Drum synth

[Doug Tymofichuk]

Greetings, fellow soldering iron slavers,

I have decided NOT to build a *keyboard* based synth now 
(maybe later), but have some other ideas that I would 
appreciate comments on;

Being a drummer (sorry!), I have decided to add to my 
current kit. I have constructed a set of four drum pads and 
mounted them above the regular toms on the base drum. I 
intend to build a four channel modular percussion synth and 
use the drum pads for triggering (basically four synths in 
one). I am planning on building this in a standard 19" 
rack, with one chassis for each function. This allows me to 
"steal" modules from one channel to another for more 
complex routings. I would definitely want to be able to use 
a pedal or LFO or whatever to (voltage) control parameters 
on other modules.

So one unit would be for trigger input level and buffering, 
another for Pedal inputs and LFO, another would be a set of 
8 oscillators (two per channel), another a four channel 
filtered noise source, a four or 8 channel lp/bp/hp 
(ladder?) filter, a set of 12 envelope generators (3 per 
channel, triggered from the appropriate input pad), 4 ring 
modulators, and a 12 input mixer with stereo panning. Being 
rack modular, I could continue to expand it as I like.

This is a major project that I hope to build over the next 
while. I do not need V/oct for the oscillators, as I would 
just manually tune each one to whatever frequency I 
desired (with knobs). So I was planning on using LM566 for 
that. In addition, there would be a sample and hold on the 
input trigger running a VCA to set volume level to match 
striking force.

When I get this working I would be happy to post 
pictures/diagrams/whatever on a web site somewhere for all 
to see (I have found it very helpful that so many others 
have done this with their DIY stuff, thank you, everyone).
 
Is this at all clear? Has anybody done anything like this 
before? Any suggestions/advice/discussion?

Thanx in advance,
Doug
----------------------
Doug Tymofichuk
dougt at cancerboard.ab.ca