Tuesday, December 22, 2015

New Design/Custom Synth Module in progress: Vintage Voice hybrid digital/analog osc/wave gen w/analog filters

New Design/Custom Synth Module in progress: Vintage Voice hybrid digital/analog osc/wave gen w/analog filters like Ensoniq Esq-1,Oberheim OBX,Rhodes Chroma Polaris/Fender Chroma Polaris, Mirage, etc.
I'm using Curtis Electronics chips Voltage Controlled Amplifier, VCO, and Filter chips like CEM3360. All of the ones I've employed for the 5 of these I am making are actually FROM the synths of the Era-I got the CEM3360 from a MemoryMoog main circuit board, for example.

So they are 100% vintage, 100% from the era (late 70's-late 80's), and 100% LEGIT.

Anyways, without giving away any sorta trade info (as always, its a possibility we could go into production with a version of these later or perhaps employ similar design or circuit in another instrument), here's a rough idea of the plan:

1)Basic sound blocks:
   a)Using the Curtis chips, I'll implement a waveform generator with a LIMITED set of waveforms (probably 2).For example, half a CEM3360 can be used for this
   b) Using an Arduino Nano or Teensy 3.0 and Mozzi programming (see sensorium.github.io) I'll generate a limited set of digital waveforms or perhaps only a single PWM or Sine wave that will have a few elements controllable/alterable like resolution or depth
   c) Then i'll use a blending circuit controlled by a slider potentiometer (likely 100kA) to allow use of either, both, or a combination of the two anywhere in between those two options.

2)Filters etc:
  a) Obviously these will be Analog, generated by the CEM chips and another analog circuit I often use-they will be modular within the module, meaning the synthesis block's sound can be patched into them or not.
   b) There will also be 2-one that simply has a few quick on/off options: low-pass, band-pass, etc & a second one which will have the standard variable options concerning cutoff freq and so forth.
3)Control Voltage
   a) there will be 3 ins:
a1) one to control the note on and freq of the synth section a2) and another to control the more complex filter a3) a third to allow sound into the filter (as mentioned above) thus further increasing the complexity and possible uses of the module by allowing either sound from the other section of the same module or from another outside source to be filtered by the analog filters.


That's the basic design so far and its coming along ok. Let me know what you think of the idea and of the design ive done preliminarily (see below)

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