Bassline Generator

So it feels like a very sad Saturday today. There is little that can be done. I want to continue with the completion of the Bassline Generator and let the day pass.

After all the top stuff was in place, then came the plastic jack to be fixed up. Notice where it is positioned, underneath the 100K trim pot so the ends of the pot needed a good trim.


On the underside of the PCB board you can see the send/recieve LED's (given the length to fit inside the wooden box) and the batery pack and jack plug.


Here we have the four plastic legs or stands fixed in place with nuts.


Oddly I realised that I had missed inserting the other chip socket so got this inplace and soldered. The instructions didn't mention about the 6-pin ISP header so this was sorted at this stage. I was unsure of the polarity so went with intuition.


After all points were checked the chips were inserted by bending the legs slightly in to allow for ease in pushing into the holders. The knobs were put on and here is the finished article!

Against the clock...

The count down is 15 minutes before I have to fly out the door to work the day and night away. The bassline generator has been completed, at least the construction side, just the modifying of the wooden box to do and it'll be ready to roll out in a gig or two of the MOLTEN GODS!

I had left last night at the point of fixing on the controls.


The buttons were in place so next up were the LED's.

The Red LED in the centre of the board can be used to trigger the photocell so this has heatshrink round the legs. Notice that one leg is longer than the other to indicate positive and negative, the positive being longer. This is generally indicated on the PCB by the silkscreen square symbol around the hole.


However on for this LED the symbols is slightly different. It is the actual symbol used for a Light Emitting Diode (LED) indicating anode (positive) and cathode (negative) with power or light emitting from the lamp. The current flows from positive to negative.






Ok, just realised the time and I have to clean my teeth. Leigh is playing with his new toy now. I has a good range of tone and he is coming up with some great melodies, sounds awesome through a delay!

To be continued...

The tunes start to form

I have been noodling with the guitar for some time, for the length of time, I dare not calculate. Of late I have been getting together some set tunes, adding beginnings and endings to the middles I have spent so long crafting and playing time and again.


The direction and inspiration for this medley of songs (I say songs as it is true, there are words which whisper themselves from my voice) comes from the river, it's source and flows to the mouth, metaphorically. I am still at an early stage where fear is hard to conquer, but with practice I hope to alleviate this nonsense and revel in the creative act.


With the end of the Christmas decs and the arrival of floral hues and patterns, I am guided by my love and am rest assured, things will be. One day I hope you will hear these pulsings.

Construction Night...

...of audio delight!


I have been scratching about the flat wanting to get making again. With the fantasy of fantastical things I am able to design and build I suddenly realise that I feel far from the electrical or engineering genius I would like to be. I have started the ball rolling again with a kit purchased by Leigh of the Autonomous Bassline Generator by 4ms Pedals.

This fancy little beaty beauty has a photocell allowing the user to 'play' with the avaliable light and trigger sounds using this component. It also features an infa-red sensor to connect several bassline generators or any other Andromeda Space Rocker units in series (not that we have more than one ASR unit but you never know...)

So step one was to check all components are there and have a good read of the instructions.


Leigh has been wanting to solder so we had a little session on 'how to', I did indeed pass on the wise words of those who have helped me from SNARC namely, John, Terry and David. Mind you looking back over these photos I think we shouldn't be soldering on top of paper, fire hazard and all - least we are still here to tell the tale!


It is easier to solder components in place such as resistors and capacitors if you bend the legs slightly out on the underside.


Leigh did a sterling job!


Here it is coming together


We were discussing the fact that the kit comes without a casing. There are plastic legs for the PCB board but aside from that there is little protection for the unit as a whole. That was when the search began for a box of some kind. And look what Leigh found.


The size is perfect and with it being wood we can easily drill the holes to fit knobs, photocell and LED's and the jack connector through.

Here is the photocell. We allowed the length of wire from the surface of the PCB board so that it would sit pretty much flush with the knobs.



And for now I have to call it a night, it's getting on for early hours and I struggle to proof read any further. Until tomorrow...

Poem

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