[sdiy] Elektor Formant Re: Test / Sequencer / Arduino

[Rick Jansen]

hi Carsten,

Great work! Its clearly visible you put a lot of work and effort into your Formant. How 
did you make the white front panels by the way?

I've always wondered who C. Chapman is. In some web pages he's referred to as "Cyril 
Chapman", as "Colin Chapman" in others. I seem to remember someone from Elektor mentioned 
the name is a writers name, but he could not recall the authors true name. Or perhaps it 
was C. Chapman himself who told me :-)

The Formant is from 1977, some parts now *really* are hard to get, 38 years later... The 
uA726 is scarce, older Moog mini's and Memory Moogs use them too, and they are sought 
after as repair parts. The CA3084 PNP array may be hard to find, and the CA3080 OTA's are 
getting rare too.

All in all, building a Formant is a project only undertaken by the brave. Or was it the 
foolish?

As for the sequencer: I'm going to try if it is feasible to finish it by replacing the 
oldfashioned digital circuits by an Arduino Uno (14 digital I/O pins). Perhaps even an 
Arduino Mega, which has even more digital I/O pins (54!).

Best, and thanks for the links!

rick


On 25/03/2015 12:18, Carsten Toensmann wrote:
> Hi Rick,
>
> when I started my own Formant project (MSS2000) I read your pages of course
> to get an impression of what it could mean to start such a huge project. And
> yes - it was a LOT of work, but it was worth it. I never built a sequencer
> for it though but a MIDI interface.
>
> Nowadays it seems to me that the Formant disappeared from the DIY scene more
> or less, which is a pity in my opinion, so I hope you will manage to
> reanimate your system and continue your project.
>
> I finished my Formant project in May 2008 after a building time of 6 years.
> The system has been part of several music productions and I like it. See
> details on http://www.analog-monster.de/tagebuch_en.html
>
> Regards
>
> Carsten
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] Im Auftrag von Rick Jansen
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 25. März 2015 11:38
> An: Synth-Diy
> Betreff: [sdiy] Test / Sequencer / Arduino
>
> Hi,
>
> This is both a test message and a new-old project revival note. I was
> notified traffic on synth-diy may have halted, but as far as I can see
> everything still works.
>
> For the Formant I was, years ago, designing and building a sequencer, as we
> all do one time in our life. This one is inspired by the Synthanorma
> Sequenzer, as used by Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, in that it does not
> have potmeters but uses 12-position rotary switches.
>
> Mine has 3 rotary switches per step: 1. note duration 2. octave, 3. pitch. A
> switch, a trigger output and a LED (to impress the ladies) are also
> included.
>
> I was in the process of doing a circuit built with the regular HC digital
> ic's, like timers, counters, multiplexers etc etc, and a DA-converter.
>
> Basically the circuit already work[ed][s], but you know how it is when duty
> and jobs and relatinships take their time: such projects get shelved.
>
> For years I've seen projects in magazines like Elektor, using small digital
> controllers like Arduino. Usually I skipped those, as that is not the kind
> of electronics I personally like a lot. But I realise now how cheap and
> versatile they have become. They're almost a uA741. Perhaps even more
> Arduino's are sold than uA741's these days. And, with analog in/out, and
> digital in/out pins. Impressive.
>
> I even saw that is is quite easy to sync an Arduino program with the MIDI
> clock!
>
> Here is the current status:
>
>     <http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/rick/Emusic/Sequencer/>
>
> Now I need to bring back to life the Formant, which has been sitting there,
> unused for about 10 years. Hope the elco's are all still keeping their
> liquids!
>
> Best,
>
> rick
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Synth-diy mailing list
> Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
>
> _______________________________________________
> Synth-diy mailing list
> Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
>