Fun with the Wien Bridge Oscillator

To the fledgling electronics enthusiast who has just enough knowledge of electronic music theory to be dangerous, it makes sense that the simplest tone, the sine tone, should be the simplest/easiest to construct in the analog electronics domain.  Of course, this is not the case.  While geometrically simple to describe, the sine tone is not…

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Modular Synth Components

Last night El MuCo (The Mutagenic Cooptoraptors) accomplished a feat heretofore unimaginable: three circuit projects were undertaken and three projects were completed successfully.  While you may be tempted to think that, with the assistance of a book (Ray Wilson’s Analog Synthesizers) and the vast power of the internet this is not a big deal, you…

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Make Testing Speakers for Free**

Required Parts: 1-2 8 ohm speakers an enclosure (cardboard box, tea tin, coffee can, etc.) insulation (cotton, an old shirt, the hair you get from your pet when using the Furminator.) wire glue ( any will do, but… I cannot recommend a hot glue gun enough. see below) alligator clips (deluxe version) or just some…

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Electronic Music from “How Things Work” c.1970

On a recent outing to a local bookshop I encountered a 4 volume set of books titled “How Things Work.”  It is a wonderful compendium of knowledge in simple but not simplistic language with really great illustrations.  The four volumes cover everything from knitting to jet engines.  Naturally what caught my eye were all of…

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FNT III: Pics and Sound

Hey FNT fans, here are a few pictures and all of the recordings of everyone’s pieces from FNT III. Many thanks to all who attended and to all who made a piece. The tracks are even sweeter than I remember. Hopefully we will see you next month at FNT IV where Fritz Horstman will present…

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FNT III: The 68k Classic Clash

March 25th Be the first on your block to write a song for the Macintosh Classic II!!! Learn Super Studio Session!!! Have your music performed in public!!! Get your hands on a clicky single-button mouse!!! Drink beer!!! Bolster your geek cred!!! The keyboard!!!  Whoa!!! If you want all of the above I guarantee there is…

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Lost Voices of Blasphemous Friends

In 2006 I both completed recording for, and abandoned, a sound installation for 8 speakers.  The work, originally titled Voices of Blasphemous Friends was intended for installation at a festival to which I was never invited.  I recently stumbled upon the recordings, mostly in a state of discombobulation, and the 5 movements/excerpts I used to…

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Analog Ring Modulation Circuit

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc5JLWrVEQg&hl=en_US&fs=1] Above is a video and below are some pictures of a simple ring mod circuit I whipped up last night. The circuit is the classic circuit, and I’m simply running two oscillators from a hex schmidt 6-oscillator IC through the circuit as the carrier and modulator. The frequencies of the hex schmidt are being…

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Stockhausen: Étude (musique concrète) 1952

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6zFDumorPg&hl=en_US&fs=1&] I recently ran across this piece which I had not previously heard. It is the first piece of musique concrète by Stockhausen composed in 1952-53 at the RTF in Paris. A quote about the work by Stockhausen from an online source:** “First I recorded six sounds of variously prepared low piano strings struck with…

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