Analog GAS

[Dr. Vegetable]

If you're into soft synths, check out the Arturia Analog Lab.  For about that price you get thousands of emulations and a very solid 49-key controller with aftertouch.

At this price point I see them going after the Roland JD-Xi or some of the Novation offerings.  I wanted to get a JD-Xi until I actually played one in person.  There was too much stair-stepping in the analog control signals, even when tweaking knobs.

[GoldenVulture]

Slight sidetrack: Is that an Apple in your sig pic ?

[Dr. Vegetable]

Slight sidetrack: Is that an Apple in your sig pic ?

The first computer I owned.

[GoldenVulture]

I've got two of those plus one that looks almost the same but is labelled CP/M. [ Which was the predominant OS prior to the 80's ] Found it on a rubbish pile years ago. I've never tried firing it up.

[GoldenVulture]

Back at Keyboards. I couldn't keep my nose out of my Kawai. I had to have a look at where the plug underneath went to.

[Dr. Vegetable]

I've got two of those plus one that looks almost the same but is labelled CP/M. [ Which was the predominant OS prior to the 80's ] Found it on a rubbish pile years ago. I've never tried firing it up.

Those old Apples were pretty robust machines.  You might be surprised if you plug them in they'll probably give you a BASIC command prompt.  Last time I checked the ebay price on them was going back up.

I still have a couple of them, at least one of which is a full working system.  A lot of the floppy disks are showing their age, though.  I used to have every piece of software ever written for that machine.  That was the greatest toy ever for a teenage geek...  I learned a lot about programming on that thing.

[Dr. Vegetable]

Back at Keyboards. I couldn't keep my nose out of my Kawai. I had to have a look at where the plug underneath went to.

Which model is that?  That looks like a very tightly-packed mid-90's circuit board.  I'm guessing there isn't too much to hack in there...?

Here is the PC board for the Minilogue.  It is all surface mount, but notice how each voice has its own independent circuit:





And damn, this thing is a piece of fucking artwork, too...

[GoldenVulture]

Which model is that?  That looks like a very tightly-packed mid-90's circuit board.  I'm guessing there isn't too much to hack in there...?

Here is the PC board for the Minilogue.  It is all surface mount, but notice how each voice has its own independent circuit:





And damn, this thing is a piece of fucking artwork, too...

Yes that well formed.

The Kawai is an ES100. The manual is dated 2012 and as I bought it new not long ago I'd hope it wasn't much older than that inside.

One reason to lookinside was to see where the plug underneath went. It's for a stand that can be obtained which includes a full three pedals. They obviously plug into that plug which leads to the brown board which also has the single pedal plug on it too and the midi . I tend to think the three pedal connects will work similarly to the single one. The single pedal has a two state response. Some pedals are just on off connects  others use a resistance to differentiate states. There's others. Further investigation later.

[Dr. Vegetable]

You're certainly right. On closer inspection (and more coffee) those PCBs do look more recent. Don't know what I was thinking...

From a quick google search, it looks like people have had mixed results connecting Roland or Casio pedals to that connector. Also sounds like some early production units had an issue with a lag recognizing the pedal. Could be a fun project to build yourself a nice stand for that.

I know how to use gas/brake/clutch, but I can barely manage to use both hands when I play keys. I guess I should've learned how to play a proper wah...

[GoldenVulture]

I'm pretty basic with the left hand myself but my piano and most uprights had a sustain and a soft pedal. The sustains had a lot more variation than an elctronic one does in most cases. Using the two was pretty easy but I didn't find a lot of use of the soft pedal.
I modded my polySix so I had a foot pedal control on the release control in the envelope section. Essentially gives you a massively variable sustain from chopped short/ no sustain to continuous sustain and all inbetween. It's just a pot in a wah pedal housing. I put in a stereo jack at the back that cuts out the on synth control when the pedal cord is plugged in.
I had to insulate it all from everything else as the cable uses all three connects passing voltage as it is voltage control parameter electronically