Casio Vl-Tone

As you can see from a few post down, this is not my first attempt at bending my Vl-tone. The first time through was OK, but glitchy. For my top panel I used a piece of stainless steel that unfortunately conducted the current from my potentiometers dropping the pitch. Also at the time, the only wire I had was too thick and stiff to work with. So I decided to rip it all apart and start over. This is what I did:

So here are the mods. I used a little help from Casper electronics, he has a mod sheet that gives you a few patch points and three pots. I ended up only using four of the patch points and all three of his pot mods. I also added three extra pots by externally replacing the VLs internal pots. Then I tested and tested and found twelve other patch points that I liked. So that is from the left all the pots and the black RCA jacks.

As for the white RCA jacks, they function as a switch bay triggered by the switches to the right. The smart observer will notice there are nine switches in the array. One turns the bay into a multiple, the top row (on-off-on) engages the bay or sends it to the switches below. Those switches a attached to capacitors and diodes to further change the sound. The pots about the switch array are part of a home made low pass filter with frequency and resonance. Then there is a volume and reset button.

Video to come.

Commodore 64

Commodore 64
This is my Commodore 64 mod that I've been working on for the last few months. I built this machine to be used as a synthesizer which to run 8bit adventures MSSIAH from Sweden. I installed a sid2sid board with 2 new old stock sid 6581 chips that I got from Australia.

I repainted the machine black with the key bed white. I wanted to also repaint the keys, but I could not find a way other that stickers to get the letters back on, so I kept the keys original. I added the 4 pot mod as well as switches to deactivate the pots making ports 1 and 2 still usable for game pads. Basically the four pot mod is taking the y axis and x axis from the game ports and installing it into the machine. I also added indicator lights to the switches to let me know when they are activated. The other two pots on the left hand side is the feedback distortion loop mod, with switches and indicator lights as well.

Added 1/4 inch outputs and inputs, both with volume control. I added a custom 3.5 inch lcd screen with second input available via rca on the back. The screen is a back up monitor for a vehicle, I was able to get this lcd for only $30 including shipping from China. The screen though takes 12 volts of power, so I added a second input for a 12 volt 1 amp power supply on the back. This way the mods get there power with out tapping the c64s power. I also added a dimmer switch to the leds so that I can control the voltage they receive thus dimming the lights.

Casio RZ-1PLUS Drum Machine Circuit Bent Mod

Its finally done!



If you want to skip the explanation and hear what it does, skip to around 4 min.

This is the Casio RZ-1 Plus version. This is Casio stock version of this type of mod:
here
The kits are acoustic, electric and Latin. The number one best feature about Casio version is that its has four banks of sample memory giving you the ability of sampling 16 sounds.

The bends and mods to this drum are similar to this one:
here
I painted this one white, redid the text, added wood panels, and upgraded the materials used.

Has a 30 point RCA patch bay that short circuits three of the eprom chips for a total of around 480 possible patches (if I did my math right). You can patch with in the chips and chip to chip. In addition to the patch bay there are five input / output on/off switch section with toggle switches and momentary buttons. Each toggle switch also has an LED indicator.

I also added a switch to bypass the RZ-1s main timing crystals with two getlofi 1799 precision oscillators to allow for some great pitch control. These also have LED indicators.

I've added 10k pots on the top to easier access the samples tone control. Also, I replaced the internal permanent soldered battery with a replaceable one.

Drums in the song you here are also the RZ -1

Also, tucked deep in the lab is a Commodore 64 that I'm working on.

A few projects I've been working on

Casio Vl-Tone /Vl - One

Toy Keyboard


More info to come on these items...

RZ-1 plus Update

Here is an update of some of the things I've been working on. I now have the wood panels built for the side. I still cant decide if I want to just clear coat them, or stain them black first. I also have the patch and switch bay drilled and mounted. I still need to install it to the RZ. I also have the rest of the mod hardware installed. Now I need to star wiring everything up and reassemble the drum.

New Project: Casio RZ-1 PLUS

OK, so here is an update on my latest project. As you know, if you read the last post, that I recently circuit bent a regular RZ-1, but am now working on the plus version, which has three kit banks selectable from two switches splitting the pads into groups of six. It also has three sets of sampling memory!

So what I'm doing for this mod/circuit bend is this. I will The same basic bends as the my last, two sets of pitch control, modded tone control for the samples, a patch bay, a switch bay, and momentary buttons. What I'm adding to this one is a new paint job, with hand written labels, and custom graphics. I'm building custom wood panels for the sides. I 'm upping the patch bay from 24 points to 30, and the switch bay from 4 to 5. Also with the switch bay, I'm adding LEDs to trigger when the switches are activated. I also built a custom piece of metal to hold the patch and switch bays.

Below are some pictures of my progress. I have already finished the paint job.

Casio RZ-1 Drum Machine Circuit Bent Part 2 Finished

Casio Drum Machine Circuit Bent Part 2 (Casio RZ1 RZ 1 RZ-1)Has a 24 point RCA patch bay that short circuits three of the four eprom chips. The different chips are for certain samples, so some patches effect only certain sounds. You can patch with in the chips and chip to chip. In addition to the patch bay there are four input / output on/off switch section with toggle switches and momentary buttons.

There is now a switch to bypass the RZ-1s main timing crystals with two getlofi 1799 precision oscillators to allow for some great pitch control. I still have a little bit of tweaking to do with some different pots and resistors.

I've added 10k pots on the top to easier access the samples tone control. Also, I replaced the internal permanent soldered battery with a replaceable one.

HUGE thanks to wotatwaat at exfade.orgfor his help!

Also, tucked deep in the lab is a RZ-1 Plus that I'm working on.

Casio RZ-1 Circuit Bent Part 1

Quick sample video of my work in progress. Has a 24 point RCA patch bay and a 4 in/out on off section. My next set of bends will be two pitch controls, momentary switches for the on/offs, and more accessible tone controls for the samples.

Also, tucked deep in the lab is a RZ-1 Plus that I'm working on.

Korg Electribe EA-1 Custom Wood Panel Mod

This is a real simple mod that i did. I just got tired of the toyish appearance of the EA-1 in contrast to my nicer synthesizers. I traces out some wood panels out of some pine I bought from Lowe's for under $4 (I know pine, right. I only had $5 cash and didn't want to use the debit card. Oak will be in the future, stained black). Then I took the Korg EA-1 Completely apart, everything. With the aid of a jig saw I cut off the excess plastic trim and sanded it smooth. I then carefully measured the inside to ensure my bolts would fit with out hitting the circuit boards. I think this synth has a much more stunning appearance than it had before.

This is what it originally looked like.