zuggamasta.de

Back to portfolio

Modular-Synthesizer Projects

Arduino based fader controller for sending continuous midi Control Change values over usb. This controller is supposed to be bare bones and hands on. Making a DIY device I can easily fit 60mm faders into the build. Many of similar, small footprint, devices feature only 20mm faders.

Fader Controller

For the vernissage of “Who needs context anywa y?” a photography exhbition by my friend Boris and part of the Record Store Day special at Modularfiled I played a live performance of my current modular synth set. The music was acompanied with visuals on the wall via a high resolution short throw projector, synced to the beat of the music.

Who needs context anywa y?

A small opto-isolator box built from a readymade board and Eurorack-compatible jacks. Connecting solenoids or any other components that draw a high electrical load is usually dangerous with Eurorack modular synths. While the ±12V sounds quite powerful, many bus boards only deliver around 1-5A. To not risk any damage to any of the modules in the system, I use a prefabricated opto-isolator MOSFET board made for usage with light fixtures.

Solenoids

On the second night of Blender Conference 2024, I played a 2-hour set of modular madness with live-rendered visuals. I had so much fun that night and had so many good responses the following days.

Blender Conference 2024

A DIY project to embedd a RaspberryPi into an Eurorack Case.

EuroBerry Module

When Orllewin created a call¹ for ambient and noise music from the Merveilles Community, I knew that I wanted to join. Very excited, I started experimenting with noise, recordings and feedback again. Remembering that I had multiple iPhone field recordings from 2018 to 2022 that had not been unearthed before, things got interesting. The one recording that struck me the most was from 2021, an innocent recording of rain dripping through our flat’s balcony. If only I knew back then that this serious amount of rain days after a long drought would push from below the ground into our own basement. Would capture my partner in a 4 hour traffic jam. Erode the landscape so much that a whole neighborhood would be rendered uninhabitable and cost people their lives.²

Elmet Brae EB01

midiTracker is a small music tracker that is meant to be run from a CLI on many platforms. It sequences notes in a nested vertical layout. The UI is heavily inspired by LSDJ and other trackers from the past, present and future. To make it portable and useful on all kinds of platforms I’ve chosen python for it with minimalist curses / ASCII user interface.

Miditracker

Self-Patching is Encouraged is an exploration in working with feedbackloops and self-osciliation inside the mixer. There is a constant rise of feedback noise from the outputs of the effects going back into the mixer. The whole thing is then – similar to side chainging on a compressor – controlled by the inverse envelope follower of the Mutable Instruments Ears module.

Modular Synth Videos II

Starting in 2020, I fulfilled a dream and put together a modular “Eurorack” synthesizer. Usually counted in HP (width) and U (height) this build went from 98HP 3U to double its size in 2022. I keep recording my experiments and live performances on this ever growing system. You can find links to youtube videos of the recordings here:

Modular Synth Videos I

Modular Tools is a small application for presentation. Originally setup to explain the core principles of audio synthesis with modular synths. It has been a good exercise and fun project, but has not made it to an official release. (Yet?)

Modular Tools