Z-5 Analog Abstract Generator

[CountFunkula]

Welcome to Photonlexicon, Ash!

You're gonna love it here!

I designed the front panel of the P-4 after playing the only popular analog synth you didn't mention, Doc: Alan R. Pearlman's Odyssey. I still have one in the studio.

Here's a bit about flow. I put image generation at the lower left, using rotary pots for frequency and slide pots for amplitude (and carrying this philosophy throughout the panel). The P-4 has two VCQOs, the Z-5 has three. To the immediate right of image generation is the VCA, which can be adjusted in amplitude for X and Y, separately or ganged, with a three position switch at the top to select direct voltage control from a pot or either of two LFOs, which are to the right of the VCA knobs. NB: Above each image generation slidepot is a switch/pot to modulate the VCQO frequency using either of the two LFOs. You can make an image zoom in and out in time to the music and also synch a morph from one lissajous pattern to another with the bounce.

I'll stop there. I just typed all that from memory without looking and for anyone who's played an ARP Odyssey, the many different ways of generating, rotating and modulating an image will be immediately apparent. It doesn't take long for someone to learn to run a P-4 by Braille.

I think the problem many people have, until they get their hands on the device, is that the flow isn't readily apparent because there are so many more ways to make it flow than there would have been if I'd copied a MiniMoog.

Funny you mention that...in another thread about the Z-5, I mentioned the ARP 2600 as a cool direction to take for the front panel/industrial design aesthetic


http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...859#post267859

[AshMcFadden]

Oh, yeah, this place looks like something that will keep me from productive work for hours on end!

The ARP 2600 was a fun machine. David Pearlman's genius with the Odyssey was in re-creating all those possible patchcord connections - like having an LFO modulate both frequency and amplitude, for instance - and eliminating the patchcords. With the P-4, there are lots of either/or choices and many either/or/both choices. You can "paint yourself into a corner", with several ways to drive your image into a useless clip, if you use them all at once.

I'm going to have to transcribe the P-4 Users' Manual here when I get back to Ireland where I left the original copy, along with the original P-4, Serial Number 001, built in 1982 and which is still working just fine, thank you.

[DZ]

Ash! Welcome to PhotonLexicon!!

I just managed to finish wiring up a panel and even put together a time lapse video of. Had the camera set to take a photo every 10 seconds. Ended up taking just over 13 hours to wire the panel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lvqr7Qxs-w

[absolom7691]

David, you're a rockstar! I need to not go to your channel when I am at work! Do you have any galleries set up with any of your own abstracts yet? I mean, with all your free time, I would expect it . I am also curious to see what some of the Pangolin created abstracts will look like when washing them through the z-5 to add that analog touch to them. Also, any possibility of including up to 4x ilda outs for multi-head projectors? Not that it would be that hard to build a 4 way splitter.

Great work. I really need to get to SELEM.

[Displaser]

David,

What a video! It's going to be great seeing the Z-5 come to life. Amazing project - thanks for all you are doing to make this happen!

Ash,

Welcome to the forum - it will be nice to hear your feedback on this too!

Greg

[glorocks]

I apologize for jumping off thread here. First, let me take my hat off to DZ for his superior effort. As a old analog dog from the '80's I can appreciate this effort.
I've built my share of analog generators, including a couple of Mandalla Zero consoles when I worked for Lasermedia back in the '80's.
Now for my question. I have been tearing my hair out trying to find a complete data sheet for the Burr Brown 4214 multiplier. Every thing I find on the web is missing the crucial diagrams. I did find one copy that had the pinouts, but I need to see the rest of the sheet.
ANY help here will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Jay

[glorocks]

I have to add that a clean workbench is the sign of a sick mind LOL!

[dsli_jon]

Hah! What a hoot this thread was...

First - DZ.. Hats-off, Chief.. bitchin-controller, and - as-always - incredible-werk... Look-forward to seein it in-action / playin around on it, someday.. I'll put a ballot in my S'LEM '14 hope-chest, and we'll see what happens..

re:

..(At the very least, DSLI-Jon would be interested.)

..who do ya think gave 'im the keys to the 'docs-vault'? Actually, depending on which 'board' is was for JM, there, he may-have already had them.. memorized.

I for one am not going to worship at the alter of a has-been laserist, no matter how awesome he was 30 or 40 years ago, if he's going to persist in his elitist attitude....What gives this guy a free pass?

Hehehe, this gave me a good-chuckle, Adam.. Generally-speaking, when you can not only build-up / wire-up - and then PLAY one of these puppies..



..to the point you not only have people in (literal..) tears from the beauty of the performance, but.. coming-back... for more.. with friends.. ..well, you automatically get a pair of 'elite-laser-dude' wings...

...What gives him a 'free pass' is that, a) in-fact, he *did* earn his stripes, not 'buy them', like even I - with 21-years 'pro' experience more or less did (..comparatively-speaking..).. And this 'has-been' is - currently - putting *paying-asses* in seats, week after week.. with 'content' that's 30-40 years old.. and people are lovin-it. Why? In-part, sure - because of the 'brand' / their fond-memory-set from when they 'saw it as a teen' / advertising-buzz, etc. BUT.. that does-not 'account' for all the patrons - who were not even *conceived* yet, 'back in the day' - that give the guy's performances standing-ovations, and... bring thier 20-30-something GF / BF back, the next week / mo. etc.. I sure hope *I* can be such a 'has-been' someday..

..and b).. Don't you realize that, sure - Laserium became a 'world-reknowned Brand' / commercial-Co. of "Professionals", but.. dude - Laserium is like the *mecca* of 'diy'ers...One of the greatest-denizens of 'experimenters' / innovators / out-of-box thinkers in the history of our 'craft', Pro or 'Am'... If there was *ever* a Co. that encouraged / fostered the 'hobbiest / DIY-mentality', it would be the place where 'laserist' was forged into-such.. I'm pretty-sure he 'gets it'..

..Point-being, I really-don't see any 'dissing' on Laserist's part for either DZ's fine-werk / 'hobbiests', in-general, nor 'Doc's POV, but.. he's quite-well 'earned his chops', and, ya know.. mastering-playing something that looks like 1/2 the cockpit of an MD-88.. ..and getting people to cheer with 40-year-old tunes.. and then pay again, to see it, well.. One tends to see simpler-things with 'minimal-amounts of whipped-cream'.

Respect needs to be earned.

I respectfully-suggest that his 'earning' of yer respect would only be a flight to STL and one Saturday-evening away.

Hats-off, again, to yer craftsmanship, DZ.. Just badass seein' such great-passion for the 'fuller-aspects' of this art-form (like Lumia-Lust, Abstracts-Enamoration, and Beam-Table-Buffs still staying-strong, and even growing.. Especially amidst the tide of what so-many, today, call 'shows', when, in reality, they're more like just 'one-effect' / aspect of-them.. imho..

j

[buffo]

you automatically get a pair of 'elite-laser-dude' wings...

No one was questioning his experience, Jon. It was his ass-hat attitude that was in question.

What gives him a 'free pass' is that <SNIP>

Stop right there. No one gets a free pass if they are an asshole. No one. I don't give two shits if he invented the Laserium brand. Talking down to the new crop of laserists is the worst sort of elitism, and it is at odds with the very principles that this website was founded under. You, of all people, should understand that.

Contrast his previous condescending posts with what Ash wrote above, and you'll see why I was pissed. Ash gets it. Laserist, not so much. Rather that having me fly to St Louis, why not convince him to fly to SELEM next summer? (For that matter, when are you going to attend? You always said you would do it someday...)

Also, what's with the grave-dig? This issue was mostly settled 2 months ago. Why dig it up now?

Adam

[The_Doctor]

...using rotary pots for frequency and slide pots for amplitude (and carrying this philosophy throughout the panel).

Nice division of labour. That's the kind of indication I meant, something built into the function that brains will grasp and not forget. I don't know the Oddysey (other than ARP, and thanks, I now know what ARP actually means! Better late than never, I guess). Anyway, the flow sounds good, start from left with source, then core modification, finally external, with modifiers brought in as control lines, vertically. No doubt that might break down if the system gets complex enough, but it has worked well for electronic block diagrams, and I think most of the books on synthesisers I saw used diagrams also based on this scheme. The MiniMoog was a deliberate oversimplification I think, to aim at rapid reconfiguring of basic sounds, but other ideas exist. I don't know how much complexity will ever be demanded by a laser scan modulator, but if it gets wild enough, there are always patch matrices, like in the Synthi A and such. Those are very compact, as well as potentially very complex. The nice thing about that method is it forms a hybrid of digital and analog signal addressing that brains have little trouble recognising, so long as the matrix is actually visible at all times. Although psychologists might caution using subgroups of five because few people think directly in subgroup counts greater than seven, hence the standard breakdown of phone numbers, bank codes, etc... Even a (5+5+5+5+5)*(5+5+5+5+5) matrix can be small, yet contain more options than most people will ever want to use.

EDIT:
Glorocks, Burr-Brown got taken over I think, maybe by Analog Devices or Texas Instruments. Whoever it is, you might get a full data sheet if you find out, and ask direct. I doubt they throw stuff like that away, and it might be in your interest to let them know that someone is still interested in that IC.