrixsynth - This blog is updated very frequently with all the latest and wierdest in the synth world. I eyed one of the latest articles about The Electronic Arts Foundation,
"The Electronic Arts Foundation was started by Tom Rhea, David VanKoevering, and Les Trubey (my father) to promote electronic music and preserve historical electronic musical instruments.
What follows is the text of an article written by Tom Rhea in 1976 for Contemporary Keyboard magazine. Reprints of this article were included in an info package with each synthesizer sold." Link
So-net.blog (In Japanese) - This was one of our first Asian blog mentions and we were so flattered to have our saw theremin featured. Arigatou gozaimasu! Link
Much appreciated. Sorry for the belated thanks.
- C
(Photo of Robert Rimbaud from AudioLemon)
I'm probably way behind the curve with this as this software has been around for years but I've only just started playing around with it the last few weeks and am feeling very proud of my first creation (synth / multi effects processor). The software is called Pure Data, there is a wikipedia site here which will tell you all the background you need to know regarding it.
It is free to download from the Pure Data site and is supported on Windows, Linux, Mac some OS's I've never heard of and there's even a version that works on PDA's.
Pd is described as "a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical processing".
Unless you are fairly computer literate or a programmer don't expect to get much out of it straight away. The best approach is to download a few simple patches created by others and play around with them for a while to get a feel for the GUI and then explore the examples that can be found in the help browser. Start by building an oscillator [osc~] then adding volume control [*~] and reverb using the freeverb [freeverb~] object. Using pd you can build virtually any sound or effect you can imagine there is even a [moog~] object that emulates a Moog resonance filter.
Pd can also be controlled using external midi devices and firmware can be downloaded which allows you to control pure data with the arduino micro-controller board so potentially you could build a reconfigurable personalized music machine with your computer creating the sounds.
Again something from the musicthing blog. A new synth orientated site that purports to only post about totally out their electronic oddities. Their manifesto states no "links to fansites for Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Can, Tangerine Dream, Ultravox, Gay Fairy Twinkle, or any other hideous 70s or 80s funny-haircut nostalgia keyboard act.... All tech must be ODD".
The site is called Deviant Synth and I will be checking it often thats for sure. The site creator says they are looking for contributors and anyone interested with a wordpress account can add content to the site.
-J
Well, this is something I didn't expect to see on a mainstream news feed. The Reuters/Billboard article states the obvious but it does express enough generally to capture at least the love of those passionate about analog.
"People are realizing what's missing from the sounds they're getting out of software," Phil Moffa of production/DJ outfit Vinyl Life says. "They're conscious of how everything is sounding the same, and digital replication is the same every time. The magic of analog is it's never the same, depending on the weather, where you are in the world, the electricity supply." Great last sentence.
"Moffa dumped all his digital sounds for good in 2005, going fully analog for Vinyl Life's "Flashlight" (Ultra) and each release since. Simian's "Attack" contains no samples, and was entirely made with hunks of such audio antiquity as the Korg MS-20 (1978), ARP Instruments ARP 2600 (1971) and Roland Juno-60 (1982)."
Agree with the experimental aspects and dynamic nature of analog sound, but I think every medium has its' flavour. Nothing wrong with mixing it up, nevermind the hefty price in collecting. Or better, you can always make em like we do!
The full article can be found here. Phil Moffa's site for Vinyl Life is here.
And as a bonus, here is another find from CDM on caring for your vintage synths 'How Healthy Are Your Vintage Synths?' by James Grahame. I've been wanting to link to it for ages so this post seems fitting for those of you lucky enough to have vintage gear to care for!
On another note, we are still in the building phase right now. We have more to come, thanks for your patience.
- C
(Picture from Reuters)
