Radio Music

I do not have a good track record with electronics builds but, ever the optimist, I have ordered a  Radio Music kit from Thonk.


This is, from the description, a remarkable product. It is not a radio but rather a means accessing sound files stored on a micro SD card. The suggested contents (which include two episodes of The Archers) are an eclectic mix of bits which can be used to simulate random radio tunings. The documentation references the team radio works of John Cage in particular.

If I fail to make one, I'll try to bribe someone to do it for me.

It should complement the ADDAC FM Radio.

Livewire

[1st Nov] Collection complete (-ish).

I fear that gearlust is beginning to set in again. I feel the need to acquire a set of Livewire modules. These comprise (or so I thought):

• AFG ✔
• Dual Cyclotron ✔
• Frequensteiner ✔
• Dalek modulator
• Vulcan modulator
• Dual Bissel generator
• [I doubt if I'll ever find or afford a] Chaos Computer (and Circuit Abbey Intermix)

I bought the AFG new, the Frequensteiner second hand, and David at PostModular found me a Cyclotron (and I squealed at the price).

There is a quality to both the build and the conception [and the noise made by] Livewire modules that is missing from many of the boutique items launched more recently: they epitomise one of the high-water marks of Eurorack. 
I expect that one day there will be a similar movement to the  period instrument fad in classical music that puts a greater value on earlier modules. I appreciate the period instrument inclination (the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique were tremendous at the Proms this year) and I also like older modules.

A contributor to Muffwiggler has created a fine set of Livewire manuals. Here's one: the others are very similar.

Here's the full list from ModularGrid. Some I have never encountered - voltage mechanic and audio compositor and, to be frank I hadn't heard of the chaos computer before I started this post.

I'll aim for a case of AFG, DC, Fq and try to find a Dalek, Vulcan and Bissel. The Chaos Comp will probably remain a nice to have.

New Rack III

Previously

I made a start on the woodwork today.

[18 Aug] I've had a thought. Rather than just making passive multiples to mount horizontally below the main rack, I could include spaces for thee proper modules with a max width of, say, 6HP. That would allow me to include the prime number clock divider, a multiple (real or diy) and another utility module. They will have to screw into wood.

This they now do.

Subsequently

Dream Modules

Doepfer has released a clock divider that works with prime numbers. I have ordered one. I think I suggested this a few years ago.

I had not previously heard of Erthenvar but they do a series of dividers, including Fibonacci numbers. Outstanding.

---

Memory is a strange (and increasingly unreliable) thing. I first suggested primes in a Yahoo Groups poll in Feb 2010 with a fuller explanation a few days later:

"The reason this idea came to mind was a recent piece in The Times referring to a lecture by Marcus du Sautoy at the Royal Society available here entitled The secret mathematicians, it concerned the use of maths in art and starts with a piece by Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time. It uses rhythms of 17 and 29 beats - as these are prime numbers, a sequence would not repeat (at least until you get to 17*29).
I think La Monte Young used primes too.
The lecture also refers to the Fibonacci series which I think is mentioned in a later post but I haven't got there yet.
Anyway, as I play with long automated noises, I thought prime-based rhythms would be fun.
A prime number is only divisible by one and itself (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 etc).
Cheers, Nick"

---

New Rack II

Previously

I am planning a new rack above my desk. 84HP using Thonk rails and uZeus power. The current notion for modules is:

with some sideways diy multiples underneath.

Module instructions:

• uZeus
• FM Radio
• RS-30 Frequency - Voltage
• Synchrodyne
• Chain Reactor
• Frequency Shifter
• VC LFO - not available
• Strakal Brulu 
• Mixer

[8 Aug] The uZeus and the blanking panels (for diy multiples, from ebay, not EMIS) have arrived. When the rails arrive, I'll be round to B&Q for a sheet of plywood.

[13 Aug] The Thonk rails are quality kit and especially the Lamond mounting brackets: expensive but beautifully formed. Go get plywood.
Perhaps I should work a quantiser into the rack.

Subsequently

gieskes.nl

This is a hoot.

New rack

I've been thinking of building a new eurorack to mount under the shelf above my laptop (if you see what I mean). This month's Sound on Sound featured a new product range from Sknote which strikes an elegant note in plywood.
I have a small, shallow Pittsburgh rack but need one with depth to hold the A126 Doepfer Frequency Shifter.
There's only room for 1 unit high and then around 84HP wide.

I'll consider the contents in due course: the initial plan is to process radio while I am listening to it and to interact with the trogotronic 679.

We'll have the A126 and the Strakal Brulu for starters.
[29th July] First cut of the modules.

MODULARGrid

The A126 is 105mm deep, so I might aim for a 200mm deep box and position the power rack carefully so that the power cables will reach.

Other Frequency Shifting modules available from:
Audio damage
Analogue Systems
Cwejman
Encore Electronics
Synthesis Technology (their site is not available)

and, no doubt, several more

but I have $000s of modules gathering dust, so let's go with what we have.

[2 Aug] Measurements:
Modules are 5¼in. high, the space available is 20" wide.
I might add a row of sideways DIY 4HP multiples mixing mini-jacks and ¼ in, freeing up the 12HP currently occupied by the RS-270. The Pittsburgh Delay will probably not fit.
Perhaps the Dewanatron Triple Slice: the exact opposite of the Strakal and (I believe) the first green eurorack module.
Three multiples would fit so perhaps:
1. 2x 6.3 to 3.5 for input
2. 2 sets of 4 3.5s
3. 2x 3.5 to 6.3 for output

Thonk do rails and so I have ordered an 84HP set.

[4 Aug] The original plan for this rack was low budget, screwing the modules into wood and recycling an old Doepfer power supply. Having ponied up for aluminium rails (£50ish), I have now decided to continue with the easier and dearer options and ordered a uZeus power supply from Rubadub (£65). No answer from EMIS on the query on 4HP blanking plates to use for the multiples.
A power supply in the rack will mean not enough room for the Dewanatron. Here's the latest plan:

MODULARGrid

Subsequently