DIY synth from WW Aug/Sep/Oct 1973

[Valvepower]

As the crow flies Ramsgate is about 40 miles southeast from here, however by car it’ll twice that distance as the Thames in the way, whatever it would only be an hour and half’s drive to Ramsgate - M25 and 2 permitting.

There is just something nice about these electronics, its accessible and tangible.

I often look through the WW, PE and PW mags of this time and look at the projects like the synths, Amplifiers and Radio equipment both amateur and domestic and marvel at the elegance of the circuits and design. I don’t want to get too maudlin, but a lot of this cracking design work is rapidly disappearing into the mists of time and is destined to be forgotten about.

Terry

Originally Posted by dougietamson

I'm kicking myself as were were down in Margate (to break-up the long drive from Edinburgh to Paris) just a few miles from his museum in Ramsgate during the Easter break.
Next time!

[dougietamson]

Originally Posted by Valvepower

As the crow flies Ramsgate is about 40 miles southeast from here, however by car it’ll twice that distance as the Thames in the way, whatever it would only be an hour and half’s drive to Ramsgate - M25 and 2 permitting.

There is just something nice about these electronics, its accessible and tangible.

I often look through the WW, PE and PW mags of this time and look at the projects like the synths, Amplifiers and Radio equipment both amateur and domestic and marvel at the elegance of the circuits and design. I don’t want to get too maudlin, but a lot of this cracking design work is rapidly disappearing into the mists of time and is destined to be forgotten about.

Terry

Make a weekend of it!

I can highly recommend the Walpole Bay Hotel in Margate, it's a bit of a museum itself, lots of old radios on display and a proper afternoon tea. When I asked the owner about famous clients she said she didn't have to say any more than Greta Garbo!

[jamesperrett]

Originally Posted by dougietamson

Here is a link to a pdf about building your own VCO on a breadboard with lots of beginner level info on how it works.

That looks quite interesting. Our lad is currently building his own modular synth which he is kind of designing himself although much of the electronic design has been borrowed from other places. We have a basic oscillator and filter so the next thing will probably be an envelope generator and VCA. The Erica synths page looks like it could come in handy.

I have also discovered another magazine design that I have never seen mentioned elsewhere. That is the Hifi For Pleasure Music Synthesizer by David Malham (presumable the same David Malham who went on to work on Ambisonics at York University) which was published in the Autumn/Winter of 1975/76. It is modular and the modules seem fairly basic but it claims to be capable of musical results. It might be worth building some of the modules to go into our lad's synth.

[Valvepower]

My point of entry into the world of ‘synthesized’ music or sounds was the organ projects in the Philips EE and Radioninc Electronic/Radio sets of the 1960’s. I briefly coved this in the restoration of a Clavioline keyboard in the Spring and (up and coming) Summer Bulletins…

This thread had me looking at the F.C. Judd book again (which also gets a very brief mention in the Clavioline article) and remembering his projects/articles in PW and PE, notably the Sound Effects generator in PW, which was another project which fascinated me as a Lad. Like the young lad and the PE Synth if one should come up for sale I’d buy it!

I can see a trip out to Ramsgate as I also need to visit a cousin in Deal, which is only half an hour further down the coast.

Finally, it’s really heartening to see and read Lads and Girls are into this technology. All power to their elbows

Regards
Terry

[DrStrangelove]

I constructed a Chorosynth replica (in the days before Elf & safetea condemned my etch tank) but it didn't work very well for some reason, most likely my incompetence.

[Aub]

Some good old kit here:-

https://youtu.be/Jbv72ZjVMW8


Aub

[Valvepower]

Aub,

Nice one… I remember buying Phaedra, Tangerine Dream back in 1974.

It was an ideal companion to my ‘jumble sale’ Quad II/22 system.

Ah, the good 'ole days of pukka prog rock

Terry

[dougietamson]

Originally Posted by Valvepower

Aub,

Nice one… I remember buying Phaedra, Tangerine Dream back in 1974.

It was an ideal companion to my ‘jumble sale’ Quad II/22 system.

Ah, the good 'ole days of pukka prog rock

Terry

A while back I was looking for vintage keys as used by early Genesis, pre 75, and found these free plug-ins:

https://plugins4free.com/dev/383/

I did a test here with a valve reverb tank driver I built last year.

https://soundcloud.com/user-11643823...est-synth-el42

[Valvepower]

I’ll have to have listen to that.

I must admit it being best part of 35 years since I played with reverb tanks/trays in anger in guitar amps and studio outboard effects, except for the occasional repair job, however doing the Clavioline restoration brought me face to face with reverb tanks/trays again… I’d forgotten just how fascinating they are!

keeping on topic with 'musical' magazine articles, I remember the F.C. Judd Reverb Unit project in an early 1970’s PW.

Terry

[Diabolical Artificer]

Not into LMIGNC video's, they're too short and lacking detail, with electronics I'm more interested in what's inside a device, as another Utooober says "Don't turn it on, take it apart"

If your into vintage synth's Alex Ball does some great video's https://www.youtube.com/@AlexBallMusic he doesn't build them though but really knows his stuff about Korg, ARP & Roland 70's synth's.