Jörg shares another unusual approach to sound circuits with this mini optical organ, inspired by the legendary Optigan keyboard instrument – my instrument generates the tone with a light depended resistor which kann be controlled by an LED. the speed and patterns on the disc determine the frequency and shape of the resulting wave form. […]
Norwegian maker Knut Karlsen got some flexible solar material and decide to try his hand at prototyping solar-powered batteries. He wrapped the cells around some NiMH rechargeables he had on hand and wired them up. He writes: This setup is in fact a (quite weak) trickle charger. It is not ideal, but really convenient. A […]
Featured at the 1939 World’s Fair, the Voder (Voice Operating DEmonstratoR) from Bell Laboratories created vocal sounds via dedicated noise and tone generating vacuum tubes. These sounds were formed into words by the hand of a specially trained operator seated at the Voder’s interface. In aninterview with CMJ, electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos explains in […]
The Astra synthesizer from Not Breathing – 2 VCOs, 2 LFOs, VCF, noise source, ring modulator all built from salvaged parts the keyboard is from a gutted lowrey wandering genie keyboard. i recycled most of the capacitors in the unit from the genie and a dead tr606 […] i didn’t buy anything for this unit. […]
… well it certainly looks capable of inducing ‘force choke’ at the very least. Either way – Thomas built this masterful ring of sequential synthesizer control around the 16-step sequencer project from MFOS. The prominent layout was created using Front Panel Express and design files are available on his site. But as with most complex […]
From the MAKE: Flickr pool Pauric shares techniques for redesigning/improving consumer devices in need of a makeover. His example project, a ‘sunrise alarm clock’ – One of the first things I do with device I buy is take it apart to see how it works, see if there’s anything interesting going on inside. There’s a […]
From the MAKE: Flickr pool Tremble at the feet of Rusty Sheriff’s mighty “555 astable tone generator with tuned keys” – sporting a big ol’ 8″ woofer and a laser-cut case. No performance samples to be found but the name/design alone is satisfying enough – Rusty Growler Please, share pics of your awesome works in […]
