MY MODULAR SYNTH  
  I am building a modular synth!

My modular synth was donated to me years ago by a very nice man called Pepe in Barcelona (get in touch will you Pepe???) I used the synth on a lot of Eardrum stuff (hear the HUGE sequencer line on "A calmer karma" in the mp3 archive) SO I am making new front panels (using Shaeffer software.. cool!!) AND adding to the synth from modules from Blacet and Doepfer. I am having lots of fun soldering again. I dont think Im going to use ALL of Pepe for this, but the VCO's are great and so is the filter, but I think the VCA's were the cause of a lot of hiss, so I may get some Paia VCA/ADSR's modules. For sequencing I have already got a Mobius and a Fat controller.

But what is is all for, I thought you were doing guitar impro stuff Mark?
Well I always wanted a modular, and have had many synths over the years, but they always got sold and I aleays regretted it later. To build a modular, is more of your OWN BABY, it can grow with you. Plus, I've always been a sucker for the analog sequence. I used to love Tangerine Dream (cos in the beginning they really were not all new age-y and hippy muzak) they were so dark and the simple repetative sequences were very hypnotic. Then Uncle Ian did alot of stuff like this, but with guitars! We were quite influenced by Shrewsbury Band "The Land of Yrx", who tried to sound like Tand Dream, but due to bad connections and overdriving the mixer, sounded distorted and almost punky. When I heard of the music genre "Power Electronics" I thought of them (when I found out it meant Noise, Merzbow etc... I was disapointed, cos I dont thisnk that stuff is "Powerfull" at all, due mainly to the fact that you NEVER play it loud.. its more like ambient music really) SO I imagine a kind of PUNK synthesising, fast and distorted and aggressive. This is what I want to make with this thing.make with this thing.
HISTORY OF THE SYNTH  
The 1980´s Pepe bulids a Formant at school in the 80's
I am building obscure circuits and oscillators and modifies circuits
!993 I visit Barcelona and meets Pepe, their mutual interest in modulars synths is revealed, and Pepe unearths his home-made wonder. The Formant.

Pepe surprises me by giving it to him upon his departure from Barcelona - I is embarrassed but has to accept.

The Synth (renamed "Pepe") needs some work after te bumpy journey and is fixed up.
The 90´s I use it on various tracks in his electronic Eardrum project.

(photo taken BEFORE it is taken apart and fixed up - next to my old Akai Sampler and the MS2000R - which is a modern version of a modular, infact its supposed to be 2 Kork MS20's and an analog sequencer. Pretty good actually, but not like a real modular!!! )
2004 After some years on NON-use, I decides to fix up the synth, re-rack it, and add to it from the now many comercially available module manufacturers.

Modulular synths have now become somewhat easier to come by. And most modules available are nearly all compatible. The only incompatability issues being...
Differing Power Supplies for the modules (+/-15v or +/-12 vorlts being the 2 main types)
Different sizes patching sockets (1/4" jack 1/8" jack or banana plugs)
Physical module sizes. There are quite a few differences here, Some that try to emulate the old Moog style, IE big, Modcan size Eurorack size and Fracrack size.

I had some face plates made for the Formant, (unfortunately BEFORE knowing about all these differences, cos then he would have picked a standard... DOH!

I buy some fantastic Blacet modules and the wonderous (altho BIG (3 U !!!) ) Mobius Sequencer.

(photo shows the Mobius Sequencer at the top, fopllowed by some Blacet modules with the original Formant modules at the bottom, in their new face-plates.)
2007 After going to the Oslo Synth Treff, I decide that I want to start collecting both Blacet AND Doepfer modules. The problem with Doepfer has always been that although the modules themselves are cheap, the PSU and racking system always seemed too expensive, and is different to the Formant/Blacet.

However at the synth meet-up I meet Erik Stormer, who is selling some Doepfer modules and says he will build me a PSU. He also persuades me that I should put the Formant back together, AS IT SHOULD BE, as it is a classic and should really remain together, in one box. Well he didnt say that but, he gives me the idea. This may not be so easy, but as a long term project, it is al least a plan.

Im really interested in Doepfer modules, they are small, so you can fit alot into a rack, and apart from all the usual modules (most that I am getting off Erik) there are some very intriguing ones, like 8bit samplers, random note genarators, quantisers, strange trigger modifiers, and all sorts of filters and waveform manglers, that can also be used with external sounds.

Watch this space as the Monster grows.