Around The Intertubes...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
Here’s some interesting things I’ve come across in the last few days, in no particular order:
AKWF Generic Waveforms: This is a gigantic collection of single-cycle waveforms, handy for various purposes. I haven’t used them to make anything yet, but they seem to be “the bomb”-ish.
anbb mimikry: If you’re in to this sort of thing, you no doubt know about the anbb (Alta Novo & Blixa Bargeld) project, and the EP that came out in June. On Oct. 1st, they’re dropping a full-length. Not for everyone, I know, but definitely makes me do the happy dance. A friend of mine, upon learning of this album, said “if someone told me I wouldn’t end the day without hearing Blixa Bargeld covering Harry Nilsson, I’d have called them a bald-faced liar.” This album will definitely scratch that particular itch, the which you probably didn’t know you had. (As I mentioned, an EP with all the best tracks has been available since June, fwiw.)
Shruthi-1: The Shruthi-1 kit finally started shipping. And immediately stopped. I got the email that it would be available on Saturday, but it’s some kind of weird-ass metric Saturday, as it was already over when I got there, and the kits are sold out. I assume there will be more at some point, and while I’m no longer very interested in spending an afternoon bent over a hot soldering iron, I’ll take one for the team with this kit. All the important parts are still available individually, but frankly, I have too much to do already without having to try and order all the extra parts.
Anything interesting and obscure I missed in the last few days?
10 comments
Yeah those 40 Shruthi kits were gone when I checked too - the 4PM Saturday start timme was for a time zone across the pond I bet - I think you should start a "football pool" to predict how fast they end up on eBay marked up and I also predict that it will take about 2-3 years for scalper prices to get back to normal the same way the original x0xb0x kits behaved - Mutable should do a wait list like adafruit too so you could put in a position order and have some semblance of order to the process -
I just looked at the Shruthi-1 schematic, and it looks like the filter could be modified to sound more like an MS-20 or SH-101. The schematic shows R48 and R49 in the feedback loop of the op amp used to amplify the filter feedback, but they have values of 0 ohms. Try putting a pair of diodes (oriented in opposite directions) where those resistors would go on the board, or maybe a pair of LEDs oriented the same way.
The non-linear feedback path is a big part of the SH-101 filter sound, and is what makes that synth sound mean and growly while the Juno-60 sounds comparatively weak. The back-to-back diodes in an opamp feedback loop are used in the MS-20, while the SH-101 has back-to-back diodes going to ground. These help keep the resonance from getting too loud, but add lots of cool motion to the resonance as well.
@sean,
Thanks for the tip. Looking at the schematic, R50 and R51 are also 0 ohms and next to both sections it says "pimp my resonance!" which leads me to believe that these slots were intentionally left blank for this purpose? Though, I can't seem to find anything about it in the documentation. Interesting.
I don't post a lot of comments here (I tend to be more of the popcorn type, sit-back-and-watch), but as an owner of one of the original Mutable Instruments Shruti-1 synth I feel obliged to comment.
1.) Yes, they (actually he, it's a one man operation) are across the pond. France, to be exact. The shop went live on Saturday at about 700AM PST, and the kits were sold out by 920AM PST (when I tried to order).
2.) The second batch of boards/kits is about three weeks out as I understand. There is a bit of a hold up with the LCD displays.
3.) End user support is incredible. Really. It took him all of 20 minutes or so to whip up an alternate wavetable firmware for the Shruti-1, turning it into a monophonic hybrid wavetable synth called the ShrutiWave.
4.) The Shruti-1 is really big-sounding in the flesh. While no small part of that is the CEM, the digital oscillators have a character that is best described as raw and alive. The new Shruthi is an evolution of this sound.
@afreshcupofjoe: Interesting. My guess (and it is basically a guess - I don't solder much) is that you could use the R50 and R51 slots with a bit of reworking to have back-to-back diodes going to ground, a la SH101. The R48/R49 locations might produce a sound closer to the MS20. Either way, it seems like you could produce a nastier sounding filter than the standard 4-OTA filter.
In general, it seems like nasty filters are more highly regarded than linear filters. I have never loved the CEM filters, even though the built-in filter FM of some of the chips is a nice touch. The Moog and SSM2040 filters have lots of distributed soft nonlinearities. The SH101 and MS20 filters have stronger nonlinearities in a few spots. Diode ladder filters like the TB303 and VCS3/Synthi have staggered filter frequencies, which results in higher amounts of feedback needed for their resonances, which results in more distortion and more squelch.
The Shruti-1 looks/sounds fun, but I've sworn off synths that don't pretty much have dedicated knobs for most functions since I find I don't use them much otherwise. That's part of the beauty of lots of vintage synths. Good sound + good interface = full of win. I don't care how good a synth sounds if the interface sucks since I'll never hear it while it collects dust in the corner.
@sean interesting about the filters. So should I solder some diodes into my Juno-60 and see if it sounds more like an SH-101? :-)
I'm still looking for the donate button for the AKWF set. Oh, well...
As far as the Shruthi goes... I have been on the mailing list since pretty much day one, and still haven't ever been able to even hit an "add to shopping cart button". I know it's just one guy in his living room, but it still frustrates me to no end. To me, this box is the synthesizer equivalent to Montana. People tell me that it exists, but I sure as hell have never seen it, and am thus in doubt of its reality. I'll probably have to pass on this and go back to trying to pawn my liver to afford an Minimoog Voyager XL...
-WGP
Just for the record, having spent a fair chunk of my life in Chicago, with my family mostly residing in the Pacific NW, Montana is in the way, to put it mildly.
-CR
I have been through Montana quite a bit myself. The nonexistence of Montana is actually my wife's thing. I just kind of picked it up from her. I now generally use it as my example of things that are supposed to exist but I have no actual proof that they do. Much like old hackers use Foo and Bar as metasyntactic variables. I always forget that to someone not used to my family's (extremely individualized) usage patterns, statements like the preceding sound awfully strange...
But, yup... Montana exists. And it is fucking HUGE!
-WGP
@fussy lizard: the UI design is superb in the shruti. completely intuitive. you wouldn't even realize that there isn't a knob for each function...
the screen is divided into four paramaters, each corresponding to a knob. each "screen" of paramaters is grouped by functional area and accessed by a single button press.
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