-
PDP11 Hack Plus board, part 2
So my PCBs arrived (I opted for black, just because) and I built one up run tests. Now the 6402 and the DCJ11 are in sockets as they’re hard to find. The two buttons are Reset and Halt, as I couldn’t fit all the LEDs and their driver chips on the board I opted for breakout pins for things I thought I might need to monitor. First problem was a 6402 that was faulty and as a result killed the 1.8432MHz module, somewhat annoying, but in this day and age of chip shortages and fakes sadly not unexpected, so swapping out another 6402 and a new clock module and the…
-
PDP11 Hack Plus Board
Well I finally finished the PCB, but I decided to remove the LEDs, all 81 of them. For two reasons, firstly it was turning into a night mare to route, secondly I’m not even sure if this will work. If it does then I will do another board with some extras on, including LEDs. I’ve also made a PDF of the schematic for those interested, when everything is confirmed and working I’ll be sharing the KiCAD files for anyone daft enough to make one 🙂 In the interim here is the PDF of the schematic. Anyway, PCBs have been ordered and should be with me in a week or so,…
-
Start of something new & daft
I’ve long had an interest in computers, older computers that is. I mean I grew up in the 80s and that was the era of computers, I had a VIC20, C64 and so on. But what was missing was the blinking lights, which was part of the idea behind the PJ5CPU project (Under the TTL CPU category). Now I also like obscure things and the DEC DCJ11 CPU is one such chip, it is essentially a PDP11 on a chip minus the RAM and peripherals (floppy disk, hard disk, serial, etc), I’ve been after one for a while but didn’t know what I’d do with it, anyway one came up…
-
Life and Delta
I’ve succumbed to the dreaded black dog that is depression again, but with the help of my partner, Jayne, I’m getting better. She is very good at looking after me and helping me avoid pitfalls. Jayne is also improving, she nearly ended up having emergency surgery, but has pulled through and we’re waiting to see the consultant early April to find out what can be done to stop this from happening again (this has happened before, and will happen to her again). In the meantime I’ve been taking time to enjoy walking with my dog, Suzi, and appreciate some of the good things in my life, like Jayne, Suzi, my…
-
Delta & Life
Recently my partner was rushed to hospital and has spent 5 days in with a serious condition, thankfully she is now out but will need to have major surgery in 6 to 8 weeks. This has got me thinking a lot about my life and what is important to me. She and Suzi are what matter to me above all else, this trip into hospital has really brought that into focus. So what is the upshot? Well, I’m giving serious thought to Delta being my last commercial synth. It takes a lot of work to make a poly synth, and for one person it can be very hard. There’s a…
-
2023 and onward
Well another year has come and gone, 2022 was not a great year. With chip shortages, recessions and friends suffering a lot (for reasons I shan’t go into). I’m not one for new years resolutions, but I do like to have a goal for the year, so my goal is to “declutter” and simplify my life. Things have gotten very complex. So I’ve put some effort into Delta over the holiday and I have most of the prototype UI (screen and knobs) done which let’s me fully test the synth engine and debug that. Though Dove Audio is now closed, I’m unsure what form Delta will take. PJ5 (my TTL…
-
Walks, Delta and dogs
The weather here has been cold of the last weeks and yes we had snow, which Suzi was really confused about, she kept running and trying to eat it, rolling in it and generally seeming to enjoy the experience which was wonderful to see. During these walks the colours of the sky are often quite amazing, so I take some pictures, here are a couple from recent days (before the snow). I’m no photographer but I can appreciate the colours 🙂 Delta Delta is now playable, I can set a default patch (pushing a button and it sends a string of commands to the FPGA) and play it via MIDI…
-
Speed, Delta & Doves
Speed The world is moving at an incredible rate lately, now I know as you get older your neurons fire slower and time seems to move quicker, but that’s not what I mean. Everyone is in a rush, a rush to make things, a rush to get places a rush to buy and received stuff and people seem to be incredibly impatient, now I caught myself doing this and I was shocked. I blame amazon for their “next day delivery”, and sometimes same day which is just nuts. It’s made us all impatient and rush to do things and expect things. The item in question for me was this uConsole…
-
The Black dog and a white dog
Some of you know that I struggle with depression, I make no secret of it. I don’t talk about it much as it is not an easy thing to discuss, and a large portion of society would rather not hear.Well, for the moment the black dog (depression) is visiting again and I’m struggling, I’m exhausted (for many reasons) and that isn’t helping. Like many I’m worrying about the economy, keeping a job and a roof over my head as well as paying bills. Also, the UK government is getting worse and worse, with more corruption and bigotry as the days go by, I used to be proud to be british,…
-
Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave
A few months back (about 3 if I recall) I got in touch with the people at Groove Synthesis about their 3rd wave, and I purchased one. Now I’m a huge fan of wavetable synths and this having 3 oscillators, lots of wavetables and a bunch of other cool features was a chance not to miss. Having owned a PPG Wave 2.2, PRK, EVU and Waveterm I was quite ready to be disappointed and frustrated with the 3rd wave. I was pleasantly proved wrong, very wrong. The third wave is just incredible, you can read up on the specs online, but it sounds amazing and the fact it has 24…