{"id":10036,"date":"2021-06-22T16:37:28","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T20:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/?p=10036"},"modified":"2021-06-23T11:33:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T15:33:11","slug":"the-syntaxis-%c2%b5lfo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/2021\/the-syntaxis-%c2%b5lfo","title":{"rendered":"The Syntaxis \u00b5LFO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve been following my Instagram<\/a>, you\u2019ve seen me working to build a noizmachin called Kerberos, <\/em>a triple low-frenquency oscillator (LFO) of of Syntaxis \u00b5LFO<\/em> modules. Generally, LFOs don\u2019t produce sounds themselves; rather, they\u2019re made to send repeating patterns of control to other modules. So a slow sine wave that\u2019s controlling the pitch of an audio-frequency oscillator (a voltage-controlled oscillator, VCO) can make it play a sliding scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find that I always run out of LFOs. They\u2019re a system that gives a structure and overall sense of the sounds over time. You can think of them as the sheet music; they tell the other instruments how to sound, with most of the timbre defined by the audio-frequency oscillators as the LFO manipulates their parameters. Several of them together can syncopate with each other, can amplify or suppress each other, and can even control each other\u2019s rates of change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Syntaxis \u00b5LFO module<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s really exciting is sending one LFO\u2019s signal to another, so the frequency of the second is changed by the current amplitude of signal out of the other. You wind up with frequencies of frequencies. You can find syncopated rhythms, new timbres, and very slow evolution through this process and I find it really beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019ve only had three regular oscillators at my disposal until now, all on one instrument, with only one optimized for use as an LFO. So if I wanted to use two as low-frequency oscillators, I only have one audio-frequency oscillator to work with. And one of my greatest interests is *really* low frequency oscillators that are continually, subtly changing other parameters, including their own so there are comprehensible themes throughout an hour of music, but no actual repetition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Syntaxis Micromodular line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

(BTW, support my Patreon for more science fiction music, art, stories, and games!<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when I found out about Syntaxis\u2019 Micromodular<\/em> line of analog audio development boards, I was really excited. They offer a full set of them for 810,00z\u0142<\/a> (about $213 as of this writing), but all I wanted was a set of several LFOs that I could use together. I got three of their \u00b5LFO modules<\/a> to combine into a single instrument I can cross- connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building out the \u00b5LFO modules<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ve been really fun to work with, in no small part because they\u2019re proving to have Arduino-like resilience to the errors that come about naturally in the process of learning something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, I\u2019ve connected its power backward, send \u00b112V to the +5V inputs, shorted them out, and dropped them and the magic smoke has dutifully stayed inside the op amps rather than coming out enthusiastically, like they would had I built them myself. That kind of ruggedness brings a confidence that really encourages experimentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Two \u00b5LFOs in place on a breadboard. You can build an entire breadboard synthesizer out of these for a couple hundred bucks, then move it all to protoboard with sockets, and have exactly the analog synth you want.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Experimentation has also demonstrated a peculiarity: some of the inputs are genuinely \u00b112V while others only really accept the 0:+5V sweep in the center. While \u00b112V is great for getting the full range with subtlety, it means that you can\u2019t simply connect all your potentiometer controls to a single power and ground bus; the 5V ones need additional circuitry to run off the power provided by the module itself. They sell a power supply to use<\/a>, or you can draw your own 5V source from your modular power supply, or use a high-quality computer power supply like I do \u2014 or simply use a USB phone charger. But you still have to solder together two separate sets of potentiometer knobs for the different voltage ranges with different voltage dividers going into them to give them the full authority they can have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u00b5LFO being modulated by the Rungler of the Rad Dog\u2019s Kastle, which is then feeding back into the level shift of the \u00b5LFO. I promise, that\u2019s a workable sentence in context. I didn\u2019t have a stroke.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The modules are made with 2.54mm pitch male headers to insert into protoboard, perfboard, or a solderless breadboard, which means that whatever you want to do with it, you can design it by trying stuff out, then solder sockets into your perfboard or PCB for your final draft all without risking the component.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the modules cost $30 or less, which means that you could build yourself a really nice, highly reliable<\/em> Eurorack out of these for very little money, with abundant room for customization. Instead of buying a used Neutron, you can build something comparable, but just exactly the way you like it, prototyping it all out on solderless breadboards as you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I haven\u2019t tried the other modules yet, but if the \u00b5LFO is any indication, they\u2019re probably pretty good. I\u2019d like to try some more of them once Kerberos is fully operational. Maybe the mixer. After all, it\u2019s $30 and I\u2019ve already got a lot of potentiometers and an ammo box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Might as well try it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Modular systems are a function of industrial society. But do people of The Fifth World still know how to agree to standards? With their acute interest in efficiency, I think they might have carried that lesson forward!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been following my Instagram, you\u2019ve seen me working to build a noizmachin called Kerberos, a triple low-frenquency oscillator (LFO) of of Syntaxis \u00b5LFO modules. Generally, LFOs don\u2019t produce sounds themselves; rather, they\u2019re made to send repeating patterns of control to other modules. So a slow sine wave that\u2019s controlling the pitch of an … Continue reading “The Syntaxis \u00b5LFO”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":10039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-set-of-all-sets-that-do-not-include-themselves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10036"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10044,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10036\/revisions\/10044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}