Wiardgroup

Hello Everybody,

Nick and I have finally caught up with the orders from February 
and March.

Since the Wiard project started in 1996, I have prototyped over 40 
interesting module designs. Some of these simply will not fit 
neatly into a "Blue Face" module. But it is a shame to waste 
them, as they are novel and fun.

The Joystick is the first one to be put in the Frac-Rac format. I am 
going to try and produce limited editions of other fun ones at the 
under $200 price point. These will be Frac-Rac compatible with 
Blacet power connectors.

The next up is the "Noise Ring" module. This one is very strange 
and hard to explain. It is a cross between the Modern Implement 
Company "Rube Goldberg Generator", the Electronotes 
"Psuedo-Random Tone Wheel Animator" and the Buchla Model 
266 "Source of Uncertainty".

It starts with a white noise generator. There is also an 8 stage 
shift register clocked with a wide range voltage controlled clock. 
There is a comparator comparing the white noise against a 
variable reference. This is the "probability of change" control. The 
shift register input is recycled by a switch that selects between 
recycling the bits currently in the register or looking at the 
probability of change comparator for a new bit. The switch is 
controlled by another comparator which is the "change density" 
control. The shift register outputs are available as 256 voltage 
levels and 9 voltages as in the 266 SOU.

At audio rates, the effect is to move from a noise signal to a 
pitched signal with various balances in between. The sounds 
range from "squarish warm" to modem tones to colored noise. 
The clock is not a keyboard tracking oscillator, but can be 
controlled with a sequencer (or at slow rates, used to clock a 
squencer).

A slow rates, it generates repeating control voltage patterns, 
where the probability of changing the pattern can be controlled. 
Kind of like a sequencer which can improvise.

This is intended as a module for experimentation, amusement 
and fun, no claim is made to how musical it is. Edition is limited 
to 50 pieces.

Contact me at grichter@asapnet.net if you wish to reserve one. 
The price is TBD but will be kept as low as possible. Delivery 
time is not known at this point, but it is to next after we ship the 
Joysticks.

Thank you for your continued support.

Grant Richter
Wiard Synthesizer