Tinkering at Headlands
Headlands Center for the Arts is lovely.
Below are some images taken by Michael Trigilio as he attempts to build a modular “radio synthesizer.” Intended as a standalone, battery-operated, radio-only instrument, this little experiment has been a blast to work on, with moderate successes to enjoy along the way.
This is the chaotic part. . . . but it’s working! There are two 556 chip noise-making oscillators. They each pretty much just spit out a nasty little square wave, but they sound cool. The ring modulator is in there also, and it works too! If only it could be prettier. . . . hrrumph.
Here’s the front-panel-in-progress with the patch-cables as they would work. I’ve got OSC2 patched into the Ring Mod and then out of the Ring Mod to an external speaker. Ultimately, there will be NO external speaker outputs - only an internal radio-transmitter. Hard core.
This is the table I was working at. Notice the Prince Laserdisc Jon Brumit gave me for inspiration. . . . he’s so sweet (well, they both are, Jon and Prince).
Obviously, all this is in-progress. If I get it all done (soon, hopefully), I’ll post more images and some audio as soon as I get it working on the radio dial.
- Michael