Austin TX

After a few days of studying and helpful replies from Steve in tech support, I’d figured out Lattice Semiconductor’s free design software ispLEVER Classic, and successfully downloaded a simple ‘hello world’ demo to a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) chip. My highest hopes were confirmed… all the steps are possible without writing a line of code. Hooray! You can draw a schematic on the screen and transform it to a piece of hardware in seconds. What a futuristic feeling. The chip itself is some kind of silicon fabric made of zillions of nano-size zombies that reconfigure themselves on command…?! anyway, I’m not scared.  Indeed I’m thrilled with the power of this technique.

The software is free, its called ispLEVER Classic 1.4. Installing it on my Vista laptop wasn’t quite a snap because there are three or four modules to install in order, and you need to find your computer’s MAC address to activate the license. I have to use ‘run as administrator’ to launch it too, but whatever.

The programmer is called ispDOWNLOAD, and it was about $175.

The CPLD chip is ispLSI2032VE, actually nearly obsolete now but the software still supports it.

I think soon I will try to understand Lattice’s MachXO series. They’re related to FPGAs, have built in dual-port RAM, clock generator, clock multiplier… a nice toolbox.

Its inspiring to think that even if the schematic in your head is extra complex, you can just draw it and *boom* little elves build it for you in seconds.

Of course its limited to digital circuits. Not analog yet…

Closeup of the breadboard adapter.  In addition to the socketed CPLD, it has a JTAG 2×5 programming header, a 3.3V regulator, three capacitors, and a resistor.

Note on clock rise times:  CPLDs are capable of running very fast clock rates, 100MHz+.  In my example circuit shown above, I found the counter was behaving anomalously, skipping states.  The root of the problem is related to rise time of the clock pulses.   Logic can be 0 or 1, but the rise time is how long it takes for a transition to occur.  Imagine a horse race and everybody is on the starting line ready to go… the flag goes up, but very slowly.   Will everybody start at exactly the same moment?  This is an analogy for clocking the CPLD.  I found that clock sources that worked fine with 74HC TTL and CD4000 CMOS often do not have a quick enough rise time to clock this CPLD without glitching.  The clock generator built in to my old-school Knight breadboard has a 150 nanosecond rise time, which is too slow.  Experimenting, I found that 10 nanoseconds appears to be fast enough for reliable clocking.  A 74HC244 buffer IC works well for conditioning real-world inputs.

Announcing a workshop taught with my 1976 Phototheremin kit, although I won’t be in attendance.

HANDMADE MUSIC
Culturefix, 9 Clinton St., New York, NY 10002
Sunday, August 29
Workshop 4-6p
Event 7-9:30p
Hosted by createdigitalmusic.com with Etsy.com, Make Magazine, and XLR8R Magazine

4pm – 6pm
WORKSHOP: Make your own Photo-Theremin (Beginner-friendly!)
$10 (includes parts)
Never soldered before? Dozed off in Physics class when they were explaining electricity? Here’s your second chance. Create a noise-making two-transistor synthesizer of your very own, controlled by modulating light. Based on an original circuit by electronics legend Forrest M. Mims III, the man who de-mystified electronics in books for Radio Shack and others, and adapted by designer Eric Archer for Handmade Music Austin, this simple circuit is the perfect introduction to making sound with electricity. It’s quick to assemble, but lots of fun. Learn basic soldering, then make your own kit. And be sure to come back in the evening with your creation to join the world’s first known Photo-Theremin Chorus.

You must pre-register for this event.
Registrations close August 20! (Parts are being fabricated in advance!)
http://phototheremin.eventbrite.com/

7pm – 9:30 pm
HANDMADE MUSIC – Open Party
FREE

Meet and mingle with inventors, musicians, and artists. Discover chip and mobile music played live wirelessly at the bar by New York’s Pulsewave community. Hear music and sound made with free software on Android mobile phones. Check out open sound inventions in the gallery and surprise performances hosted by createdigitalmusic.com, DIY musical crafts from Etsy.com, the latest inventions and kits from Make Magazine, and a world-exclusive debut performance of a new, hackable synthesizer called the MeeBlip.

Special guest: Drone Lab creator and renowned synth designer, artist, circuit bender, and musician Pete Edwards of Casperelectronics

Full lineup will be announced, but unplanned guests tend to appear.

You can now find Bodytronix tracks on my SoundCloud .  We’re playing Friday July 2nd at the ND @ 501 Studios.  Come have fun with us, Pong, and Woodgrain.

Handmade Music Austin #9 (nine already!?) is coming up on Sunday afternoon July 11th at the usual location, Salvage Vanguard Theatre in Austin TX.  I came up with a new basic level project called 1976 Phototheremin.  Here’s a demo:

The original circuit is by Forrest Mims III, from the book OPTOELECTRONIC PROJECTS vol 1.  I fell in love with this circuit when I saw it, because it is ultra-minimal.  It has only seven components including the battery and speaker.  Its real transistor magic.  The active circuit is just two transistors, a capacitor, and photocell.  I’ve crossed my fingers that the PCBs will get here in time for the workshop.

I’ve also been experimenting with voltage-controlled oscillators.  In particular the 4069 CMOS VCO of René Schmitz.  I got rid of the PWM section and built two VCOs from one CD4069.  The temperature compensation method deserves some re-working however, because Schmitz’s design requires one tempco resistor per CV input.  It would more efficient to use one tempco per VCO.  So I am consulting some of the other VCO designs I see, including a nice one by Ian Fritz that you can see here.

In order to appreciate the subtleties of temperature compensation, the VCO must be tuned accurately.  This can be a chore so I imagined a circuit to make it easier.  It is just a voltage sequencer that outputs stairstep waveforms with 1.00V intervals.  This makes the VCO play descending octave intervals, and its easiest to hear if it is tuned accurately.  Here’s more information, and a demo.

a short documentary demonstrating an experimental field recording technique. lets roll from new jersey to brooklyn and listen to hidden sounds outside the window.  please pardon the shaky video.

more sound camera recordings

Mikado musical automaton
House on the Rock
Wisconsin, USA

Insert 2 tokens.

The fellow in the middle plays his kettle drum with a slow mechanical motion of the forearms, while shifting his stern gaze from side to side like an orchestra conductor. A second, smaller human figure is perched in the shadowy nook above.

In other parts, a mechanized xylophone plays, and a robotic beater thumps a gong with a timid stroke. The whole thing is wiggling with tiny intermittent motions.

True to its visual form, Mikado plays a mock Eastern themed composition in a minor key with oblique modal riffage on top.  I’m a huge fan of the Raymond Scott Quintette recordings and the Mikado conjures a similar vibe.  The lead instruments play in a style that hints at the taksim solos by Turkish clarinet and quanun musicians, but with more blue notes.  I love it.  Just wait for the bass drum to kick in and you’ll see why.  Its like proto-acid house imagined thru a steampunk automaton.

An ostinato bassline repeats the dominant and octave mercilessly on a set of pneumatic horns.  Is this all playing from a punched paper roll?  I’d like to know more about the collaboration between composer and builder.  Or was it all one person?

Everything at House on the Rock seemed remarkably well maintained. There must be considerable talent employed in the upkeep of these automatons.

 1893 Regina Sublima grand music box

Infinity Room

RDS mod

 drum solo pt 2

Bodytronix has two upcoming shows in Brooklyn.  Catch our Bent Fest appearance on Saturday, then dig the Huitlacoche Circuit Brunch on Sunday afternoon.

Hit me up + say hey if you know where the actions at!

Sat. 4/24 BENT FESTIVAL 2010

Bodytronix is scheduled for 10:30PM on Saturday night.  I’m teaching a Handmade Music Austin workshop on Saturday afternoon at Bent Festival as well.  I’ll be there with Dann Green from 4ms Pedals to teach 3 beginner PCB projects for fun minimal synthesizers: mini space rockers, picopaso (bleep labs), and simsam (4ms pedals).  Register here!

Sun. 4/25 HUITLACOCHE CIRCUIT BRUNCH @ SILENT BARN

A Bent Fest spillover event on Sunday afternoon, with performances by Pixelform, Dr. Rek, Casper Electronics, Judi Chicago, and Bodytronix… curated by Kunal from Loud Objects

Eureka.  I designed a dual SP0256 vocal synthesizer and it works.

Also,  a new track …

 EDRUPT - m-u-s-i-k

 … and a photo of the Radatron JE Experimenter lounging in the yard.
Spring has come to Texas.

(wtf is a Radatron JE Experimenter? .. its the subject of a future update)

personal faves

• So Percussion performing Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet, with Mr. Reich in attendance for a post-concert Q&A.
• MURAL creative improv by Norwegians Ingar Zach and Kim Myhr, with Jim Denley (Australia) on woodwinds.
• Ellen Fullman’s Long String Instrument in the historic Seaholm Power Plant, with Travis Weller and Nick Hennies on the ‘box bows’.  I am kicking myself for not bringing a camera to this rarely-opened space.  The audience was seated in the turbine hall, beneath an enormous overhead crane running the length of the hall, its ominous, rusty 75-ton hoist hook dangling above our heads, and the concrete floor interrupted by huge eccentrically shaped holes once occupied by turbines, offering a spooky view downward thru several levels of subfloor to pools of dark water.
• Arc Attack.  These guys keep adding more crazy to the show, the coils are 6 feet tall now and the MC donned a full metal mesh bodysuit and danced between the coils, catching 500kV bolts of lightning modulated to play synth leads instead of thunder.  Craig Newswanger’s robotic drum kit really jams.
• AMODA laptop battle  3-minute sets judged by a panel and audience response in a 3-round elimination format.  I really liked the sounds from Ikipr, Mysterious H, and Cygnus.  Blixaboy won the judges and crowd with a funky approach, then shifted into minimal mode when encore time arrived.  Talking with some of the competitors afterward, it seems like you need to bring enough pieces prepared in advance to take you thru the final round.  One artist admitted to just playing a .wav file after making it thru several rounds.  Its the kind of thing laptop critics will jump on, but in fact it turns out that the audience isn’t oblivious to the difference between merely pressing play and a performance with live elements.
• DataPop 3.0 international chiptune showcase… crowd surfing to nintendo music, who would have thunk.  My man Mysterious H made the front cover of the newspaper
• SURVIVE orchestrated synthadelic slowjams… must see Austin 4-piece
• TENSE EBM from Houston TX…  awesome live show at Awthumfetht V, everybody in the place was up and moving
• Loud Objects … unclassifiable 1-bit noise art circuits assembled live with hot solder.  It was cool seeing Kunal and Tristan in Austin… we’ll see you soon at Bent Festival

Bodytronix (me + erich) played 4 gigs.  Here’s video.  You can hear the SP0256 vocal synthesizer starting at 1:05… The audio is a blend of a board tape (cassette) and the on-camera mic.  Our friends Tommyboy and VidKidz rocked on video projections.