Quotes III : Robert Moog

" I'm an engineer. 
I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers... They use my tools."

Robert (Bob) Moog

DIY Projects I : The Beginning

I bought my first prototyping board (or breadboard) and some jumper-wires last week, it's time for me to start learning about electronics and electonic circuits.

The board i got was of the Velleman brand, and to be sure i had enough room on it i bought one of the bigger boards, still for under 20 Euro's.
I also bought a small Velleman Voice Changer Kit (MK171 - 9,95 Euro) , the only audio-related DIY-project i could find to experiment with. Like i said earlier this stuff is quite new to me, and my first attempt will be the mounting of all the parts of the kit onto the breadboard. This seems like a good practice for me to learn more about the components and their functions.

I did learn a lot on YouTube last weeks about the basics of breadboarding and electonic components, and there are a few good (and free) tutorials on the MIT OpenCourseware site ( both video's from lecture 12 are highly interesting and deal with basic sound creation with electonics ) The 559 pages thick lecture notes PDF  that completes this course is also free available at the site, and features the whole course on paper.

The kit is a voice changing kit that can basicly changes your voice into a high, low or robotvoice. I haven't heard yet how it will sound, but the idea and basic modification possibilities are looking great.

I see this as a sort of a side-project, that will hopefully merge into my A-100 system at one point and i'm looking forward on how it will sound. I'll keep you updated.

A-114 Dual Ring Modulator

A Ring Modulator is a signal-processor that produces a signal out of two different audio inputs.
This output signal is the sum and the difference from both inputs, and leaves the original frequencies out.

It is an ideal module for producing metallic or bell-like sounds, but you can also (re-)create other weird sound-effects with it, like for example the distinctive "Daleks"-voices from the classic Dr. Who series, created in 1963 by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Besides voices, you can also input all kinds of other (amplified) instruments through the ring-modulator.

The Doepfer A-114 Dual Ring Modulator is in fact two ring-modulators in one, which makes it even more flexible. Theoretically you can use the output of the first ring-modulator as input for the second one. The A-114's manual has some nice other examples on how to start patching, but with a bit of imagination you will quickly come up with your own ideas.

You can find some more interesting ring-modulation (DIY) info HERE

PatchPierre Mobile App for Symbian Update

Version 3 of the PatchPierre Mobile App is now available in the OVI-store. 
The ultimate way to watch PatchPierre's content on your Nokia device. It works on all Symbian and selected S40-devices.

The app enables easy browsing through the PatchPierre posts and comments and also links to the original articles.
Added in Version 3 are the PatchPierre Twitterfeed and my YouTube Videosection with jams, demos and other music made my me. Find it on the web at http://www.youtube.com/netpierretv

The app will stay free in 2010, the 1 Euro that it will cost in 2011 will be spent on upgrading my A-100 system and maintaining the blog. 

All other donations are welcome too, there is a PayPal donation button in the blogs' right column.

Click HERE for a direct link to the OVI Store


More screenshots after the break:

50th PatchPierre Post

Wooooot!

Funny how time flies....It's time for a small celebration.
The reason is because this is my 50th PatchPierre post.
What started out as a personal  hobbyblog has turned out to be quite an impressive collection of interesting posts... (if i may say so myself...)
When i started it, in March of this year, i never expected it to go this fast, and i am still impressed by the number of readers and the variety of countries where they come from.

I would also like to take the opportunity in this post to thank a few people here for their inspirational and motivational support throughout the process of shaping this blog;
In the first place i would like to thank Marc Weerts ( @MarcJX8P ) from the band 87PM ( ocean-coast.kara-moon.com ) for the idea of the subtitle of the blog (Connected Chaos), and for his valuable feedback in all these months.
I would also like to thank Loek van der Helm ( @wonderhelm ), mainly for his technical (PatchPierre-app)-support.
Last but not least i would like to thank Tony Steventon from Synovatron Electronic Music for his most recent input and all the positive feedback.

Thank you (and all other regular readers) for the support and for keeping this blog alive. Without you all it wouldn't be what it is now. Please feel always free to comment/react on my posts, and if you have any topic-suggestions, tips or sites that i should know about, please let me know.
I hope this blog will stay interesting in the future, i still have many (wild) plans for posts and DIY-projects ( My first set of switches,sockets and LEDs will probably arrive next week ).
I'll keep you updated!

Booktip IV - The Complete Simmons Drum Book by Bob Henrit

Perhaps a bit of an outsider on this blog, but this 104-page book about Simmons Electronic Drums is in fact quite an interesting read.
The British Simmons company produced drum modules since the late seventies and is perhaps best known for their distinctive sounds and their 'hexapad' drum-surface design.

This book tells the whole story, their conception, development, and even their problems.
Allmost all their drumkits are included in this book, from their first SDS-3 (SDS series), ClapTraps and expanders up to models that were never released.
The book was written and published in 1987, seven years before Simmons produced their last products so only a few models are not mentioned in this book ( like the TurtleTrap and the SDS-2000 )

I have no idea why this book was written, but it looks like a nice thick brochure to sell Simmons products.
It is filled with (b/w) pictures, background stories and stories by players and is very well-written.
I recommend this if you are interested in (drum)-synthesizer history.
A good read from beginning to end.

Wise Publications ISBN: 0-7119-0933-4
Order No. AM 63173

Most Wanted II - Drum Modules

Drum-synthesizers and drum-machines have been around for a long time.
The first analogue drum synthesizers were introduced in the 1970s, and everyone remembers those classic analog and digital rhythm-boxes made by big companies as Roland, Korg, Simmons and Linn.

 The Mid-nineties analogue revival triggered a whole bunch of new manufacturers like MAM, Vermona and MFB (to name a few) to produce (modular) drum synths.
I always wondered why Doepfer hasn't come up with a modular drum series yet.
The only drumsound-providing module they released so far was the A-117 Digital noise/808 Source, a module that only produces two 808 sounds... ehh well... building blocks.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could fit a variation of different Doepfer drummodules in your rack, perhaps an A-117-X series? How about dedicated Basdrum, Snare, Hihats, Cymbal, Clap and Toms modules etcetera, with (dynamic) triggers and CV-controllable functions like decay, tune, attack and so on, so you could use any CV signal ( like from an LFO or ADSR) to change the different parameters. I see a world of interesting possiblities.

In combination with trigger-producing modules like the A-160/A-161 Clock Divider, the A-166 Logic module and/or a sequencer i'm sure modules like this could create very interesting and vivid rhythms. And how about control with one of the forthcoming touch-sensors...? Hmmmmmmm.... Want!