Handmade Music Austin #1

YouTube via EA78751 "Some video from Handmade Music Austin #1, Oct 18 2009. Twenty people learned about soldering and built Mini Space Rockers and Andromeda MK-1 analog drum machines. Everybody got a different Mini Space Rockers sound effect (like Skrew Bass, El Grito, Mouse, and Space Hawk!) Thats what you're hearing here... I didnt get a good recording of the Andromeda MK-1 jam though. Next month, November, we'll build the Autonomous Bassline Generator from 4ms Pedals. After that, the Nebulophone from Bleep Labs." also see Mini Space Rockers Update:

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mini space rockers

YouTube via EA78751
"http://ericarcher.net/devices/mini-sp...

Mini Space Rockers is a pushbutton analog drum with four transistors; You choose three capacitors to customize pitch and envelope. Its nice hot output level is guaranteed to distort any guitar amp more than Stevie Ray.

It is designed as an intro-to-soldering project for Handmade Music Austin. The unit in the video is a prototype; 'real' PCBs will be used in the workshop."

Handmade Music Austin

via Bleep Labs:

"4ms Pedals, Eric archer, and Dr. Bleep are proud to announce Handmade Music Austin! Starting October 13th at Salvage Vanguard Theater in collaboration with CotFG, we will be offering monthly workshops in they style of Handmade Music.

We’ll have free soldering, bending and diy synth classes, as well as workshops to build our forthcoming Andromeda Space Rocker kits. Early sign-ups for classes will start soon so stay tuned!"

The following are a couple of videos of kits in development.
The mixer has the four tiny drum machines previously posted running through it.

Mini 4ch mixer amp

Mini 4ch mixer amp from EA78751 on Vimeo.

"Prototype 4ch powered "pocket mixer" blowin out analog beats thru a bare 12" speaker.

This jam is crying for Gakken SX-150.

Pocket mixer: 2.8W service into 4 ohms w/ soft clip. 4 C-cell batteries. Connects to any external speaker with binding post terminals."

Autonomous Bassline Generator

YouTube via 4mspedals

"The Autonomous Bassline Generator creates deterministic bassline patterns in a sci-fi retro sound by generating melodies on the fly, based on a knob. It's just an AVR (attiny44) chip doing all the work, plus an opamp to act as the filter (photocell). The blue button is Tap Tempo, or if you hold it down for 1 second, it syncs up to the pulses on the IR receiver (this lets you beat-sync multiple Andromeda Space Rocker modules). The red button lets you edit a single note in the melody. Pulse-width modulation is currently pre-set to a certain envelope, but that will become user-controllable soon!

Part of the "Andromeda Space Rockers" series of modules, see www.ericarcher.net for drum modules.

The 6-pin header board dangling to the right is an ISP header. Totally hackable!"

RIP Stanley Lunetta

Stanley Lunetta passed away on March 3 this year.  The first I heard of it was via Chuck Stephens in the comments on Ray Wilson passing away, posted yesterday. Lunetta was known for his Lunetta CMOS synth used in a number of synth DIY projects. You can find a collection of his work featured here on MATRIXSYNTH.

On his passing via The Sacramento Bee:

"Percussionist, composer, sculptor and much-loved icon of the local music community Stanley Lunetta relentlessly explored avant garde music while maintaining a legendary career. He died March 3 from brain cancer in Sacramento.

Lunetta played drums for Music Circus, missing only two weeks of performances until his retirement in 2008 after 54 years. He also served as the music contractor who assembled orchestras for Music Circus from 1973 until his retirement. He also was the principal timpanist for the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra, Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, Sacramento Opera and Sacramento Choral Society and was an instructor of timpani and percussion at UC Davis and Chico State."

On Lunettas via MsModular:

"The Lunetta is an electronic instrument that uses primarily CMOS chips for gates, Boolean logic, and mathematical functions for sequenced sounds. A Lunetta is basically a simple rhythmic modular musical computer that makes abstract sounds in sometimes unpredictable ways. It is a beautiful experimental synthesizer.

Lunettas are most typically DIY instruments, although there are a few small boutique manufacturers that sell them. ElectroLobotomy for example sells a few simple Lunetta synthesizers on Etsy.

The most beautiful part of a Lunetta is that one can make one for themselves and experiment with its functionality and layout. The guide for making a Lunetta can be found here: Intro to Lunetta CMOS Synths. The introduction goes into Stanley Lunetta’s concept, and provides an introductory guide for making them. Every Lunetta though is made a bit differently, as they often reflect the makers preferences."

The image above is via electro-music.com. Stanley Lunetta's work was frequently discussed on the electro-music.com forums. I highly recommend doing a search on Lunetta there.

Updates via Chuck Stephens in the comments:

"Thanks for posting this. Stanley and Ray were huge! Their work showed me the direction to take when I started learning to build circuits. My lunetta synth has influences from both men, as well as Eric Archer, Forrest Mimms, Reed Ghazala, etc.- we stand on the shoulders of giants!

BTW- My lunetta cost less than $100 and has 36 modules (so far!). It's built into an old rifle case I found in a dumpster and the panels are cut from 4" square PVC fence posts from Home Depot. Steel nuts and bolts and alligator clip test leads handle patching duties. Save more- work less!"

Here's a noise piece from my lunetta synth:


Buster-Jangle by nepchune from chuck stephens on Vimeo.

"This is my Lunetta noise synth run through a Ross Time Machine digital delay. I love the sounds this thing makes. The video features Honey Boy the Cat doing what he does."

And here's a song from the same rig:


Confidence is High by nepchune from chuck stephens on Vimeo.

"This is 90-95% Lunetta with a tiny dab of Kaossilator and Korg R3 (the explosion sounds and the 'pip' on the fast part) and an Arduino based 'auduino' granular synth for the lead (say what you want about Arduino- this little granular synth sounds great and provides a nice 'live' element). The Lunetta part forms the basis of the song and it is completely unedited- this is how it came out of my machine. I used two of Eric Archer's Mini Space Rockers for the percussion sounds and they are completely Lunetta controlled. The drum sounds are routed through a Ross Time Machine digital delay and the spacey bass sound is created by routing my lunetta-integrated Atari Punk Console through a Korg Pandora guitar processor. The other 7 Lunetta voices are unprocessed. This track is the closest I've come to integrating my interest in generative music and my skills for arrangement and song writing. I set out to create a traditional song structure and sound and I'm really pleased with it. It shoes that a Lunetta isn't just a noise machine- although I love noise, too. I love what my Lunetta makes possible. Lightning in a bottle!"

3 Modular Synths, 3 Sequencers, Gristleizer, Mini-Space Rockers Drum Synth

Published on Jun 7, 2014 blaman2012·42 videos

"lots of noise"

Handmade Music Austin #3

YouTube via EA78751
"Video from Handmade Music Austin #3, Dec. 20th 2009. At this workshop 13 people built the free project, Mini Space Rockers. After that we witnessed live electroacoustic sound by Lustigovi. And then 19 people built the upper division project, Andromeda Mk-4 Analog Bass Drum. And last there was an open jam with DIY bassline and drum machines from this workshop series, plus acid lines from a MIDIbox SID."
"Tags:
handmade music austin DIY analog drum machine 8-bit AVR synth synthesizer MIDIbox SID"

Handmade Music Austin #2

YouTube via EA78751. part 1 here
"Video from the second Handmade Music Austin workshop, Nov 15 2009.

projects -
Basic kit: Mini Space Rockers (ericarcher.net)
Advanced kit: Autonomous Bassline Generator (4ms pedals)


The workshop was full. About 30 people built the basic kit, and about 20 built the advanced kit. Treasure City Thrift had a table of choice retro electronics for sale. After all the kits were built, we plugged in to the PA and partied until the amp overheated."