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If you plan on doing soldering regularly, choose an iron appropriately. You do get what you pay for and may find it harder to even learn soldering skill with a $10 iron than with a $17 iron.

As I teach more and more workshops I am amazed at how AWEFUL some of the irons my students bring in are! They heat up, they melt solder, they do work, but they get dirty too quickly and rarely have consistent heat. Within weeks or a month, a shiny iron tip looks like the above tip — which is covered in oxides and burned rosin. That gunk makes the iron frustrating and difficult to use since it will not transfer heat through the gunk and melt solder or even achieve a proper temperature.

I’ll cut to the chase. Radio shack brand soldering irons universally suck. Always have. I admit I had one, and I used it. It made life harder for me and I didn’t know it. It was a mess, the tip was barely alive in a coating of black crust. Furthermore, replacement tips only came in 1 awkward size that continually wobbles on the iron and falls off. Ugg. And they’re still that way…

The alternative? You don’t need to spend $200 or even $50. Weller, a respected brand, has an entry level iron for 13.49 (model SP23-L). I had a similar plug-in Weller that was probably 30 years old and still worked! Now, the “entry level” is not going to be amazing, but it weller has many replacement tips, accessories and a reputation. The next model up is even better…

The best deal I’ve found lately, though are the mid-level xytronics irons. The $8 xytronics iron is pretty awful (tried a few), but the temperature adjustable model is pretty great for the $28 price tag. Usually adjustable irons run $60+.

All electronics sells them online.

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/IR-258/16-30W-VARI-TEMP-SOLDERING-IRON/-/1.html

The same store has the Xytronics soldering station, too for about $70. I bought one for a school lab and was so impressed that I always recommend them for heavy use, unless yo can get a Hakko.

Finally, what do I use? A Hakko936 (about $100). Always loved them, but I do enough soldering to NEED a $100+ iron.

A SYNTHESIZER WORKSHOP FOR ALL IN ALBUQUERQUE!!!

Build a simple, versatile noise making analog synth from scratch with me, Lorin Parker. It’s easy enough for the most beginner and interesting enough for veterans too.

Sunday, March 7th & 14th (two classes in this course)

2:00 pm

1016 Coal St. SW Albuquerque

$40 Materials and Tools Fee (ample and necessary parts will be provided with this fee)*

RSVP to 6ick6ick6ick@gmail.com. Enrollment is limited.

*Note: although I do have a good supply of tools for student use, IF students already have the following tools they should bring them: 9V battery, soldering iron, solderless “breadboard”, solder, wire stripper, wire cutter, small needle-nose pliers or hemostat.

Here’s what we’ll do:

Class I:

We’ll play around with batteries, semiconductors, resistors, capacitors, breadboards, soldering irons & all the tools of the trade. We’ll experiment with oscillators (the core noise maker of a synthesizer) and build prototype oscillators as a group. We’ll experiment with controls for pitch, volume and modulation like knobs, joysticks, sensors, touch strips, switches and even optical sensors and switches for theremin-like playing.

We’ll make a lot of variations, noise and circuitry with maximum fun and minimum theory. Everyone will have a hands-on chance to build a working circuit that does something awesome. Then, we’ll examine what exactly we did and infer the theory from there…

With all this knowledge, everyone can plan their own synthesizer / circuit / noisemaker. How is it controlled? How does it sound? What will it be boxed up in? How will it be decorated, etc…

Class II:

With the plans and ideas from class one, everyone will build their own synthesizer. Prior to this class, students can gather extra materials if needed, like decorations and boxes to put the circuits into.

By the end of the class everyone should walk away with a functional “noise synth”. It probably won’t be the next precision instrument to compete with Moog — that’s the only reason I call it a “noise synth”, but it will be a lovely instrument you designed and created.

Please contact me with any questions!
Regards,
Lorin

Things have gotten busy for EW, and to support demand, we’re expanding.

We’re also moving into a great new space in Albuquerque where we will continue to offer instruments, custom services and kits. However, I’m very excited to get started offering:

– More repair & vintage instrument, amp and radio service.
– Workshops for the Artist, Musician, and DIY community. Everything from hacking to advanced electronics and even simple solar power.
– More shows!
– The, now perfected, ribbon controller. A new Theremin model and some other goodies.

Thanks to the hundreds who have supported Electric Western by buying a kit, instrument or just sent a kind word. There’s a lot more to come!

Regards,

Lorin

First, the pictures show the winding machine setup and the winding of a transformer for an armstrong oscillator (to be used in a theremin).

About the new precision winder:

I needed to get my winding setup much much more precise, so I’ve been working on this coil winder…

I already have a Taig Mini-Lathe, which provides a great machine to rotate a coil form (and It has chucks, a carriage, an endpiece, etc which is useful) — however the minimum speed is usually about 600RPM and the torque would break any of my wire… So, I built some pulleys, belts and fixtures to facilitate the best precision hand winding I can…

I turn the form by hand using a handwheel and pulley system I built.

The wire spool is fed from a holder on the floor to a tension arm I made from aluminum and pulleys from a sony professional cassette mechanism.

I built a laser sight to show me exactly where the wire is going — so useful since I don’t have great vision and some of the wire I use is hair-thin.

A counter is connected to a reed switch mounted on the bed of the lathe, below the chuck. I stick a magnet on the chuck which adds a count to the counter every time it swings past the reed switch. I didn’t want to make my own counter so I just opened up a pedometer and replaced the step switch with wires connecting to the reed switch. This is much easier than creating my own counter and cheaper than re-purposing lab equipment…

So, I turn a nice handle with my left hand and slowly turn an X positioning wheel with my right to keep the wire (and laser cross-hair) perfectly aligned. It works really well.

Yes I do know about motors and stepper motors, but I just don’t have time at the moment to build the mechanical parts AND make a motor system that can accommodate different widths of wire AND not screw everything up during the debugging process. Winding coils can be facilitated by a light touch and a good operator. Making motors apply the right torque isn’t easy. Programming chips to control the whole thing is really time consuming, and I just don’t have that time now…

So, it’s old school hand winding with ergonomic and precision updates — for now. I did make all the pulleys and everything so that it can eventually accept stepper motors instead of hand wheels.

Oh, the above wire is 32 AWG and the form is polycarbonate (which is electrically very similar to phenolic). I do use really cool phenolic stock on the big coils, though, and cotton wrapped magnet wire…

Lorin

I just made and informal EEG of my frontal activity. It’s not entirely surprising given my temperament, and my usual EEGs. I didn’t use a medical EEG machine, and the brainwaves I recorded on my digital scope are rather noisy (spikey, not those smooth lines from a real setup) — I didn’t filter them, but the underlying brain waves can be interpolated.

Primarily, though, I wanted to take the “pulse” or frequency of my brain — which was about 7Hz, riding on top of the longer ~1Hz delta waves (which are usually the highest in amplitude). The 7Hz activity suggests a predominance of Theta activity. All the other waves were there too (good thing), but the picture above shows 10 second of capture and the periodic ups and downs upon the Delta outline the Theta range. Theta is associated with a lot of things, among them, rest / meditative states, periods of high creativity. That’s good.

I studied with David Rosenboom as a grad student, who has a real EEG machine he used to connect to synthesizers. In fact he did an entire album. Once, he even hooked up John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It’s not a new idea to think of brain waves as a genesis for sound waves, either in art or biofeedback. The point, though, is that we’re all electromagnetically tuned, and why not use that bio energy and our own senses in electronic music?

With a little filtering the above waveform is an ideal low frequency oscillator, great for the modulation of sound. Next, maybe, I’ll filter to smooth out those waves, amplify them and make some sound waves. Therapeutic, spiritual and metaphysical sound is not just bells and singing bowls, it certainly has a place in the world of electronic instruments.

To me it’s all about resonance. Everything is resonant in its own way, including our brains. I’m resonating at 1Hz and 7Hz…

Bob Moog says in the film, “Theremin an Electronic Odyssey”:

“For engineers today who are used to sophisticated, complex electronics…
you look in a modern electronic organ or synthesizer
and there’s hundreds of parts and they’re all
extremely complex.

Then you look into one of Theremin’s original instruments,
and there’s nothing inside.
It’s all smarts, it’s all high efficiency design.
It’s something that we don’t do any more.
We can’t do it any more, we’ve lost the touch.”

Have we lost the touch? In the grand scheme of electronic instruments, I’d say we have. It’s often a lot easier to add another buffer, another op-amp, another trace on the PCB to amend that glitch we find in a prototype. But I’ve got to say that rekindling “high efficiency design” is a great priority. That’s what I’m trying to do here. And, I’d argue that Bob Moog was a great mediator between the old way and the new way.

For instance, in Radio and Television News, January, 1954, he writes about building his theremin design: “The Oscillator coils should be carefully constructed, however, since these are the ‘heart’ of the instrument”. Although Moog’s theremin design of 1954 is appreciably more complex than Lev Termen’s (Theremin), it shows Moog’s own “high efficiency” in describing a simple, living “heart” of the instrument. Why would one ever over-design at the cost of losing the “heart” of an instrument.

Indeed, I’ve built about 20 theremins, mostly of my own design — some good, some bad. However, I steadfastly and stubbornly swear that the large air core coil inductors Moog speaks of are indeed the expressive center of the instrument. As both the frequency determining, field generating and resonating locus of the theremin’s oscillators, it is the coils that shape the magical magnetic field of the RCA or other great theremins. They are like the strings on a cello, or the reed of a woodwind.

Of course, the other finely tuned intricacies of the instrument also shape the sound. I will even admit that a lack of inductors does not preclude a good Theremin. However, it is still magical, even to an expert that the significant changes in the electrical field, the sense of magnetism touching the player, the electricity coupling through the body — all are changed just with the slightest repositioning of such a coil.

Likewise, the lovely tone of the coils mingling their magnetic forces and pulling at each other is how the vintage theremin tone is created. On an oscilloscope it looks like the waves are cresting over, just beyond the form of a sine — being gently pulled up and over without a single hard edge. That’s a hard result to get without the magic coil inductors. Perhaps not impossible, but difficult.

Regardless, what makes a better Theremin is truly subjective, and can be done any number of ways. I dare say, though, that I am now addicted to the philosophy Moog eludes to as “high efficiency design”. Why push and prod the sound, adding more paths to traverse, more amplifiers, integrators and op-amps when we could search out the deepest resonance of one simple circuit… one resonating center?

Maybe because it’s really hard. Maybe because we’ve “lost the touch”. Maybe becuase it’s frustrating. Maybe because it’s easier on a computer. I don’t know. I do know, though, that the same coils are also the tricky, glitchy Achilles heel of the instrument.

I can only speak for myself, but the simple path is often the way. The paradox is, that it is too often the more difficult way to go.

I do think Moog was being too humble. I also think that there are plenty of other “high efficiency” designs, both antique and modern. It’s not surprising that I think that those designs sound the best — but, again, that is subjective.

—-

You can check out the Moog Theremin design and article at Theremin World here: http://www.thereminworld.com/moog1954.asp

I have been getting questions regarding the availability of ribbon controllers, rack mountable synths, kits or products relating to the Ondes Martenot, Theremins, etc… So, I’ll let anyone know what is going on, and why the Phantastron is still the only instrument listed for sale on this site.

The ribbon controllers are ready for production and sale, and the designs for many other things, like theremins and heterodyne oscillators, and maybe a filter or two are solid. However, I simply don’t want to post something as “for sale” unless I REALLY can stand behind it 110%, both in terms of quality and in terms of meeting demand. At this point, I don’t have the money (let’s face it, times are tough) to have all parts on hand, ready to ship for these new contraptions. Therefore, I am only willing to offer them on an individual request basis — since I am opposed to taking orders which I cannot fill immediately.

Meanwhile, I can reliably and happily continue to ship Phantastrons without delay, hassle or any back orders. So hooray for that!

I am also willing to take my time to prevent rushing some designs or acruing debt. I believe this policy results in a better product, happy customers and happy musicians / sound artists. It also keeps Electric Western in the black.

This being said, Electric Western is not going away, and I will offer more products, but things are going very slowly as we grow (we are growing, and not losing money). On the other hand, I will not finance my business with credit right now, nor accept money for goods I don’t have in stock.

And, on a personal note, Electric Western has never been my sole support — it does pay me, but much of my personal costs are really covered by other income, which occupies a lot of my time right now.

So, ribbon controllers already exist, many other crazy instruments and modules are coming. It is innevitable, however, I don’t want to lose my commitment to a unique product range, customer satisfaction and surviving a rough economic turn…

In the meantime, if you really want to know about these things on the horizon or even ask for DIY design input, I’m always happy to talk about it. Indeed, I can even make the new ribbons for people now upon request. All you need to do is send me an email:

Lorin Parker

Parker@electricwestern.com

P.S. No, I won’t do thermatron kits! I’m not that crazy (wow how many lawyers would I need?!). However if you are a savvy artist, I’d be happy to consult .

Firstly, the video of the THERMATRON is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58lX3Uu9OOs

The THERMATRON is essentially a voltage controlled oscillator and wave shaper controlled by the action of a flame. This is possible because electricity can be conducted through a flame. This is not a new discovery, in fact the electrical properties of flame have been known for hundreds of years and well studied. For example, many hot water heaters have a sensor that detects flame by sensing the current inserted through the gas flame (if the gas flame goes out, the current does not reach the sensor and the heater knows that the flame is out).

It’s not as simple as lighting a fire and sticking it into the input of a synthesizer or a speaker, though. There are a number of things going on here and the impedance of the flame (how much electricity it conducts) depends upon air pressure, chemicals (gas and ionic environment), heat, applied voltage, surface area, etc. A propane flame alone is a poor conductor and does not react as well until more ions are introduced (you see that I add a chemical mixture which introduces ions to the flame like salt in water). The added ions allow the current to flow from point A to B much more easily.

Also, the hotter the flame and electrodes get, the better the conductor. This is because there is simply more energy in the system, more ions whizzing around faster, and more plasma. Within the flame there is some plasma (which is highly energized gas which gives off its electrons and conducts quite well), but only a small amount compared to the plasma generated in an argon gas tube, for example. The addition of voltage, or electrical potential through the electrodes also facilitates the creation of a more energetic flame-conductor and donates electrons to the mix.

So, as the flame heats everything up, including the added ions and metal electrodes, the whole space becomes more energetic and conductive. This space, like the space within a vacuum tube, can conduct electricity, so the 200+ volts applied to the top electrode are attracted toward the bottom electrode. Only a small number of electrons actually make it through this flame environment,though, because it has a high electrical impedance. The current which does conduct is on the order of micro-amperes, but the voltage potential is still strong…

Many vacuum tubes behave in a VERY similar way – low current, high impedance, high voltage potentials. Even the concept of “heating” a vacuum tube’s cathode to create free electrons is remarkably similar. Indeed, the flame, in optimal operation is acting like a diode of sorts. This is due to “The Edison Effect” which you’ll have to read about somewhere else.

So the flame is similar to a vacuum tube and shares predilections to both high impedance circuits and high voltage circuits. So, we logically connect the flame to a vacuum tube’s high impedance grid or plate to make it into an interesting control voltage source.

The Electrons from the flame develop as charge on the grid of a tube, changing the path of electrons within it — allowing more or less current to flow. Tubes don’t mind the small currents, high voltages and high temperatures, so we don’t need a lot of power from the flame to affect the tube circuitry.

Interestingly enough, the distance of the electrodes from one another is not as critical as the temperature. When I insert a chemical coated rod into the flame and touch an electrode, the change in pitch / modulation is not due to the electrode moving as much as it is to the deposit of new molten ions. As long as the electrodes are in the path of the ionized particles or plasma, conduction will occur.

Also notice that the flame does flicker to the pattern of the sound. This is due to the voltage differences making it shrink and grow as it feeds the circuit. It is also partially a response to the acoustic energy emitted by the speaker in the room.

Needless to say, this is not the easiest thing to set up with household materials. It is also dangerous. So, don’t play with gas fire combined with 200+ volts. I am experienced with this stuff and absolve myself of any burns or shocks others may suffer. Also, don’t ruin your solid state stuff by applying high voltage and heat.