Balanced/unbalanced

Still trying to get my head around most optimal approach for interfacing with balanced and unbalanced equipment. To make things even more unclear, things can get more complex if equipment have floating signal ground. Meaning that chassis ground and signal ground is not connected. My understanding is that these should always be connected, but as … Read More

DIMI temperament

DIMI-A and DIMI-O are generating individual notes with counter circuits. The idea is to divide frequencies down from a single ultrasonic oscillator. When the divider ratios are large enough, it is possible to approximate an equal temperament scale. Bigger ratios would demand more TTL chips, so as a compromise, DIMIs use ratios that can be … Read More

USB MIDI to DMX

Needed to make a DMX controller that would be able to map incoming MIDI data to DMX data. I have built DMX controllers using Arduino UNO boards together with DFRobot DMX shield. This is first time I needed to include a serial interface in the form of USB MIDI. Most Arduino DMX libraries use serial … Read More

Jitter free 8-bit ADC

I have done quite a few embedded projects using 8-bit microcontrollers such as the Atmega328, Atmega644, etc. These are the ones that are used on Arduino boards. These chips have 10-bit DAC converters for reading analog values. The usual problem when pulling the data from these inputs is the jitter. You, for example, wire a … Read More

Andromatic Sequencing Logic

I have been studying the behaviour of Andromatic together with my fellow media archeologist Derek Holzer. In the video above I’m going through the workings of the Andromatic sequencer. In this post I attempt to explain this sequencer in more detail. The usage of pitch, gain and sustain knobs is not included here. Only how … Read More

EMS Synthi 100 First Aid Kit

List of components used in EMS Synthi 100. Some information useful in servicing VCS3 (and Synthi A(KS)) as well? Synthi 100 is an analog / digital hybrid system. Digital chips (TTL/MDTL) are mostly used in Sequencer circuitry. Potentiometers Most potentiometers are ERIE 10k LIN M0, 3/8″ bushing, 1/4″ (6.35mm) shaft. Exceptions are: Original potentiometers are … Read More

DAWE Frecuency Counter

Synthi 100:s, at least most of them, were shipped with DAWE Frequency Counter 3000A. They are not awfully complex devices, but haven’t been able to source any technical documentation on them. Typically they seem to get slightly glitchy, some digits work, some not. Now during my visit to Radio Belgrade III Electronic Studio spend few … Read More

Aalto Media Lab Experimental Music WS 2022

Link collection for DIMI-A building workshop at Aalto University in December 2022. Short Summary of Erkki Kurenniemi’s instruments Electric music instrument circuit evolution DIMI-A build repository DIMI-A user manual (draft) Articles online: Erkki Kurenniemen sähkösoittimet (in Finnish) Erkki Kurenniemi, a man from the future Design Principles and User Interfaces of Erkki Kurenniemi’s Electronic Musical Instruments … Read More