ALF MC16 compatible analog synthesizer (hybrid)

STYNX

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Aug 13, 2017, 2:36:57 PM8/13/17

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Hi,

i have begun to implement an idea that was on my mind for some years now :-)

http://www.applefritter.com/?q=content/alf-mc16-compatible-hybrid-synthesizer

-Jonas

Antoine Vignau

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Aug 13, 2017, 5:02:15 PM8/13/17

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That is cool, Jonas.
Count me in for one, please, and keep up the good work,

Antoine

STYNX

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Aug 14, 2017, 12:15:19 PM8/14/17

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I'm only making a few (less than 10) for myself and some friends (you included)

The CEM3396 chips are about $10/piece at the moment with some of them being duds.
Combined with the other chips it will result in a price of about $100 without shipping, assembly or testing.
A sales price would be about $200 and I wouldn't make anything with that ...

Its just a fun project. When im finished, I will provide all the schematics and layouts that anyone can make their own. It will have the option to use an external control-board with potentiometers or an DAC-Module that will allow software control. The 3 voices will be coupled (3 voice polyphonic) by the parameters but could be controlled individually. The individual programmability of each chip would need about 30 DAC channels ... to much for a single card (even with a sample-and-hold approach). Therefore I will implement a simple solution with expandable options (via headers) to add these software controls (io-select range).

Configurability by software could be done by a simple basic-script that sets the values for each parameter:

0. Waveform (for both oscillators A/B) 4 possible by 2bit select

1. Pulsewidth A
2. Pulsewidth B
3. Waveshape A
4. Waveshape B
5. Oscillator balance A/B
6. Filter Modulation (by oscillator A)
7. Filter Frequency
8. Filter Resonance

9. Gain (volume control)

All to be controlled by either analog input or software control by 8bit words.

... but I have to get there first :-P

-Jonas

Antoine Vignau

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Aug 14, 2017, 12:57:02 PM8/14/17

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That is really cool, thank you!

Antoine

STYNX

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Aug 14, 2017, 3:47:55 PM8/14/17

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On Monday, August 14, 2017 at 6:57:02 PM UTC+2, Antoine Vignau wrote:
> That is really cool, thank you!
>
> Antoine

I had this idea first in 2012 ...about 5 years ago :-) I don't think that I need another 5 years to finish this ... but you shouldn't expect anything final this year. I hope to have a 3 voice prototype ready next month. I will upload samples of the sound and music then. There might be some unknown details in the range the control voltages for the CEM3396 but I have to try out to know. I suspect that some inputs need -2.5V to +2.5V and others -2.5 to +5V but most need 0 to +5V.

-Jonas

cb meeks

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Aug 14, 2017, 4:02:12 PM8/14/17

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That's pretty awesome! Where did you get that prototype board?

Also, let's see the solder job on the back. ;-D

STYNX

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Aug 19, 2017, 6:36:25 AM8/19/17

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here is a first impression:
https://soundcloud.com/vintage-micro-music/alf-mc96-test-2-voices-cem3396

2 of 3 voices, no dual VCO (each of the 3 CEM3396 has 2 coupled voices)

-Jonas

STYNX

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Aug 19, 2017, 6:41:02 AM8/19/17

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> That's pretty awesome! Where did you get that prototype board?

eBay (basement hobbies I think)
http://www.applefritter.com/content/apple-ii-expansion-slot-perf-boardproto-card

> Also, let's see the solder job on the back. ;-D

Let's not :-)

Antoine Vignau

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Aug 19, 2017, 7:30:24 AM8/19/17

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The music is cool! At first, I thought aliens were invading France, then I was smiling at how good the music was.

Thank you, keep up the good work again!

Antoine

Antoine Vignau

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Aug 19, 2017, 7:35:05 AM8/19/17

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Is this Lens (chroma demo) revisited?

STYNX

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Aug 19, 2017, 8:33:10 AM8/19/17

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On Saturday, August 19, 2017 at 1:35:05 PM UTC+2, Antoine Vignau wrote:
> Is this Lens (chroma demo) revisited?

Yes but one voice is missing. Its unedited "RUN ALENS" :-)

-jonas

STYNX

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Aug 19, 2017, 12:50:28 PM8/19/17

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3 voices implemented:
https://soundcloud.com/vintage-micro-music/sets/mc96-apple-ii-analog

Ralph Hyre

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Jan 4, 2019, 2:57:47 PM1/4/19

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That's awesome.

I'd love to get the schematic/parts for a board, I already have a few PCBs and wire-wrap gear.

Anthony Adverse

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Jan 4, 2019, 6:22:05 PM1/4/19

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Spiffy how does it go, 2 Alf's a Alpha Syntauri makes?

A

Michael J. Mahon

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Jan 4, 2019, 8:01:52 PM1/4/19

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The Alpha Syntauri system uses a Mountain Computer card set, with 16 wave
table oscillators.

I didn’t think the Alf was a wavetable device...

--
-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://michaeljmahon.com

Anthony Adverse

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Jan 4, 2019, 8:32:42 PM1/4/19

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Ahh got the wrong card... my bad :)

STYNX

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Jan 6, 2019, 3:46:33 AM1/6/19

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On Saturday, 5 January 2019 02:32:42 UTC+1, Anthony Adverse wrote:
>
> Ahh got the wrong card... my bad :)

Not completely wrong. The MC16 was used in the syntauri as well.
It used a different software version than the MCMS.

You could add up to 5 ALF MC16 cards to support 15 channels!
The MCMS was a bit more flexible and saved a lot of slots though :-)

-Jonas

STYNX

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Jan 6, 2019, 3:55:21 AM1/6/19

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BTW:
im redesigning the board to use standard components
since the CEM3396 chip has become hard to get.
(was $3/pcs .. now around $30)

The whole system will consist of a digital interface board,
a wave shaper PCB and a VCA/filter PCB.
2 oscillators,
3 selectable waveforms and
1 filter per voice. (6 oscillators per card)

It will take time to get there ;-)

-Jonas