Has anyone thought of an "MBHP-303" clone?

[bill]

??? what reverb ? there's no reverb in a 303

[brother303]

Hi,

@Playbo$$: Did you ever built such a unit? Did you ever tweaked a real 303 and compared it to other clones? Did you ever hear a FR777 next to a TB303? If you don`t know the things you`re talking about just let it be,please!

It IS a difference,believe me!

;)

Brother303

[nebula]

^^ agreed, nothing sounds identical to a TB-303 (although I've never tweaked a x0xb0x with an actual BA662, I bet it's pretty damn close).

The TB-303 oscillator has a great, full-spectrum sound quality, with lots of bass and lots of upper harmonics too, especially on the square wave.  The filter resonance sounds like nothing else on the planet.  The envelope decay is extremely snappy, and its tweak range "feels" just right.  The overall sound has a characteristic analog punch that has never really been duplicated.

The TB-303 sequencer is sort of cool, with the accent and slide, but forget about editing it on the fly, live, in any controlled way.  Pitch slides are awesome when used strategically.  The "accent" function can be used to introduce subtle or insane timbral variations.

Despite all of this, I honestly think that the 303 was already played out 15 years ago.  Its sound is unique, but as tired as the Fairlight orchestra blast and DX7 Rhodes that dominated 1980's pop.  The difference is that those who have Fairlights and DX7s can still use them for other stuff, but the 303 is essentially a one-trick pony.

MIDIbox SEQ could be tweaked to be very much like a TB-303 sequencer if you really wanted.  But since the rest of a good 303 clone needs to be voltage-controlled analog, IMHO it's beyond the scope of the MIDIbox platform.  Three different AOUT modules already exist, and there are zillions of 303-ish DIY clones on the internet which can be controlled by MIDI or CV.  A TB-303 clone would stop being a MIDIbox after the CV outputs from the AOUT board - after which it would just be another 303 clone.

True MIDIbox synths (SID, OPL3, SpeakJet) connect the PIC/CORE with external, digitally interfaced synth hardware. The chips they are based on could not be used as musical instruments without some sort of microcontroller, so the existing MIDIbox projects fit the bill.  Also, people are currenltly exploring SwinSID, CORE-as-DCO, SN74677, and no doubt other PIC-interfaceable synth engines.  Personally, once I get my current MBHP projects finished, I have long-term plans to teach myself coding for MIOS as I develop a wavetable-sweeping front end for Korg DW6000, and then later learn to interface with the (IMHO underrated) CEM3394. 

Vintage chips are fun to use in new ways, since many of them have as-yet unexplored sound possibilities.  There is so much more to be gained by forging new ground rather than re-hashing sounds of yesterday, further contributing to the music industry's overall creativity deficit.  I'd frankly rather be shot in the head before hearing "Higher State of Consciousness" one more time.

Instead of making another 303, why not focus on making "the next" 303? (Just a thought)

[DrBunsen]

Absolutely  ;D

The Novation Bass Stations are not analogue - they are DSP based analog emulation.

[brother303]

The Novation Bass Stations are not analogue - they are DSP based analog emulation

No,that`s not true. The Bass-station,Bass-station keyboard and the Superbass-station are true analog units!

The drumstation is an emulation and also the K-station/Nova/Supernova are.

;)

[Ashiman]

Fairlight orchestra blast <- LOL , FTW also best of the bunch you mentioned ^^

[brother303]

Hi all,

does anyone here know the "Simplesizer"? It`s an analog diy-synth (CV/Gate) I built some time ago,pcbs are still available,only common parts are used.

2x OSC Saw/Pulse with sync

1x RingMod

1x Noise

1x LFO with triangle and squarewave

1x S+H

1x Moog 24db lowpass

1x AD envelope to VCF

1x ADSR envelope to VCA

many ins and outs available

pcb:

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_base/simplesizer.jpg

some sounds:

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer5.html

A frontpanel-layout example:

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_base/simplesizer_synthesizer.gif

This nice lil`unit together with a mb303 sequencer would be fine!

What do you think?

[sineSurfer]

Hi all, does anyone here know the "Simplesizer"?

hi there brother303, looks interesting, you may want to start a new thread with some more info:

any info available in english?

are there complete kits to buy? where?

how it compares to the Paia Fatman on price, and sound?

[Ashiman]

because lack of time i think of either MAM modular stuff or Doepfer stuff for myself. But the JH Compact clone I assemble myself , ok the SSM2045 too  ;D

[brother303]

Hi,

sadly the documentation is only in german,but the pcbs are silkscreened so it`s easy to see where each part belongs to. There`s a little bug in the envelope-section,but it`s well documented easy to fix...

ADSR-Bug : http://www.synthwerker.de/Bilder-WEB/adsr-neu.jpg

PCBs are available at www.anyware-instruments.de ,it`s not documented on their site but drop a mail to them and they will etch the boards by order.

Here is a partlist,all parts are available at www.Reichelt.de .

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer4/SIMBES.DOC

And this is the documentation :

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_anleitung1.html

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_anleitung_VCO.html

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_anl_VCF_VCA.html

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_anleitung_LFO.html

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_anleitung_ENV.html

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_verbindungen.html

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer_VCO_tuning.html

...and the shematics :

http://www.sequencer.de/forumsynth/simplesynth/simplesizer7.html

These are the main infos. Perhaps try to use an online translator like this here : http://www.online-translator.com/srvurl.asp?lang=de

Greetz

Brother303

[t_xen]

There's also an alternative to the Simplesizer.

http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/analogsynth/SOUNDLABMINISYNTH/soundlab.html

The oscillators are linear V/Oct with hard-sync, An AR generator, VCA, VCF, LFO.

There are Prototype sections on the board so you can add in your on Ring Modulation circuit, and a S&H circuit.

There's even mod information to build in an option for modulating VCO2 with VCO1s output for FM effects.

I have one of these I've built that I would like to use with the SIDv2 application modded with the Key to AOUT option.

[rvooh]

Sorry for the bump! But I just read thru the whole thread.

Instead of making another 303, why not focus on making "the next" 303? (Just a thought)

Exactly, I couldn't agree more.

What frustrates me most on every clone that exists is the fact that they try to re-invent the sequencer. Ok, I agree that the original sequencer has a few drawbacks, but the way it's done on clones has a lot of drawbacks that weren't originally there.

I was checking the x0xb0x system, because I actually would want to rewrite/redesign it so the sequencer and layout is 100% the same as the original (with additional features of course).

I think it is sad that the x0x doesn't provide all functionality (although Sokkos is really great).

I came to the conclusion I don't really need the x0xb0x project, and might as well start from scratch (because the sequencer code is "wrong" anyway). Soundwise, it doesn't matter to me all that much.

The main thing is the sequencer, so I was thinking about the MBHP. As I have never - ever - checked any midibox sequencer sourcecode, I don't know how easy it would be to implement.

I'd like to have some of your opinions!

To sum it up for those who don't know, a 303 pattern has the following things:

Pitch Mode & Time Mode.

pitch mode is just an array of notes (actually it's a cyclic list, but I haven't figured out why yet) and some note effects (up, down, slide, accent)

time mode contains only time information, thus the amount of steps, and the value per step (note-on, note-extend, rest)

But there's more to it than that. I'd would be cool to replicate this behavior (and all the other coolness) to drive sids, x0xb0xes or just about anything you want.