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...