Bill of Materials 1 x panel from fricko 1 x Super Switch - 5 position 4 pole guitar pickup selector switch Use the 4 pole (24 lug) version, not the 2 pole (12 lug) Do not use a standard guitar switch fricko does not stock these, but can get them by special order if desired …

Continue reading "Switcheroo: BoM and Build Guide"

Tilt is a very straightforward build. It is a green ROHS PCB marked v2.1. The Tilt PCB has a champfer that may make the board fit easier into certain skiffs. The screenprint on the board has the label for the large capacitor C21 superimposed over the label for R29 obscuring them both. If the interactive …

Continue reading "Tilt: Release Notes"

This is a simple build suitable even for novices. The current board is the Rev 3 board. The main thing is to make sure that the shrouded header for the Eurorack power is correctly aligned with the slot on the outside of the board. The BoM below uses standard diodes, however I recommend using germanium …

Continue reading "Prism: Bill of Materials"

The desire for various kinds of simple optical limiters was natural follow on from three fricko specialities: First, that many interesting waveshapers can produce extreme changes in level on different knob settings (as, indeed, can VCFs). In particular, Shell and early versions of Rasp had a lot of dynamic variation. Second, various wave combiners worked …

Continue reading "Tame/Duck: The Backstory"

Tame and Duck are a little unusual, in that the specific components can be chosen by the builder in order to get the specific responses desired. Indeed, each of the four sections could be given different responses, for different uses. See the Release Notes for how to select the values or types. The bold is …

Continue reading "Tame/Duck Bill of Materials"

To build Tame or Duck modules, you must make the special DIY "vactrols". These can be fun to build, because it is an unusual thing to accomplish. But if following the instructions makes you nervous (or worries the voices of mad perfectionism driving many of us!) then lower the stakes: decide that the first DIY …

Continue reading "Making the DIY Vactrols for Tame/Duck"

Bowed string instruments are characterized by dozens of very sharp resonances. This means that even moderate vibrato can result in significant variation of harmonics: indeed, violins have such a large variation it is difficult to talk of a "typical" spectrum of individual harmonics. Conventional analog approaches for synthesizing these have noticeable limits: using e.g. 31 …

Continue reading "Idea: A Violin Resonant Fiter Array with the Vox H Boards"

Starting from scratch? There are lots of different kinds of synth systems: some for percussion, some for sequences, some for keyboard, some for FX. Here is the kind of system that you might find useful if you are a wind player (sax, trumpet) who will wants to play musical lines using a synthesizer. It is …

Continue reading "Suggestions to Making an Analog Eurorack System for Wind Controllers from Scratch"

(Rick writes:) I decided to make a new modular system for myself, which would be a playable system for using with my Yamaha WX7 wind controller and to experiment and demonstrate the fricko modules. This rig is for conventional note playing: melody, bass, riffs, worms and so on. Here is a pic of the most …

Continue reading "Project: Demo Wind-Controlled Rig"

IdDesignatorPackageQuantityDesignation1C11,C9,C10C_Disc_D7.0mm_W2.5mm_P5.00mm3100pF2P2Molex_KK-254_AE-6410-04A_1x04_P2.54mm_Vertical1MOTMPower3C8,C13C_Radial_D5.0mm_H5.0mm_P2.00mm21u4R222R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P10.16mm_Horizontal133k5R59,R56,R53,R62,R47,R46,R37,R20,R26,R32,R4,R13,R15R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P10.16mm_Horizontal13100k6R58,R55,R64,R61,R52,R51,R50,R48,R28,R22,R34,R35,R29,R23,R11,R6,R7,R9,R16R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P10.16mm_Horizontal1910k7R57,R54,R60,R63,R38R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P10.16mm_Horizontal59.1k8R49R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P10.16mm_Horizontal1220k9TP5,TP2,TP3,TP4,TP1TestPoint_Loop_D1.80mm_Drill1.0mm_Beaded5TestPoint10C16,C14,C15,C3C_Disc_D5.0mm_W2.5mm_P2.50mm447pF11C21,C19,C18,C17C_Disc_D5.0mm_W2.5mm_P5.00mm4330pF12RV2,RV1Potentiometer_Alps_RK09Y11_Single_Horizontal2100k13D2,D3LED_D4.0mm2LED_ALT14D1D_DO-35_SOD27_P7.62mm_Horizontal11N414815J1,J3,J2PJ302M3PJ302M_NoSwitch16C5,C4CP_Radial_D5.0mm_P2.50mm2.1uF17R3,R39,R44,R45,R19,R18,R30,R31,R25,R24,R17,R2,R1R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P10.16mm_Horizontal131k18R36,R21,R27,R33,R12,R5,R8,R14R_Axial_DIN0207_L6.3mm_D2.5mm_P10.16mm_Horizontal812k19U7,U5,U6,U1DIP-8_W7.62mm_LongPads4LM31120C1,C2CP_Radial_D5.0mm_P2.50mm21uF21U3,U4,U2DIP-8_W7.62mm_LongPads3GENDUALOPAMP22C6,C7C_Disc_D5.0mm_W2.5mm_P2.50mm210pF23P1IDC-Header_2x08_P2.54mm_Vertical1EurorackPower16pin