[sdiy] More magazines + synth ideas

[Neil Johnson]

All,

Firstly, sorted out a whole load more magazines - mostly Music Technology
from 1986 to 1994.  There's 184 magazines to choose from!!  Sheesh.  I'm
letting you guys know about this major clearout first as you're most
likely to get something out of the older magazines (reviews, interviews,
adverts, synth patches etc)  If you're interested, email me and I'll email
you the complete list.

Now onto more relevant stuff, I'm starting to pool some ideas for my next
synth project.  I have two possible threads worth exploring - yet another
analogue modular synth (which might be fun as it's been a while since I
last did an analogue synth), or a Walsh function-based digital/analogue
hybrid synth.

I'm tempted by the latter, but I can see advantages in the analogue
modular approach as a stepping-stone towards the Walsh synth - filters,
amplifiers, mixers, modulators, etc would useful during the development of
the Walsh synth.  To throw my tuppence to the wind, for the analogue synth
I'm thinking along the lines of 0-10V control, +/- 5V audio, 10Hz-40kHz
audio bandwidth, and a uniform PCB size of 2" square (50mm x 50mm) to add
a bit of a challenge to the project!

Then, of course, for the Walsh synth there's the big question: mono or
poly?  My initial feeling is to start with a mono to test out the
development work, then expand it to poly.  The alternative is to start
with poly and tackle the larger architecture from the start.

Certainly for the digital stuff, the majority of the hardware will be in
CPLDs/FPGAs in order to keep the size/cost down.

BTW, while rummaging around home looking for bits and pieces, I came
across a box of Inmos T414 Transputers!  32-bit parallel processors, 4
high-speed serial links, floating point, etc.  Jeez, the history I have
floating around my junk boxes!!

Neil
--
Neil Johnson :: Computer Laboratory :: University of Cambridge ::
  http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~nej22           +44 (0) 1223 334 477