Ring Mod

Another new addition to the band - a RING MODULATOR - built using schematics from Craig Anderton's excellent book Guitar Electronics for Musicians built as a kit from PAIA.

The only problem is I haven't got it working properly yet, probably because I didn't give it a bi-polar power supply (whatever that is!)

Fingers crossed closer scrutiny of the book, and a bipolar power source, should yield a fully working unit...

Bi-polar power added - still no joy - bugger....

An email to PAIA swiftly followed by a fulsome and comprehensive reply from their tech support quickly located and solved the problem so it now works!

In case anyone else is having problems with this circuit pin voltages for the IC's from Scott Lee at PAIA below...

IC1 5532 IC2 (565)

The IC pins are numbered as shown above as viewed from the component side of the board.
IC1
pin 1 0VDC
pin 2 0VDC
pin 3 0VDC
pin 4 -7VDC
pin 5 0VDC
pin 6 0VDC
pin 7 0VDC
pin 8 +7VDC

IC2
pin 1 -6VDC
pin 2 0 to +1VDC
pin 3 0 to +1VDC
pin 4/5 appx. +2VDC
pin 6/7 +3 to +6VDC
pin 8 -4 to +4VDC
pin 9 appx. 0VDC
pin 10 +6VDC
pins 11-14 n.c. open circuit

2nd Casio SK1 Joins the Band

I've finally finished circuit bending a second circuit bent Casio. This time I used Reed Ghazala's Schematics as I was curious to see what effects they created, and how they differ from the bends I've used before. I also added MIDI using a highly liquid retrofit. 

New Machines Join the Band

Some new machines have joined the band...

A WSG from Ray Wilson's excellent Music From Outer Space. 

And a Frostwave Resonator made by the fantastic Paul Perry.

I also re-jigged a BCK volume foot pedal so it can be used as a CV control for the Resonator and made a foot switch for the WSG.

Both machines feature quite a lot on NB EP 2  and FROTYSOSS.

FROTYSOSS 2

More new music from Neal Beard and his Machines.

A 15 minute improvisation called FROTYSOSS 2.

Neal Beard and his machines hope you enjoy listening to their musical creations.

Ambient Melancholy

Today Neal Beard and his Machines made a new recording.

It's called Ambient Melancholy.

It was made using:

Neal Beard.

A new WSG.

A homemade 6xOSC.

A homemade 2x gated OSC.

Another Homemade OSC.

and a circuit bent Casio SA5.

It's a 10 minute knob twiddling tonal frequency based sorta thing.