DLP Modular Synth Underway

Well, the file folder of schematics and notes that has been building over several years, is finally turning into something tangible. I've finally built a small rack, and the first module of the "Dirty Little Penguin" (DLP) modular syth.

Of course, the first module is a noisy mono distortion unit that leverages the CD4049 inverter chip. The circuit was based off of Stellan Lehrberg's Slowfinger guitar fuzz circuit.

Here's links to pics of the rack frame:

DLP Pic 1
DLP Pic 2
DLP Pic 3

And, of course, the FR-777 was used to generate test audio. Here's two samples, the original pattern without distortion, and another with:
FR-777 - No Distortion
FR-777 - With Distortion

Next up, hopefully by the end of this weekend, the first oscillator module should be alive. This module will be based off the NE5517, which should be enough to generate Triangle, Saw, Square, and Pulse waves(no PWM yet tho).

In other news, never did pick up the Waldorf Largo. It's a nice soft synth, decent interface, and the digital distortion filter mode is quite slick. However, it didn't offer enough to justify the cost.

One synth that I did try out, with some rather tasty results, is Rob Papen's BLUE soft synth. It doesn't look like much, but the way the interface is setup, allowing you to quickly configure each of the parts, lends itself well to creating nice stereo pads, drones, and effects. The filters available are quite good, a bit smooth in that Rob Papen style, but lend themselves well for creating very detailed and wide sounds, in a way that I haven't really seen in any other synth except for some Reaktor patches ;)

2010 - Studio Alive Again

After moving to a new house in the country, outside Ottawa late last year, the Igloo studio is now up and running again! Gear is set up, and the new room has been given a rockwool treatment which has done wonders for the sound. This is currently the smallest room I've ever been setup in, so a bit of sound treatment was essential. With any luck, and a bit of time, should have some new releases for 2010 for both Calibrated and Blizzard!

The Igloo has already had a couple local Ottawa boys through with some productions, including DJ Dain-Ja

Also, a new CPU (AMD Phenom II - 940) for the main studio box is also on its way, which should give a bit more power with its 4 cores and slight clock speed boost.

Gigs and Gear

Gigs: I'm playing out a hard techno set as phaXis at DFF tomorrow night (Saturday, June 6th) here in Ottawa at the Cock and Lion on Sparks. First time playing that regular club night and its rare that I play techno sets east of Winnipeg, so it should be a thumpin' night to remember!

Gear: Since the local shops here seem to be delayed getting their hands on the Waldorf Largo, and since Moog Audio in Montreal looks like they have stock of the new builds of Future Retro's XS, disturbingly awesome synth, it looks like that the XS and not the Largo will be landing next in the Igloo!

Software Upgrade Day

Kickin' off some new freeform projects, and this calls for software upgrades!

The iZotope Ozone 4 upgrade was the first. Been waiting for that for a bit. Some nice solid improvements to the whole app.

Cubase 5 Upgrade was next. The hard part was finding out where in Canada one has to go for upgrading. Recently Yamaha has taken over the distribution of Steinberg products in Canada, but as anyone can see, the range of Steinberg products available on yamaha.ca is rather thin. Checking into SteinbergCanada.com as directed from a Cubase.net blog post was a bit more informative, however that site wasn't linked from Steinberg's main site - you only get directed to Yamaha's useless site now. Music Marketing is still handling all the Cubase Upgrades while Yamaha has taken over new purchases of Steinberg products; best go to L&M for products, and not through Yamaha's site.

So, now comes the impatient wait until it arrives!

Waldorf Largo

Unofficial sources say Waldorf Largo will ship May 11, 2009 ... never soon enough!

Largo softsynth info

Next VSTi Purchase

The studio's next VSTi purchase will more than likely be Waldorf's new Largo softsynth.

This synth which was announced, of course, at the 2009 NAMM show, seems to contain all the good things about the Blofeld hardward synth that came out last year. I couldn't justify paying $800ish for a DSP based hardware synth, when all I really wanted were the filter drives modes that it contained. So needless to say I'm VERY happy there's a VST version which appears to contain the same filter drive modes which produced some very tasty results when I played around with the Blofeld last year. Hopefully a demo or some samples will be out sometime soon!

Sidechained Compression

Sidechained compression is something I still haven't used as much as I know I should, partially because it can become a routing mess very quickly. It was easier in Logic than Cubase, and the ease of routing is probably still the biggest thing I miss about not working in Logic anymore.

I tried a new trick in Cubase where I'm using only one compressor and using the left channel as the compression trigger and the right channel as the compression content (then expanding the right channel back to stereo before routing to the main mix).

It worked quite well, and allowed me to use VST compressors that don't natively support sidechaining.

Here's the sample: [link]