Gristleizer continued

So i bought a DIY Gristleizer kit from Endangered Audio.
See how badly i want a functioning one? Djeezzzz.

Although they did tweak the circuit some (especially the LFO) i still got nasty ticking leaking through.
Some more in-depth testing revealed that it was all about which power supply you use. voltage inverters/doublers don't seem to be able to pull it off.
So this new version got a Xformer from an old rack EQ (which is to be transformed into a sequencer one day someday maybe), and with this 'dedicated' power supply, all is well. 220v straight to the Gristleizer.
still some ticking in certain positions, but nothing too loud or unwanted to spoil my fun now.
For my mental health, i'll assume this is inherent to the circuit.

the box: a Slendertone 4-pads-that-will-change-your-life-weight-loss-system-driver.
the grey case turned out to be as much of a pain to drill as the Hohner's original case was - same material. it either melts or breaks, but it seems impossible to drill a decent hole in it.
luckily there's some aluminum parts.
already there: 4 huge knobs, an LED, and room to spare.
added waveform selector, VCA/VCF switch,  bypass switch, in/out jax.
still to come: CV in and out jaques.

it's cool to have it around to run anything through, it's nasty, and good fun - but the Effect to End All Effects, A Whole New World, Disney style, it ain't. got my hopes up a little too high there i guess.
Still, a great little box, and i can imagine the CV will take it up a notch still.

Bow Wow

I finished the Gristlizer Prototype.
put it in a box for Jelle to try out.
although i had to tell him i'm not fully satisfied with it yet - the Fet i used might not be up to it, or maybe it's inherent to the design, but in certain knob positions you hear the LFO bleeding through more than i would like. mostly w/ Ramp Up and Square - seems the steep falling edge is responsible.
Will do just fine for industrial type processing - both throbbing and gristleing -  but i will definitely have to come back to it later. I'm a perfectionist and perfect is a skinned knee, apparently.

So i started repairs on that Melos Effectmatic box. it used to crackle like hell, and it was unresponsive in certain settings (if not all.)
It has now officially been fixed by getting a certain out-of-whack voltage divider up on its feet again.
thing is, now it's lying here open and unscrewed and with its guts bare: i feel this one has room for improvement as well.. Oww boii. blend? sensitivity control? master volume? wider range? hmm.
if i can find my capital M, the Modding can begin.

thee Gristleizer, Pt.III / Hohner continued

testing if you could throw control voltages at the Gristleizer instead of the internal LFO.
why yes you could.

running things off a crude - be honest: unfinished - CV sequencer (think Baby10), 0-5v CV works perfectly. it actually provides a slightly wider range than the LFO.
needs a little tweak of the Bias knob of course, but works like a charm.
or is that unlike a charm? i forget. (rabbit's foot,anyone?)

for demo purposes, and to keep things interesting for myself, i used the gate out of the external sequencer to step the Hohner Arpeggiator. every new rising edge is a step, so you can make some really random sounding sequences indeed. well, unless you put some effort in, in which case you could make it sound like a 4 to the Floor.
on MDMA drinking watered down RedBullVodka, that is, but hey.
hitting the sync gapper on the arpeggiator makes for a silence every time the gate drops to 0v. nice.

the whole thing is quite promising.
makes me want to finish that sequencer.

Hohner3000 + gristlizer + sequencer demo by Remörk138

Thee Gristleizer, Pt.II

yay!

Hohner3000 + gristlizer demo by Remörk138

the arpeggiator section through the VCA, well - some, and then quickly on to the VCF.
tweakle dee and tweakle dum, as one might say.


// small postrecording edit: been toying with the clock cap, and i have the LFO running pretty pretty slow -am listening to the ramp up doing about 6 minutes per cycle right now. all in good fun, of course. //


oh, and kids: when you're handling sharp objects
such as knives, axes and the like,
always move them AWAY from your other hand.

Thee Gristleizer, Pt.I

All the info you can eat on the effects box made famous by Chris Carter & Throbbing Gristle.
decided to try it, especially with the Hohner thing in mind..

as i mentioned it to one of the boys of the WCCC, out came the obvious: "switch between VCA and VCF? so you need two, basically?"

well. let's first try to get one to work, shall we?

temporarily housed in a neat little thriftstore box (former ampere meter) and a piece of cardboard - i like cardboard! - it's got that
Bissy Bunder Science Project look to it for now.
not only is it working, it's got one of the best LFO's in terms of range and Vpp steadiness that i have come across in such a relatively simple circuit. that said, the bias pot is indeed essential, a welcome addition, even for 'normal' operation. so if you build it: put that one on the front panel! some worthwile effects there, and you don't want to have to open 'er up every time.. only problem (well.) is that the bias pot is not really interesting throughout its full range, so there's some room for improvement there ('standard' bias at 50% and then a useful range would be nice. MultiMeterMan to the rescue).

bypass will be added later. and maybe a higher impedance input for guitar, have to try if that matters at all.

anyone noticed i tried to have some room for n°2 in the layout?
oh joy.

the Hohner Bass Threemörk, pt.III

Small update: the arpeggiatorererer is working!

master clock from a 40106 drives a 4017 counter. pulses from outputs 1 through 8 get sent to the switches where they are routed to the binary control pins on the 4051. this is an 8-channel analog signal switcher, so basically you're selecting input 1, 2, 3 or 4 to be routed to the output. on the inputs are the four octaves.

0 0

0 1

1 0

0 0

however, on the other 4 inputs is nothing.. pulling the third control pin high means silence. opportunity to have a 'gapper'- hardcore squarewave tremolo. either in sync with the clock (inverted clock to control pin, 50% note length, nice!), or driven by a second lfo on the 40106.

that works, kinda. however, the fun begins if you drive the gaps into the audio range - fake ring modulation style. Sweet.

still need to figure out some final mixing options - what voice to route to what filter, and wondering if i need extra filters with more controllable parameters.

was wondering about the TG Gristleizer, might be nice. maybe as an external device.

started working on rehousing the whole thing.

the case is in a pretty bad shape, crumbles when drilled, and most importantly: it's gonna be too small for all the impending gadgetry.