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Curious Inventor - HowTo Guides, Tools, Parts and Kits for DIY'ers - Make your own technology.
by scott 27 days ago


Have to admit the song makes some good points... :)
by recompas 28 days ago

Voice of Saturn Voltage Controlled Filter (Frac Format) from Travis Thatcher on Vimeo.

We'll be releasing modules and kits very soon with a Eurorack version to follow in January. Check out flickr for more pics!
by scott Nov 16 2009
A SMT soldering class was taught at Atlanta's new hackerspace: freeside. It focused on using stencils (from ohararp) and solder paste on a skillet and in a toaster oven. The video shows the amazing ability of the solder's surface tension to pull chips into alignment once the solder liquifies.






by recompas Oct 14 2009
In the next few weeks we'll be releasing the Frac-rack (blacet) format VoS Voltage Controlled Filter model. It is the same as our current filter module, but without the joystick section. Should be available by late November.
tip picture
by scott Sep 28 2009
Nate got the whole family of voice of saturns (synth, seq, modulator, filter) and decided to color them up. Here's some musings from his lair.
by scott Sep 15 2009
TracyEvansProductions, a company that specializes in interactive tradeshow exhibits and other multimedia, has integrated Stribes into a kiosk that interactively explains the interaction of water and oil in wells for Schlumberger.




by recompas Sep 15 2009

Voice of Saturn equipment along with a drum machine (Thomas Henry Mega Percussive Synthesizer), couple LFOs and arpeggiator.
by scott Aug 13 2009
The vos is a wild, nonlinear animal, and people have been asking us for some starter help exploring it. This video walks through the basic operation of the vos synth and sequencer.

by scott Jul 25 2009
Ready-to-play out of the box Stribe Duo and Quad assembled units are now available from the stribe kit page.

by recompas Jul 18 2009

Voice of Saturn Synth with vactrol cv mod from Travis Thatcher on Vimeo.

This mod was done using a vactrol, vtl5c3 placed in parallel with the range pot, r10 on the VoS Synth. Its a very easy mod and yields some really great musical results. The first part of the video has a diagram of the mod and an explanation. See the forum if you have any questions. -Travis The Voice of Saturn
by scott Jul 17 2009
After ordering a new pcb and populating all the components, sometimes you'll find a short between two signals. This can be especially hard to track down if it's touching a gound or power signal that travels all over the board. Worse yet, sometimes the short is on an internal layer and can't be seen.

Common Causes:

  • A small solder bridge or ball between pins: Sometimes small strands of solder will bridge two pins--this is especially easy to do on "bard bones" boards without any solder mask. Using too much solder paste, or paste that's past it's prime, can also lead to bridges or small balls getting lodged behind pins. The balls are especially hard to remove since solder wick usually can't reach them. Sometimes a thorough flooding of solder followed by more wicking will work.
  • Incorrect components / pinouts: Make sure the pinout on that spare voltage regulator you had lying around actually matches the layout connections.
  • PCB manufacturing erros: Sometimes you'll find hair-line connections where they shouldn't be, especially in areas close to the manufacturer's limits.
David at uCHobby.com had some good tips for finding shorts in printed circuit boards.
  • The obvious thing to try is to start removing components and isolate sections of the board. This may also require cutting a few traces.
  • If you've already taken all the components off, and carefully checked over the board for obvious errors, try running a few amps through the offending traces. If it's a hairline pcb manufacturing mistake, the small thread of conductor will burn up under the amperage. Your other traces, even ones as small as 8mils, should be fine for a short time under a few amps.
  • Lastly, if you've narrowed down the short but can't see it because it's inside the board, it might be time to drill. David had some horror stories about drilling through 10 layer boards to fix one trace while breaking traces in 7 other layers. Have some "green" or "white" wire handy to jumper the broken traces.

    • Any other ideas for quickly locating a short without resorting to board surgery or removing all your painstakingly placed parts?

about:

We're a few mechanical and electrical engineers from GaTech trying to make it easier to make and sell inventions. We write how-to guides, sell cherry-picked parts and tools, and also manufacture kits...

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