Something a bit different

[Budweiser [FTS]]

I have been mucking around with a friend at college with the idea
of a modular signal processing box, for basically screwing and
twisting sounds beyond recognition. I love the filter/envelope follower
setup, and my friend at uni loves phasers and other simular time
based effects on his bass guitar (don't ask me why, I thought 
phasors would be useless on a bass guitar!). So we made a list
of some (what we thought) were useful tools for mucking around
with. You'll note that we have tried to avoid competing with simular
products like what John Blacet's range, we really want to provide
something that would more or less complement a Dark Star Chaos
or Klangwerk. Anyway, this is what we had in mnd:

2 seperate modules in a 7.5" wide, 3U high panel, that will fit in a
FracRac chasis. The first module would contain an allpass filter, 
(phasor), an LFO, envelope follower, and a MS20 filter clone. A 
prepatched signal path be made (yet to be decided) but with 1/4"
jacks on the right side of the panel  that can be repatched together
in different ways. This I am sure will give some hugely expressive
results.

The second modular is a mirror image of the first, with 1/4" jacks
on the left (so when rack mounted, all cables are in the centre, and
controls are on the sides). The functions for this module are intended
to complement the first (although they could be used with gear).
A noise generator, with voltage controlled color, a simple ADSR 
generator, and a state variable filter with LP/HP/BP/and possibly NP
functions. 

The idea of having two seperate modules containing several functions
will mean that only two PCBs have to be designed. The PCBs are 
intended to be mount parallel to the panel, so they can either be mounted
in a Fracrac or in stand alone case (like the cool Moogerfoogers!).

Another sugestion has been the addition of a joystick...so this would
bring even more hours of fun! The general aim is for both the guitarist
and synthesist. To keep costs low, we may only offer it in a DIY form,
if only providing the panel, knobs, jacks, and the PCB, and leave the
electronics up to the constructor.

Please throw some ideas/sugestions/flames this way....  let me know

bud