NICK'S WORLD OF SYNTHESIZERS

THE HARMONICON

Sound 1 spooky.mp3
Sound 2 sad.mp3
Sound 3 horror.mp3

This is a polyphonic synthesiser. It was the hardest of all my machines to make because there is a separate synth circuit for every note on the keyboard. The synth circuits are made from; 22 oscillators and octave dividers from early 70s Yamaha organs, 88 square wave to sawtooth converters, 88 envelope generators, 88 VCAs, 88 state variable filters, 88 LED drivers.

If you look at the top photo, above the keyboard there is a cluster of LEDs. The LEDs are a representation of the keyboard and each LED outputs a note from the keyboard. I use a hand held light sensor to pickup the signal. You can play a chord and use the light sensor to blend from one note to another.

I think I damaged my eyesight making it because of all the hours spent staring at tiny components.

There are 22 notes in every octave and it is tuned in 'just intonation'. Each of the 88 VCFs are tuned to the note to which they are attached. They can all be swept at once via 1 fader. The fader effectively sets the difference between the note frequency and the resonant frequency of it's filter and this difference is the same for all notes. You can hear the polyphonic filter sweep at the begining of this sound. Sound 1 spooky.mp3

Most instuments we use today are tuned in equal temperament. You may think that my system looks complicated but it is tuned to simple frequency ratios, the same ones that have been used by musicans for thousands of years. They are so natural that I was able to tune them all by ear, and i've got a terrible sense of pitch I can even sing Happy Birthday in tune.

Most musicans don't understand the science of tuning and are unaware of just intonation, but to the ears the difference is obvious. Listen to my sound files. You can hear something special in the sound even though I am not playing anything that special.

Sound 1 spooky.mp3
Sound 2 sad.mp3
Sound 3 horror.mp3

Major scale

Minor scale

When I finished making it I was very pleased with how rich the sound was. I don't really know why it sounds so good.

Please Leave a comment

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Name: Chris
E-mail: kurisuuu@yahoo.co.uk
Date Posted: 04:30, 06 08 2010
Message: That is completely amazing. I salute your endless patience and dedication to your vision. You have made an incredible unique sounding instrument!

Name: pere
E-mail: pgudzov@yahoo.com
Date Posted: 11:51, 12 07 2010
Message: the sound of this thing is simply amazing.honestly i haven't heard something this inspiring in ages.you are a pure genius my friend.you wouldn't happen to have one for sale would you?

Name: Dan
E-mail: lovetohit@gmail
Date Posted: 03:42, 15 06 2010
Message: Wow! Exercise in patience! I thought a PolyMoog was confusing, you have enough wire to send a signal to the moon!
So close to the bone it's both cool and frightening! Nasa could use you for sure!

Name: Stiles
E-mail: jason@valentinomusic.net
Date Posted: 22:24, 02 06 2010
Message: Oh my God, I don't know how you retained your sanity after all that point-to-point soldering. :) Great work!

Name: Nicks world of synthesizers
E-mail: a@a.a
Date Posted: 22:41, 31 03 2010
Message: In reference to comment below

The oscilators and frequency dividers are from 2 Yamaha organs.

Name: frankle
E-mail: clam@bake.com
Date Posted: 03:53, 30 07 2009
Message: Nice machine, demos sound very interesting, and playing with the flash version of this was quite an ear-opener. Those master oscillator cards from a Yamaha organ? They sure look it with the alternating coil orientations.
F