symmetrizer

symmetrizer, 1 month ago to SynthDIY

I got nonlinearcircuits - Fourier Panel+PCB as a birthday gift from my brother in February. Since then I've done a little 0805 surface mounted soldering (zlob - mineq and MTM - pulses (or was it volts?)) And it wasn't that bad and both modules worked on the first try.

Yesterday, I finally mustered up the courage to start working on this beast. All 10k:s done in the resistor matrix so far! One small fuck up that I fixed easily otherwise I think it's going pretty well. It's still scary though.

#synthdiy #eurorack

jepyang, 1 month ago to SynthDIY

Fun fact: the hardest thing about #synthDIY and DIY electronics is not soldering (takes practice but most folks can do it) or knowing how electronics work (a lot of it can be approached like building LEGO or following a recipe).

The hardest part about DIY electronics is the fit and finish. (Not even aesthetics or an intuitive UI, though that’s all hard too!)

Just getting it all in a box such that it’s enjoyable to use and not in danger of falling apart.

symmetrizer, 2 months ago to random

I almost finished my ADDAC701REV2 VCO build today. It's my first kit from ADDAC System and I have to say that I'm already a little disappointed with this module. There was quite a lot of weirdness in the build. Too short spacers, things not fitting nicely, cutting off supporting component legs, footprints not corresponding to actual placement, inconsistencies between PCB and build doc etc. I've had way better building experiences from buying random modules from Etsy sellers.

It looks gorgeous, though, and it better sound magnificent to compensate for the price and the underwhelming build experience. Hopefully, I'll have some time and energy tomorrow evening to solder the last few pots and give it a test spin before I start with the daunting task of calibrating this thing.

symmetrizer, 2 months ago to random

I had a nightmare in which I was doxxed by nazis :(

Kudos to one of the nazis for hiding the doxxing plans inside the shaft of an umbrella, though.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

I'm on my way home from a two day "class" on modern c++, which consisted of an old intel guy (ic not the cpu company) ranting about his strongly held opinions about extremely niche and minute details. Needless to say, it was a waste of time.

I'm so fucking sick and tired of the trope about programmers having extremely strong opinions about what basically boils down to bullshit no one really cares about.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

Working with programming has sucked out all the joy out of it for me. I used to like doing coding just for the pleasure of doing it, and now I try my best to avoid doing any programming outside of work. I think it's a little sad, and it makes me never want to work with anything I really love.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

The irony. I got the Turing Machine and a bunch of other DIY modules working on my first attempt but I failed with a simple sample and hold module with SMD components presoldered. 4 jacks, 3 caps, one LED and I managed to fuck it up. Kinda hoping the fault is mine though and not in the SMD stuff.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

God damn sanding down wood by hand is boring, especially big surfaces where it feels like you're getting nowhere no matter how much you do it. I can't motivate buying a machine for this though.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

Today, I'm working on my eurorack case, I.e. sanding down all the visible parts. When that's done, I only have to drill holes for the corner protection thingys, which are taking their sweet time to arrive. I ordered them from Ukraine, a country at war(!) and it's still customs in my country being the bottle neck.

Still haven't decided on a finishing yet, maybe dark oak?

I'm also going to keep on working on the Turing Machine.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

It's my birthday this weekend and my gift to myself was to start working on my Turing Machine kit. Almost halfway done!

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

I've finished PHONIC TAXIDERMIST 47.2b from circuitbenders yesterday and it works! When I plugged it in for testing the power LED didn't turn on I'll let the reader imagine the terror in my heart at that moment.

There are still some minor things left to do. I have to troubleshot the damn LED. I think I manage to install the switches the wrong way, despite following the clear markings on the switches or maybe I'm just weird preferring up == on, down == off. I also have to find nice looking matching knobs which might be challenging since one of the five pots has a round shortish shaft while the others have longer shafts with "notches". I'm not exactly sure about the terminology so I don't really know what to search for or if it's even possible to match pots with different shafts.

I've played around with the module a bit and it's a lot of fun but not as straight forward as the Harmonic Engine where whatever you put into it sounds absolutely amazing by default but I think this module has great potential but I need practice and to find use cases where it makes sense, I guess.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

Every Man and Woman Is a Star

hobbsc, 3 months ago to fediverse

Today marks my 41th loop of screaming around the sun. Things are generally good considering all of the bad. I'm not much of a birthday celebration kinda guy but I did get myself a piece of cake last night, só that was nice. There's always a good excuse for cake.

Good #tzag, #fediverse! I'm gonna chug some #coffee and go to an open mat at a gym I've never been to before. Should be fun.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

Speaking of Music Thing Modular, I really want to get the Radio Music module! Maybe next month.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

I've had a Music Thing Modular's Turing Machine kit laying around for over a month now. Looking at the BOM, schematic and build guide, it doesn't really seem too complicated but for some reason I'm absurdly intimidated by it.

Yesterday I made the mistake of reading the modwiggler thread dedicated to the Turing Machine and apparently people are experiencing all sorts of weird problems with this module. This didn't help me feeling more confident attempting to build this thing...

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

I hate being in this middle ground of having a cold. I get exhausted by doing even simple stuff but I feel well enough to easily get bored.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

Worked a bit more on my eurorack case and now I'm absolutely exhausted. I'm in bed with my laptop now and I have no plans to leave bed for quite a while.

The gaps between the frame and the box is reaching an acceptable level. I think I need one final run with the wood filler to fix some minor aesthetic blemishes and then I can sand down all visible parts and start thinking about a finish.

symmetrizer, 3 months ago to random

Yesterday I got so bored that I defied my cold and soldered together the Metal Synth kit from Rakit. Everything went well, or so I thought. I finished it and put it to the test and got greeted with the magic smoke. Turns out I put the quad op-amp IC in the wrong way and promptly fried it.

I think this is the first time this has happened to me since basically forever. I'm usually extremely careful with these things.

Luckily I had a spare LM324N laying around and no other components needed to be replaced. It works now and is a cool little machine.

I guess the lesson here is that one shouldn't do electronics when not feeling 100% alright...

dinozombie, 3 months ago to random

Finished reading 'The Weird and the Eerie' by Mark Fisher and it was great. Now I've got a long list of things to read/watch.

Thanks to @symmetrizer for the rec

jepyang, 3 months ago to SynthDIY

I mentioned that PCBs arrived last night, built one up today

Everything seems to work
Fuck yesssssssssss

#synthDIY #eurorack