[sdiy] analog innovation...

[metasonix]

>The fantastic thing about something like Reaktor is that it's so damn easy 
>to make really creative, original patches

True. Unfortunately most Reaktor users I've seen only want stupid 
squelching noises,  to put on their totally derivative techno tracks.

>> The problem with analogue is that the old oscillator -> filter -> amp
>> signal chain has been done to death.
>*ssshhh*  Be careful saying that around here!!  See the hordes with the
>flaming torches and pitch-forks......

Puh-lease! All this is of no importance to 99% of musicians, as well as
society as large. Keep some perspective--PhD candidates are
working on things like trustable computing systems, not music devices--
because that's where our corrupt society is shoveling all the money. 

Bill Gates isn't content to dominate the PC business--
he thinks he's Genghis Khan, he wants to 0wn your a22.....

(I've been reading this new book HACKING THE XBOX. Fascinating, how
Microsoft keeps trying to slap digital-rights management bandages onto
the totally insecure and open structure of the PC. Arrogant fools.)

>Yes, but is that bad?  You can do things with valves that you simply
>can't do with semiconductors (ask Eric). 

It's a big, mostly unexplored universe......

>I think we should introduce a new saying:  "What would Raymond Scott do?"

He'd wire something up using a telephone step-by-step switch.
Which, by the way, are really cool and fun to play with.
Sadly they have disappeared completely from the surplus channels.

A whole generation will have their a22e2 0wn0red by Bill Gates or
somesuch peckerhead, and thus will never know the joys of real,
serious hardware hacking. 

Getting Linux to run on an Xbox is an interesting technical exercise, 
but I wouldn't call it serious hacking!
If it doesn't involve a HT plate supply, violent chemical reactions,
or ionizing radiation, it ain't serious to me.

>A local junk dealer has littoe round 2" CRTs.
>Oscilloscope module, anyone?

They are probably from camera viewfinders, and usually require
deflection yokes. Might as well just get a viewfinder from
a dead camcorder, and modify and repackage it.

Electrostatic CRTs are MUCH easier to use. You can still get the 
old 1" CRTs, types 913, 1CP1, 1DP1 and 1EP1, at tube dealers. 
(Getting a bit costly, however...) They only require a 250v or so
anode supply, not 1kV or more like most scope and viewfinder CRTs.
VERY easy to apply.

Some time ago I built a working oscilloscope with only 3 tubes;
a 913, a 6AU6 as a vertical amplifier, and a 2D21 as the sweep generator.
 "NO TRANSISTOR! NO TRANSISTOR! Hahahahaaaa!"

It worked fine with just a 140v DC plate supply. Usable up to 100 kHz. 
Ran off a 1-Amp wall wart. Not a calibrated lab instrument, but it 
showed audio waveforms very clearly.

I have links to data sheets and schematics for these 1" CRTs 
if anyone's interested.




uncle eric
metasonix.com