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Drone Synth?

dozicusmaximus

dozicusmaximus

Mar 18, 2009
2,974
733
Ohio
#1
Ok, this may be in the wrong section?
But I came accross this
http://casperelectronics.com/finished-pieces/drone-lab/drone-lab-v2/
And it looks and sounds sick!
I would like to build one eventually. But I've only soldered the occasional pickups and pots in a bass.
I guess my question is can I build something similar with less knobs? haha
Oscillation and LPF looks like the main components.
I guess I need to read more about this stuff. Any help or some links would be cool :hyper:

I would like to make a drone/ambient/noise board eventually. But just the pedals as the focus. Using the pedals to make all the music/noise.

Or would it just be easier to get a microKorg and call it a day. haha

Edit
When I get home I'm going to be reading alot on these links.
Link Removed
But any other suggestions on cheap somewhat easy things I could start building would be cool.
I do have a toy keyboard laying around I could start screwing with. Wich would be more like circuit bending, but that couldn't hurt...
 
#2
If you can solder I'd say buy it. You'd be grand building the kit of this, it will take you a long time to do but it'll be worth it. The fact that there's no offboard wiring makes it much easier than most pedal kits imho. I'll repeat the long time part, I'd say anything between 5-8 hours will get it done. Still for what you're getting it's great. I've built a few of them and have one myself. You can put bass through it and use the fuzz and filters that it has which is cool (and relevant for this board).

If you want something with just oscillation I have some vero layouts that use the same chip, much much simpler than the drone lab. But probably a bit harder but way less time consuming too.
 
#3
I'm cool with the fact that it will take me a long time to do. I think the biggest issue is the cost. At least at the time being.
I think a kit with all the parts and instructions would be nice. It's not like I cant track down the parts. But that way I get everything I need, and not accidentaly buy some wrong parts.
Like veroboard... haha I had to look that up. Does it come in sheet you can just cut off what you need?
 
#7
If you're just looking for a project go for it!

Musically though, I'd say the only thing that unit has going for it is the oscillators - it has 4, so it's cool in that it lets you dial in a pretty thick drone.

But, I don't see any CV input so I'm thinking you won't be able to change pitch after you tune the drone - at least not without re-setting everything at a different pitch.

That really limits it's usage IMO. I loves cooking me up a drone with my synth, and then being able to change notes in a song using a foot controller. Just way more flexible and interesting. There will come a day when you want this.

There is quite a bit of DIY analog synth/effect stuff out there.

Check out musicfromouterspace.com

Link Removed
 

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