[sdiy] Circle Machine prototype

[David Brown]

I've more or less finished my Circle Machine project. I finished the 
5U panel and built a desktop enclosure for it. It's fun to operate. 
I've put another video of it in operation on my Circle Machine web page:
http://modularsynthesis.com/modules/DJB-circle/circle.htm

I use a control voltage to vary the sequence length to 4, 8, or 16 
steps.  I create the shorter sequences by skipping lamps but keeping 
a constant rotation rate. This has the effect of changing the tempo 
by 1/2 or 1/4.

None of my "modern" sequencers can use a control voltage to vary the 
sequence length.  Doing so adds an interesting twist to the sequence. 
The first video on the Circle Machine web page shows demonstrates 
this using a sine LFO to control the sequence length.

A fun project. - Dave

It was a fun project. - DaveAt 08:34 PM 8/15/2010, David Brown wrote:
>I've been working on building a working model of Raymond Scott's 
>circle machine.  I thought it would be fun to build something with 
>motors and lamps.
>
>The only information I have is the picture on the Raymond Scott 
>site.  I used a Hammond vibrato scanner base as the base for the 
>circle machine and mounted it on a plate with 16 potentiometers 
>around it.  I only have 8 lamps installed but I have it playing an 
>octave scale (the output is quantized).  I've got a thread going on 
>Muff's in the Music Tech DIY but thought I'd post a link here as 
>well.  I'm not sure how practical it is but it's kind of fun to 
>watch.  It's also been fun to prototype.
>
>I'm using incandescent lamps, rheostats (e.g. potentiometers) and a 
>CdS sensor.  All the control and processing electronics are done in 
>a microprocessor (I know it's not original but those are the 
>electronics *below* the panel).  This will be a stand-alone module 
>as it takes over 12 watts of power.