Forever in Blue Jeans
My girlfriend a few weeks ago saw me working on some of the previous tracks I’ve posted here. Feeling a little neglected she grinned and tenderly asked if I would remix something for her. I said sure but needed some guidance on what she wanted me to do. She suggested several songs, one of which was Neil Diamond’s Forever in Blue Jeans. Her taste is exquisite. If you’re not acquainted with this song you should become so. It is possibly one of the most ridiculous I’m-gonna-fuck-you-by-the-fireplace-on-this-bear-rug-all-night-long songs you’ve ever heard. Her only specification was that it had ‘bass’. No problem. I love working on things like this. I can be as absurd as I want. And I was. She loved it… which hopefully means we’ll be near the fireplace later.
Links to the mp3, samples, and midi file are below. One of the samples is this arpeggiated mono-synth I used which alone makes the .zip worth downloading… if you like that kind of thing.
The Secret to Survival
The third of three songs remixed for Internal Error records (one, two), this is the most sonically assaulting. In this track a bass heavy and combative wall of sound builds up around samples taken from a mediocre, but popular, Nicholas Cage movie. Most music when you listen to it you can mentally navigate between the instrumentation, moving around inside the mix, but in this track you are caged behind saturated raunch.
IE 770
The second in a series of three songs (one, three), this is by far my favorite. It is remarkably simple but incredibly raw, intruding, and funky. It diverges greatly from the samples I was originally given but they were the foundation for the main sound in this track. The drums sounds are always mixed on their own tracks, but if you consider them as one this song only has five tracks total, but it still moves. As always, the samples are included.
Bust It (2x)
Around three months ago a joint endeavor between Gil Duross of Philly Techno / Internal Error was started. He would provide me with a basic sample set, and general idea of direction and I would take these elements and build a track. We’ve put together three tracks so far. However we have yet to name the project. I’m thinking of something with dinosaurs in the name.
If you haven’t guessed already, I’m an admirer of Techno. Generally that scene has been over for more than a decade but I’m still a fan of its rigid constraints. It’s really fun to write it, you can use exceptionally experimental sounds, but you can never stray to far from its roots. That said these first songs, of a set of three (two, three) pays homage to classic old style acid house… tb303 and all. Both are variations of the same, one at around 120bpm and the other around 140bpm. One named for my bad ass cat, Keegan, who totally caught, killed and ate the biggest fly last week, and the other after what is likely the shower drain leaking into the floor/ceiling, ugh.
I’ve included the tracks, the samples, and the original sample set I was given for a comparison.
Hot Fuzz
Previously I’ve posted on a fuzz box that I made for Paul Digs. Recently Jamie Roberts asked me to build him a custom remake of the old Electroharmonix/Sovtek Bigg Muff fuzz pedals. I was speaking with Paul and the fuzz I made for him didn’t really suit his needs so I decided to design and build two fuzz pedals. Starting with any number of the dozens of Big Muff Schematics available on line I tested the circuit and made a couple small modifications… asymmetrical clipping. I used Eagle Cad to draw up the schematic and generate the gerbers and then sent out the custom boards for manufacturing through Batch PCB. They have an exceptional service and are extremely easy to deal with. I highly recommend them.
That was essentially the most difficult part. Upon receiving the boards back I mocked up the enclosure layout, drilled my holes and then sent out the enclosures for chrome plating. This was expensive, $80+ per enclosure, which was more than half of the entire cost of each pedal but it was worth every penny. They came out stunning. Exceptional knobs, custom silk screening, and pots with 11 detents. Up to 11! Having finished I would only have changed two things. I would have included a power on LED and included a 9v battery clip instead of just a DC power supply. Nearly all parts were sourced from mouser. The only exceptions were the footswitch, jacks, enclosure, and knobs.
Unfortunately I don’t have sound samples but these things squeal and pump out some serious gain. But, as with anything analog with that much gain you get a significant amount of noise. Not really a problem when you’re playing… just when you stop.
You can see the detailed photo set here on Flickr.
Mas Que Nada
With Samples from Warren Kime and his Brass Impact Orchestra’s cover of Jorge Ben’s, “Mas Que Nada” in 1967, this track delivers sharp horns backed by a solid digital thump at 102BPM. Chopped and twisted vocoded voicing and deep drum breakdowns fill out this track. Not that it needs filling out as this popular melody carries itself all the way to Brazil. This and drumming taken from a handful of great tracks from various releases off of Enoch Light’s Command Records label tops it off. Samples aren’t available right now but the mp3 is.
Alpo Can Ring Modulator
This is a ‘ring modulator’ similar to the one used in an ARP Odyssey… this version operates by the input of two square waves into a 4011 quad NAND gate. I didn’t have a 4011 available so in this version I use a 4001 quad 2-input NOR with two inputs wired to ground (low) instead of wiring the 4011 with two inputs wired to Vcc. If I did my logic correctly the 4001 works the same when wired this way. I included the logic tables on the schematic if someone cares to check it. The two square wave tones passing into the gates are compliments of a simple op-amp square wave generator circuit. Information on how to wire one of these up is widely available on the web. Here’s one good resource. The original schematic and idea was found on simple-answer.com here. A brief reference to the ARP Odyssey and this ring modulator is mentioned on Wiki here.
Obviously this is in an Alpo Can. The circuit board can be viewed on Flickr (see link below) but it was pretty small so it had no trouble squeezing in there. The knobs were found on eBay for dirt cheap. The hardest part about modifying this can was getting the sharp edges off the holes drilled into the can. To get the top off without cracking open the dog food… and to be able to take the top on and off the can you’ll need one of these: Kuhn Rikon Safety Lid Lifter
More photos, comments, and the schematic can be found on Flickr here:
4001 Ring Modulator in an Alpo Can
Sound Samples:
16 Step Analog Sequencer
A while back Gil Duross over at Philly Techno was talking to me and was thinking about coming up with a analog step sequencer which would cost less than $100. It got me thinking that this isn’t that crazy and it’s likely someone out there has already done something like this. As is it turns out that’s exactly the case. The following video is of my test circuit of a 16 step analog sequencer based on Mauno Tuominen’s schematic for an analog CMOS sequencer based around at 4067n multiplexer/demultiplexer. You can see a DIY version of the sequencer here at studiomanus.com. I had an old sn76477 which I had been planning on turning into something so I started with the basics… indicator lights, tempo, and a simple oscillator. The eventual plan is to expand this out into a large 16 step sequencer/synth based around the sn76477 allowing for extensive sound shaping of each step in the sequence. Although the sequencer is well under $100 by the time this is completely finished it will likely cost well over that but the result should be substantial. In the meantime, take a gander at the initial test circuit. The sounds aren’t the most musical at this time, but it’s function and simple design is more the point.
I’ve expanded on the original design using a simple 555 timer for the clock and the ability to control the number of steps in the sequence through use of the 4063N. This has not been tested… that’s on my to do list. If anyone who reads this is well versed in these components and circuit design I’d love to hear feedback.
Dub Siren
This little monster is a Dub Siren I made for DJ DRM (Aaron Schultz) of Bastard Jazz Recordings. If you’re unfamiliar with what a dub siren is you might guess by its name that it sounds like a siren. There are many varieties and a good deal of folks make their own:
But the tying thread is that they are usually just square wave oscillators with minimal tone and a couple controls to vary the speed and pitch of the siren. Check the sound samples at the bottom of the page for an example of this one.
This dub siren revolves around a couple of 555 timers and has four main controls. A speed control which changes the speed of the siren, a pitch control which changes the, well, pitch of the siren. A range control which changes the siren’s range and lastly, a modulator which, when engaged, alters the smooth sweep of the siren to a more asymmetrical ambulance type siren. There are two LEDs: one that flashes in synch with the clock cycle so you can see the speed in the dark and another that oscillates gently when the momentary switch is engaged. Both RCA and ¼” jacks are available and the RCAs are only active when there is not a ¼” jack plugged in. This was to prevent ground noise from accidentally coming into the circuit by inadvertent contact with the jacks. Check the full build on Flickr by the link below.
More photos, comments, and the schematic can be found on Flickr here:
SupersetSiren
Sound Samples:
Tone Generator
This is a square wave tone generator based around three 555 timers wired up as oscillators. I took some inspiration from the dub siren and figured if two were good then three would be better. This was mostly true. Several unlabeled pots control the oscillators impact on each other and then two signals are mixed at the final stage. Just as a note I get these pots by buying damaged internal boards of Mackie mixers. With a little time you can remove these great center detent pots for pennies. A schematic isn’t available right now but I will get something together and post soon.
There were a couple problems that I didn’t really notice until after the circuit was wired up. I used a pot to control the balance of the two signals going into and additive mixer at the output. This causes large swings in output volume depending on how far from center the pot is. When jamming it all in the box with a battery something happened and one pot has no impact on the sound. These problems aside, the tone generator makes some great chirps, bleeps, bloops, and squeals.
I’ve recorded a string of the sounds you can generate with this tone generator, chopped it up into a couple dozen samples and included them for your use. If you end up using them in something I’d love to hear what you do.
You can see the complete set of photos here on Flickr
and samples:
