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CuSi Sound
United Kingdom
Приєднався 28 лют 2019
How to build your own modular analogue synthesizers and hints on how to use them to create electronic music.
Wasteland
This is a re-edit of the gritty jam clip from the end of my Little Boxes Distortion build video. I have added additional video clips from pixabay.com and renamed it Wasteland.
Переглядів: 43
Відео
Talk To Me at Senspace 2024
Переглядів 3216 годин тому
Throughout November 2024 ROAR held the Senspace exhibition at Forge Island, Rotherham. I had two pieces in the exhibition, Talk To Me was the first using sound to light to encourage people to talk. In this video I discuss the concept behind the piece and show how it was constructed. ROAR www.rotherhamroar.com/blog/senspace Bright Ideas Hat ua-cam.com/video/5sReYMl-NFQ/v-deo.html Music by Conven...
To Touch The Sun
Переглядів 97День тому
A space ambient Modular Nights jam session inspired by the Parker Solar Probe mission. Performed live in the studio on the CuSi Sound Project XII modular analogue synthesizer and the Roland System-1 digital synthesizer. Addition video clips are from pixabay.com
Little Boxes Grit Distortion
Переглядів 17014 днів тому
As promised in my True Grit Pedal video here is the Little Boxes version. This version does not have the facility to switch diode type but as you will see it is still a great addition to the Little Boxes Orchestra. Dropbox link for diagrams : www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/x59xnu8zxaigc2dlwusa6/APPTadsFq1LII89pnQY4s1M?rlkey=v1n4y2ap3xl35ruo14bu5024y&st=v92u67yd&dl=0 00:00 Intro 01:40 Controls 02:45 Dia...
Simple Cassette Tape Speed Control Hack
Переглядів 12521 день тому
In this rainy day projects video I show a very simple hack to provide motor speed control on a cassette player. The original concept came from the guys on the Battery Operated channel (ua-cam.com/video/nJl8nEFJd4U/v-deo.html) and is as simple as replacing a preset potentiometer with a variable potentiometer. PWM motor control ua-cam.com/video/wKTJit-Ya-Y/v-deo.html Battery Operated tape loops u...
True Grit Distortion Pedal
Переглядів 245Місяць тому
This is a very simple distortion / fuzz circuit based on the tonefiend DIY CLUB Bulk Fuzz (tonefiend.com/diy/simple-but-deadly-fuzztonefiend-diy-club-project-2/) with some of my own modifications. In this video I explain what the circuit is and give the circuit diagram and a stripboard layout. I also demonstrate the effect with guitar and modular synth. Dropbox link for diagrams : www.dropbox.c...
Eve
Переглядів 115Місяць тому
This is my last Modular Nights jam session of 2024. It was recorded on Christmas eve and features my recent acquisition, the Roland System-1 synth along with various modules in the Project XII modular synth. Also, we are fast approaching new years eve and for me I have a feeling of standing looking out to the year 2025, wondering what the new year may hold. Whatever the new year holds for you I...
Ring Modulator Waveforms
Переглядів 569Місяць тому
My last Project XII build was the Modulator. @loopinnerthe commented that as it uses a 4011 logic chip the output would be a square wave. That makes sense but I hadn't looked at the waveforms when I built it so I decided to hook up the oscilloscope and see just what's going on. Not only do I look at the 4011 Modulator I also have a look at what happens with my passive diode Ring Modulator modul...
CuSi Sound Vlog 2024
Переглядів 62Місяць тому
This is my first vlog in a long time but this year has been a little eventful from both a personal and creative point of view. In this video I give a brief review of some of the 'events' and a hint of things to come. Thank you for following my journey through the wonderful world of (diy) electronic music and supporting this channel. My journey continues so do come back or better still subscribe...
Project XII Modular Part36 : Modulator / Gator
Переглядів 1332 місяці тому
This is a 2 in 1 module, Modulator uses a 4011 NAND gate to modulate two input signals and Gator is a simple OR gate that combines gate signals. I don't cover building the Gator OR gate as the circuit is an exact copy of my little boxes version. See link below for that build video. The Modulator circuit is taken from the Modular In A Week series, see link below, I have just done my own stripboa...
Hallowdrone
Переглядів 1003 місяці тому
A few members of the Little Boxes Orchestra drone section got together with some friends to create an improv piece specially for Halloween. Best watched with the lights off! LBO members: Dead Zone Avalanche3 Trisawrodrone Baby 8 LFO/VCV Filter Trails from topographic electrons Additional video clips by cryptoblender from pixabay
Little Boxes : Trisawrodrone
Переглядів 4623 місяці тому
My latest Little Box is the Trisawrodrone triple oscillator drone with switchable triangle / saw waves and built in VCF. In this video I will show how I built it and demonstrate some of the sounds it can make. The diagrams and stripboard layouts are in my dropbox www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/3r8ztpsqcedqp24whkz2j/AFZJFI_Gj_3uUR5x0i3P1xQ?rlkey=7b5eaof49kbe6jaa528zyepvv&st=5lmiroa4&dl=0 The link for th...
Forgotten Souls
Переглядів 704 місяці тому
They walk out of our life They walk out of this world The forgotten souls Their stories left untold. Additional video clips from pixabay.com
Little Boxes : Low Pass Gate & Gate Combiner (OR Gate)
Переглядів 3177 місяців тому
Little Boxes : Low Pass Gate & Gate Combiner (OR Gate)
Project XII Part 34 : Sample and Hold
Переглядів 1727 місяців тому
Project XII Part 34 : Sample and Hold
The story behind my New Worlds album cover art
Переглядів 318 місяців тому
The story behind my New Worlds album cover art
BEEP BOOP BAAP BOOP BEEP BAAP BEEP BOOP BAAP
The world certainly feels like this at the moment. You have captured an almost global fear of the terrifying impact of wars, AI and so much other uncertainty. I am touched by the ominous presence of a wasteland too.
I definitely got a Terminator vibe from this jam.
I feel like the textures and rich harmonic frequencies of a drone are perfect for expressing the kind of undulations of energy that must be near the sun. Your synth setup is tailor made for sun worship!
The jam was jamgantic.... I wonder if a restortion pedal could be a thing? It could centrifuge the sound and spin off the grit... I guess that's a filter really. Magic stuff as ever. Thanks for making and sharing.
If I build one, I'll name it "Great Grit" 😄
This is immense 🔥🔥🔥
sounds great !!, a dry/wet mix knob should be nice !
A mix knob sounds like a good idea. Thanks.
❤❤🎵🎵
This is ingenious! Thank you for sharing their hack with your interesting music.
Fancy seeing you here:)))
@@tiadiad Hey there, friend!
Very nice sir!! Thank you for sharing and explaining. 👍
The same to you Alan. This piece is a beautiful reflection, it felt like this for me... The future lies behind a door. We can make some good guesses as to what is behind it. Maybe we hope we are wrong, perhaps we chance to wish for something else or sometimes we are so brave that we dare it to do its worst. What was behind us, will settle. Where we are now is but the seed of the next creation.
12:28 Without R5, you have a direct connection from the reduced volume CV-IN to the output of U1B (LFO Oscilator). RV2 does no current limiting other than feedback, so the problems you experienced without R5 are likely related to U1B dominating the Vactrol input.
Thank you for explaining this. It's good to share knowledge in the diy community.
Just found this series, and I may try to make them. But, I love Malvina Reynolds, so I enjoyed the quote at the beginning. and yes there is a green one and a pink one, and a blue one and a yellow one.
Great video, love the electronics around it all😍
Alan. Thank you so much for taking the time to unpack my comment and then enrich the understanding of the two devices further by showing us the outputs on your scope. I am hoping Santa is going to get me an oscilloscope for Christmas as I have an idea for a Pi Pico based oscillator but need to debug my code in the analogue domain. One extra thing.. logic gates give high or low outputs but by voltage dividing the outputs of several gates you could create 2 or more distinct voltage levels. that might produce some really bonkers waveforms. R2R circuits. Again thanks so much. Martin.
Your resilience and relentless curiosity are inspiring. I look forward to another year (and more, hopefully) of CuSi Sound experiments!
I always get excited when I get a new video notification for your channel. Looking forward to another great year.
I just listened to your Here's the Rub on bandcamp, then came over to see the short film. Super inspirational, sir! I love your creativity and kindness to share it. Keep up the great work!
Just listened to the GigRig Jams vol 1. Very nice!! 👍 Sure wish we lived on the same continent, would love to meet you!
What a chatty little module. I guess that the nand gate is digital so the output is a square wave whatever the inputs? Thanks for always sharing your work on project 12 and shining light on the mystery of electronic music.
Awesome, as usual! 😀
At least it's less annoying than Kier starmer 😶🌫
Hi man. Can you please explain me, when connects the RefIn to RefOut, where connection go? Sorry for this noob question
Just join those two points together with a length of wire.
More on this please. Can it go looow?
Could you please do a video on what modules you use to make your drums please. I love the classic organ style drums <3 Btw I really enjoyed this...
The drum modules should be listed in my Project XII playlist, the kick drum probably has it's own playlist. They are all part of my DIY setup. I know I have a lot of videos to look through but checking out the playlists make make searching easier.
Allen, When using the cv mod can you not use a/c wall wart or did you just wish to sk on batt.?
It makes no difference how you power the SK-1.
Modular, unplugged xD
Lovely, indeed!
That was quite a dramatic and eerie journey!
Great vid! New fan. Love your setup 👍😎 hoping to find as a new sub, info on all your modules. Those drums are fantastic! I have on question & it's not clear to me & not well documented in pictures. What is (where) the purple wire connected to? The link you posted doesn't seem to work any longer sadly. Was thinking to just look there. Cheers, great work. I hold you completely responsible for making a wonderful video lol... Regards
The purple wire is the control voltage (gate) input. One end is connected to the resistor on the base of the transistor and the other end is connected to the 'tip' terminal on the input jack. Hope this helps.
cheers... So is this correct, the 2N3904 has 3 legs. The left leg connected to most left solder point (1), middle leg bent up, right leg 3rd solder point & then the middle goes to one end of the 5k6 & other side of 5k6 leading to the purple wire? Did I get it? Does it matter the direction of the 5k6 (which stripe color first)? Also looks like the 2n3904 is flat side down on the board? (Curved side up). Lastly what wattage should the resistor be? .25/.50 does it matter? P.s. I checked out your SoundCloud & BC, pretty cool stuff. I'm guessing you're pink dots fan?
@@wallpurgesnight8209 The 2N3904 is a NPN transistor, the letters on my diagram are c=collector, b=base, e=emitter. It is important to get them the right way round, so flat side down is correct. It does not matter which way round the resistor is connected and I used a 0.25W. Hope this helps.
@@wallpurgesnight8209 Not heard the Pink Dots before, will start listening though : )
@@CuSiSound I think you will enjoy them... They're my favorite band that is still around. Edward Ka Spel (the vocalist) also does solo & side projects too. Worth a listen...
Nicely built modules. Would you consider building a MIDI interface for all this gear as part of your collection?
I did have a brief look at midi to cv but as I can use both the beatstep and keystep for that job I have not taken it any further. Never say never though.
Sounds really nice!
Fantastic! Great sounds you’ve made there! Could you use a 3 way switch and add another waveform.
In my "40106 Making Waves" video I showed how to get square, triangle, saw, reverse saw, pulse and inverted pulse waves from this chip. If you can get your head around the wiring you could switch to any of these, in theory.
@@CuSiSound I found that when I wrap my head around the wires they will not fit into the box anymore. Just found your channel and Imma stay for a bit. All the best to you and yours :)
This dino makes very interesting sounds!
A worthy recruit to the Little Boxes Orchestra.
Great feature!
I can't wait to build this
If you build it they will come!
Big little box as usual!
Great sounding drone synth!
Thank you very much for the information here! Did the mod yesterday and I'm having a lot of fun with it.
really good vid im tryna make a wah filter
How can i connect an oscilloscope to an elettric guitar?
All I did was connect the oscilloscope leads to an open jack socket and then plug the guitar into that.
Hey Alan! Thank you for making such a neat little noise boxes to work on -- and posting the stripboard layout so my electronic-lego brain could do it HAAH! I'm slowly working through them and enjoying the learning process! (I make predominantly guitar pedals -- made and Atari punk console and a dub siren -- but I wanna learn more stuff too!) I'm having a little trouble and was wondering if you could offer some insight? I made the board -- wired up all the offboard wiring -- and it worked for about 20sec -- then the board started rapidly heating up to the point the ICs were too hot to touch and about to pop. I swapped out the ICs, changed the vactrol etc -- but it still heats up like crazy and no sound comes out -- just the "you didn't do something right" buzz-hum. Any idea why it would heat up so much? Any suggestions on where to start looking for a problem? (I'm using a 9v guitar pedal power supply instead of a 9v battery and have tried switching mA from 500mA and 100mA -- as well as changing the polarity -- just in case that was it. also using a pre-made vactrol instead of a homemade one -- not sure if that's the problem either.) Any help -- or even theoretical knowledge would be awesome --- and thank you again for the cool stuff to try!
Good to hear you are having a go at building your own. Also, it's OK to make mistakes, that's where most of the learning comes from. For chips to heat up they are usually drawing more current than they should and/or sending it to the wrong place (pin). Common causes to look for include; track shorts either stray solder or not fully cut tracks, misplaced connections eg something connected to the wrong pin, wrong polarity of power supply (though you have checked that), chips in the wrong way round (yes it can be that simple!). I still encounter some of these problems, particularly the stray solder issue. I usually check the circuit board with a magnifying glass to pick up any issues. The power going into a vactrol is isolated from the circuit board (they are used specifically as optical isolaters in some applications) so that should not be part of your problem. One troubleshooting method I use is to trace the circuit diagram on the circuit board. I start at one pin of the ic and match the connections on the board to those on the circuit diagram. It's a good way of spotting missing or wrong connections. Hope this is helpful.
@@CuSiSound Thank you! And thank you again for the encouragement! Sucking at something is the first step in getting awesome at something -- right? HAHA! I haven't had a chance to get back at the circuit yet -- but I had checked (and scored) a few sketchy solder points that looked like they might have gunk between them. Good to know the vactrol is isolated -- that leaves less to worry about. When I get back to it -- I'll check the jumpers and where the power is going in -- I bet I misaligned something in there somewhere. Thank you again for getting back to me and for sharing your knowledge! Much appreciated! Cheers!
Just what I was looking to do, Thankyou!
sick beat bruh
Your sparse but poignant keywork is very affective. This piece hovers between the realms of bleakness, mysticism and peacefulness, much like the work of Satie.
ive circuit bent one of these before. can easily modulate pitch, and can do a retrigger by connecting the speaker directly to the trigger
I really admire your spirit of invention and curiosity. Those drumsticks will be excellent instruments in your hands.
Excellent use of a sequencer to interact with drones!
Hello, greetings from Venezuela. I am a fan of your videos/projects. Thank you very much for this. I have a question: How do I add a CV to that oscillator? I understand a little the design of the oscillator, but I had understood that it operated with 12 v. Does your modification works quietly with 9v? Regards
Thank you for your kind words. Different transistors will start to oscillate at different voltages, I used the SS9018 as it oscillates just below 9v. Other transistors will need a higher voltage. I used a vactrol across the potentiometer to provide CV control.