414 In the Bird House

414 In the Bird House
Originally uploaded by asobernewt

My friend Paul and I discovered that when recording drums live if you want the most compressed industrial sounding drums without having to do any post production work this is how you do it. AKG 414 in figure 8 in a can of sorts, I forget what this one was for originally. Thin metal works best and different cans have different notes to themselves; Also larger openings in the can work better.

HP 132A Dual Beam oscilloscope

60's HP Scope

DSCN4030
Originally uploaded by asobernewt

Took some pictures of my scope today and gas some fun editing them

Came across this while looking at photos on Flicker. Its a CGS65: Dual Tube VCA Built by Granular Matter. He has some great stuff at his blog well worth checking out.

"Pictured here are two Ken Stone CGS65 Tube VCA/Timbral Gate circuit boards. Both will be mounted behind one Eurorack format panel to reduce the build cost."

A Bleak Future Ahead?

A Helium Shortage? 

Emily Jenkins

There are two kinds of stable helium. You know the first one: It puts lift in birthday balloons, Thanksgiving Day parades, the Goodyear blimp.

The federal government first identified helium as a strategic resource in the 1920s; in 1960 Uncle Sam began socking it away in earnest. Thirty-two billion cubic feet of the gas are bunkered underground in Cliffside, a field of porous rock near Amarillo. But now the government is getting out of the helium business, and it's selling the stockpile to all comers.

Full Article

Rare Earth in BlackBerry to Prius Underscores Alarm Over Supply

Bloomberg

Rare-earth elements help give BlackBerrys their buzz, Toyota Priuses their battery power, and computer hard drives their spin.

The rare earths, a group of 17 metals including neodymium, lanthanum, cerium and europium, also have industrial and national-security uses, such as in petroleum refining, fiber- optics transmission, and military radar and missile-guidance systems.

China’s 72 percent reduction in export quotas for the second half of this year, which it announced in July, and the customs delays since then are driving up prices. U.S. Representative Edward Markey, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, asked the Obama administration on Oct. 21 to report on China’s export restrictions and ramifications for the military and U.S. clean- energy producers.

Full Article

High Voltage Cable Inspection

This video is absolutely amazing in my opinion. First, because what this guy does on a daily basis is just amazing. Second the video is shot well.

Why is NASA audio so bad?

I came across this on the EETimes

Why is NASA audio so bad?

Rich Pell

8/25/2010 11:19 AM EDT

We're all familiar with the noisy, "squelchy"-sounding audio that seems to characterize voice communications between astronauts and mission control during NASA space missions. Most of us don't give it a second thought, but a poster over at diyAudio wonders why does the audio have to be so bad?

He has a point. Given today's technology - or even 1970's or 80's technology - and the relatively low requirements for reproducing good quality audio, what's the excuse for the poor audio quality heard on low-earth orbit operations like the International Space Station and shuttle missions?

Full Article

Germanium Fuzz Face

Man I wish I had some more fee time from school to build beautiful projects like this one! Its a germanum Fuzz Face by Moregeometrico

Coppersynth, October 2010
Originally uploaded by parasitk

This is just as Dave Jones says "this is sex on a stick"

Coppersynth, October 2010

"I’m still wiring up the panels, but it’s almost completed. I need to order the fancy dials for the 10-turn pots on the Living VCOs, but they’re really expensive, so that may not happen soon. I’m also missing a couple small components that I’m ordering tonight.

Overall though, I’m really happy with the way it’s turning out."

East Bay Mini Maker Faire this weekend

Via Make

For everyone in the San Francisco Bay Area, don't forget about 
the East Bay Mini Maker Faire going on this Sunday, October 24,
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Park Day School Campus in Oakland.
This Mini Maker Faire was organized by a dedicated group of
parents as a fundraiser for their school, and we at MAKE are
thrilled to see folks organizing Maker Faires at the community
level. There will be over 100 makers and crafters exhibiting, along
with a whole day of workshops scheduled, including Maker Faire
founder Dale Dougherty showing how to make cider with a cider
press and speaking about the Young Makers program, as well as
Tim O'Reilly teaching how to make his famous jam and scones.
Check out the site for all the details, including an extensive list of
makers, and of course how to get tickets.

If you are a teacher, check out the post on Make: Education
on how to get discounted tickets.

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The Truth About Guitar Cords

Via HarmonyCentral.com

"By Craig Anderton

If a guitar player hears something that an engineer says is impossible, lay your bets on the guitarist. For example, some guitarists can hear differences between different cords. Although some would ridicule that idea—wire is wire, right?—different cords can affect your sound, and in some cases, the difference can be drastic. What's more, there's a solid, repeatable, technically valid reason why this is so.

However, cords that sound very different with one amp may sound identical with a different amp, or when using different pickups. No wonder guitarists verge on the superstitious about using a particular pickup, cord, and amp. But you needn't be subjected to this kind of uncertainty if you learn why these differences occur, and how to compensate for them."

Full Article

Noise Ensemble

This is so cool its a "PT2399-based fuzz that modulates itself with its own audio signal!" From pickletowers

Here is a link to the Fourm Posts on DIYstompboxes.com http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=87493.0

APC

APC
Originally uploaded by asobernewt

This is an atari Punk Console super fun with delay, has two outputs so that I can do multiple things like driving a frequency divider or other noise oscillators.

Craigslist Finds

So I thought I would just start sharing some of the cool things that I come across on Craigslist here. Just came across this little gem http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/msg/2007968404.html "Very portable, only weighs 42 lbs."

Optical Tremolo.

This is 100roberthenry's

optical tremolo. Personally I think its great sounding, especially with the small amount of parts used. Here is what he says about it: "experimenting with tremolo's..mono and stereo ..dual tremolo's in one pedalfor panning left and right....optical..."

What gets me excited about this is the stereo applications that one could use it for. if one channel was in a feed back loop with a delay and other time based effects the tonal possibilities would be nearly uncountable.

My Day is Complete

Thanks guys at The Amp Hour for the shout out!!! You totally made my day!

A sick ring modulator

Just came across this cool ring modulator by  zebranalogiczetangas | September 24, 2010

"Experimenting with the ring modulator.
I ´m using the next wave form square, sawtooth, sine.
I´m playing with a guitar modified using singles coil and a amplifier hand made."

I really need to build one myself its one of those pedals that i have always wanted. 

New Noise Scape

 NOISE SCAPE 10 12 2010 by a soBer Newt

Fuzzy Factory Black and White

Fuzzy Factory
Originally uploaded by asobernewt

I forgot that i did a good job on wiring this one thought that I would share.

Shout Out

Just wanted to give a shout out to el musico loco and his great work at: elmusicoloco
I know this is random but I fell it would be cool to do this on a regular basis.  In which case, I would also like to give a shout out to Forrest Mims III and all the great work that he has done, with out his books I don't think that I would have ever gotten as far as I have in electronics.

Handmade Music, From 3D to Wires, on October 10 in NYC, Austin, or Your Workbench

Tomorrow  New York, Austin Texas host a Handmade Music event check it out here: Handmade Music 
Looks like its going to be a great event; does anyone know if there is anything similar to this in the Los Angles/Long Beach area?

My Manic And I Cover

Great voice and figer-styling

'Masters From Their Day' #3 - Library Is On Fire - "Broken Guitar" - Per...

Totally drooling over the all the top end gear that their using for this. Can you believe that's Elvis used that guitar amp for his PA? The way that they did the rain using layers and multiple over dubs is amazing   

MOTU 896HD

So my MOTU 896HD is sadly broken. I believe its to do with the firewire any one had similar issues. Its locking up any time that I connect it to my computer. Lucky the guy that I bought it from did not register it so I think I will be able to send it back to MOTU to get fixed.

Update:
This from MOTU


"Hi Nathan, 

Regrettably, it appears that this unit is experiencing a hardware problem. I can issue a Return Authorization for you to send the 896HD back to us to be repaired. The cost of this service is $99.95 for any out-of-warranty interface. "

Mamoth

DSCN3942
Originally uploaded by asobernewt

Tar pit or bust !!!

SHO into Tube Boost

shotube
Originally uploaded by asobernewt

This is my layout for a SHO cascaded into a Tube boost. It was working but now its not so I need some helps.

Fuzz Factory

This is my Fuzz Factory clone. Shoot me an email if you would like to buy one!

The Half Smart