My new YM_MINI synth is officially released! This is a usb-powered software-midi controlled mini synthesizer circuits. It uses a virtual midi driver to fully control a real YM2149 chip in stereo. The chip is most well known for its use in the Apple II Mockingbird soundcards and Atari ST computers. The YM or the chip

A very busy week ended with the new Bliptronome kit boards arriving and being tested.  The first orders are packed awaiting shipment. Lots of information on the kits can now be found here: http://www.straytechnologies.com/resources/ including the “How to Build the Kit” document, a “Getting Started with Software” document, and the original source code package

Just built and tested the first prototype PCBs of the upcoming open source YM_mini chip synth. This is a mini usb synth based on the classic YM2149 synthesizer chip from the likes of the Atari ST, Apple II Mockingbird, and Intellivision. The audio circuit was inspired by a common stereo “hack” to the ST allowing

A video of the final tests of the Bliptronome V2 Firmware: ThinkGeek Bliptronic 5000 to Monome clone conversion! Toggle, press & release, software LED control, and 4 ADC potentiometers. Shutdown, test & LED_intensity now working. And… Here’s the source code! There are minimal build instructions included for the expert/tinkerer and a detailed pin-out explanation. Again,

Bliptronome?? I’ve finally got a working port of the Arduinome 3.2 software working with Monome apps on the Bliptronic 5000 hardware available from Think Geek.  This version recognizes in Arduinome Serial as a40h-501. It’s using the same FTDI cable I use to program the Arduino, and everything is running very smoothly at 57600 as with

For those not in the know, I’ve been polling and discussing the potential of an open source chip-synth with parts-count being the primary concern. It occurred to me that this would bring down the entry-level cost while allowing those new to D.I.Y. electronics to not be scared away by surface mount soldering and extensive learning-curve

Halfway there… Arduino control of the Bliptronic 5000 LEDs via pinout mentioned in the previous post.  Here’s a quick demo of the LEDs all individually addressable from the arduino programming platform. Squeezed in a tiny proto-board where the speaker was. Flexible FTDI out to save some $$ and still have usb linking and power. The

I’ve finally gotten to tearing down the Bliptronic 5000 that arrived hear from Thinkgeek. There are enough reviews out there that all I need to say is crappy sound in a really cheap ($50) hackable 64-button LED matrix package with a nice enclosure. After a bit of investigating, I’ve found that with the combination of

Last Knight of the UK, just sent some great video of the PAL version of the Pocket VBLANK. Custom logos are all his design. (email me directly if your interested in having that done to your board) How are there any VJs in the US when our color looks so crappy compared to PAL?? He’s

When I decided to start giving workshops and selling parts kits for people to build and use the A_SID synth (my name for a breadboard version of Christoph Haberer’s fantastic open source SID emulator on a chip), I had one goal. Make it accessible. Christoph’s website expresses some frustration in expressing a seemingly simple project