My plans for 2025 are great. I hope yours are as well. These are some of the things that I hope to accomplish during 2025.
First on my list is to study a textbook called “Electronic Principles” by Albert Malvino. This book looks to be a great course on circuit design and analysis. I’ve recently learned about a new simulation tool called QSPICE that I would also like to learn how to use as I study this book. While accomplishing these goals, I also hope to progress an original eurorack module design as well. At the very least, I would like to update an old design in a way to fit modern standards better.
My first goal is pretty ambitious considering I also operate a small business as my full time job. I really do hope to have success with everything I mentioned though. In addition to all of that, I hope to practice guitar and music theory more. Music is my passion, and I would like to write some new songs during the year.
My next few posts will be about the beginning of my book studies. Then I hope to move into a circuit design. I will most likely attempt a redesign of an old filter, function generator, or oscillator for a first project. I am leaning toward a redesign so that I can use that project to learn Kicad a little better. I’m looking forward to sharing this with everyone and receiving some feedback.
I have purchased all of Tiptop Audio’s Buchla 200 Series eurorack modules as they have been released. Initially I was buying 2 of each and then when the spectral module came out, I began buying only one of each. At some point, I bought a couple of the Arturia RackBrute 6U cases and that has been their home. Recently, I had to start rotating out some of the modules because the case is full now. This introduced some opportunity for filling some small holes with other modules (not Buchla related). Some interesting sounds occurred with this change. One of the last Buchla modules that Tiptop released was the 259t – Programmable Complex Waveform Generator. This module has ART functionality incorporated. I began to get curious about what the purpose of this ART input is and that’s where this story begins.
Searching for Answers
When initially searching for more info about ART, it’s easy to get pulled into the Tiptop Audio website and read a lot of vague text about it and how great it is. I suppose I was approaching the tech from an odd angle since my interest was piqued by the Buchla oscillator having dedicated inputs for it. I understood that ART was a polyphonic “standard” that Tiptop invented and I also knew that they have individual VCOs that support ART. I thought that I would need the Octopus or Quantizer module for this Buchla Oscillator, so I ordered both of them. My thought process was that I could output MIDI from my DAW or plug in a hardware controller to the Octopus and output the ART to the Buchla 259t. The manual for the 259t even shows tuning the module with the Octopus and also shows using the Quantizer between the Buchla sequencers and the 259t.
What Have I Done?
This does indeed work and then that’s about all you can do unfortunately. Now, you could say, “well you should have done more research before buying,” or “what did you expect?” I promise you though, that until these ART modules were in front of me, I had these thoughts about how great they might be. Then, I started to use them and immediately felt limited in every way. In my research to write this post, I realized that there is actually text on Tiptop’s website stating that “Octopus is not a 1V/Oct midi to CV and should not be confused as one.” This becomes all too clear when you start to use it with a single 259t oscillator.
The Octopus module can output 8 ART channels of notes, gates, and velocities, along with 8 drum triggers. These are converted from MIDI. Sounds like a lot, right? It is if you have 8 ART VCOs, 8 VCFs, and 8 VCAs ready to go. Where I really felt my stomach turn was when I had patched up the 259t to two of the 8 ART outputs on the Octopus and I realized that “this is all I can do right now”. I have all these other oscillators, function generators, etc. right here in front of me and these “ART” Octopus outputs will not connect to any of it. If only they could output 1V/Oct as well as ART, this wouldn’t feel so gross.
Help, I Feel Sick
I started to feel pretty disheartened. It is the worst buyer’s remorse I have felt in a very long time. I still felt that all is not lost. Maybe I was missing something. I started looking for an answer and remembered these “polytip” cables that look like USB-C connectors. “What are those things?” I thought. Well, apparently, the products that use those are unreleased as of now. Vortex 6, Octostages Poly Envelope, Octopass Poly Filter, Octogain, and a few other utilities are all planned for release any time now. Currently, if you look at any retailer, there is no price and no preorder. It seems there is a release imminent, but it may be too little too late. I began to discover many others with this sentiment as I did more searching about the subject.
There’s Still Hope
So, Octopus was getting me down. I still had this Quantizer staring at me and I wanted to give it a fair chance. I connected it according to the Tiptop manual example, with my Buchla sequencer to the input and the ART outputs to the 259t oscillator. It works; and I have these 3 additional ART outputs that I have absolutely no use for. That is the problem with this. To utilize the ART system, you will need to spend thousands of dollars up front and then you will have an ART system that only works within itself. The Vortex 6 looks like it may be cool – a PPG inspired wavetable voice. Why not just combine all of this into a desktop synth though, since it appears to be a Tiptop closed system anyways? If you search hard enough, there are rumors of Nerdseq making something to work with ART and another Tiptop poly oscillator with like 16 oscillators in it. How much will that cost? (insert sarcastic eye roll here)
I had forgotten what a chore it is to set up a WordPress site. I’m sure that professionals have much better ways of doing all this. I am slowly working my way through this and getting a little more comfortable with the process. There are a lot of things left to do though.
I moved my original post over to an About page and added a little more context to it since that post was mostly an introduction to what I am trying to accomplish here.
What brought me to this point and gave me the idea to attempt this was a bulk purchase I made from someone I met on Facebook. There were several DIY modules that had been started or half built. These included a couple that I have finished already – Erica Synths DIY BBD / Flanger and a Thomas White Dual LPG. The Erica Synths module was more or less complete, but had some small issues that I corrected. The Dual LPG, on the other hand, was only half built. I finished it and still had issues with the half that I completed. Eventually, I tried replacing two vactrols and this got it to a point where I am happy with it. The only problem is that the two halves respond and sound slightly different because of the vactrol differences. The vactrols all have the same part numbers, but they are different brands and from different times.
I also had a look at a module that I had never heard of called Miasma, made by someone called Sin Phi. As I searched for clues about this module, I discovered that it is a slight redesign of the Befaco Rampage. More research uncovered that the PCB that I had found is an early prototype and not even worth building because of how many errors it contains. At this point, I still wanted to build it because I was invested, so I found a github page where someone has updated it somewhat. There were PCB fabrication files there along with a BOM, but no instructions. The BOM is also not very good. I sent the files off to a PCB place and had 5 of these Miasmas produced. I’ve built three of those so far and made some mistakes on the first two. I’ll have to revisit those at some point soon. The third one seems to work pretty well. There are some oddities about the way it works though and I have never used a Rampage, so I am unsure if it has the same behaviors.
Some other modules from this lot that I need to complete are the Stroh / J3rk 258 Dual Oscillator and the 291 Dual Filter. These are particularly intriguing because of sets of pads meant for modifications. The lack of documentation is concerning though. I also found some Plan B Dual LPG PCBs that I don’t have a lot of information about. I believe I found the boards on the CGS website. I could totally see redesigning these old J3rk and Plan B modules with updated designs, eliminating the need for wiring panels to the PCB and condensing the components down to a more manageable design. I am unsure if the Plan B boards are even supposed to be for eurorack at all.
