Easiest Synth Build?

[Arn C.]

Are there any reasonably easier synth builds?

Thanks!
Arn C.

[moosapotamus]

How about this...
http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/analogsynth/SOUNDLABMINISYNTH/soundlab.html

Ray is selling PCB's, too! That's more than half of the battle.

~ Charlie

[Arn C.]

Charlie,
    Thanks for the synth site.  Way too cool.  I listened to all the sound samples.

I guess I should have been much more explicit.  

What I would really like would to be able to make my guitar sound like a violin.  

Guess I should have said that first.   Is there anything simple out there that can do this, that I might be able to build?  (Besides a roland synth for guitar)

Thanks!!!!
Arn C.

[Mark Hammer]

Usually, when you see stuff under the heading of "synthesizer" or "synthesis", the intention is that the circuitry be extremely flexible and permit not only the production of specific sounds, but also sounds which are unusual, or not well adapted to music with a beat or a melody.  They are also usually designed to provide extreme flexibility in terms of control.

At the other end of the spectrum are things like the E-H Micro-Synth which, although very flexible, never really stops sounding like one.  People say "How do I get that sound that Jimmy Page or Mick Ralphs got?" and others respond with "Oh, you have to have a Micro-Synth to do that".  I think that says a lot about how flexible it really is.

So, at the one end of the spectrum, you have pretty open-ended things that  Radiohead might use for noises, and at the other end you have units that are intended to be used like "normal" instruments or effects pedals.

Your request to "sound like a violin" is a hard one to peg.  At first glance it seems like you want the device in question to work like a stompbox and produce a single defined sound.  On the other hand, I'm not sure what you mean by "violin".  For instance do you mean the tone of a violin during the sustain portion of the note lifespan?  Do you mean the attack portion?  Do you mean the capacity to sustain indefinitely?  Do you mean some tonal equivalent of what happens when you bow back and forth?

Your request might be answerable with something considerably less ambitious than Ray Wilson's magic box (NOTE: He has recently updated the site with lots of new stuff.  Very nice.)

[maximee]

Thanks Charlie!

This looks easy (especially when ordering the PCB )
I want one now!

[Mark Hammer]

Yup, Ray has some nice simple stuff there.  Another simple one-board synth project is the Farm Synth over at Motohiko Takeda's site (http://www.aleph.co.jp/~takeda/radio/OneBoardFarm.html).   Takeda's tends to use slightly more exotic parts than Wilson's, such as matched transistor pairs like the 2SC1583 and 2SA798, with the advantage being greater stability.  Both projects offer many of the same features on a similar-sized board.  I haven't attempted Wilson's but my Farm board is about 95% populated.

[Arn C.]

I'm not sure what you mean by "violin". For instance
do you mean the tone of a violin during the sustain portion of the note lifespan? Yes, to sound similar to the sound of violin notes

Do you mean the capacity to sustain indefinitely? No

Do you mean some tonal equivalent of what happens when you bow back and forth? Yes, like bowing a note.
I know that I can use my volume pedal to assist in the sound of the violin once I have that violin tone(sound) .....
Thanks Mark!
Arn

[jimbob]

Are u thinking of something that sounds like an E-Bow but in the shape of a stopmbox?

[Athin]

Actually I ONCE got a violin-like sound out of a cheap distortion, on my friends 150$ Cort guitar via his computer speaker. The trick was to find the sweet spot on the guitar [almost above the neck] and on the distortion [don't remember, can't help you there]. THAT was DIY!!    anyway... for the true violin sound you'd need a true synth, the one with the special pickup. An analog synth will never be as flexible. 4 ex. you won't be able to adjust the sound with relation to volume or dynamics [ie. make it sound different depending on how you play].

[Arn C.]

Thank you Gentlemen!  If anyone thinks of anything, I am all ears!!!!

Peace!
Arn C.

[Marcos - Munky]

You can get violin sound with a little trick. You will need a delay, some reverb and a high gain overdrive. Use the neck pickup. Hit the note with the volume of your guitar at zero, then put the volume at max, using finger vibrato to get more sustain to the note. When you play the next note, do the same thing (volume at zero, then at max). The delay won't let a blank space when you put the volume to zero. Just practice a little and you will see.

[puretube]

hey, I like that: fill in the blank spaces with the help of the reverb/delay...

[gez]

Trigger all that with an envelope?  (use OTA for gating/shaping the attack)  

[puretube]

free information block:

[STOMPmole]

You might want to check out the "Slow Gear" at http://www.generalguitargadgets.com .

I haven't heard it but it's description is:
"Slow Gear softens the attack for violin like sounds. It tracks each note individually, so your playing technique has to be good for this effect to be useful. This project is from Alex Petrini, thanks Alex!"

[ryanscissorhands]

I have looked for that soun myself, and have come across some violinesque sounds, but not sustainy violin sounds. Just the violent, "Eleanor Rigby" style violin strokes. More like "strikes," really. E-bow. If you lift the ebow off of the strings right above the pickup, and hit down on it for a short time, you get that rough violin sound. Very cool.

For the sustained violing sound, it's hard to do. I'm still working on that with the ebow. Sustaining at a moderate volume with an ebow is like balancing water on an egg. If you ever try either of these, you will know what I mean.

I have a sound clip of it, but it's on my computer on another continent, so I can't send it to you for about 5 weeks. If you are interested in hearing it, message me and I'll be more than happy to send it to you. For now, go to ebow.com, if you're at all interested.

[chumpito]

How about trying this?

http://www.electro-harmonix.com/ehx2/Default.asp?q=f&f=%2FCatalog%2F04%5FDistortion%2F04%5FBig%5FMuff%5FPi%2F34%5FElliot%5FRandall

[Arn C.]

Does anyone have any mp3's or any type sound files for Slow Gear?

Thanks!
Arn C.

[chumpito]

Does anyone have any mp3's or any type sound files for Slow Gear?

Thanks!
Arn C.

It sounds like using your volume pedal to slow the attack.

[mirza]

i have question about synths.
in this "The Sound Lab Mini-Synth" project there is a "gate in" "osc-1&2 cv" and ofcourse output.
wtf is "gate in" and "osc 1,2 cv"?
:shock:    :evil:  :?: