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20181030

Build a special “3,5mm TRS jack” to “dual banana jack” adapter (with additional female pin headers for grounding the connection). The TRS jack has two pairs of wires coming from it. Both pairs transport a signal (Tip or Ring) and the ground (the sleeve of the 3,5mm jack). The signals (Tip/Ring) go directly to the banana jacks and the ground (Sleeve) is connected to a set of female pin headers, which I glued on the outer plastic shells of the banana jacks.

I added 3 pin female headers to my Lorre-Mill uTone “prototyping area” which connect to the ground (the negative terminal of the DC power connector -> to the negative terminal of the battery). When using the adapter the ground connection can be made using a jumper wire. I’ve used the adapter to connect the uTone with a Bastl Kastl unit. Kastl can send out control voltages via a TRS female connector on the back of the device. It can send out an LFO, random sequencer voltages, gate pulses, etc. Signals can be routed from the top of the device to the left (Tip) and right (Ring) channels (Should there be resistors inside the adaptor?).

I can now sequence the pitch of the uTone and send other kinds of voltages to it’s other input. Sending a gate signal to the input in the middle of the board introduces pretty rhythmic distortions. The only weird behaviour I can identify is that the uTone produces lower tones when powered from an adaptor and more high pitch sound when a battery is used. This might be due to the Kastl, the voltage might drop when it’s grounded. I imagine the connector will work the same with a softPop.

Works well and looks cute.

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20180418

We are publishing Oodi modular video teasers in preparation of our Kontula Electronic presentation on Saturday. The first is out on Viktors youtube site and another will be hopefully published on Kontula Electronic FB-site. (I posted the video on /r/synthesizers too, people have responded to it well) My 0-coast & Arturia Beat Step Pro studies are progressing steadily. Updated the devices and build a batch using both sequencers. I’m having trouble configuring the different midi modes (arpeggiators, latching, legato etc.) on the 0-coast and Beat Step Pro is very complicated too. Fun but complicated. I haven’t hooked them up with my Drumbrute yet… But I tested the lfos of my Kastl on the 0-coast.

Wrote a proposal for a techno-gig-talk at the Exhibiting Sounds of Changes seminar in Tampere (in June). My proposal for a Sound of Work: Blacksmith presentation was accepted into the program, which is nice! But I feel cheated. They made their call with an obscure text: “Participation is without a fee; however travel, accommodation and daily living are at your expense.“. I had read “[…] at our expense” – Thinking that they would have covered travel expenses and offered a lunch for people presenting at the seminar.

I’m down for throwing a gig for the love of art, research, labor issues and sounds but paying for the travel is too much to ask. Their project is founded by the Creative Europe programme and the event is organized by Werstas the Finnish Labor Museum. I send them a message asking for a confirmation on how the expenses are handled and got a reply: Speakers are expected to pay for their own participation. No food, no promises of coffee… Nothing.

Their project is about archiving and presenting sounds of work. I offered them a worker making sounds (referring to labor struggles through techno and critical views to samplers and their relationship to appropriation). The Finnish Labor Museum as a culture factory (as defined by Steyerl) producers workers as dead echoes of the past. #☭

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20180415

We presented the Oodi modular project with Viktor Toikkanen for Sunnuntai Siskot (Basso Radio). The talk starts at around 58min and is available on the Basso Radio on demand player (we were on air for 20 minutes). We are featured on their Facebook feed too. The talk will be replayed on air next week too. Played my Bastl Kastl live!

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20180214

We are working to get a modular synthesiser system for public use at the new Center Library Ode. The idea that the library should have a modular came about in an easygoing chat with Mikko. After the talk I wrote an email to the Ode staff and for the past four months I’ve worked with musicians and serious hobbyist in an effort to design a modular system which would suit needs of library audiences (the sound requirements of professionals, artists and hobbyist). The library was excited about our first draft and asked for a more developed proposal. Last night our working group made plans for a complex system and we will present this idea for the library next month. If everything goes as planned there will be synths to borrow too!

Successfully build a Kastle 1.5 and a dip switch controllable splitter/mixer of my own design.

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20180206

Threw a spontaneous gig with a Po-12 and a Po-16 during the weekend for a birthday crowd. My efforts were received surprisingly well. Bought a Bastl Kastl 1.5 kit.