Two years later I soldered the DUDE and I still love this small mixer. The Dude is a 5-channel mono mixer with an on / off channel switch, 5 volume controls and a power button. If a channel is on you can see a light. All inputs are mini jack and the output is a mini stereo jack and can also be used as a headphone output. You can power the Dude with a power supply or with 4 AA batteries. The sound quality is just great because all parts are high quality. You can see my dude a bit deranged in the photos.

Links:
Dude: https://bastl-instruments.com/instruments/dude/
Bastl Instruments: https://bastl-instruments.com
Bastl Instruments at Github: https://github.com/bastl-instruments
Toyota Vangelis: https://www.facebook.com/toyotavangelis/

1* What was your intention with the distortion Screamo?
 
The idea was to build a self-oscillating distortion that, like the Circuit Bending, has a lot of idiosyncrasies and can produce corresponding unusual sounds. Quasi a synth / -------- distortion to build, which can be used as a "remix tool", Schlager music in, Gabber out.
 
2* What magic trick did you use that made Screamo sound so crazy?
 
There are 2 oscillators which are mixed to the audio signal, a feedback of the audio signal in itself and once it is coupled back into an inverter input. This results in addition to the fat distortion and any amount of natural resonances of the circuit, which mix depending on the setting with the incoming signal or link via gate. The instability of this circuit creates a lot of noise, which can be very useful depending on the taste of the artist.
 
3* What's the use of Screamo in your set?
 
In most cases, I use the Screamo for the beats, or the bass drum. You can send for example a bassy kick drum through the Screamo and work with different feedback signals and create a variety of modulations. To use the bandwidth better, I recommend Screamo on the auxiliary out of the mixing desk, because then you can distort all sorts of signals such as guitar, synths or tuner proportionally, which then leads to interesting cross modulations.
But also for remixing "boring" music Screamo is very well suited.

Designed by Claude Winterberg - FlipFloater 

Claude Winterberg, born in Basel Switzerland in 1968, felt in love with electronic music in the 90s. He toured worldwide with Beyond Third Spring, a psychedelic trance act with didgeridoo and electronics. In 2007 Claude built his first Atari Punk Console at the Swiss  Mechatronic Art Society (SGMK) where he got infected by the electronic D.I.Y. virus. Ever since, he’s been building his very own synthesizers with unusual oscillations, and has deepened his interested in circuit bending. From this he evolved his current project FlipFloater. 

I myself met Claude for the first time in 2014 in Dresden at Circuit Control. He brought his 4093 Step Synth to Dresden, which I then soldered with joy. Later I soldered a second one, then two 9V MS20 HP-LP filters, the Flip Synth and two Flip Floater Delays, about which I already reported in Edition 2 on Electronic Cottage. Now I introduce you to the Flip Synth, which gets a great update by Claude very soon.

1 * Why did you develop the Flip Synth? What inspired you?

The trigger was a request from the music festival "Les Digitales" in Bern. They wanted the visitors to be able to solder something at the festival.
As simple as possible and still usable. At the end it was not that easy for people who have never soldered. But I liked the concept of the synth, the Flip Synth was born.

2 * How is the Flip Synth structured?

It consists of four CD4093 Schmitt-Trigger Oscillators. Two for the sound and two for the rhythm. The first tone Oscillator can be additionally tuned with an LDR (light-dependent resistor). Both tone oscillators can be paired with a CD4070 ring modulator.

3 * How do you use it live?

Mostly with a filter and then with the FlipFloater Delay. With this setup many great and varied sounds can already be created.

Links:

Homepage FlipFloater: http://flipfloater.net/
FlipFloater at Soundcloud: http://flipfloater.net/project/soundcloud/
Schmitt Trigger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmitt_trigger
Circuit Control 2018: https://www.electroniccottage.org/wolfgang-dorninger/edition-4-circuit-control-2018
SGMK - Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Mechatronische Kunst: https://mechatronicart.ch/
Beyond Third Spring: http://www.winterbergproduction.com
Benjolin by Rob Hordijk: http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-38081-25.html
Benjolin hack by Klangbau Köln: https://klangbauköln.de/klangbaukoeln-special/benjolin-von-rob-hordijk-klangbau-koeln
DIY Cracklebox – video: https://vimeo.com/334635714
Email

Designed by Steffen Koritsch - noisio

I have known Steffen Koritsch quite a while. He is a co-operator of the Circuit Control Festival in Dresden where I like to participate and perform every year. Last year Steffen was guest at my workshop Labor Sound at the Art University in Linz presenting the IOIO, the VortexGen, ATPC (ATiny Punk Console) and other stuff.

1* You are originally a guitarist and so it is obvious that you developed a delay with the beautiful name IOIO.

IOIO stands with its name for the input output loop of the echo. The idea of the kit was to create a guitar-optimized delay based on the PT2399, with as few components as possible. I could do that without any further transistors or IC's. For me, the vortex generator is the most exciting part of the complete kit. Thanks to the deep modulation possibilities, the signal can be brought into unexpected regions and spheres. Unfortunately, the PT2399 IC produces a lot of noise, which can be tolerated, or if not you have to cut the high frequencies so much that the signal gets dull. That's why I've finished the development of the delay. The Vortex Generator lives on and can take control of any PT2399 delay (and other FX).

2* But you've added a technical innovation to the IOIO, the Vortex Generator. Can you say something about the first idea?

The Vortex Generator is a little tool that can drive your FX wacky. It is designed to modulate delay effects, but can also be used as a general 5V LFO. The development of the kit is the origin of my enthusiasm for the ATtiny microcontroller line. After playing around with Arduinos for a few years, I came to the point where a full-grown ATMEGA chip was far too big for some small requirements.

3* How does Vortex Generator work? What are the benefits? How does it work in detail?

For me it's always a big fun to change the rate of delay-effects while playing an
instrument. Rotating the control knob gives nice pitch-shifting sounds. While the tunes are shifted down by decreasing the tempo, higher notes can be obtained by turning up the potentiometer. One song where I was doing this intensively is F.Y. performed with the Breakup-Party (listen via Bandcamp player below). But how to play a guitar and turning knobs without having three hands? The solution in this setup was laying down the instrument to the ground, playing with a bottleneck and fiddle the knob in interim times. Another workaround I made was to outsource the potentiometer into an old volume pedal. But here is a way I found by just simply automating it.

The VortexGenerator is a minimal circuit in parts count and size. It doesn't even have its own power supply, as it gets it from the device it's connected to. And it is not just useful for delays. You can take it as a general 5V Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) or automated adjustable resistor in various ways. With two of the potentiometers of the kit you're able to change the LFO rate and depth. The third one in center lets you choose between six waveforms (TRIANGLE, RAMP UP, RAMP DOWN, SINUS, SQUARE, RANDOM) or the original functionality.

You'll hear the first arrival of the effect around 2:30 coming full in place at 4:00 and grows on from there into the stormy finale.

4* The IOIO, your delay is built with the PT2399 IC. Is it possible to use the VortexJam with another self-built or commercial delay?

In its origin the circuit was designed to replace the tempo rate potentiometer of PT2399 delays miming a controllable resistor.

You can try different values for R2/R3 to come close to linearity. I had good results by taking 27k/27k or 18k and leaving R3 out.

The parameters of many digital fx are adjusted by vary potentiometers between 5 volts and ground. Due to that it's pretty simple to replace this with the VortexGenerator. You can take power and ground directly from the potentiometer solder joints and connect the output to the taper solder lug. With the Boss DD-3 I took the unused direct out jack for connection to the D.TIME potentiometer. The stereo plug brings 5V over the tip and ground to the PCB. By
plugging in the time pot becomes unconnected and replaced by the wave output of the LFO via the center pin.

Altering the kit for this requirement was quite simple. Since there is a following filter in the DD-3 circuit anyway, I could take the output of the microcontroller directly. Only two bridges were set, a small cut (already prepared on the PCB) had to be made and the transistor, R2, R3 and the capacitor was left out.

https://www.dorftv.at/video/31347

Schematics and photos by Steffen Koritsch

Thanks a lot Steffen!

Links:
noisio - https://noisio.de/
ATPC at Electronic Cottage - https://www.electroniccottage.org/wolfgang-dorninger/edition-3-attiny-punk-console
Circuit Control 2018 at Electronic Cottage: https://www.electroniccottage.org/wolfgang-dorninger/edition-4- circuit-control-2018

I got to know ChrisMicro in 2012 during a New Year's Eve soldering event at the KulturGüter-Schuppen (CulturalGoods-Shed), an art space run by Jördis Drawe and Uwe Schüler in Dusslingen, Germany. At a workshop with students 2017 again at the KulturGüter-Schuppen, Chris helped us a lot writing code for Klopfer, a motordriven percussion tool designed by Uwe Schüler.

​Unfortunately, I did not make it to New Year's Eve Soldering this year, where Chris, Uwe and Ralf Schreiber (sound artist, inventor of sound tools and a long time electronic bird sound designer) revived an old project by ChrisMicro: A bird sings driven by a little motor. In the end, they called it Motörbörd. Since that session Chris, Uwe and Ralph are still working on the circuit to have different versions at the start.

​Video by Ralf Schreiber

Q:
​Chris, when did you start with electronics and programming?
Chris:
Since the age of 12, I have been dealing with electronics because I got a electronics kit from my grandfather. At age 15, I developed my first computer with a Z80 microprocessor. That was even harder than today because you had to copy documents in journals and libraries and there was also no affordable development tool for me as a teenager. Computer technology, in particular, had developed more and more the ability to eat my attention and time.

Q:
When and how did you start with MotörBörd?
Chris:
Around 2007 I was contacted by the SGMK (Swiss Society for Mechatronics and Art - The SGMK projects have an affinity for sound and music), because at the time I was busy with small, mobile craft robots and I was supposed to hold a workshop. At the SGMK Homemade Week was Ralf Schreiber, who gave a solar bird workshop. The components of the analog circuits had been relatively expensive, so I wanted to use a microcontroller. What then succeeded after some optimizations to the clock frequency and at the end also the power consumption.

Q:
How did the first solar birds work?
Chris:
The solar birds have the property that they begin with their beeping in the sunshine and they can not be influenced by humans. Originally I had tried to equip the solar birds with environmental sensors to influence their "singing", so that the sound sequences are more diverse. But over time it seemed better to make a directly influenced sound generator out of it. With the experience of building the solar birds and the desire for a battery-free, durable device, I came up with the idea to produce electricity with a generator, which then drives the mirocontroller.

Q:
When did the solar bird become a motor?
Chris:
Originally, I had the first Motorbird built around 2011. It consists of a Faulhaber motor for relatively high voltages (I think so around 24V) without cogging torque, an Attiny13 microcontroller with connected piezo as sound generator. The power supply is made via a diode for reverse polarity protection and a capacitor as energy storage. For a Motorbird to work well, the engine must have certain characteristics. It should be designed for higher voltages, because it can then deliver sufficient voltage for the circuit even at low speeds in generator mode, because the axis is indeed turned by hand. It is also very good if the engine has no cogging torque, because it makes it easier and more pleasant to turn.

Q:
But now, around New Year's Eve you restarted the Motorbird project and it became MotörBörd.
Chris:
Since I was on New Year's Eve at KulturGüter-Schuppen this year Uwe found some promising engines, I started to pick up the idea again. I had almost forgotten the idea, but everyone was enthusiastic about the generator-powered sound production and Ralf Schreiber came up with the idea to call the whole "Motorbird". Now we (me, Ralph and Uwe) decided to call it "Motörbörd". The name reminds me of the image of a slightly subversive bird with a penchant for heavy metal, a mix of Motörhead and Road Runner.

Links:

ChrisMicro at Github
KulturGüter-Schuppen Dusslingen
Ralf Schreiber
Several DIY birds by Ralf Schreiber

I got to know Klaus Rindtorff and the Moduletta in June 2016 during my workshop "Labor Sound" (University of Art and Design Linz) as part of the Festival Zukunftsmusik. Klaus Rindtorff is a certified computer scientist with many patents and a hobby electronics designer and technician. His work focuses on digital and analogue sound generation and colored light sculptures. Of particular interest is the digital sound generation inspired by the circuits of Stanley Lunetta.

Soldering the Moduletta is not a matter of two hours. It is a modular synthesizer with many inputs and outputs, eight CMOS-chips, countless resistors and LEDs that need to be soldered. The Moduletta synth is a crossover between modular synthesizers and Lunetta circuits. Through plug-in connections, the analog and digital modules can be combined for sound generation. Included are voltage controlled oscillators, filters and PWM, as well as counters and shift registers for sound and rhythm. At the university workshop eight students started with the Moduletta and all worked fine. One student is performing live with her Moduletta.

Interview with Klaus Rindtorff (January 2019)

Q: Klaus, when did you start designing autogenerative music machines and why?
Klaus: I guess it must have been the day when I discovered Lunettas on the electro-music.com forum. I always liked building circuits with digital logic elements, starting with TTL and later with CMOS chips. Lunettas use logic chips in a very creative way to generate sound. The fact that they are based on logic quickly leads to combining them with binary sequences to create patterns. The results are often surprising. 

Q: How long lasted the process from the first ideas to the final concept and to the printed circuit board of  Moduletta?
Klaus: I created many small Lunetta circuits in 2014 and 2015. Later I started mixing them with analog circuits using operational amplifiers as well. Early in 2016 I came up with the idea to combine them and create a small synthesizer that combines ideas from the Lunetta circuits with ideas from modular synthesizers, in particular the ability to create patches. It took me about three months to complete the design. That included a lot of experimentation to come up with a minimal, yet complete, set of modules to generate interesting sounds.

Q: Can you describe your Moduletta in some sentences. 
Klaus: The Moduletta is a cross-over between analog circuits for modular synthesizers and Lunetta circuits. Most of the modules are implemented with logic chips. A few of them also create or accept analog control voltages instead logic levels. To create sound you connect the modules using patch cables, just like in a modular synth. The whole design is deliberately minimalistic and has a focus on providing as many possibilities as possible rather than generating high-fidelity audio.

Q: The Moduletta is a tribute to Stanley Lunetta, a musician who has developed countless circuits with CMOS chips and has influenced many musicians and designers. How strong had you been inspired by Stanley Lunetta?
Klaus: That influence is certainly very strong. I had built a few TTL based audio circuits a long time ago. Discovering the Lunetta circuits taught me many new tricks that are possible with only a few CMOS gates. The most fascinating circuits to me are those that generate small tunes from a handful of logic chips. Some produce just beautiful noise, some surprise you with even a bit of musicality in the patterns they produce. Have a look at the Chip-Tune circuits for example. You wouldn't expect a few chips to generate melodic tunes that run for minutes without repeating.

Q: The Moduletta is the most beautiful instrument I've ever  
soldered myself? There is so much possible with it. Is the project complete for you or do you have any new ideas to further develop Moduletta?
Klaus: For now, the PCB boards are all gone and the project is at rest. However, I had a few ideas for additional circuits that could not fit on the board at that time. Plus a few new ones I came up with in between, like the combinatorial circuits to generate patterns, and oscillators that can be controlled by logic levels rather than control voltages to generate micro-tonal scales. Maybe even include a small micro-controller for some of the effects that otherwise would need a lot of hardware... And here we are again, the hardest part in the design is to limit yourself to the essential elements needed to achieve the goal you set for yourself. I would love to create a newer, bigger, version of the Moduletta that can contain them all, but first need to find the time for it.

Stanley Lunetta died March 3rd 2016.

Moduletta ein kurzer Patch video above is also available for viewing here

Links:
Klaus Rindtorff - Moduletta Forum
Stanley Lunetta homepage
Sound Sculptures by Stanley Lunetta
Lunettas - Circuits inspired by Stanley Lunetta
Zukunftsmusik - Wolfgang >Fadi< Dorninger

drkmbnt is an unpushed or hidden project of mine, a kind of lab to produce not clearly defined music with self-soldered sound tools and instruments. The artistic goal is to present a live set as drkmbnt in the near future.

Last week I've spent some time with GRAINS developed by Jan Willem Hagenbeek who runs his modular music hardware company Ginko Synthese in Den Haag, The Netherlands. What is Grains? Willem keeps his explanation simple: "This complete and easy-to-build DIY kit Grains is one of the cheapest ways to get a voltage controlled oscillator in your modular and sounds completely different than all other oscillators! It can do minimalistic clicks and plops, screaming leads, fat basslines, weird noises or chiptunes." Grains is a code driven environment based on an Arduino Nano with 3 potentiometers, 3 CV inputs and 1 audio output. You also can add samples to your code - see link. 

How does Grains v.2 work: CV in1 is routed via potentiometer 1 and safety diodes to Analog input 2, CV in2 is routed via potentiometer 2 and safety diodes to Analog input 1, CV in3 is routed directly to Analog input 3 via safety diodes, Potentiometer 3 is routed directly to Analog input 0 with 5V on one side of the potentiometer and ground on the other.

My setup for the music piece "Grains" consisted of: 1x Grains, 3x ATinyPunk Console (ATPC: see edition 3 of this series), 1x Dude (Mixer). It was connected like this: ATPC with "Fail U 03" Sync out into ATPC "Sweep" Sync In. ATPC "Sweep" Sync out into Grains CV in 2. ATPC "Fail U 04" Sync out into Grains CV in 3. The code I used for the tune "Grains" has been coded by Falafulur "falafel-raps-changed-v2 PCB v2". All sounds you hear in this tune are coming out of Grains and the "falafel-raps-changed" code. No effects, no extra granular stuff, no time stretching, just DAW editing.

​Falafulur added some extra informations to his code: 
* Granulising samleplayer for GinkoSynthese Grains
* Based on Rob Bothofs modification of speaker_pcm arduino example by Michael Smith (http://playground.arduino.cc/Code/PCMAudio)
* Finetuned by Leoš Hort (Bastl Instruments)
​https://www.facebook.com/HRTLmuzik
* The basic sample is encoded from Harrogath theme of DIABLO 2 LOD soundtrack for experimentation purposes.
* To encode your own sample, download Processing app and take a look here: sample encoding: http://highlowtech.org/?p=1963

​Links:

Ginko Synthese: http://www.ginkosynthese.com

Grains: http://www.ginkosynthese.com/product/grains/

Write your own code:
http://www.ginkosynthese.com/uploads/tracking-lookup-table-creating-code.doc

Grains manual:
http://www.ginkosynthese.com/uploads/building-manual-v2-5.pdf

ATinyPunkConsole: https://noisio.de/blog/attiny-punk-console

Dude: https://www.bastl-instruments.com/instruments/dude/

drkmbnt: http://www.base.at/drkmbnt

Wolfgang Dorninger Dec. 15th 2018

Circuit Control is a festival "for a creative use of the soldering iron" organised by Alwin Weber and Steffen Koritsch from Dresden.

The workshop was held October 1st till 5th at Zentralwerk* in Dresden. October 5th late night there was a Ambient Showcase in a basement of an occupied building near Bahnhof Neustadt and October 6th there was the  final party in the bar of the old ballroom of Zentralwerk.

In 2011 I made an excursion with students of the University of Art and Design Linz to the first Circuit Control and since that time I have returned every year to solder, play live and to see what other sound-tool-hackers and inventors have created during the year. Many participants became friends and I invited some of them (Jördis Drawe, Uwe Schüler, Alwin Weber, Steffen Koritsch, Claudio Matina and Peter Heß) to Linz to the Art University to present their research, sound tools and know-how at my workshop "Labor Sound" (Sound Lab).

Highlights 2018!

Claude Winterberg midified his "FlipSynth" and "4093 Step Synth" with an  Arduino Micro. Alwin Weber presented his distortion-FX "Screamo" and the noisy "Touch Synth Deluxe", Steffen Koritsch presented the upgraded version of "ATiny Punk Console", the "Noisio Delay" and the "Photonotron" - a lightsensitive kind of Theremin, while Matthias Schmidt aka Curetronic presented the upgraded "Fon", a fully automatable 8 step sequencer & synth. Jo FRGMNT brought two very nice tools I have to solder the next time: "SNU" (SpecialNoiseUnit) & "fm transmit". 
Schrägerunde distorted the air with "FeedbackHeaven" and Uwe Schüler was 
working on kickdrums and snares.

What did I solder during my stay at CC18?!

In recent years I have soldered two "4093 Step Synth" and also two "MS20 HP-LP Filter" from Claude Winterberg and so it was clear to me that I would midi-fi his synths with an Arduino Micro. I added also Claude's "FlipFloater Delay" (Edition 2 of this series) and I soldered his new "FlipSynth" a 4093-4070 based synth with rhythm section and two oscillators. So I needed some time to prepare my stuff for the new setup but after a while everything worked fine and I was able to send midi signals to my new setup! I have to mention that Claude built a bigger setup and performed with it live at the final party of Circuit Control. A pure acid-techno-soundsystem with the extra fun factor.

I also soldered the upgraded version of the "Atiny Punk Console" and the "Bleepbot".

Liveshows at Circuit Control 2018

Friday Night
Alwin & Steffen organised the so-called Ambient Night in a basement of an occupied building near Bahnhof Neustadt. Alwin Weber aka "StÖRenFrieD"  played live a set with ATiny Punk Console, his Screamo distortion and other stuff, while Steffen Koritsch with a musical partner (name of the band?) had a huge setup from guitar to ATiny to drumbox. FRGMNT did a short set with sounds so unique that I felt like I was dreaming. I also forgot what he used to create this aural orgasm. I lost the flyer of this hidden showcase so I forgot the name of the opening act.

Saturday Night
"Krach der Roboter" from Berlin opened with his robot performance and music out of the modular system which grows every year. After Krach "Flip Floater" from Basel played with his midified-new-system (see picture above) a funky electro set. Then "Gelbart" from Berlin presented excellent videos with great music hard to describe in a range from Zappa to vaudeville and electro. Then "Stefan Tiefengraber" from Linz pushed the bass to the maximum just using his fingers in battery driven toy stuff. Best bass show ever with great videos just out of his analog audio signals. "SBZ" from Dresden played a phatt industrial electro set with extremely nice elecronic sounds. "Kasia Justka" from Berlin played a great set with self-built stuff and analogue synths and great analog visuals similar to those of Stefan. After Kasia the author, Wolfgang Dorninger aka "The Smiling Buddhas" played some techno stuff to start the dance party which was finished in a great way by "Lazenbleep" from London. A great party with visuals by 48hoch8 and StÖRenFrieD.

​The ATtiny Punk Console by Steffen Koritsch has been presented at Circuit Control 2017 in Dresden, Germany where Steffen lives and works. He has a degree in fine arts but is working mainly in the field of sound art and electronics.

I met Steffen at Circuit Control for the first time about three years ago. At that time he was developing FX-pedals to expand his guitar sound. 2017, as a member of the Circuit Control team he decided to present something special for the community: The ATtiny Punk Console. I took one kit home with me and and ordered immediately a second when the first was soldered. Mine are generation 1 but meanwhile Steffen made some technical upgrades and created a fancy box for the ATPC.

The ATPC is an easy to build synthesizer-kit based on the ATtiny85 microprocessor which is one of the smallest but also powerful members of the ATMEGA family (you probably already know by Arduino). The ATPC squeezes out the most of this little beetle.

"The synth is equipped with 4 potentiometers with body-contacts to tweak the sound. It's powered by a center negative plug or 9-V battery. You can trigger events by a push-button or via the programmable sync in- or -out line. On the output side you'll find a variable low-pass filter and a volume controlled buffer stage to push out true 8-bit sound. Because of the parallel 3.5 mm and 6.3 mm jack plugs you are able to link them in line as well as to interconnect and synchronize with other gear." (Steffen on the ATCP)

What do I like is that I can programm my own tunes, can flash them on the ATiny and best I can sync many ATPC's. If you are familiar with programming Arduinos you can create your personal tunes. All you need to do is to use your Arduino as an in-system programmer (ISP). There is a lot of information in the internet about this topic (see link Flashing Code). Steffen made a kit to flash ATtiny84s or 85s. With this it's even more simple to transmit own code to these tiny microprocessors. Steffen presents on his homepage different tunes and explains how they work. My favorite is the Failure_Unit code.

Buying

Steffen sells ATtiny Punk Console kits quite cheap for 39€ and pre-assembled units for 59€. They all will reach you with an ATtiny85 chip pre-programmed with the code of your choice. An additional one will sets you back 5€. Arduino as ISP-programmer kits are also in stock, which can be purchased for 7€ without or 9€ with a blank ATt85. Send an email.

Happy soldering!

Links

Steffen Koritsch
ATPC
Sample code, schematic and instructions
Flashing Code
Circuit Control 2017 (you can hear the ATPC performed by Alwin Weber aka Störenfried starting at 9:45)