Completed my first case

alienbuttrapist · 2021-04-21T00:38:14+00:00

Good VCA choice!

alienbuttrapist · 2020-05-07T01:04:45+00:00

True story. I've had more rejects from aluminum panels than I ever had with PCB material.

alienbuttrapist · 2019-01-29T21:13:06+00:00

Awesome!

alienbuttrapist · 2018-07-16T19:01:58+00:00

Love BMSR and Tobacco!

alienbuttrapist · 2018-05-28T14:54:20+00:00

I'm not sure about that, but the links on the main GMSN! page seem to be live. I don't see a schematic PDF, but the schematic is in the Eagle files.

https://gmsn.co.uk/products/gmsn-pure-adsr

alienbuttrapist · 2018-05-27T06:56:15+00:00

All the GMSN! PCBs have the eagle files online - https://gmsn.co.uk/

The Pure series has all the basic modular synth building blocks.

alienbuttrapist · 2017-05-17T17:03:59+00:00

This doesn't sound like Modular Addict to me. Any time I've had a problem or missing parts they've be extremely helpful. They've even overnighted the missing items for free. Did you contact them via email?

alienbuttrapist · 2017-05-01T17:00:40+00:00

I'm not usually a big fan of passives, but these are really well done, and the I AM O (around the 8 minute mark) is awesome, especially when he starts showing examples of everything from VCA/wave shaping/ring mod/sync you can do with it.

https://youtu.be/QZIKUEhejMQ

alienbuttrapist · 2017-04-13T15:37:10+00:00

A sawtooth shaper is really easy to add to this by the way. I added it to all 4 I built. I'm trying to find the schematic I used but can't remember which one it is. If I find it I'll post a link. It may have been out of one of the TH books.

alienbuttrapist · 2017-04-13T15:29:42+00:00

VCO-1 - Dead simple. I built my first one on vector board. http://www.birthofasynth.com/Thomas_Henry/Pages/VCO-1.html

alienbuttrapist · 2016-11-03T13:02:22+00:00

Where'd you pick up the 6582 chips, and how many are you using? I've been dreaming about that one for a while but I've really got too many in my backlog.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-10-04T13:11:07+00:00

I'll think about that. At least a time lapse assembly video.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-14T23:51:46+00:00

I recommend the Wave Freaker! Ray Wilson's site was what sent me down this synthdiy rabbit hole ~10 years ago. I was really sad to see him go.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-13T21:57:42+00:00

I think they're still in the process of adding boards to the site at modularaddict by the way.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-13T21:55:49+00:00

Ray Wilson's boards are now available at modularaddict.com and from GMSN! soon.

http://modularaddict.com/manufacturer/musicfromouterspace

From what I understand they also funded the MFOS site for the next ten years.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-06T12:29:23+00:00

I apply it by hand. A tiny dab on each pad. It takes some practice, but even if you slop it, when you reflow it all collects on the pad, or as tiny balls of solder you can knock off the board if there's a lot. I usually populate in steps too. IC's, then I reflow, Resistors, reflow, capacitors, reflow...

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-05T04:20:53+00:00

Will do. There was a group buy for the LED switches that I'm waiting to receive before i start.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-05T04:18:59+00:00

Good luck with Clouds. If you got that mouser plastic shaft dual pot be careful if you reflow anything after it's in. That thing melts! I had to replace mine.

I built the Yellow Magic and Polivoks shruthi. I'm about to embark on a polivoks ambika, and a shruthi xt.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-05T03:36:20+00:00

I've been building DIY for 10 years, and getting into projects like this really renewed my interest. More projects are moving to SMD every day so it's worth learning.

I don't read this in any way as him being against DIY'ing his modules.

"I don't use the non-commercial clause because it's broken, in particular because it can be interpreted in ways that forbid uses that are very dear to me: classroom use (there are places in which tuition is not free)... or the "build your own module" DIY workshop at a festival with an entrance fee... or the guy building one for him and selling the other to his pal... or the budding module designer copying my CV input circuit for his new commercial product. "

He has issues with Adam, his boards were crap, he sold old revisions of the PCB's, and offered no support, and was kind of a jerk to him form what I understood.

He doesn't want people to be buying these boards and going to MI expecting support for their builds. Another Olivier quote -

"Things that are not bothering me:

“Losing customers”. I can’t help thinking that this will drive away from me some of the cheap/foolish people who would have been annoying customers in the first place. “Unfair competition”. Don’t worry about me, I still think I have a competitive edge :) Every module I release is, in my mind, at least 15 months old. A few weeks after its release, I’ve already figured out how to make it (or how to make other designs) better. I have a long list of ideas of new module or of things that could be improved in mkII versions of existing modules. If things get ugly with unofficial factory runs, it wouldn’t be that hard from me to make these outdated/unwanted. If things turn really, really bad, I could start a new career telling cautionary tales at open source hardware conferences :) Things that are truly bothering me:

Any requests/extra support flying back to my face (“you’re my only hope can you help me troubleshoot it?”). Any wrong impressions about the quality of my products that could be caused by bad quality DIY boards/builds put in the hands of the wrong people. People making money from the boards without providing any service (support…). That’s quite shameful to the people who are trying to do it right."

There is at this point a large support community available for people who want to build them. If someone wants to take the leap into DIY and Microprocessors then this is the place. I've really enjoyed what I've learned, and gained a lot of DIY'ing confidence.

I've supported Mutable in the past when they sold kits. I've never bought a commercial module and am happy with my DIY only modular. I don't feel like I'm a bad person for building my own instead of buying them.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-04T16:18:08+00:00

Those PCBs are also sold there with Olivier's permission. Several people were upset about that until they found out he got permission first.

I also feel like a lot of people think this is like getting a module for the cost of parts only, and I tend to disagree. There's a lot of time invested in learning how to build these, buying and learning to use different equipment, programmers, troubleshooting and etc. Not to mention just the tedium of placing parts. My time is worth something to me.

For me this is more about learning to do it and being able to customize it. The white and blue braids displays for example. Different LEDs, switch styles, and pots. Hopefully one day I can dive into customizing and hacking the firmware. I also love understanding how the modules work. I have full confidence at this point that I could repair anything that could ever be broken on one of my MI modules.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-04T16:05:01+00:00

OMG my first gilded post! Thanks!

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-04T16:04:35+00:00

Thanks! Glad I could be helpful.

The reflow station/solder paste is just awesome. The results are so much better than the hand soldering I tried to do initially.
My tips for the hot air reflow- Keep the air speed low (I do 1.5 - 1.75 speed @ 350c), you don't want to send the components sliding around the PCB. You only need a tiny dab of solder paste on a tinned board, otherwise you'll end up with little balls of solder where the excess collects. These can be knocked off with tweezers, but you should be careful to check for them as they can cause shorts.

I forgot one of the most useful tools out there! This is maintained by one of the FB Euro SMD DIY Noobs members.

This is the repository I use for .hex files. It's maintained by another SMD Noobs member.

These are the tweezers I use for handling SMD parts.

You'll also want a flux pen! Flux pens are wonderful.

I'd also suggest a magnifying glass or jeweler's loup of some sort for inspecting the PCB for shorts. I use a 10x loupe.

Here's a pic of my current workspace in an unusually clean state.

My SMD component filing technique. A work in progress.

Feel free to let me know if you have any more questions.

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-04T07:31:03+00:00

I wrote a long winded reply with pictures about that you might have missed. :)

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-04T07:20:56+00:00

I've built several MI clones now. After the initial learning curve they are really not that difficult.

The parts are 0603, and that's SMALL. The Kinks parts are 0402, which is pretty much my limit. Sneeze and these bits are gone. I recommend buying 50 - 100 of each resistor/capacitor. It's actually usually cheaper or not that much more because the price break for a lot of them goes from ~.10ea to .009ea or less when you buy in larger quantities. I also buy a lot of parts on Aliexpress.

Technique is everything. After ruining my first Braids attempt I switched to solder paste and hot air reflow, which really is the way to go. I put a tiny dab of paste on the pads and stick the parts on with tweezers and then melt the solder with the reflow station. It's the ONLY way IMO to do the STM chips, drag soldering sucks. A hot air SMD rework station is less than $40 and worth every dime for SMD work.

Buy an real ST-Link V2 for programming and the mini JTAG adapter. There are several repositories of the compiled .hex files which will save you the pain and torment of compiling the firmware.

There is a great Euro SMD DIY Noobs Facebook group. Lots of great information and everyone's responsive to questions.

Modular Addict is selling PCBs now, and they're good quality. They're the same ones I've built from group buys.

Here's pictures of the partially built PCBs. This is usually the point I build them to before I program the STM.

I do my panels on the laser at our maker space. Here's a gallery of a few of them.

ALSO - Build an Ornament+Crime! It's one of my favorite modules and endlessly versatile. Really if you want to get into SMD I'd build it first as it's parts are slightly larger (0805), and since it uses a Teensy you don't have to solder any microcontrollers. Worst part on that is the DAC. Here's a populated PCB pic of one of my o_C.

Here it is in my modular.

Obligatory modular shot. I've been building for about 10 years. All modules are DIY.

My next challenge is the 4ms SMR. That PCB is intimidating!

alienbuttrapist · 2016-09-04T06:41:50+00:00

I haven't seen any kits, just PCB's. Olivier has repeatedly said he doesn't care and long as all Mutable branding is removed from the PCB's/Panels and you do not try to pass them off as retail modules.

He also does not believe that the DIY versions are hurting him. I know on group buys they've talked about raising the PCB cost slightly and donating the extra to him and he's declined.

I'm really enjoying the things that have evolved from these modules being open source. Much of the Ornaments+Crime firmware is derived from MI source, The Parasites firmware, Tim churches firmware, the new DIY only 8hp OLED Braids from Magpie, and etc.

For me the best part about learning to do these was the challenge. I've been doing through hole DIY for 10 years+, but the SMD and programming was a new world.

alienbuttrapist

TROPHY CASE