Monday 20 December 2021
Python Jazz Club 3!
I decided to modify my program so that it randomly chooses between sticking to one waveform throughout the entire song, or choosing one waveform per note like it did previously. This one's sawtooths.
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/python-jazz-club-3-random-waveforms
Python Jazz Club 2!
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/python-jazz-club-2-random-waveforms
Python Jazz Club 1!
This is a piece of music generated by a Python program that I coded. It creates notes at random, and I've also randomised the notes' duration and octave. I put a slight attack and decay on the notes to 'soften' the note. I used a 15-note octave, to make the music sound more jazzy!
I restricted the limit of note intervals to make it appear more melodic, then ran the program to produce the music (in the form of a WAV file). To make it more 'Jazz Club', I 'multi-tracked' it in Audacity - I added reverb to one duplicated track and reversed the reverb in the other.
I'm very pleased with the result, and it creates a 'Delia Derbyshire' vibe.
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/python-jazz-club-1
Sunday 28 November 2021
Squier Bronco Bass Pickguard Mod
I had a look this morning at my Squier Bronco short scale bass.
I changed the pickguard to an orange one which I think looks very good.
I was going to change the pickup from the Strat single coil to a Vanson hot rail humbucker but changed my mind. I don't like how the blades are arched so the outer strings would be about 2mm further from the blades than the centre two - a 33% difference! But I liked the original pickup anyway despite it being low output so will stick with that for the time being.
I was pleased to see that the pots are decent Korean Alpha pots.
Sunday 7 November 2021
Squire Bronco Short-Scale Bass
I'll do a 'before and after' comparison between the two pickups, but here's a spectrogram with the standard Strat-type pickup. You can get a good variety of tones with the four strings and the tone pot.
Saturday 2 October 2021
Relay Drum Machine Experiment!
So I recorded half a dozen tracks of the circuit at different speeds and tones, and added some reverb in Audacity.
I think that the outcome is really good; it's now just a question of how many relays to have in the mega-machine!
(Please use headphones!)
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/relay-drum-machine-experiment-1
Sunday 26 September 2021
Weird Noise Synthesizer: Relay Circuit and Swanee Whistler
Wednesday 1 September 2021
Triple-Chip Frantone Peach Fuzz
I had got a Frantone Brooklyn and a Thunderhead relatively inexpensively, but you don't see any on eBay for under £300 nowadays! You can get the twin-LM386 chip Peach Fuzz as a kit, but I wondered what would happen if you made it a triple-LM386 chip circuit.
So I prototyped it on breadboard, did some sound samples, and analysed it on Audacity.
The third chip does make the waveform more ragged, and the spectrogram shows that it's more trebly, which does mean more fuzz! It also has so much sustain, you can go and make a cup of tea whilst it decays!
Also, the stock Peach Fuzz tone control has a really big range.
So I might build it as a proper pedal in the future.
Analysis! |
Thursday 26 August 2021
Sunday 22 August 2021
More Jazz Improvisation
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/jazz-improvisation-exercise-2
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/jazz-improvisation-exercise-3
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/jazz-improvisation-exercise-4
Weslie Sound Samples
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/weslie-sound-samples
Tuesday 3 August 2021
Die Roll 2, in D Whole Tone
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/die-roll-2
(Die Roll 1 is here.)
Saturday 31 July 2021
Jazz Improvisation
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/jazz-improvisation-exercise-1
Friday 23 July 2021
Weird Noise Synthesizer Update
Sunday 4 July 2021
Weird Noise Synthesizer Layout
Sunday 2 May 2021
Owl Rhythm
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/owl-rhythm
Sunday 25 April 2021
Finishing New Pedals - '71 Fuzz
I used metallic green, vibrant purple and vibrant orange paints, as well as some purple glitter, to give the pedal a '70s feel. I did have some trouble when the internals of the 1 mega-ohm pot set on fire (!), so I had to use a 500 kilo-ohm pot and some resistors instead, which limited the range of the pot (so it's really like a one-sound pony!). Nevertheless, the sound of the pedal is really good, and there are some interesting ideas that I could incorporate if I wanted to make this pedal again.
Sound sample of my vintage pedalboard (including this pedal):
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/vintage-pedalboard-sound-sample
(The '71 Fuzz on its own is the second sequence of chords, with the first being a clean guitar signal.)
Pedalboard Demos
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/vintage-pedalboard-sound-sample
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/frantone-pedalboard-sound-sample
(Vintage Pedalboard Sound Sample: Clean signal, then '71 Fuzz on, then Para Para Paradise added, then EA Tremolo added, then LPB Boost added, then everything on maximum!)
(Frantone Pedalboard Sound Sample: Fran Fuzz on (pots on minimum, then maximum), then Brooklyn Overdrive added (for the last two tests).)
Monday 12 April 2021
Finishing New Pedals - Sound Samples
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/ea-tremolo-sound-sample
(Volume pot on halfway throughout; Depth and rate pots on minimum, then halfway, then maximum)
Francard Fuzz Sound Sample:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/francard-fuzz-sound-sample
(Both pots on minimum, then halfway, then maximum)
Finishing New Pedals - Francard Fuzz
The original idea was to make a pedal based on Fran Blanche's 'Fuzzcard' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DMsNxn7kBg). The Fuzzcard was based on 'stacking' two LM386 chips, which is the basis of most of Fran's fuzzes. The two strange things about this are that the LM386 is an op-amp (so it is designed as an amplifier, not a fuzz!) and people don't 'stack' them in the way Fran does.
The main difference between my pedal and Fran's Fuzzcard is that Fran left pins 1 and 8 (of the chips) unconnected, so the chips had a fixed gain of 20. However, I connected pins 1 and 8 with a potentiometer (one per chip), so the chips have a variable gain (25 to 200).
Firstly, I made my own schematic and stripboard layout based on Fran's video. I then tested the circuit on breadboard, but it was difficult to test as breadboards can be noisy and the chips amplify the noise.
Eventually, I built the circuit and it sounded good, but there was a lot of 'hiss' and the fuzz was 'stuttery'. So I looked at a Peach Fuzz schematic (the Peach Fuzz is one of Fran's fuzzes) and worked out that one capacitor value in my pedal was probably incorrect. (I also put in a capacitor to eliminate noise, like on the Peach Fuzz.) I tested this on breadboard and it seemed to work.
I then applied those fixes to my pedal - it worked!
I also wanted to paint the case as a homage to Fran, so I used 'Hepcat' colours (light blue and white) and the 'F' from her signature. I also put in a purple LED, as it matches the colour of the closing credits of her videos.
Finishing New Pedals - EA Tremolo
This is the vintage-style EA Tremolo from Fuzz Dog. It was an easy-enough build, but I chose for the LED to flash at the same rate as the tremolo itself!
Thursday 8 April 2021
Hong Kong Garden
I am playing it on my Harley Benton Les Paul through my home-built Jeds Peds LPB Boost and Para Para Paradise low-gain overdrive into my Fender Rumble bass amp. The low-gain pedals sound really good, and can be really aggressive if you want them to be!
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/hong-kong-garden
Saturday 3 April 2021
Painting new pedals
Painting the first coats on my next set of pedals. (The green is metallic!) They will be a fuzz, a fuzz and a tremolo.
Sunday 28 March 2021
Soldering Update
When I was last testing the Weird Sound Effects Generator, it was very loud through an amplifier even with the volume on 0. I have found out that the reason for this is because the amp's input is designed for an 'instrument level' signal, which from a guitar pickup is a very low voltage (well under a volt), but the Weird Sound circuit output is based on its power source, which is a 9V battery. So it's overpowering the amp circuitry.
I fixed this by using two resistors as a voltage divider, to try limiting the voltage from the Weird Sound circuit to the amp. This fixed the problem! I had to add over 1 mega-ohm of resistance!
Here are some sound samples from the Swanee Whistler and the Weird Sound Effects Generator (in that order) with the new voltage divider mod:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/sound-samples-swanee-whistler-and-weird-sound-sample-2
Sunday 21 March 2021
Weird Sound Effects Generator
My next step is to get this fitted inside a case - I'm thinking of using a jam jar!
Here is a 1-minute-long sample from the circuit:
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/weird-sound-sample-1
Saturday 6 March 2021
First Pedal Build
These are the Jeds Peds LPB Boost and the Jeds Peds Para Para Paradise low-gain overdrive.
I learnt a lot from the building. I hand-painted the LPB Boost using paints I had available, and I bought a white spray primer for the overdrive. I finished both of them with a clear spray lacquer, which fortunately didn't damage the paint!
Tuesday 2 March 2021
Effects Pedal Bits
Some bits arrived today. Will be trying to build a non-PCB 'old skool' perf board effects pedal from a schematic in a 1970s electronics magazine.
Saturday 20 February 2021
Die Roll 1
I used both a hexahedronal and an octohedronal die to determine the key, chords and melody (including rests!). The end result was competely random, completely dependent on the die rolls!
https://soundcloud.com/user-879811118/die-roll-1
Blue Octopuss
They're a great-sounding band and I am looking forward to their debut CD release (hopefully be later this year).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ElKcWxPRCg
https://www.facebook.com/blueoctopuss/