Category: SDIY
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Building Mutable Instruments modules
I have always been intrigued by Mutable Instruments modules but it took me a while to start building them myself. The fact that all modules use SMD components and you have to compile the source code yourself was initially a turn-off for me. But as more and more people were building these modules themselves several…
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SOMA Laboratories LYRA-8 Organismic Synthesizer
SOMA Laboratories SOMA Laboratories is a small boutique company focusing on developing extraordinary electronic instruments. The company was founded by Vlad Kreimer in 2016 after the success of the LYRA-8 synthesizer which he developed. They are located in Russia (design and development) and Poland (manufacturing). Most SOMA Laboratories instruments are available as ready to use…
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New display for Akai VX600
Vintage analogue synthesizer I have this Akai VX600 6 voice analogue synthesizer which I really like. It sounds great, has an auto calibration function and features an elaborate modulation matrix. I bought it used from Rob Papen sometime in the 90s, so this synth is almost 30 years old but still going strong. The original display…
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Midibox sequencer MBSEQ V4
A modular hardware sequencer I discovered the Midibox sequencer MBSEQ V4 via a forum post somewhere and was immediately interested. It’s a project of Thorsten Klose and lots of people have added code and hardware modules to it. For more information check out the following websites. http://ucapps.de/ http://midibox.org/forums The main thing that made we want…
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Replacing the display of a Yamaha TX7
This is the Yamaha TX7. It’s the module version of the DX7. It was the first synthesizer I ever bought, 28 years ago. It still works perfectly. But I wanted to replace the display as it is hard to read because it is not backlit. So I bought a display replacement from eBay. I opened…
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New cabinets for 5U modular synth
Inevitability I have been building a lot of Buchla stuff last couple of years but I also built a few 5U modules. As my 5U modular cabinet was pretty much filled up I finally reached that inevitable point in time: the cabinets were completely full and I still had a couples of modules which had…
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Music Thing Modular custom 5U panels
After watching a few demos of Music Thing Modular modules I decided to build them myself. However, these modules are in Eurorack format and I don’t have any Eurorack. So I designed 5U panels for them and ordered those via Schaeffer AG in Germany. Not the cheapest solution but the quality is great and the…
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Buchla 296e tutorials
Some time ago I did build this Buchla 296 clone. It is a rather complex module. I played around with the vocoder function (which is great fun) but I didn’t really know how to use this module to it’s full extent. Until now… Buchla advocate Todd Barton made a series of tutorial videos on the…
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Reviving a silent Korg DW8000 synthesizer
A lucky find Some time ago I bought a Yamaha EX-5 on eBay. As it was located close by I drove there to pick it up myself. While talking to the seller she mentioned she had more stuff for sale. The Korg DW8000 was the only thing I was interested in. I tested it and…
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Building a new 50U Buchla cabinet
A couple of years ago I built a small 18U Buchla cabinet for a couple of Buchla 200 series modules I had build together with some Buchlaesque modules to go with them. However, this cabinet cannot house any more modules and it was time to build something new. Something bigger. I decided to go for…
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Custom cabinet for Buchla Easel
Buchla Easel analogue synthesizer clone I have been working on finishing my Buchla Easel analogue modular synth the last couple of months. That included designing a custom cabinet to house the modules. My “Easelesque” instrument contains 3 modules: the Buchla 208 Music Easel, the Buchla 216 Touch Controlled Voltage Source and the Buchla 277 Signal…
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The Weird Sound Generator
Some time ago I promised Ralf and David, the sons of two friends, we would do an electronics DIY soldering project together. They were always drooling over my modular so I wanted to built something with them to get them a little soldering experience. They were very enthusiastic and eventually decided upon “something that makes sounds and…