「GTO] OST - Poison (服部隆之)

Hanuman chalisa by amitab bachchan and 27 melanium artis

Homemade distortion device, intended to eventually become part of a synthesizer module.  This is more or less a circuit designed to use up some of my old components - in particular, a pair of antique germanium transistors.  The finished circuit will be a dual distortion unit based on the venerable "Fuzzrite" design modified to work the the components I have and Eurorack signal levels.  What you hear in this recording is two 2N3904 silicon NPN transistors, used for testing because they're cheap.  The eventual final version will incorporate the germanium PNP devices and a pair of silicons as well, but I'm not sure yet what type.

Input signal is the "sine" outputs of two Tiptop Z300 VCOs: first just one at 300Hz, then at about 2 minutes in I add a second at 450Hz (forming a classic "power chord").  These are not very pure sine waves; they have a fair bit of odd-numbered harmonic energy as they come out of the oscillators.  You can hear the input mix for a few seconds at the start and end of the recording.  Everything in between is what comes out of the distorter as I adjust its knobs (and occasionally the input levels).  The Fuzzrite circuit basically consists of two simple inverting transistor amplifiers, each self-biased just a little above ground.  As a result, the lower half the waveform gets clipped in the first stage even at relatively low levels, and then the second stage is driven to clipping almost all the time.

There are knobs for input attenuation (needed at the high Eurorack level - bear in mind the original was for much lower-level guitar signals), output gain (I added an output buffer based on a 1458 dual op amp, another antique), and most importantly, to crossfade between the two stages.  That knob offers a wide range of different distortion sounds as the harmonics from the two stages cancel each other in varying amounts.

The background hum is from power issues in the case I was using at the time I recorded this - not the module's fault, and corrected by a power supply upgrade.

"Shinji" distortion device test

Chipmunks and the Chipettes play Belinda Carlisle on a 16 speed turntable

Heaven Is A Place On Earth

Time After Time  / Cyndi Lauper 

Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick,
And think of you
Caught up in circles confusion -
Is nothing new
Flashback - warm nights -
Almost left behind
Suitcases of memories,
Time after -

Sometimes you picture me -
I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me, I can't hear
What you've said -
Then you say - go slow -
I fall behind -
The second hand unwinds

If you're lost you can look - and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting 
Time after time

Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper Cover)

A New Strategy

Heart Attack Of The Soul

Typhoon - White Lighter
Out 8/20/2013 on Roll Call Records

www.WeAreTyphoon.com


"Shinji" distortion device test

Matt Skala

Related tracks