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Building your own syntheziser


Harp Heaven

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It may not turn out very good, but the effect of the "Hehe, I built it myself" sentence is unchallenged. Has anyone here built their own synthezisers, or know of a webpages or algorithms that help you do it?

 

I have a few friends of mine who can help with the actual syntheziser body construction, the electronics I will have to do myself in concert with said friends.

 

What sounds can you get out of these synthezisers, what will I need? Anything is of use!

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Yes, I built one that I like to call a "Roland XP 80." It has a lot of pretty good sounds, and I must say I'm proud of it. The part(s) are relatively simple considering its functionality. Essentially, you need to buy one Roland XP 80 which is available from a number of sources. It should say "Roland XP 80" in the right hand corner which indicates that you have obtained the correct part. Then you plug it in to other stuff (e.g. another part called "Roland Keyboard Amp"; I understand that this part is interchangeable with similar), plug it in and turn it on.

 

Like everything else, construction and assembly time will vary with experience, but the results are consistently good (I have some friends who built the same synth). One drawback is that there's no decent manual. However, considering the cost of parts, and what this baby will do, it's a bargain. Throw in the pride of knowing that you've made it yourself and, well, it's a no-brainer.

 

From one DIY-er to another, best of luck.

 

-Peace, Love, and BrittanyLips

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Originally posted by Brittanylips:

Yes, I built one that I like to call a "Roland XP 80." It has a lot of pretty good sounds, and I must say I'm proud of it. The part(s) are relatively simple considering its functionality. Essentially, you need to buy one Roland XP 80 which is available from a number of sources. It should say "Roland XP 80" in the right hand corner which indicates that you have obtained the correct part. Then you plug it in to other stuff (e.g. another part called "Roland Keyboard Amp"; I understand that this part is interchangeable with similar), plug it in and turn it on.

Like everything else, construction and assembly time will vary with experience, but the results are consistently good (I have some friends who built the same synth). One drawback is that there's no decent manual. However, considering the cost of parts, and what this baby will do, it's a bargain. Throw in the pride of knowing that you've made it yourself and, well, it's a no-brainer.

 

From one DIY-er to another, best of luck.

 

-Peace, Love, and BrittanyLips

 

Lol... :D

 

My friend had a lot of luck with his JP-8000 as well. God I envy him those electronic skills. Guess I`ll have to settle for a Triton. :(

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I built a synth when I was 15 or 16, with the help of a friend. It was nothing other than an oscillator (analog of course), but it sounded awesome to me at the time!

 

I think today we're seeing a new reinassance of synth designing by small and obscure companies - only, this time it's called software. Even if it's an hardware synth, writing the code it's 90% of the work. If it's a ROMpler, of course, additional work will go in recording and trimming the samples. And if it's a softsynth, you don't even have to think about manufacturing, getting parts, storage, etc.

 

While I'm too old and unmotivated to learn to program a synth myself, I'd like to see more courage in experimenting with new synthesis techniques. Many of the obstacles created by hardware are not there anymore - so come on, give me synths that aren't just "emulations" of something else!

 

Carlo

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Originally posted by marino:

I built a synth when I was 15 or 16, with the help of a friend. It was nothing other than an oscillator (analog of course), but it sounded awesome to me at the time!

 

I think today we're seeing a new reinassance of synth designing by small and obscure companies - only, this time it's called software. Even if it's an hardware synth, writing the code it's 90% of the work. If it's a ROMpler, of course, additional work will go in recording and trimming the samples. And if it's a softsynth, you don't even have to think about manufacturing, getting parts, storage, etc.

 

While I'm too old and unmotivated to learn to program a synth myself, I'd like to see more courage in experimenting with new synthesis techniques. Many of the obstacles created by hardware are not there anymore - so come on, give me synths that aren't just "emulations" of something else!

 

Carlo

 

Interesting thought, but aren`t some of the VA`s today doing just that? Not trying to emulate other synths, but a totally unique sound? please enlighten me, I don`t know much about them.

 

I checked out PAIA`s website. Seems they have an analog kit for sale, called Fatman. Seems kinda cool. Sounds aren`t first rate, but then, it costs like 139$.

 

I have also flirted with the thought of buying a Juno...Hell, how much equipment am I going to get?

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Originally posted by Harp Heaven:

 

Interesting thought, but aren`t some of the VA`s today doing just that? Not trying to emulate other synths, but a totally unique sound? please enlighten me, I don`t know much about them.

 

Yes, each VA has, generally, its own analog-style sound. But what I meant is, I'd like for new softsynths to offer new synthesis systems and not only models of analog, sample playback or FM. I'd love to have harmonic resynthesis+noise, modal synthesis, phisical modeling with true programmability, a good implementation of granular, and who knows how many sound designing systems can be developed in software. Metasynth is one of the few, really creative programs around. And Reaktor, of course. But researches seem to have stopped a few years ago...

(Yeah, I hear the voices: Go get a Kyma - I'm thinking about it)

 

Carlo

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Originally posted by Brittanylips:

Yes, I built one that I like to call a "Roland XP 80."

 

Rather like how you upgrade an original IBM PC to run windows.

 

1/ Remove power chord from IBM PC. (yeah - it has to be a sus4)

 

2/ Find Pentium machine with no power cord.

 

3/ Attach power cord to pentium.

 

A company in Europe is bringing out (has brought out?) a machine called Chameleon which is an end user programmable (ie, down to the bare silicon) synthesizer. Their web site seems to be closed for remodelling at the moment - although the beta of their SDK appears to still be available.

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Im actually thinking of building my own synth from scratch...not using a DIY kit, but actually get all the parts and piecing everything together.

 

Marino - how hard was it building that synth with just the osc?

 

I wonder if there is any info online on how to build your synth from scratch.

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Originally posted by industriac:

Marino - how hard was it building that synth with just the osc?

 

It would be a piece of cake NOW. Then, it was complicated - but very exciting as well. I had this friend that was an electronic genius, and he showed me the basics - I had started playing keyboards, so I was very interested! One day, he came to me with an electronics magazine where they said that you could build an oscillator by using a Sinclair Z30 (basically an amp) and kind of feeding it back. He asked me what it would take to make it "musical", I said pitch control and some kind of waveform selection, so we designed (well, HE designed) some additional circuit to achieve that.

We were so poor that we couldn't afford a keyboard, however... We used a pot for pitch control, and another pot that would continuosly change the waveform. It was just an experiment, but at that age (thinking about it, I was maybe 14 y.o.) it was a gas to do. I even tried to use it with my band, but without a keyboard... you can imagine. :)

I'll never forget the sheer satisfaction of playing an instrument that you have designed, soldered and assembled yourself. Incidentally, that same guy later went to work for Bose - He won the audition despite being the only one without an university degree! Later he made a series of mods for me, and built an amp for my studio that I'm using to this day. Sadly, he's not working in electronics anymore.

 

Carlo

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That sounds amazing. What I`ve been thinking of, is buying the Fatman kit off the Paia page, buying a cheap midi keyboard, and then building a case. My girlfriend is great at drawings and paintings, and she said to me that she would love doing that kind of artworks. Its far from "my own syntheziser", but its far more personal than buying a prebuilt kit.

 

But then: Is it possible to make your own keyboard, just building the damn keys from scratch?

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Originally posted by Harp Heaven:

But then: Is it possible to make your own keyboard, just building the damn keys from scratch?

 

Nope. You are talking about tooling up at minimum 10 unique parts, not counting springs or weights. That's thousands of dollars right there. The electronics are nothing to sneeze at either. Even finding an OEM manufacturer of keyboard assemblies is a pain. The bottom line is that building a keyboard from scratch will be more effort than building the electronics. The original plan of hacking an off the shelf MIDI controller is the best bet.

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Maybe of interest, recently I remember someone was trying to sell a Kurzweil keyboard key assembly section or something similar. It was just the actual keyboard keys part. Something like that might be just what you're looking for. Or it might not be, but it's worth checking out if it's still there. It was on Ebay, search for Kurzweil or something.

Brett G.

Hall Piano Company, Inc.

Metairie, Louisiana

Kurzweil Keyboard Dept. Manager

 

"My dream is to have sex in odd time signatures." - J. Rudess

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I am a keyboard player, hence I am interested in keyboard and synths and schtuff like that. I am also a disciple of Jordan, sent to spread His word over every board I can find and to lure everyone into the prog way. I am everywhere, you cannot escape me!! MWUHAHAHAHA! :P

Brett G.

Hall Piano Company, Inc.

Metairie, Louisiana

Kurzweil Keyboard Dept. Manager

 

"My dream is to have sex in odd time signatures." - J. Rudess

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Originally posted by Harp Heaven:

"You will now be sent to hell, where you will spend an eternity listening to music consisting of cheesy brass arrangements and keyboard solos"

 

reminds me of a joke dcr said on the bass forum:

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

originally posted by DCR:

 

One you may have heard (a drummer told it to me ):

A couple goes to a marriage counselor & tells him that they're not communicating, they seem to have nothing to say to each other, and they never really talk anymore. The counselor leads them out of his office to the front desk, and instructs the receptionist to reserve them two seats at a local jazz concert. After the couple leaves, the puzzled receptionist asks the counselor, "They don't talk any more; but why did you send them to a jazz concert?" He replies, "I was at last night's concert, & the bassist took a solo on every number." "So what?" the receptionist asks. "Well," says the doctor, "EVERYBODY talks during the bass solo!"

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