phase 3

so its all in and working: 3 channels of cv and gate. 2 of them are controlled by one brain of sorts and one by another. its ridiculous.. but the 3rd sequencer is on the way! withe the last portion (the extra gate channel) i learned to manufature the very affordable dpdt switch housings and how to do dual state leds, and single state-cycling leds as well. the extra gate channel was pretty easy to do. minus the tricky diode kluges. (which led to the possibility of the gate holds...more on that as i lay it out further. but i will do a full gate channel layout for anyone who wants to build another gate channel on theirs..its pretty damn easy and dirt dirt dirt cheap. good for env, lfo and any other sort of triggering in time with your sequence. espeically, if you have a modular.

i also inadvertantly came to 2 very nice discoveries. programmable portamento and possible gate time hold per step to give note values other than 1/6th to the sequencer!!!! the portamento is pretty much confirmed a working idea .. the gate may take some further testing. but the portamento will be implemented on the new #3 model. single housing dual channel, dual gate sequencer in a 6 U rack face with akai/emu style angled out control pad/surface at the bottom. (with walnut sides of course...)

this one has the features of the last one plus the selectable portamento. it will be smooth and refined. unlike the DRAX 2 #000 unit, which is a frankenstein and a half. but hey .. you learn on something right? its a crammed tight and almost difficult unit to work on since its grew as i worked on it.. what a freak.

anyway heres the face layout for the DRAX 2 001. for real...and also the black and white mechanical that ill use to do all the machining on the face plate..

small revelations

so ive been trying to figure out how to use dual state leds for the on off status /current step indicator.. i finally figured it out. u have to wire the annodes of each to either pole of the dpdt witch then run the cathode to resisted ground and then run the trigger in from the main digital board to the common. its so easy and im so stupid. this solves the dilema i had the other day..how to have the dpdt switch do trigger onn/off and show on/off staus with a light no matter if its on or off.

so. if it off lets say as the clock cycles to that step it and it hits that step it shows a red . if its on it shows a green. simple and effective.

only thing i have to do is split the trigger wire to the bottom pole of the other side and to the middle common of the the first. i may have to diode it between i think. anyway..thats that.

then the switches them selves took WAAAAAAy long to mount. i had to figure out a way to do it that doesnt involve hours of dremeling and filing. so i got 4 cutting heads for a rotary hand held grinder ($1.45 each) and then made a bolt and nut combo to lock them all between. this was then measured and used on 2 pieces of 'L' channel aluminum 3/4 inch wide on one side and 1/2 on the the other. (3/4 sides goes together) this is almost exactly the width of a 1 U rack face! perfect. so then you have a u channel about 1 and 1/2 inches accross the face with a seem splitting it in half horizontally.. now you need to put 16 rectangular holes in it. :) so you measeure (3 times before you cut) . i used metrics to do it. much easier. i went 50 mm in from the end on the left side and (almost the same on the right) and started there. i did 25 mm spacings between switch CENTERS. not from edges of them!!!! you can comfotably fit 16 in and have everything be correct then.. then after one side was completed fully i marked and did the other side.

after it all marked, you figure out how far from center line you want the switch to sit vertically. you split the differenece on either piece of aluminum. mark and number all positions and besure to double check before you start knawing this up. mount the one side you are working on in a vice!!!!!!!!!! and always wear you saftey glasses. yeah yeah i know. do it!!! STFU! your shop teacher was right so put them on you jerk. now after you have your cutter heads locked down tight, take a scrap piece and test the width of the 4 (should be almost exactly 1 switch) then secure this into your cordless drill (or corded) and then test away on the scrap. it will be slightly lopsided and bounce unless you're real good at centering the bolt inside the heds.so as i said GET THE FEEL OF YOUR TOOL> ha.

so when you feel ready ...attack you first side. grind until you hit your mark. stop. repeat 16 times. then use a file to square out and test the switch inside the hole. do the other aluminum piece. same here. file and test.

if you did it all right the holes should line up and youll have 16 rectangular openings in a 1U rack face! now you can use this alone or attach this inside another face plate for wahetever you may need! since they dont make rectangular drill bits and we dont have hand held lazers to cut yet and cnc machining is mad expensive. this is the solution i chose. im sure many others will come up with therir own! HACK AWAY!

sequencer sub>9 finished install

here it is all installed and patched out to the cv pacthbays to make life slightly less complex when it really dont need to be...:)

sequencer sub>8

ive installed it into its home. run a 16 channel snake for the connex to the cv patch bay area.. ( i also patched in the juno 60 vcf , the lambda vca and the csq-600 start as well. so it clocks, runs and is mad solid. the only problem is now i WANT MORE OF THEM!!!!!! im building another row or triggers so that it can do 3 seperate cv and gates.. right now its only 2 with one row of mod. so ideally this bastard will just grow and grow.. until its some kinda freakishly large, frequently viewed weirdo internet legend..:) uh, ok stop dreaming now..

today is going to be an experiment. im going to try and build a dc coupled cv mixer from MFOS's site. its pretty simple looking to do and shouldnt take very long (if im not and idiot) and hopefully that will allow me add a keyboard cv and the cv from the sequencer at the same time. that basicly translates to upping the voltage of the sequencer output by whatever the keys supply. aka transpose. so we'll see.. the only thing is i need to make another ps for all this new stuff or steal another output from the mains off the distro inside the first unit.

its a 1.5-2 amp ps and theres still plenty of amperage left for other things.. :) over build. like amercians used to!!!!

im so into this shit.

sequencer sub>7

ive done it igor. the beast rises from it own ashes. the sequencer has been completed. its ridiculous. its 2 brains. 3 channels and 2 gate channels (3rd on the way).. and has one set of coarse and fine tunings.. and then on the secone unit.. a dual set of coarse tunings/control for each channel. i finished it sometime tonight about 20:30 or so...

ill get better pics later.. i was too amped to do anything after i got it runnig right!

sequencer > sub 6

got the digital control board in yesterday for the second sequencer half.. hopefully this will be the thing to solve digital clocking dilema i had.i believe it will.. wouldnt bet all the money on it since i understand maybe 50% of how it works.. but i have a hunch. also the order with the rest of the parts i needed to complete it from jameco will be here today as well.. so its pretty good timing. shouldnt take long at all to propagate the the board and get it all together.. then tomarrow will be the install and wiring of the switches.. that may take some time. since im using the dpdt sitches to do dual duty (1 pole for on/off status indicator led 1 for actual trigger functioning) its gonna be slightly tight and delicate to wire. not to mentiont hat the trigger controller is in a seperate physical box.. ugh. challenges... always challenges.

sequencer> sub 6

spent the weekend working on the sequencer.. friday i got the cd40193 counter chips in. thats the only one i didnt have extras of.. so i proceeded early saturday morning to change that guy out. BAM. thats what it was. so i guess i blew those out because it cant handle the draw of power when i had all the others chained after it. so like any other thing that takes power.. it blew.. like having too many speakers or heavy draw speakers on an amp.

so i started and finished the trigger section for the secong sequencer... ive named it the "drax" dual row analong sequencer. sounds kinda cool and menacing. and sort of makes sencse.. it will be the same as the first except that it has 2 independent rows of 16 coarse knobs as oppposed to 1 row of coarse and 1 fine like the other. im guessing eventually ill make another row of triggers for it as well since i know how to use the cd4514 chips to ties into the digital clock/control to drive them..

i also tried using the dpdt switches i got real cheap on this guy.. small slides. had to do some serious mcguyvering on it but they worked and look kinda cool. i used them since they have 2 poles .. one is for the triggers on/off . the second i used for an led indicator of on/off for that step. so when its on its lit, off its not. kinda simple but fun. usefull too to see whos active in the sequence. im going to try and see if i can figure out a way to have both voltages (current step led that flashes and onn-off led) become the same one.. maybe resist the voltage down on the on-off and tie them together so that when the clock comes around to that step it increases the voltage and drives the led harder (aka brighter) it would be kinda cool for sure.. almost like 808 909 type leds.. or maybe use a dual state led.. so that when it counting its red and when its on its green and off is no light.

all these are pieces that im trying to get in complete understanding of since im want to build really 2 more things.. a dual row 10 step sequencer and a 4 channel drum/trigger sequencer withe the option to expand each independent channel with cv as well. .. thats the end goal. a giant sequencer with many peripherals to make that one ridiculously dleicate and perfect sequence of music.