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

[Harald]

Hallo Rick,

for your resting uA726 this might be of interest:
http://www.haraldswerk.de/NGF/NGF_VCO_CORE_ONE/VCO_CORE_ONE.html
I have rebuild the Formant VCO with some modern parts keeping the 
overall architecture original.

Harald

Am 25.03.2015 um 14:50 schrieb 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
>>
>>
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