SpinCAD Designer - a Graphical User Interface for the FV-1!

SpinCAD Designer GUI for FV-1 from SpinSemi

This has been long-awaited!  Now that I have tried it out, I am confident it will breathe a breath of fresh air into this already outdelivering DSP chip.



Everyone knows the only problem with the FV-1 is that it's been hard to program...  until now!  Gary Worshman's new GUI makes it very easy to initiate otherwise complex and tedious programs for the FV-1!\

Caspar Electronics Performance in Brookline, MA

Caspar Electronics At Cafe Fixe, Brookline, MA June 9th, 2013

Pete Edwards is an electronic music instrument designer.  He has been working on some new synthesizer designs during his research at STEIM.  We are very fortunate to learn that he will be giving a performance right here on the East Coast during his brief time in the U.S.  We are looking forward to hearing his music and picking his brain in person about music instrument design. 

A few years ago, Pete mentioned that he was introducing in focusing on the rhythm in his music.  He mentioned to me on the phone a few weeks ago that he was researching unifying voltage levels in digital, analog and modular synthesizers.  You can read a recent article on him and Phillip Stearns over at Synthtopia

Let's see what he's up to this Tuesday night in Brookline.

Designing Low-Noise Analog Power Supplies

Low-Noise Analog Electronics_Designs Info

Recently, I was in the position that I needed to design a board with low noise on the analog inputs.  I looked around for information and these were the best sources I could find.

I have shared the six best files I could find.  There is one article from each of the several major electronics manufacturers you're already familiar with.  If you want to know low-noise electronics, begin by diving deep into these PDF files!

My Basement is a ***** - Free documentary on DIY Music Scene!

I am curious how music scenes form :)  So I bookmarked this documentary.
Finally I got to watch it tonight!  It's only about 20 minutes long, but I'm a busy person!

My favorite quote comes in the middle.  One of the musicians says something like,

"I don't like playing on a stage as much.  I like playing on the floor in front of people.  It's like it's more intimate."   

It was also fascinating how the scenes get stale when it's the same bands playing over and over again for the same audiences.  So keep that in mind if you want to grow the scene in your area! 

Antony Smith Building and Modifying a Bass Fuzz Pedal

In this cool video, Antony Smith shows you how simple, yet how awesome it can be, to build your own Bass Fuzz circuit.  It has a crispy sound!  This video nicely shows the atmosphere of listening, creativity and handiwork that go together when designing your own electronic music instruments.  He makes some modifications to the circuit in between playing and you can hear the differences!  Also, he plays well:

If you want to make a similar one and mount it into a roadworthy metal package, find parts like Hammond cases on the DIYDSP.com store.

For example, there is a shelf full of the colorful metal Hammond cases, which are sturdy: In fact tour-quality.  Stomp switches are on the same shelf.

Selected Electronic Music Instrument Parts from Sparkfun

Q: What do you do when you want to build a musical instrument and don't have time to build a MIDI interface and knob controllers as well as the rest of the synthesizer?

A: You get two knobs, three buttons and MIDI In/Out on this MIDI Shield.  Then connect its output to the microcontroller of your choice.  Wow!  Control of your synthesizer or effect program.

That's on the DIYDSP store shelves next to the Danger Shield, which approaches controller design differently:  It has long sliders and a small LED display instead of MIDI.

BTW, I'm going to save the delightful details for another blog post, but there are some more good-to-know-about items for electronic instrument designers behind that 'shelves' link above :)

DIY Kits for Building Electronic Instruments

Attention parties of people wanting to build their own musical instruments:

This bulletin is to announce the updating of the DIYDSP Store Homepage, where I have elected one kit for each major type of instrument family.

If you were to organize musical instrument kits into groups, would that  arrangement seem to be the best way?