homemade noize » gear

Card Board Box Amplifier Kit or Another Use for a Shoe Box

kubton — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Critter and Guitar sell this little kit to make any box into an amp. It is $30 which is more that the say a Cracker box Amp that you can piece together for next to nothing but kit are easy.

DIY Headphone Amp Again or I Miss TechTV

kubton — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:31:31 +0000

This is great video on building the Chu Moy headphone amp. It is super cool and fun and one of the first projects I did. If you have wanted to do something like this it is a great project. The video even includes a soldering tutorial. Cool.

That round guy is my completed Cmoy from a while ago. It really barely fit I had to be a smart guy and put a square project in round hole. You can find some more small amp project on my amps page. You can find more info in the DIY Audio section of Links page.

This video really makes me miss TechTV seeing Patrick Norton. Screw Paul Allen for selling it. Revision3 is a nice online alternative but it doesn’t quite cut it but you can find familiar faces like Kevin Rose. There used to be stuff like on actual TV for a while. Those were the days.

Taurus Bass Pedal or One Giant Stocking Stuffer

kubton — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:55:08 +0000

Moog is reissuing the Taurus bass pedal. It is a limited run of 1000 with a discount if you put a deposit down on one of the first 250. It may not be as famous as their synth probably because it sit on the floor under everything else and people step on it. But it sounds awesome. Santa seems to be pretty light in my pockets when he gets to my neighborhood though. And 2000 bones is a little steep for me for something you throw down on the floor and step on unless well it is some nice flooring.

There is a cheap alternative though from Antti.

9 Tips and Tricks to Making a Fuzzier World or I Heart Fuzz

kubton — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:19:00 +0000

This a except from my Fuzz Guide. If you have in interest in the science, history, devices and use of fuzz check it out.

9 Tips and Tricks to Making a Fuzzier World

1. EQ

EQ is the friend of fuzz and a dedicated EQ unit can do a lot more than a simple tone control. It helps you sculpt the fuzz to the sound how you want. This is especially useful for big aggressive thick fuzz. They can get out of hand quickly so EQ can be used to tame unwieldy fuzz. Scooping out some midrange is a common practice. Also it can be used to clean up any offending harshness in the highs. It you like a ballsy bass fuzz EQ can give your bottom end a big deep kick. For more info on EQ see my guide.

2. Fuzz For All

Fuzz is not just for guitars. Of course a lot of bass players love it but it can add its special character to anything. It is great for synths. A nice fuzzy synth bassline can liven up a track. But fuzz can really be used on anything from drums to vocals so keep an open mind.

3. Good Noize & Bad Noize

Fuzz pedals are noisy but there is some kinds of noize you just don’t want especially when the pedal is off. Fuzz pedals can also “tone suck” even when off. This can be especially true of vintage and fuzz wah pedals. The way to get around this is using a true bypass pedal or modifying one to be true bypass or using a bypass loop. True bypass is really a buzz word in the world of guitar pedals but you shouldn’t get carried away. Each true bypass pedal you patch together is like attaching another length of cable together. And well all know what happens with long runs of cable linked numerous times. You get signal loss that can start to effect your sound. There is nothing wrong with the buffered switching in most modern pedals. It is often a good idea to mix true bypass with some buffered pedals or use a line buffer.

4. Playing Nice With Others

When playing with band members or recording it takes some work getting fuzz to play nice with others. If you are using thick fuzz with octave up or ring modulator sound that sustains forever you run the risk of overpowering the other instruments. Again EQ is your friend and don’t over do the volume. Recording gives you more options to deal with all that fuzz. Not only can you utilize equalization but you can use panning as well to carve out a nice cozy space to move your fuzz into.

5. Too Much of a Good Thing

You may want to wrap yourself up in a thick blanket of fuzz but there is such a thing as to much of a good thing. There are a lot of great tracks that are solid fuzz but that is not always the way to go. The juxtaposition of clean and dirty sounds can be a wonderful thing. Also fuzz kicking in for the chorus can really add a dramatic impact.

6. The Order of Things

The order of effects is important. There is nothing wrong with guitar->fuzz->amp but if your setup is more complicated the order of the effects can really make a big difference. While there are typical orders there is no such thing as the right order. Experiment to see what sounds best. If you are working in the virtual world you can easily try out a lot of different orders and complex routing without having to deal with patch cables.

7. The Sincerest Form of Flattery

If you are looking to emulate someones sound Guitar Geek’s Rig Database is a good place to start. Google is also your friend. Once you find out the artist’s gear remember when you are trying to capture that famous sound the whole signal chain matters including the guitar. Now some of those vintage pedals and other gear is hard to find or just way too expensive for most people but there are usually clones of most famous vintage equipment at a more reasonable price. Most of them sound pretty close and sometimes even better than the original. I believe that you can get close, but exact matches may be impossible. Consider that vintage pedals often used different transistors in the same model and old germanium transistors can vary quite a bit even if it is the exact same part. Plus so much of anyone’s sound is in their fingers and soul. Also be aware sometimes an artist’s gear is modified by themselves or their guitar techs. Also if you are after a sound on a studio album often the sound on the record is different equipment used in the artist’s live setup. A big chuck of the a records sound is due to the things outside the signal chain going from guitar to amp. The effects of a mic and its placement, mixing and even the room it was recorded in have a big effect on the sound. Still with careful research and shopping you can probably can get a satisfying famous tone.

8. Be a Mad Scientist

Copying someone else’s sound is alright but but coming up with your own is even better. Fuzz and all distortion sounds started off as accident. Overworked amps and malfunctions gave us fuzz. Happy accidents and experimentation were how all those great sounds were found in the first place. There are millions of things to try. You could split your signal and send two different fuzz’s to two different amps. You could mix in modulation effects, use radical EQ settings, user a filter, modify your equipment, play through a cheap transistor radio or old beat up speaker, mix clean and fuzz sounds, try weird mic placement and spaces, strange tunings etc., etc. Nothing is out of bounds.

9. Silicon and Germanium

Germanium is kind of a buzz word when it comes to fuzz. The important fact is that the germanium transistors were lower gain the the silicon variety and provide a a less harsh distortion. Many players consider germanium a much more organic sound. Some people prefer germanium and some silicon. Is a matter of preference.

End of Week Links or A Bunch or Unrelated Stuff

kubton — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:30:41 +0000

Julien Bayle can instruct you how to make a monome clones which is good because the monome always have a waiting list.

Music might have stopped me from being a misanthropic criminal so maybe this will change some that are ready are. Jail Guitar Doors is Billy Bragg’s initiative to provide inmates with musical instrument. I believe in personal responsibility so I have to believe in punishment. But locking people up and doing nothing to change there behave other than punishment never made much sense to me. I like this idea. Johnny Cash would approve.

Audiotuts has a list of affordable mics. It is a pretty good list me thinks. But you might want to check out Studio Projects which lower then mics I think are a good value.

Audiotuts also had this link below there mic list but it is a good link that you might have miss to Jake Ludington’s guide to making you own pop filter. Anyone could do this one.

Frank Zappa is not everyones cup o’ tea but he sure is damn quotable read for yourself.

I use Reason and Ableton Live together. Reason is the most incredable sound bank rewired into Live. Here is a good video on using the 2 together.

lo dev alm has cool Max/MSP tools.

Virtual Guitar is a cool tool for fretboard learning.

If you like the strange and weird like me you should check out The Oddstrument Collection.

Aurora or Open Source Mixer

kubton — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:48:37 +0000

Aurora open source mixer

The Aurora Open Source Mixer might be the perfect solution for DJ types with a DIY streak that are currently unsatisfied with current mixers type MIDI controllers. I am all for open source projects like this but they are tricky to pull off. Most people don’t want to make there own PCB’s. And in the the case of this project the components are expensive if bought for one project. Keeping prices down with electronic is all about being able to buy in bulk. Thankfully there are plans for a kit. I am hoping it can work out to be affordable because it is an awesome little device that look great.

aurora Open Source DJ Mixer\MIDI Hardware w/ Ableton Live from mcubed on Vimeo.

A kit would make the device accessible to a much wide group of musicians. Here is hoping there is an affordable kit soon.

Glithes or Controllerism

kubton — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:56:15 +0000

Great Scott who always sends me great links sent me these two:

Controllerism is a site decidated to the idea of creating live music using controllers of course. The have some videos that are a must watch for those interest in the computer being a musical instrument instead of just a fancy musical calculator.

This Wikipedia entry on “stutter edit” has lots useful info and I nice list of software to help achieve the task.

Good Links or Programable Stomp Boxes, Wii Remotes, Glitches, Generative Music and Optimizing

kubton — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:40:07 +0000

Here is a bunch of cool stuff I have found lately:

The Openstomp Coyote1 is a product seemingly made for me. A stomp box that you can program to be any thing you wish. Sound great but it is not yet released. I am going to keep an eye on it there is a lot of potential.

From the site:

What is it?

The OpenStompTM Coyote-1 is an open source audio effects processor built for guitar players. With the Coyote-1 users can develop custom audio effects in software (like distortion, echo, chorus etc.), mix multiple effects to build “patches”, and exchange those effects and patches with the OpenStompTM community.

A companion Windows application (OpenStompTM Workbench) allows Users to combine effects into patches graphically, and to move patches and effects between the Coyote-1 device and their PC’s disk.

The Coyote-1 O/S is open source so users can tweak it to behave any way they like, and the hardware is fully documented so that developers can take control of the whole pedal, dedicating all available system resources toward the implementation of unique custom solutions.

Those Wii remote are cool and have lots of great uses. Macs people should check out WiiToMidi.

From the site:

WiiToMidi allows you to convert signals from a Nintendo Wii controller to MIDI signals. It is a Cocoa application for Mac OS X and uses the DarwiinRemote WiiRemote framework to decode Wii controller signals. It also supports the Nunchuk controller.

From Remix comes some really great tips for make glitch effects.

Karlheinz Essl has some neat software for making generative music. I found this when I got interest in generative music after reading about Brain Eno and Spore.

Gearslutz has a good thread on optimizing your PC for audio production use.

Korg Nano Video or Small Controllers Captured on Film

kubton — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:09:13 +0000

Found Via Chip collection:

Here is some video of one of those cool Korg Nano Controllers. More at SOS also.

Moog Guitar or A Better Mouse Trap

kubton — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:06:33 +0000

You might have seen this one already. When Moog comes out with any product it gets attention but a guitar really gets attention.

It is called The Moog Guitar – The Paul Vo Collector Edition and here is the Moog company line:

The Moog Guitar puts revolutionary new technology in the hands of the guitarist. Moog Music is known for building the finest instruments and the Moog Guitar is first and foremost a very fine guitar; designed to be played by the best musicians as their primary axe. Its AAAAA maple top, swamp ash body and ebony finger board bespeak the quality that musicians have come to expect from a Moog instrument.

The addition of Moog Guitar Electronics opens guitarists to a whole new musical vocabulary: Not a guitar synthesizer, not a MIDI guitar or an effects processor; players are intimately connected to The Moog Guitar because it works its magic on the strings themselves.

What makes this guitar so special?

The Moog Guitar Electronics add an unparalleled range of expression to the Moog Guitar:

FULL SUSTAIN MODE – like no other sustainer; infinite sustain on every string, at every fret position and at any volume. You may have heard sustain before but not with this power (we call it “Vo Power”) and clarity.

CONTROLLED SUSTAIN MODE – allows you to play sustained single or polyphonic lines without muting technique. The Moog Guitar sustains the notes you are playing while actively muting the strings you are not playing.

MUTE MODE – removes energy from the strings, resulting in a variety of staccato articulations. The mute mode has never been heard on any other guitar; the Vo Power stops the strings with the same intensity that it sustains them. You feel the instrument transform in your hands.

HARMONIC BLENDS – use the included foot pedal to shift the positive energy of Vo Power in Sustain mode and the subtractive force of Vo Power in Mute mode between the bridge and neck pick-ups to pull both subtle and dramatic harmonics from the strings.

MOOG FILTER – control the frequency of the built-in, resonant Moog ladder filter using the foot pedal or a CV Input.

Moog Guitar Controls

There are five knobs:

Vo Power this is the amount of coherent power that is applied to the strings to either sustain or mute them.

Piezo Blend blends the piezo output with the Moog pick-ups.

Harmonic Balance shifts the Vo Power (sustain/mute) power between the neck and bridge pick-up. In the center position the power is balanced between the neck and bridge.

Master Volume controls overall volume including both the Moog Pick-up output as well as the piezos.

Tone/Filter controls both tone and the resonance of the Moog ladder filter dependent upon the position of the Filter Mode Toggle switch.

There are three switches:

Moog Guitar Mode determines the application of the Vo Power. There are three positions: Sustain, Controlled Sustain, and Mute

Filter Mode Toggle with three positions: Standard Guitar Tone, an articulated Moog filter (e.g similar to an auto-wah), and classic Moog Ladder filter

Five Position Pick-up Selector Switch: Piezo, Bridge only, Out of Phase, In Phase, Neck only.

What sets the Moog Guitar apart from sustainer guitars?

-The first and most basic difference is that the Moog Guitar is able to
MUTE the strings, actually physically stopping the strings’ vibration.

-The Moog Guitar in the FULL SUSTAIN mode is more powerful and responsive than anything on the market. The Moog Guitar also has governors on every string that prevent excessive buzzing. It is a very strong and even sustain on every string, on every fret. The Moog Guitar can sustain full six-note chords easily.

-When in any mode (Full Sustain, Controlled Sustain, or Mute) you do not have to sacrifice one of the pick-ups for the functionality of the innovations. This means there’s always sound coming from both pick-ups. The ability to pan mute and sustain control between pick-ups (with the included foot pedal) is the source of Harmonic Blending.

-You’re always in control of the Moog Guitar. When Controlled Sustain is engaged, you pick and choose what strings are being given energy (by playing them!), without having to mute the other strings with your hands. There is no spill-over of energy to unwanted strings.

Most interesting I thing is the weird Moog pickups and special strings that make the sustainer/muter possible. It is a interesting idea I just wonder how different the mute would be from say my palm. The sustain seem much more musical than a Ebow. Vernon Reid seemed to think it was cool though in the video. Of course the other thing I like is the ladder filter. It wouldn’t be a Moog with out that would it.

The thing I don’t like is the price. $6,500 is a little steep. With high end guitars a lot of what you are paying for it the cosmetic elements. When see 5 A’s in a row you are going to be paying a pretty penny. The thing is I don’t like its looks. The natural colors look OK but bright dye jobs on even the best maple tops I have never liked. I not a fan of gold hardware either. Gold seems to really clash with some color schemes but silver tones seem a lot of neutral. But at that price I am not it the target demo graphic. I hope for different models soon. It would be cool to have one with either a walnut top or and some of the other design aesthetics of the synths.

The really question is will this catch on. Will people use this to make great music with it or will it be just another expensive gadget. There have been plenty of new fangled guitars in the past none of the gained wide acceptance or had much staying power. Not surprisingly Moog make it clear in their marketing that it is not a midi or synth guitar. Very arguably you could say that last innovate new guitar to really catch on was the Stratocaster. Is the Moog guitar a better mouse trap? If it is will it catch on? Can the Moog legend be transferred to the guitar universe when the man himself is gone? Without other price points or imitators there will be no chance. Even then maybe not in a guitar culture obsession with the sweet sound technologies of yesteryear and gear steeped in myth and legend.