Jump to content
IGNORED

Do it yourself crew in the house?


lala

Recommended Posts

Never mind about the Lyra 8, UPS left my main parts order out in the open and it was stolen so I guess I'm not building that for a while.

 

The most frustrating thing is I selected USPS shipping from Mouser but they sent it UPS anyway.  I never use UPS, so many bad experiences like this with them already. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, rhmilo said:

Ooh ... *very* nice. How is the availability of parts for Buchla systems?

 

Yeah, that always seemed to be a problem with the older clones, but the pabz ones seemed to have either revisions and substitutions or samodular has the rarer parts that he's happy to sell you when buying the pcbs.  Still working out a plan to make sure it is actually feasible and within my skill set.  Looks like samodular is going to be offering full kits at some point soon.  Some of the 3rd party 208 expanders are interesting too, utilities but also a licensed synthi oscillator.

 

Edited by kakapo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TubularCorporation said:

Never mind about the Lyra 8, UPS left my main parts order out in the open and it was stolen so I guess I'm not building that for a while.

 

The most frustrating thing is I selected USPS shipping from Mouser but they sent it UPS anyway.  I never use UPS, so many bad experiences like this with them already. 

Goddamn, that would drive me nuts. Nothing you can do?

Over here in NL I've had almost only positive experiences with UPS, DHL/Deutsche Post however... Although a DHL delivery dude did once help me while I was trying to break up a fight in front of the place I was working by pointing at us and repeatedly shouting "No!" from his stopped truck. A+ for social responsibility. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I emailed Mouser, hopefully they're a big enough company that they'll replace it.  I've never in my life heard of anyone actually successfully filing a claim with any public or private shipping service if the package gets scanned as delivered.

 

I always request USPS because our carriers know to put stuff in the back where it won't get stolen (we also have a big sign on the door, but people from the private companies hardly ever read that), but I've had quite a few times when Mouser sends it UPS anyway.  I'm not sure but I think if you request backordered parts to be send in a separate shipment they just use UPS no matter what service you actually selected.  On top of things being left in weird places with private companies, UPS specifically has a really unreliable update system, it's always a crapshoot whether my delivery notification will actually get sent.  This time it didn't, and they left it late in the evening after sundown yesterday, so it sat outside on the porch (next to a bus stop) all night until someone grabbed it.

 

We'll see. I'll eventually be able to reorder but it might be a while

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, kakapo said:

Looks like samodular is going to be offering full kits at some point soon. 

That would be *very* cool.

In a couple of years. 
 

The cool thing about Serge is it only uses bog standard parts. Also the circuits are fairly simple so stripboarding them seems perfectly feasible.

So if that 73-75 Home Built panel + pcb doesn’t come back in stock soon, stripboarding is what it’s going to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

83687bfd142a29d810a0add7e14f9e69a783b3bf

 

Next step is to add line inputs for the X and Y deflection, and move the useful controls onto a panel.  Then stick it all in a box and I've got myself a combination vectorscope/portable rescanning CRT that I can set up on a table with a cheap CCD camera and plug straight into the video rig.

Edited by TubularCorporation
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mouser came through with a refund after all! Ironically, the reason the package was stolen was because they shipped with UPS even though I requested USPS, but they also guarantee UPS deliveries (but not USPS) so the shipping mistake is also the reason I'm getting it replaced.

 

 

That means I'll be able to get the parts (and design/fabricate a Eurorack panel for it so it doesn't take precious desk space) for an FFG this month after all!

 

Not having a colorizer is the big thing standing between me and video feedback loops that don't degrade into a smeary mess if I don't want them to, and the FFG really seems like the one as far as DIY colorizers go.  And even with the custom panel it's going to be WAY cheaper to build than buy.  Half the cost at most, probably a fair bit less.

 

Edited by TubularCorporation
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just ordered the 73-75 Home built Serge panels + PCB's.

They're for a complete two row Serge system using early modules (so no DUSG and SSG but instead a positive slew, a negative slew and some envelopes). Costs are around €400 for the PCB + panel. From what I've seen - but I've yet to study it thoroughly - the BOM will be about €250. It uses fairly standard components, however, so I could probably dip into my stock for a lot of things.

Not sure what to do about a PSU and a case.

Anyway, that's my summer vacation taken care of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought the 73-75 was mostly surface mount and the boards came with the surface mount parts installed so there's really not a whole lot of actual assembly needed. 

 

Still waiting on the backordered transformer for the Serge PSU but I won't be making any modules for quite a while anyhow so no rush there.  Replacement Lyra 8 parts should be here Wednesday and the parts for the FFG won't be too long, just a few things still backordered on that one.  I need to design a  Eurorack panel for it first anyway.

 

No new projects/parts for a while though, other than finishing up the current stuff every spare bit of income for the next couple months has to go toward the new interface.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, TubularCorporation said:

I thought the 73-75 was mostly surface mount and the boards came with the surface mount parts installed so there's really not a whole lot of actual assembly needed. 

 

Still waiting on the backordered transformer for the Serge PSU but I won't be making any modules for quite a while anyhow so no rush there.  Replacement Lyra 8 parts should be here Wednesday and the parts for the FFG won't be too long, just a few things still backordered on that one.  I need to design a  Eurorack panel for it first anyway.

 

No new projects/parts for a while though, other than finishing up the current stuff every spare bit of income for the next couple months has to go toward the new interface.

The other 73-75 stuff is surface mount, correct, but the home built is through hole (see image below)

 

 

 

Job_0576.jpg)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

Looks like a nice, simple build

Burn

?

But yeah, it seems very doable. It’s just that the PCB’s are very large.

And you need to source four obsolete but very popular chips (CA3080 and CA3086)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I guess it's not so much simple as "simple for a full rack of modules."  I guess R6-R8 and the reverb/preamp part are kind of dense, though, and there's probably a bunch of calibration, so I might walk that back a bit.

 

But it doesn't look confusing or anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The simplicity is a Serge thing, I think. The CGS schematics are really simple as well.

But you're right. I was going through the schematics yesterday evening to check them against the BOM and they really *are* very simple.

Not surprising, perhaps, as Serge was originally meant for DIY by people without enough money to buy Buchla ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, the CGS stuff is really simple, too.  It's funny how a prebuilt Serge panel is so expensive when DIY they're some of the less expensive synths you can build.

 

I need to design a template for blank Serge panels 9pilot holes for the standard Serge layout grid (plus a few extras for stuff like the Elby combination SSG/noise panel that fits the noise controls between the regular grid positions) and the holes for mounting it to a LoudestWarning chassis), get it laser cut, and then be able to buy blank 4u rack panels and drill them for Serge modules easily.  Would probably cost $50 or so from Ponoko but that plus the cost of the panels would still pay for itself if I made two Serge racks over the next few years, and havign a completely homemade, paperface panel seems more in the Serge spirit than buying panels.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, TubularCorporation said:

I need to design a template for blank Serge panels 9pilot holes for the standard Serge layout grid (plus a few extras for stuff like the Elby combination SSG/noise panel that fits the noise controls between the regular grid positions) and the holes for mounting it to a LoudestWarning chassis), get it laser cut, and then be able to buy blank 4u rack panels and drill them for Serge modules easily.  Would probably cost $50 or so from Ponoko but that plus the cost of the panels would still pay for itself if I made two Serge racks over the next few years, and havign a completely homemade, paperface panel seems more in the Serge spirit than buying panels.

Absolutely.

This was my plan B, but the home built plan A is a little easier.

At some point in time plan B will be executed too, however. I'd love to have some of the more standard Serge modules as well (DUSG, SSG).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, the main reason I ended up not going for what you're doing was availability.  And now when I finally do build one I've got a whole nonstandard setup in mind, since the money I could have put toward one of those kits went toward a Kilpatrick Phenol and I figure I can use that for a lot of the basic utility stuff and focus more on the most Serge-y Serge modules, hence a sort of mutated version of the Eidelweiss panel. It'll probably cost $600-ish to build (maybe a bit more once the panel and power transformer are factored in, if the transformer ever arrives - Mouser marked it shipped over a week ago but they still haven't actually delivered it to USPS for shipping; last time this happened it sat in their warehouse for 2 or 3 weeks until I sent them an angry email -which I almost never do - and then it was in the mail in three hours) but I can do it a bit at a time and an individual Serge module costs about as much as 3-4 delivery pizzas (probably more like 2.5 pizzas around here, because pizza is getting really overpriced) so it's very attainable over the next year or so, even after I blow my whole tax return on a new interface.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, TubularCorporation said:

Yeah, the main reason I ended up not going for what you're doing was availability.  And now when I finally do build one I've got a whole nonstandard setup in mind, since the money I could have put toward one of those kits went toward a Kilpatrick Phenol and I figure I can use that for a lot of the basic utility stuff and focus more on the most Serge-y Serge modules, hence a sort of mutated version of the Eidelweiss panel. It'll probably cost $600-ish to build (maybe a bit more once the panel and power transformer are factored in, if the transformer ever arrives - Mouser marked it shipped over a week ago but they still haven't actually delivered it to USPS for shipping; last time this happened it sat in their warehouse for 2 or 3 weeks until I sent them an angry email -which I almost never do - and then it was in the mail in three hours) but I can do it a bit at a time and an individual Serge module costs about as much as 3-4 delivery pizzas (probably more like 2.5 pizzas around here, because pizza is getting really overpriced) so it's very attainable over the next year or so, even after I blow my whole tax return on a new interface.

Has anyone had any experience with elby designs modules? With all this serge talk, I keep thinking about how I used to see their stuff really cheap on eBay all the time when I was first building my eurorack 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They're the main place for CGS boards and parts, I've got one of their Serge buss board PCBs and the boards and panel for their combination SSG/Random Source module but I haven't built any of it yet.  I think with Serge stuff it's all common components and relatively simple/low level designs that have been around for decades, so the quality is mainly down to the builder (component quality, how well you calibrate it).  Board quality is fine, nothing special nothing wrong with it. Prices are great.

Edited by TubularCorporation
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It took over 3 weeks and half a dozen email exchanges between when Mouser sent me a shipping confirmation and when it actually left their warehouse, but my transformer finally showed up today so other than choosing a connector type and mounting them on the front panel, I've got the power supply for a big enough 12v Serge system that it will take me at least 2 years to actually build it, probably 3.

 

1988660845_SergePSUtest.thumb.jpg.479dbbe6d8f5a10e1f44fbc948ab3872.jpg

 

Also need to hook up the second channel, move the LEDs off-board and get some connectors for the terminals I've got the transformer secondary soldered to now, to make it easier to disconnect the board if I ever need to work on it.

Edited by TubularCorporation
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm doing some more work on the yamaha dd11 that I've been modifying over the last year or so. Initially I had broken out all the analog and digital pins on the rom IC and had a lot of fun shorting those and everything is still working fine as far as I can tell. While trying to decide on a "final" enclosure and control panel of sorts I decided to also try cutting one of the traces between the rom and the voice IC and found that the results were even better. So now I'm cutting all the traces and breaking them out to a panel with switches so I can freely disconnect and route the pins.

What I'm trying to find out is whether or not it's ok to disconnect the ic pins like this and keep them "floating" or should I pull them down to GND using a pulldown resistor? So far I've read about digital io malfunctioning if a pin is floating but this is more or less what I'm trying to achieve. Another article says to always add a pulldown resistor when connecting pins to gnd but doesn't mention anything about simply disconnecting them/have them floating. Any advice or insights?  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The second half of my Mouser order for the Lyra 8 is now delayed until at least mid October for backordered parts, so I think I'm going to start hoarding stuff for a new spring/summer project:

 

https://www.deadendfx.com/product/pompei

 

EDIT: actually, looking at the build document I'd need to buy at least $100 worth of test equipment just to properly match the JFETs and transistors, so maybe not.

Edited by TubularCorporation
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.