Ad Astra Per Kitchen Sink Birth of a Synth Diary of a Mad Synth Builder If electronic music is your thing, then Electro-Music.com is the place to be. It's the perfect melding of the art of electronic music, equipment (either purchased or DIY) and philosophy. If you've got some electronic music to spring on the world, this is the place to do it. It's my favorite internet hangout. Click the link below to get there. Again, in 2006, I decided to give my site a makeover. I publish my site through my ISP and am constricted to the software they provide for designing web sites. Somewhere along the way, I managed to block myself from ever editing (or unpublishing) that site again. So, this site is the result of *that* experience. For a glimpse of the old site, it's still here: The Old Scott Stites Synth DIY Site I imagine it will remain there for a long time, if not for perpetuity, as the links slowly go stale. As time progresses, I'll migrate the information from there to this site. On this site, I'll continue to chronicle the glacial progress of the building of the KS-01 Synthesesizer. I'll continue to provide samples, schematics and info as I progress. The "Birth of a Synth" diary has been replaced by the "Synth Diary".
To all - Happy Synth Building and Noise Generation! 17 January 2007 The workshop is approaching critical mass. I think I've amassed enough junk to build just about anything. It's been over a year and a half since I last added a module to the KS-01. I've been overtaken by too many ideas to actually get anything permanently built - I've got a lot of boards built up, and several breadboards loaded with a various projects. Below is a pic of the KS lab as it was on 13 January, 2007. The project on breadboard is the Model 2 Klee sequencer. Click on the pic for an expanded view of the madness that is Synth DIY. May it be a warning to you....... My lab assistant Matthew inspects the Triple EG module. The KS-01 as of June, 2005 
Modules (left to right):
Ray Wilson Triple EG Two ADSR EG's, one AD/ASR EG. Each EG has comparator inputs so that any level over 1 volt can gate and/or trigger the associated EG. Each EG has a three position range switch for short, medium, and long envelopes. Each EG has an End of Cycle trigger output. Ray Wilson Quad LFO Four independent LFO's. Two of the LFO's have Triangle, Sine and Square outputs, two of the LFO's have variable wave outputs (Ramp/Triangle/Sawtooth, Rampified Sine, Sine, Saw/Sine, Variable Width Pulse). Each LFO has three frequency ranges to go from minutes to low audio frequency. Three additional outputs, one consisting of scaled added triangle/variable triangle/saw/sine, one consisting of of scaled added sine, variable sine and one consisting of the square and pulse outputs added together. Mixer Model 3 An audio/CV processing module consisting of two four channel mixers (Mixer A and Mixer B). Mixer outputs consist of inverted and non-inverted copies, Mixer A plus Mixer B for combining the mixer into an 8 channel mixer, mixer A minus Mixer B for signal subtraction.
Control 1 for each mixer is normalled to mix the non-inverted output of the opposite mixer into the respective mixer. Control 2 for each mixer is normalled to mix the inverted copy of the opposite mixer into the respective mixer.
Control 3 for each mixer is normalled to a positive voltage source. Control 4 for each mixer is normalled to a negative voltage source.
Mixer A controls will mix in four signals to a Peak/Trough circuit based on Ken Stones Analog Logic design. The Peak/Trough outputs consist of Peak, Trough, Inverted Peak, Inverted Trough.
An AD633 Multiplier Circuit (ring modulator) has its X and Y inputs normalled to the non-inverted outputs of Mixer A and Mixer B, respectively. Blacet Dark Star Chaos 2000 Blacet Dark Star 2000 with added VCO Frequency, Noise Filter, PWM, and Noise Frequency CV input attenuators. There are also Added CV inputs for Attack and Decay, and the noise output is tapped from a separate jack from the normal output. M.O.M. (Mother Of all Mults) 45 connectors in three columns of 15. Every five connectors in each column are conneted together. The fifth connector of each section is normalled to the section below it. CGS Metal Shop Wave Multiplier and Grinder Ken Stone's amazing Wave Multiplier, completely decked out with all controls and the Grinder section. Rene Schmitz Discrete Transistor 2040 Filter Rene Schmitz's fantastic version of the all-transistor 24 dB 2040 Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter.
There are three signal inputs and a master level control. Each CV and audio input has a separate mult, and there are multed, separate non-inverted and inverted outputs for the three input mixer which can be used separately from the filter - audio or CV can be mixed/inverted with this sub-mixer. Ray Wilson Quad Log/Lin VCA Four separate VCA's, each with a CV input attenuator and a switch for selecting between log and linear responses. Each VCA is capable of providing 2X gain for signal boosting. Dual Rene Schmitz Late MS-20 Filter Two independent Rene Schmitz Late MS-20 filters. The filters are normalled together for easy cascade, parallel or independent operation. Each filter is selectable between Low Pass, Band Pass and High Pass response. A special switch allows different control characteristics for the center frequency controls to accomodate the three modes of operation (cascade, parallel and independent). |
