Artesia

Q-Tari Stick ? :) do vs & wavestationey type stuff with spare parts from an old cctv controller & no expense bar a nice little black case... joystick x & y pots connect to the two pedal/cv inputs for something slightly different ...and the buttons are connected to the trigger pedal ins... hint... could butcher a ready made & cheap pc analog joystick for the same purposes ;) btw this is held to the case by the potent force of a neomodium magnet from an old pc hard drive; hot glued in place in the case. also the underside is padded with some of that 'stay put' rubber mat stuff glued to the bottom ...essential if you wish to avoid scratching your synths !

Q-Tari Stick ? :) See JS post for details..

the 'pimp my synth' mission... i decided that those metal end panels just weren't cool enough ...so out with some mystery hardwood (oak ?) reclaimed from scrap some time ago. ...and side panels for synth it becomes :) will be dyeing them the offcut mahogany color as seen ..or possibly a little darker ..as needed to suit the synth. also will be giving it the thicknesser treatment & dropping its thickness from 28mm to the 22mm of the waldorf ends ...which looks better to me. give it a week and some new photos of the synth modded will be up :) also ordered an green on jet black OLED screen for it ..still in two minds about wether to install that ...tho for some reason i think it should have a display that looks more like the one in the promo shot :)

ah yes the whole early 16 bit dac gaff... on the note of 'bit dithering' ...bob katz the mastering producer had alot to say about this in a recent book of his & in recent articles.. yup random dithering of lower bits is the way to go.. it actually helps retain sub-bit audio information ! 24bit ? ..do tell :) whilst im quite well aware that consumers rarely manage to make use of the 90db headroom 16 bit audio offers & that alot of shoddy consumer devices fail to even practically use this headroom ..what else is to be told ? :) ..i've probably read past it already.. but i wasnt awake that day :) mind 24bit, excessive samplerate recording is useful from a sound engineers perspective; it gives lots of leeway & down dither to chisel out an exceptional quality 16bit mix ...and in live situations allows for the full headroom of 130db or so ...for silly dynamics capability's & plenty of leeway for live digital mix busses..

wanna play swapsies ? ...mines got a 110v transformer on the back !

ah the hifi crowd ...if you told them plain earplugs painted green with neat little silver tassles would improve their sound ...theyd take your word for it & buy them in droves (at 8000% the cost price ;) ) ..tho yes there is a nice quality to 12 bit dacs :) ..notably the early prodigy records where produced & sequenced entirely on a roland w30 keyboard which had 12bit dacs and a nice crunch to it :)

btw on picking these up ..there are two revisions of the first microwave I ..one has the cem 3389 filters (the older smooth blue chassis here) ..and the latter with the funny textured paint, has the cem 3387's, the same ones that are in the wave monster. however this later revision is reputed to not be as smooth sounding. Also the microwave II has no analog filters at all; its all digital. and in this instance probably be better going for an XT ..its like a mw II on steroids, has a ton more knobs & a fair few more bells and whistles. pick these odd sounding monsters carefully, look after them and theyll serve you well :)

its just taking photos of stuff ;) ..yes funnily enough it has crossed my mind lately to borrow a friends eeprom burner and back afew things up; as the matrix 1000 & afew other things also use them. the case went back on the microwave pretty sharpish mind ..as ive heard of this tendancy too..

in the region of 100-200 uk pounds atm.

heres the innards of one of waldorfs first products; the microwave rack rev. 1 8 voice analog/digital hybrid wavetable synth from 1990 odd.. a supprisingly potent little box if you program your own sounds and wavetables on it :) ..and the real filters sound quite nice ..tho not as fat as some. also in spite of the fact that the editing interface is a little scarce ..its not actually too bad to navigate for programming ! Also make sure you backup your patches on this synth; it appears to use battery backed ram & may loose your presets if the battery dies ! in all seriousness mind; these are well worth having & sell for peanuts atm.. and its not that far off being like the big daddy keyboard version... (...one day i shall have ;) ) (1x) motorola - mc68000ps (16 bit, 12mhz processor (70,000 transistors ;) also used in the first apple mac & atari st) (1x) es2 - 0390bqd1 (8923 1021) (the custom waldorf voice asic ?) (1x) st - ef6850 (for interfacing serial async. data with 6800 cpu bus) (4?) toshiba - tc55257bpl-10 (SILICON GATE CMOS 32,768 WORD X 8 BIT STATIC RAM) (2x) st - 27c512 (512k (64kx8) uv erase eprom) (9x) analog devices - ad7545akn (cmos 12bit buffered multiplying DAC) (9x) ti - rc4558p (dual gen. purp. opamp) (1x) motorola - tl071 (opamp, gen. purp, low noise j-fet) (4x) cem - 5508h (octal sample & hold) (5x) motorola - tl084cn (4 input j-fet opamp) (8x) cem -3389 (the good bits... (1x) 4-pole vcf & (4x) vca on chip)

ta... well heres another one then :) see the next post for Waldorf - Microwave I rack (the one with the real cem filters :) )

Heres a quick patch i threw together with the q.. it uses a couple of oscillators the analog & digital filters and about 6 modifyers Smiley ...first one i did & liked it so much i kept it Smiley http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nausicaa.valley/ucapps/q/Q99-rec.mp3 see this new thread to see the insides & specs for this squeeker :) http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php/topic,10602.0.html

I recently acquired a waldorf q+ phoenix edition synth & decided to strip it down for mine & and everyone elses curiosity.. and goodness its a sturdy sod & er.. ive never seen quite so many dsps & microcontrollers working in tandem ..its rather bizarre. In general very happy with it; however waldorf failed to include a UK power lead (but had usa & eur !) for a synth distributed by a uk supplier. also as pictured... for a synth that cost nearly afew grand, it was abit of a shock to get a laser printed manual (rather than a properly bound one) & the extras cd came with a laser printed label on it ! ...they also used the center cd label bit to close the paper sleve ...thrifty i guess ..but leaves a mixed impression. also the pictures on their site (rendered) where abit misleading ..one would think that the display was an oled ...nope quite different variety of lcd ..ah well at least it matches my mbfm project ;) ..also it was insinuated that the pitch/mod wheels would be perspex like on the dsi poly evolver keys ...not so; however they are pretty sturdy. also i miss the wooden ends that some of the q's had; these are metal; but nice ..however i will be making some of my own for this out of some beautiful light red mahogany offcuts ;) :) (...pimp my synth ;) ) sounds fat mind ..and ive been through all the va'ish synths demoing them ..and with the added bonus of the real analog filters ..this one really cleans the floor with them ;) :) btw the analog filter stack is made with ca3080 (transconductance opamps) & ca3046 (matched transistor arrays).. which are also seen in the moog filters & vcas + those of the venerable, fat little waldorf pulse :) The slightly misleading product render (tut, tut..): The Q now ...made some wooden end cheeks from a mystery hardwood & got the result below :) (see further down the listing for more photos of this mod): After OLED: (more pictures further down the post...) Before OLED: Heres a quick patch i threw togeather with the q.. it uses a couple of oscillators the analog & digital filters and about 6 modifyers :) ...first one i did & liked it so much i kept it :) http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nausicaa.valley/ucapps/q/Q99-rec.mp3 Before Mods: filter boards: AFMFM 1.1: (2x) analog devices - ad8403 (4ch digital pot./resistor; 256 step) (EACH SIDE) (4x) intersil - ca3046 (transistor array) (3x) vishay - sst404 (dual monolithic n-channel j-fets) (1x) st - 061c (ez533)(presumably tl061 jfet opamp) (2x) intersil - ca3080 (transconductance amp) dac board: AFMDA 1.0 COMP: (one sided) (2x) akm - AK4529 (audio codec adc/dac - 2ch/8ch, 64x/128x oversampling, 96/96khz, 102/109db snr) (8x) akm - ak5353 (adc - 2ch, 96db snr, 24bit 96khz, 128x oversampling) multiplexer: AFMSH 1.1: (12x) ti - tl064c (j-fet quad opamp) (6x) ti - 4051m (8-ch analog multiplexer - 74hc4051) (6x) fuji - 74hc4053 ((3x) 2ch analog multiplexer/demulti.) Q To filter bridge board: WALDORF AFM: (2x) analog devices - ad711 (single high speed bifet opamp) (2x) analog devices - ad7545 (cmos 12bit dac single ch) (6x) issi - is61lv2568l-10tl (256k 8bit 10ns cmos static ram) (2x) freescale - dspb56367ag150 (150mip 150mhz dsp) see: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=DSP56367&fsrch=1 q board: QMB REV. v4.0 (3x) motorola/freescale - DSPH56362PV120 (120mhz audio dsp (discontinued at curr time)) (6x) samsung k681008v10 (memory) (1x) toshiba - tc551001cf-70l (SILICON GATE CMOS 131072 WORD x 8 BIT STATIC RAM) (1x) samsung - k6t1008c2e-gb70 (128Kx8 bit Low Power CMOS Static RAM) (1x) freecale - MC68331CAG20 (20mhz 32bit microcontroller) (1x) amd - Am29F400BB-70eo (4 Megabit (512 K x 8-Bit/256 K x 16-Bit) CMOS 5.0 Volt-only, Boot Sector Flash Memory) (1x) mk1492 (opl3/4 codec clock source ! ..eh !) (xx) ne5532 (bipolar opamps on i/o's) (1x) akm - ak4527vq (6ch i/o audio codec, adc/dac, 24bit/96khz, 64/128x oversamp. 106db snr)

congrats ! :) ..even if you cant be doing with all the fuss ..its no bad thing for ucapps :) ..hopefully the exposure may get us afew more contributors to the madness here :)

hmm.. damn good spot, best alternative so far after a cursory look :) anyone like to offer a pro hw geek opinion on the analog devices multiplexer there ? :)

just done a little experiment this weekend, having just got hold of an alesis multitrack recorder & an assortment of adat widgetry, I recorded a portion of a live gig i was doing sound for with the ddx3216 mixer; this consisted of linking the mixer via digital adat to the alesis hd recorder. 6 channels where direct raw feeds from the stage, consisting of two vocal mics, two guitar & two for keyboards & backing. the remaining two chanels where used to record the live mix as it came out of the mixer. I then took this home and then downloaded the resulting files to my pc and fed the multitracks into cubasse for a little fun. after setting up a full mix in cubase using its 'in the bundle vst effects' ...i made the curious discovery that no matter what, it could not attain as natural & pleasant a mix as was obtained with the mixer ! ...then again the mixer uses a bundle of sarc processors running 48-72 bit (?) floating point dsp caluations for all the effects.. and something tells me the freebie effects with cubase are somewhat compromised/economical on cpu footprint. ...hmm keeping my eyes out for effects and processing that can compare (without hitting Waves) ..tho something tells me that the mixers going to see a fair bit more use :)

yeah it peeved me ..i have two of the desks, one here with no adats ..and one with the bandrig with two cards, one connected to an adat machine ..and the other juggles between pcs and othersuch things. apparently they have a new one in the pipeline, yet to hear word of that tho... they still sell it in austrailia and the east i beleive. The next best thing is a yamaha dm1000 http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/products/mixers/dm1000/index.html ..which is a tad pricey at 4,500 uk pounds ! Mind, its got the features and quality to kinda justify some of the pricetag. Having said that, if you are doing well enough to require a serious desk, then the 'company account' or recording proceeds would allow for such a thing comfortably.

true, tho not many people use the adat expansion option on this mixer ..which channels 17-32 cater for. even then you can save a patch on the mixer for using it as a control surface where you dont have to worry about altering levels on the desk whilst using its controls to augment a virtual mix on pc.

just switched Ubuntu linux ...it runs faster and has alot less bloat. fits on a cd rather than a dvd and can be booted from the install cd, allowing a fully functional os with instant web access ! ..and from within this mode it can be installed to the hard drive ...how cool is that ;) ..i cant see a windows installer cd doing that in sometime to come ;) also fedora is built on redhat, and ubuntu is built on debian i beleive :)

nothing new, forgot i posted this... a generic extension which allows incoming mididata to be read as if it was an user input device on the midi box itself would enable this & many other fun possabilitys. Btw you should be able to map the main things to your sequener anyways, like the sliders, pan knobs & some of the channel strip buttons. ..put the mixer into ch 17-32 mode and this will not affect anything else you are doing with the desk.

Yup, its another one of those storys of a semi-geek who defected to linux.. In this case Fedora. Microsofts whole racket with the suggish spyware called Vista has put me off completely & i have no intention of ever endorsing them again with my wallet. Fedora is pretty smart really, did nothing other than install it & it finds my web connection streight away without any configuring ...how cool is that ! :) And the built in messenger has no problem connecting to multiple services :) ..icq/aol/msn/yahoo/irc ...etc. and of course azureus runs here too, being java and all ...throw in open office and you have everything the average non game crazy pc user needs to go about their daily business :) So, give it a try.. if you already hav'nt :) http://fedoraproject.org Okay now heres the bit that makes this a little more relavent around here ..discovered energyXT Sequencer/DAW program for linux/windows & absolutely love it ...astoundingly good ..and it really is being 'given away' at the price of £27 odd ...after 20 mins with the demo ..i bought it ..no more cubase for me :) http://www.energy-xt.com/products.php

heh.. oh joy.. the data that comes out of 16 bit controllers is a little bit confusing ..not proving too easy to map. if anyone is up on these things ..please let me know. Could do with a hand. Thanks.

hi, For those of you who care about such things, here's a map of the andromeda controllers which dont (usually) send midi data. some of those missing mappings is a little annoying; however it makes sense from their point of view. Mapping out the controllers, in order to use this synths control surface to edit other synths.. 16 bit values available ..yey ! - routing done in software. on that general note, a midibox which retains as midi map for a 'controller' ..and allows you at a button press to remap its outputs for editing different synths.. would be -really handy- :)

heres a couple of sounds i threw togeather on my andromeda having got to grips with programming it for the first time ;) (it's a programmers dream alright :) ) heres a 'bass' sound: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nausicaa.valley/moog/ANDROMEDA_DIRTY_RNG_BASS.mp3 Cleaner variation: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nausicaa.valley/moog/ANDROMEDA_SAW.mp3 and 5 mins worth of guessing how the typical 'trance lead' is constructed: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nausicaa.valley/moog/ANDROMEDA_TRANCE_PAD.mp3 And as usual.. please dont sample, without my permission ;)

hmmm... time to post inappropriately on my own topic thread ...just made two increadibly fat patches on the andromeda ...well chuffed ..complete speaker distroyers ;o :)