Studio Pics

[Taupe Beats]

edit:  misread the previous post and thought it was talking about the Blackfly.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Taupe Beats

[TubularCorporation]

Just now, Taupe Beats said:

I'm pretty sure they ship standard with clickless switches now (because yeah, a click-switch for the kill control makes zero sense). I need to confirm this when I get home.

 

I think you're right actually. 

[Taupe Beats]

39 minutes ago, TubularCorporation said:

 

I think you're right actually. 

I was talking about the Blackfly regarding the clickless kill button. If the Freeze did the same, I have no clue (but that would be awesome)!

[TubularCorporation]

1 hour ago, Taupe Beats said:

I was talking about the Blackfly regarding the clickless kill button. If the Freeze did the same, I have no clue (but that would be awesome)!

Oh yeah, your edit must have happened while I was writing that last post.

 

The good thing about the Blackfly is that it's probably really easy to swap in a switch yourself, since all that's going to be in there is a piezotransducer, a simple preamp, a filter of some kind, the output jack, battery holder and switch, so there should be plenty of room to work.

[Soloman Tump]

2 hours ago, Taupe Beats said:

I was talking about the Blackfly regarding the clickless kill button. If the Freeze did the same, I have no clue (but that would be awesome)!

Hah this makes sense now. The inbuilt Black fly switch is loud. I will do this, thanks for the inspiration.

 

Oh wait, the mod is for the freeze. I'm confused. Oh well.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Soloman Tump

[TubularCorporation]

If it's an off-board, panel mounted switch it should be really easy - just find a clickless version of the same switch and desolder/resolder two wires.

 

I assume we're talking mechanical clicking not it making a pop in the audio when you press it (which would be a whole other thing but also probably fixable)

 

I'm guessing in the Blackfly the switch is probably a normally on rather than normally off but I've never actually even seen one in person so I'm just guessing.

[TubularCorporation]

Regardless, these last few posts are inspiring me to finally make my own blackfly-like thing that I've been idly thinking about for years.  basically the same thing but bigger and made more like a cigar box guitar, but with a bone conductive transducer mounted to the end of the "neck" (which would just be a piece of wood long and thin enough to resonate but not so long and thin it needed any kind of truss rod or anything) and an amp to drive it, so the output of the pickups can be fed back in mechanically (which is a really old idea, it was patented before electric guitars had even been invented).  The original plan was to use about 24 tuned strings and magnetic pickups, but the mass of the neck piece I needed for all the tuners gave me problems and none of the pickups I wound for it sounded very good so I shelved it. But I've got about a half dozen springs from swing arm desk lamps kicking around, I should just use those on a big box with piezo pickups near the middle of the sound board and the driver underneath one end of the springs. would be more like a spring reverb than like drone strings (which was the original plan) but should be just as useful, especially with a bandpass filter in the feedback loop.

 

EDIT: I've still got about 500 feet of 10 gauge instrument wire and two dozen zither tuning pegs sitting around, I should just scrap all of this and make myself some kind of goofy electric zither with stereo outputs.

Edited December 4, 2019 by TubularCorporation

[Soloman Tump]

The switch on the Black fly is a momentary kill switch - press to cut the sound.

It is a noisy switch which in itself is a problem since the unit is basically a conductive box. You can tap it, drum on it etc. You get feedback through the springs same way you would with a guitar near an amp. 

So swapping this out for a silent switch would be nice.

[Taupe Beats]

That switch is noisy as hell and it's a double-problem because you need to run it through some kind of drive circuit or a preamp to make it loud enough, which then makes the kill clicks REALLY loud. However, that's why their "Swarm" knob is there, it's a very subtle LPF with basically no resonance and when it's at about 7'o'clock position or so, that does really dampen the noise from the kill button (however it also dampens the higher frequencies of the springs).

[TubularCorporation]

1 hour ago, Soloman Tump said:

The switch on the Black fly is a momentary kill switch - press to cut the sound.

It is a noisy switch which in itself is a problem since the unit is basically a conductive box. You can tap it, drum on it etc. You get feedback through the springs same way you would with a guitar near an amp. 

So swapping this out for a silent switch would be nice.

Yeah of course, I didn't even think about mechanichal vs electronic noise being kind of moot if the whole box is being amplified, ha.

 

EDIT: you know what you might try rather than swapping it out for a silent switch?  Drilling a hole in the side and adding a normalled 1/8" TRS jack in series with the original switch and then making yourself a little remote out of a couple feet of two conductor shielded cable with a TRS jack on one end and a switch on the other.  Connect the two conductors from the tip and ring of the jack  to the switch, and then connect the shield to the sleeve so you don't pick up a bunch of hum or anything.

 

Probably overkill, but that way you wouldn't have to touch the case at all (and even if you did it you'd probably still want to swap out the on board switch for a quiet one also, anyhow).

Edited December 4, 2019 by TubularCorporation

[Soloman Tump]

@tubularcorporation that makes perfect sense, I might try that actually. Cheers 

[714681746476436]

I am pretty new here so thought I would show you what I'm using this evening. There's a few more synths and basic percussion instruments in the cupboard - I like to chop and change things as I go.

I don't use VSTs or any virtual shit, so I have 96 inputs and 96 outputs all wired up - no more patch bays!

Edited January 24, 2020 by 714681746476436

[BCM]

nice setup! loving the waldorf microwave.

[714681746476436]

17 hours ago, BCM said:

nice setup! loving the waldorf microwave.

It's the most versatile synth I've ever owned. It's my go-to recommendation when people ask me what synth to buy. Wonderful thing

Edited January 25, 2020 by 714681746476436

[mause]

im currently in the middle of shifting my studio space around so the rest is a mess but I just got a new toy to play with..time to start building some racks i think 

[714681746476436]

5 minutes ago, mause said:

im currently in the middle of shifting my studio space around so the rest is a mess but I just got a new toy to play with..time to start building some racks i think 

Beautiful 707. Fun of character! What's the 303 looking thing?

[mause]

Just now, 714681746476436 said:

Beautiful 707. Fun of character! What's the 303 looking thing?

Bassbot tt-303 mk1, I have a yello behri 303 on order out of curiosity and possibly modding..the bassbot is such a fun lil box, very soft and warm for a 303, really nice for producing with as it's always got this lovely full presence in the mix, especially on square mode. 

Got a decent price on this 707 and it just arrived today, been messing about with it and loving it even more than i had expected to!!

[714681746476436]

3 minutes ago, mause said:

Bassbot tt-303 mk1, I have a yello behri 303 on order out of curiosity and possibly modding..the bassbot is such a fun lil box, very soft and warm for a 303, really nice for producing with as it's always got this lovely full presence in the mix, especially on square mode. 

Got a decent price on this 707 and it just arrived today, been messing about with it and loving it even more than i had expected to!!

Is it a real 707? It looks like it’s brand new! I’m envious 

[mause]

Just now, 714681746476436 said:

Is it a real 707? It looks like it’s brand new! I’m envious 

sure is, i have a feeling the previous owner hadn't used it much as the power cord was tied with a really old rubber band that fell apart when i touched it..its a nice example for sure, some marks on the bottom but very clean on the front.

screen is a bit dim where it says either tap or step write but I think thats pretty normal for these. 

[TheBro]

On 1/25/2020 at 3:39 PM, mause said:

im currently in the middle of shifting my studio space around so the rest is a mess but I just got a new toy to play with..time to start building some racks i think 

Awesome. This is the drum machine I want so bad.

[thawkins]

8 hours ago, TheBro said:

Awesome. This is the drum machine I want so bad.

That'll be 420 squid.

[BCM]

lol

actually, imo, and at the risk of being hated, i'm of the opinion that the 707 is a bit overrated (i've got one so speaking from experience).

it looks super cool, it has a nice interface and is real usable yes, but the sounds are pretty stale really and not that versatile. very similar to 505 and 626 - i.e. pretty dry uninspired "real" sounding hits. don't get me wrong, i'm not hating on it and it's certainly a classic, but there's really no need to own one and pay £400+ for the pleasure, outside collecting purposes.

[mause]

1 hour ago, BCM said:

lol

actually, imo, and at the risk of being hated, i'm of the opinion that the 707 is a bit overrated (i've got one so speaking from experience).

it looks super cool, it has a nice interface and is real usable yes, but the sounds are pretty stale really and not that versatile. very similar to 505 and 626 - i.e. pretty dry uninspired "real" sounding hits. don't get me wrong, i'm not hating on it and it's certainly a classic, but there's really no need to own one and pay £400+ for the pleasure, outside collecting purposes.

yeah i get what you mean, it is a bit limited in its sound but for it has an amazing interface for jamming and the individual sliders make it quite interesting dynamically.

i would not have paid any more than 400 for one, I got mine for under 350. 

They are so much fun to play with though

[TubularCorporation]

I haven't had my hands ona  707 since before I knew what to do with one (my guitar teacher had one back when I was a kid) but I've gone through a couple of 505s over the years and every time I get rid of one I regret it becasue even though the sound is kind of bland and limiting, the sequencer is one of the most fun I've ever used and I always end up coming up with ideas on it that I don't on other drum machines.

 

A guy I play music with lately found one in the box for $5 at an estate sale last year and traded it to me, and I've been thinking about doing the expanded ROM mod on this one.

[mause]

1 hour ago, TubularCorporation said:

A guy I play music with lately found one in the box for $5 at an estate sale last year and traded it to me, and I've been thinking about doing the expanded ROM mod on this one.

modding seems like fun, I would love to have some pitch control or FM capabilities. I think it would really expand the sound.

also decay control is one of the most useful things on a drum machine, gives it nuance and a bit more character...maybe one day