New Moog Voyager XL

Looks pretty sweet. The price of nearly 5k seems a little steep though.

What the Future Sounded Like

Casio Vl-Tone

Herbie Hancock jams with his Fairlight CMI

Pretty sweet video of Herbie Hancock rock out on the Fairlight. There also many other great synths to be spotted in the background.

Light Vader

Light Vader This is a home made diy synthesizer built from two getlofi.com 555 timer kits. This two oscillator synth has a square wave output and a very weak triangle wave output, both waves are switchable. Osc 2 can be synced with osc 1 or ran independently. Both oscillators have a pitch control and a volume control. There is a setting which allows you to control the pitch through two photo resistors, with one of them being tilted to allow for variation.

There are four outputs on this machine, two RCA and two 1/4", one of each is for osc 1 and 2. There is a 9 volt battery inside the enclosure, but is switchable to a 9 volt power adapter.

On the side is a semi lfo mode. I basically added an extra 500k resistance to lower the pitch. But at these low frequency the triangle wave can can be heard and the square wave will function as a controlled voltage on / off. Added sync, triangle square switch, volume, photo resister, RCA and 1/4"outputs, and some what of a lfo mode.

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.

Synthesizer - Tell Me

Another Video I made for a class, so dont take it to serious. The song is something Ive been working on for our next album.

Lyrics: Tell me something I don't already know.

Is a follow up to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsZcB3...

Instruments seen on screen are:
Casio CZ 10, Ibanez SD GR, Casio MT 11, and Synth Guitar: The Key "looks like a keytar but its better".

Synthesizers used to make the song:
Sequential Circuits Six Trak, Access Virrus C, Korg MS2000BR, Alesis Qs 6.1, Casio RZ 1 and Casio CZ 101.
Softsynths are korg MS 20 and Korg PolySix.

Made With Sony Acid Pro 6 and Sony Vegas 6

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.

You Have Me - Music Video

All characters are me with a collection of my instruments.
These are the lyrics:
You, only you, have a hold on me.
Instruments: Drums: Yamaha DD-5 Drum Synth, Synth Guitar: The Key "looks like a keytar but its better", Bass Guitar: Ibanez SD GR, Laptop Computer: Compaq, Mini Keyboard: Casio.

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.