Overview

This July, 2010, photo shows the whole studio setup with all current modules ready to go and something patched.  The portable cabinets are to the left, doing duty as overflow cabinets.   There’s still some space (18U) left for expansion.

To the lower right sit the Mackie 802-VLZ3 mixer, the t.c. electronics Desktop Konnekt6 Firewire interface, and a rack holding a Furman power conditioner, a pair of FMR Audio Really Nice Compressors, a Lexicon MPX-1 Multiple Effects Processor, and a Tascam SS-R1 solid state recorder. The monitors are Mackie HR-824s. I store the M-Audio Axiom-25 on top, because I don’t use keyboards a lot.  The Edirol Keyboard is gone.

Cabinets and Power Supplies

Three of the four cabinets are Synthesizers.com four-foot long 22-Space Walnut Studio Cabinet, modified with Stooge mounting rails to hold MOTM-style modules.The bottom cabinet is a 44-Space Tilted Walnut Studio Cabinet. Each tier holds 26U of modules. There is 130U of module width total.

Power in the main cabinets is supplied by six Power-One supplies:

  • 2 of HAA15-0.8-A – from MOTM-900

  • 2 of HTAA-16W-A – from MOTM-950

  • HBB15-1.5-A

  • HCC15-3-A

Electrical Standards

With a few exceptions, signals are standardized.

  • Signal and control outputs are +/- 5V, including pulse waves.
  • Most gate and trigger inputs have Schmitt comparators that accept any signal.
  • Envelopes are 0 to +5V.
  • VCA unity gain is at +5V.

Modules

A module in the logical sense is a self-contained functional unit whose inputs and outputs are available for connecting it with other modules into a “patch”. Physical modules consist of a panel unit that is movable independently. Quite often you see multiple logical modules contained in one physical module. Here is a list organized by logical function.

Logical Module Counts – March, 2012

  • Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCO) — 13 (2 MOTM-300,  2 CGS VCO, Cynthia ZO, Modcan VCDO, Teezer VCO, e350 Morphing Terrarium, e340 Cloud Generator, 2 Buchla 258J, 2 XR-2206)
  • Low Frequency Oscillators (LFO) — 15 (2 MOTM-320, 2 MOTM-380, 2 MOTM-390, 1 Mankato)
  • Accessible LFOs in other modules — 4 (2 from MOTM-410, 1 Wogglebug Clock Out, 1 Blacet Binary Zone Clock Out)
  • Embedded LFOs — 4 (2 in Blacet Time Machines, 1 in Blacet Stonz Phaser, MOTM-101 Clock)
  • Voltage Controlled Amplifiers (VCA) — 16 (2 MOTM-190, 2 Mattson VCA, 6 Oakley ADSR/VCA, 1 OMS 410, 2 Haible Trapezoid)
  • Voltage Controlled Filters (VCF) — 25 (1 MOTM-410, 2 MOTM-420, 2 MOTM-440, 1 Dual MOTM-480, 1 MOTM-485, 2 MOTM-490, 2 Oakley Superladder Filtercore, 2 Resonant Lopass Gate, 4 Resonant Gate, 1 Mankato, 1 Dual CGS CMOS Wasp, 2 Flight of Harmony Plague Bearer, 1 Neutron DuoFonik)
  • Manually Controlled Filters — 4 (2 Blacet Dual Filter)
  • Envelope Generators (EG) — 24 (4 MOTM-800, 2 Mattson, 2 Blacet 2070, 2 MOTM-OMS-820, 6 Oakley ADSR/VCA, 1 Mattson Quad AD, 2 Haible Trapezoid, 1 Buchla 281 Dual FG)
  • VC Phase Shifters — 1 Blacet StonZ
  • Timbre modulators — MOTM-120, MOTM-510, CGS Wave Multiplier, CGS Bi-N-Tic Filter, 2 Blacet Miniwaves, 2 CGS Tube VCA’s
  • Frequency Shifters – 1 Encore
  • Quantizers — 4 (2 Blacet Miniwaves, 1 Modcan Dual Quantizer 55B)
  • Analog Delays — 2 Blacet Time Machines
  • Lag Processors — 6 (2 MOTM-820, 1 Dual Tellun Lag, 2 CGS Serge VCS)
  • Mixers – 12 (2 Oakley Multimix, 2 Blacet, 2 Mixer-Comparator, 2 Resonance Mixer, 1 Stereo Matrix Mixer, 1 Small Matrix Mixer)
  • Sample & Holds — 6 (MOTM-101, 2 Oakley, Blacet Improbability Drive, 2 in Wogglebug)
  • Noise Sources — 3 (MOTM-101, Blacet Improbability Drive, CGS Infinite Melody)
  • Control Voltage Generators – CGS Infinite Melody, Wiard Wogglebug, Jerkster Chaos, Blacet Binary Zone
  • Control Voltage Processor — Modcan CV Recorder
  • Digital processors — 1 MOTM-730, 2 CGS Burst Generators, 1 CGS divider, 1 CGS shifter, 4 CGS logic gates
  • Input signal processor — Blacet Input Envelope Follower with Gates
  • Other — 2 CGS Serge VCS, 1 Encore UEG, 1 MOTM-700 dual switch, 2 CGS Analog Shift Registers, 1 Analog OR, 1 Analog AND, 1 Mattson Distributor, Dual CGS Slope Detectors, CGS Psycho LFO, Mattson Gate Delay
  • MIDI Converter — 1 MOTM-650
  • Visual indicators — 2 Veeblefetzers
  • Multiples — 15 4-jack multiples