Has anyone ever tried assembling and using any of the things in Craig Anderton's book Electronic Projects for Musicians? If yes, how easy was it to build and/or troubleshoot them?

Or, if you didn't use that particular book, has anyone ever tried building things like a ring modulator? If so, is there a particular kit or design you'd recommend, especially for someone who hasn't done such things before?

I once built a distortion pedal for a friend of mine.  This was years ago, but as I recall it was pretty fun.  And it even worked reasonably well, until his dad got hold of it and tried to "improve" it.   

Quote from: Shades O'Grey on June 23, 2009, 03:30:00 PM
Has anyone ever tried assembling and using any of the things in Craig Anderton's book Electronic Projects for Musicians? If yes, how easy was it to build and/or troubleshoot them?

Or, if you didn't use that particular book, has anyone ever tried building things like a ring modulator? If so, is there a particular kit or design you'd recommend, especially for someone who hasn't done such things before?

I had the book a long time ago, I think I lost it in the divorce or a flood.  I had a ring mod on my synth but never on a pedal.  They aren't particularly hard to build if you have either a kit or are good with PC board construction.  Watch for ground loops and make sure your power is clean.  Best to use batteries rather than a wall wart.

-Sandy

I haven't looked at Electronic Projects for Musicians yet, but I will get it from my library.

Fortunately, audio wiring is fairly non-critical. About any style of wiring might do.
Usually, a piece of "perf" (perforated) board is used, although I've used a piece of cardboard for real trashy things.
Using IC's (integrated circuits) can require higher standards of soldering and handwork.

For beginners, the problem is usually following the instructions carefully but ending up with something that doesn't work correctly.
Then a knowledgeable friend with a voltmeter or an oscilloscope is handy.

I suppose there is a huge difference between amateur stuff you would use at home and pro crap that gets mightily abused on the road, but I've yet to find any audio application where wiring is fairly non-critical as it tends to be the weak link in the chain.  But I never see custom stuff anyway, I suppose owing to Jerry Garcia's claim when the interviewer asked him how much custom equipment the Dead had (aside from instruments) and Garcia replied "we don't have anything we can't replace in Cleveland on a Sunday night."

Quote from: tekla on June 24, 2009, 07:53:10 AM
I suppose owing to Jerry Garcia's claim when the interviewer asked him how much custom equipment the Dead had (aside from instruments) and Garcia replied "we don't have anything we can't replace in Cleveland on a Sunday night."

That could be another reason why Wendy Carlos never went on the road...

-Sandy

That could be another reason why Wendy Carlos never went on the road...


I have my own theory about that, one that several others seem to agree with, and that is not the reason.

Quote from: tekla on June 24, 2009, 08:34:32 AM
That could be another reason why Wendy Carlos never went on the road...


I have my own theory about that, one that several others seem to agree with, and that is not the reason.

Anyone that private probably have multiple reasons for trying to stay stealth even when so visible. 

What is your theory?  Just curious, actually.  She has never spoken about it.

-Sandy

One, like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which at one point has a record setting 180 overdubs running, it's all but impossible - or was at that time - to play SOB/WTS live.  As each retuning/retoning would require time to set up, or you would need her running around the stage with a hundred Moogs on it - kinda like back in the day when I did the Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells deal and they had 32 - count 'em 32 - guitar players on stage.

Second, to be real, and more than charitable I think, WC has a master's degree in composition, and gained her greatest success as an arranger. That does not translate de facto to live performance. 

Though briefly (two-three years tops) reigning as the biggest selling classical record, the classical world always thought of SOB as a pop novelty not worthy of the genre, and if you really know the Bach catalog it is amazing that there are several misfingerings (a total no-no in classical music) and missed notes.  (she admits as much on her web site)  In other words, in the very real and highly competitive world of classical music, she just wasn't that good.

Certainly coming out to play SOB on a classical stage would place her directly in comparison with the great classical keyboard players, Virgil Fox, Van Cliburn, or the unreal soul of Glenn Gould and for sure couldn't' touch the great players who were also composers like Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin and Sergey Rachmaninoff.

Quote from: tekla on June 24, 2009, 07:53:10 AM
... I've yet to find any audio application where wiring is fairly non-critical...

Granted that you can never do overkill in the physical durability of guitar cords, patch cords, etc.
A bit of extra care in strain relief, compact connections, soldering, heat shrink will always pay off.

I just meant that in contrast to high speed logic circuits or RF, an extra 1/2" of internal wiring in an audio device will not make any discernible difference.
That is unless you want to start arguing about the degradation in audio in the electrons jumping across gold contacts.

Hell, I knew about the technical hurdles that she had to overcome in order for her to produce the album.  If it wasn't for the multi-track recorder SOB would not have been possible, and not performable on stage at any point.  A live synth on stage was more of a novelty in a performance than an actual instrument.  ELP notwithstanding, but Kieth Emmerson did sit mostly at the Hammond, not at the worlds most dangerous synthesizer.

I thought you had some insight to her not wanting to a public figure besides her transition.

Yes, the albums were considered a popular novelty, but because of that, classical music enjoyed a spike that had not been seen to date.  "A tide raises all boats"...  ELP helped too.

-Sandy

classical music enjoyed a spike that had not been seen to date.

I don't even begin to think that is true.  Leonard Bernstein's Mass outsold SOB just a few years later.  If you want something that popularized classical music think Fantasia, not SOB.  And what made classical music extremely popular in the modern era owed far more to Luciano Pavarotti and the Three Tenors and Andrea Bocelli (in unit sales THE most popular classical records ever) then the novelty of SOB.  In fact, like most pop novelty acts the record sold very well at first, but not much after that.  In the same way that Fall-Out Boy sold a pile of records one year, but after that pretty much could not give them away, while records by the Beatles, Stones and Doors sell millions year in and year out, 30 years after their recording. I'm sure that the sales of SOB don't come close to Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations, or any of several copies of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, or the Deutsche Grammophon catalog of Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Berlin Philharmonic doing Beethovan's 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th Symphonies.

See classical music sales matter not in 'chart hits' that pop stuff, but in long term catalog sales, which tend to be a very different thing.  For example, think of the Stones, the Beatles, and the Doors, yet the top selling 60s artist in that decade was --- Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  And that stuff can't even touch the lifetime sales of someone like Andy Williams (yeah, no accounting for taste, which is what most longhairs say about SOB sales too)

So, interestingly enough you bring up Keith Emmerson, who was among the most dynamic performers when he walked out on the stage and delivered.  I saw the Brain Salad Surgery tour (presented live in quad sound) and you couldn't take your eyes off of him, and despite all that, or perhaps because of it, his playing as technique was unequaled at least in rock. While she was a master of laying down tracks and programing her instrument, that does not equate to walking out on that stage and doing it.  You can cover up a lot of mistakes in the studio, live you can't hide a single one, and classical music fans tend to really know their music, making them a very hard audience to please.