DX7 Ram Cartridge

I have been testing the first prototype for the DX7 ram cartridge over the last few weeks. It looks promising, but there are still a few bugs to work out before I can get this boards produced. Much time has passed since the beginning of this project, however, taking time to get it correct is my primary concern.

Here is the latest image of the cart design:

Noise Maker Time

I will be teaching a small introduction to AVR / Arduino class at the Niagara Artist Company this summer during the first week of August (rescheduled from the 4th of July weekend).

I have decided to use this as the foundation to the lecture:

Tinker.It Arduino Synth

This device is fun to say the least. Although I found you need an op-amp to really make it shine. I have a surface mount board available for anyone who is interested, just send me an email and I can send you one for $2 + postage. The board uses SMT / SMD parts (surface mount) but it really makes the tinkerit board scream like it should using an OP275GSZ op-amp from Analog Devices. This device gives a clean amplification at 5v with no additional parts, talk about easy to use.

I think the thing most enjoyable about this project is the hack-ability. You can edit the code to make different sound grains, you can add distortion and other effects, as I am doing, look here for some easy single sided board projects TonePad FX.

Kicad

Its been some time since my last post however, I have been fairly busy.

A few months ago I came across a blog in which nightly builds of Kicad are available for OSX. The release is finally at a point where almost every aspect of Kicad works on OSX and although there are still bugs, I personally feel it is at a level where it is usable. I do still get the odd crash now and again but the stability is quite good for the most part.

Visit the following link:

Broken Toaster Blog

the current build as of today is R1835, Nick has put a lot of work into these builds and we should recognize and thank him for his hard work.

Thanks Nick.

Return to the Bronome

So I recently found a fellow artist working in France who is also working on an RGB Monome like project. He calls it the Trinome and his webpage is here. LiveInterface There you will find a complete resource for the code and a schematic. However I am currently working on a backpack to control the leds. I will be creating complete PCB's for this project once it is completed. I am unsure as to the direction Julien is taking with his project, however, I wish to push this device to its limits and even integrate even more functionality as a controller. I have always intended on this device being a stand alone controller. But Julien's use of the Monome Protocol (OSC) though USB is also interesting.

Bronome Schematic - Julien's schematic with a partially finished backpack and arduino.

LCE Rotary Encoder LED graphs 360 degrees

360 LED Graph








LED Graph 360 by
Brian Durocher is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.

Ram Cart Pins

Ram Cartridge by Brian Durocher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at brian.durocher@gmail.com.


This project is currently closed development. If you would like to become part of the development team or make derived works e-mail me. Permissions will be given to individuals interested in producing cartridges for their own personal use. Permission will not be given or implied for any commercial use as per the Creative Commons attribution.

Kits will become available upon creation of a working prototype. Currently development is in its infancy. Please be patient as I still need to find suitable parts to replace the discontinued PROM's, and other required components such as a case.

If you are interested in following the discussion about the ram cartridge please visit Yamaha Forums UK

DX7 RAM Cart Teardown

Teardown of a DX7 RAM cart.

2x X2816AP (2k * 8 PROM)
1x 2.2 16 Cap Polar
2x 16pin SIP (Marked RML S12472J
1x Slide Switch

CSound

I have decided to start experimenting with a program called CSound. The programming code has a structure similar to Cobol programing syntax. This should be interesting. Below are some links to get you started as well.

CSound is a powerful synthesis language which can be used to make your own virtual instruments, oscillators, etc. The sonic potential of this program is only limited by your imagination.






Critical Files for using CSound and Cecilia:

http://tcltkaqua.sourceforge.net/
http://csound.sourceforge.net/

OS X Front End:
http://csounds.com/cecilia/

Resources:
http://www.csounds.com/chapter1/index.html

Windows Front End:

http://myweb.nmu.edu/~benjohns


Related Software:

PureData:
Intel
Pd-0.40.3-extended-rc2 Intel

PPC
Pd-0.40.3-extended-rc2 PPC

Windows
Pd-0.40.3-extended-rc2-windowsxp

Patches
http://mmonoplayer.com/mspexternals.php

Chuck:

http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/

Crazy Keytar Yetti

Megan Whitmarsh, keytar yeti is really amazing.

APC 555 Optical Thermin

So I have cooked up an optical thermin for myself based on the 555 timer and some tweeking of good old Mr. Mims Atari Punk Console design. This project is not for the beginner as it uses surface mount parts but it is fun none the less. So all of my hard work has lead me to offer this as a share alike piece of hardware.




APC 555 Optical Thermin by Brian Durocher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at brian.durocher@gmail.com.

Chip Tune

Today I was crusing the web and found some great websites.

http://www.escapehawaii.com/
http://www.getlofi.com/
http://www.micromusic.net/
http://c64music.blogspot.com/

Hope you get some enjoyment out of these.

Fritzing.org

Today I downloaded the Fritzing application again to see the progress this application has made in development. It is finally at a usable state for small projects, it is particularly good for the beginner as it accurately reflects the equipment you would be using.

Fritzing.org