Why Vacuum Tubes are the (my) future of music production.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@Krupa said:

>

You really should, I’m still on 12v but might graduate to 24v / -12v to +12v soon… I’m being tempted to stray higher, 60v and 400v but I would prefer to have some expert tuition before risking that 😁

Wear rubber-soled shoes and keep one hand in your pocket while poking around a high voltage chassis. You’ll be fine. Everyone gets stung now and then; it’s normal. You just don’t want it to be lethal.

Krupa

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@Krupa said:

>

You really should, I’m still on 12v but might graduate to 24v / -12v to +12v soon… I’m being tempted to stray higher, 60v and 400v but I would prefer to have some expert tuition before risking that 😁

Wear rubber-soled shoes and keep one hand in your pocket while poking around a high voltage chassis. You’ll be fine. Everyone gets stung now and then; it’s normal. You just don’t want it to be lethal.

Sound advice, I’m a leftie too so always have to really focus and use the right (non heart) side when messing with stuff like that 😁

Krupa

@Gravitas said:

@Krupa said:
I'm just putting together an application for a grant (Developing your creative practice from ACE) to really dig deeper into all this stuff from an fine arts perspective and I'd like to include a bit of education into the mix; does anyone know of any electronics courses, formal or informal, that would be suitable for this sort of hacky audio stuff?

I visited here quite a few years ago when they were in Hackney.

https://musichackspace.org/about-us/

They've grown a lot since then.

Here is the page to their free courses.

https://musichackspace.org/all-courses/

It maybe what you're looking for.

Ah yeah, I didn’t think of them, I did one of their Max courses a while back, I’ll see what they got 👍👍

Fingolfinzz

@Krupa said:

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@Krupa said:

>

You really should, I’m still on 12v but might graduate to 24v / -12v to +12v soon… I’m being tempted to stray higher, 60v and 400v but I would prefer to have some expert tuition before risking that 😁

Wear rubber-soled shoes and keep one hand in your pocket while poking around a high voltage chassis. You’ll be fine. Everyone gets stung now and then; it’s normal. You just don’t want it to be lethal.

Sound advice, I’m a leftie too so always have to really focus and use the right (non heart) side when messing with stuff like that 😁

There’s gloves you can get that will keep you safe as well cos using your right hand may not be as steady. I’m a leftie too and don’t trust my right hand for this stuff enough. Electrician gloves are rubber though and will prevent getting shocked

Krupa

I finally got my new workshop up and running, plugged in the old @iOSTRAKON filter and let it rock…

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Car2NwcLqgZ/?utm_medium=copy_link

Also built small control panel to help ease prototyping…

Krupa

Back from the dead and rocking

https://twitter.com/cgkrupa/status/1583007877647958019

Krupa

https://twitter.com/cgkrupa/status/1583371168836247552

Krupa

I mostly did practical things like making wooden mounts for valves based too for into an old signal generator that I’m gonna use as a case for the latest iteration of my valve stuff, but then a couple of the other sound artists in my unit turned up, so I showed off where I was at for a bit, then once they went couldn’t resist playing for a bit longer… I did actually record the aum session dry for the most part separately but this is a few minutes messing about that I videoed…

aaronpc

I have a set of homemade chess pieces made from old tubes that I found at an estate sale. Very très nerd. I can't say this thread will get me making a music with them, but it has inspired me to finally get some breadboard and construct a chess board worthy of using with it.

Krupa

Heh cheers, you should do! Sorry it’s not all particularly musical, I do like the sounds I’m getting though…

aaronpc

@Krupa said:
Heh cheers, you should do! Sorry it’s not all particularly musical, I do like the sounds I’m getting though…

No, I'm down. I'm just not schematically inclined. Love the sound you're getting.

Krupa

@aaronpc said:

@Krupa said:
Heh cheers, you should do! Sorry it’s not all particularly musical, I do like the sounds I’m getting though…

No, I'm down. I'm just not schematically inclined. Love the sound you're getting.

😁🙏

Krupa

https://twitter.com/cgkrupa/status/1587931666362036225

Fingolfinzz

Holy shit did you make the Atari punk console with tubes instead of 555s?

Krupa

@Fingolfinzz said:
Holy shit did you make the Atari punk console with tubes instead of 555s?

Yeah, it was quite easy, a YouTube guy I was chatting with about my stuff (usagi electric) figured it out and did a video on it. He’sa really good finisher of projects so did a lovely job - I’m still on the breadboard with that one, but I’ve augmented it with other oscillators and a pentode based vca. All that needs stuffing into an old test signal case I’ve recovered (I’ll use the pots and the variable capacitor, but everything else was knackered…) Usagi even sent a spare PCB he etched over the pond to Look mum no computer, and so there’s one in his museum isn’t obsolete place in southern England 🤙

Krupa

GUB

Probably 15 or 20 years ago I built a computer with a motherboard that had a vacuum tube sound card. You could see the tube blowing through a little window in the piano black computer case. I don’t know if the sound benefit, but it looked cool AF.

Fingolfinzz

@Krupa thats awesome, I really like how it sounds in comparison to the 555 Atari punk. it gets rid of that brittle sound and gives it so much more life. Thanks for the info! I’m kind of seeing how it relates to the 555 just from glancing at that schematic. It doesn’t look as daunting really as my mind was making it at all. I think I have the valve bug now after hearing the difference it makes with just that. I already use tubes for audio purposes a lot but the idea of oscillators and other modules has fascinated me for some time

Kewe_Esse

Damn that is nice man. Ready for a new soundset, at the very least..!

Krupa

@Fingolfinzz said:
@Krupa thats awesome, I really like how it sounds in comparison to the 555 Atari punk. it gets rid of that brittle sound and gives it so much more life. Thanks for the info! I’m kind of seeing how it relates to the 555 just from glancing at that schematic. It doesn’t look as daunting really as my mind was making it at all. I think I have the valve bug now after hearing the difference it makes with just that. I already use tubes for audio purposes a lot but the idea of oscillators and other modules has fascinated me for some time

Nice one, and yeah, it’s got a nice quality to it, I need to get it soldered down sometime as it’ll probably go even nicer… definitely give it a go, they’re not as hard as all that and addictive fun!

@Kewe_Esse said:
Damn that is nice man. Ready for a new soundset, at the very least..!

I think there’s deffo some in the old one, but maybe not that particular one… I’ll see if I can dig out a proper recording of it for you…

Krupa

Some progress on my own zero inputs…

https://x.com/cgkrupa/status/1701702912827879790?s=46&t=JeJyoifJSGgqBasY9PzqZw

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CxH3agMtU-O/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Krupa

I’m sure pasting social media stuff used to embed a nice preview as well, hard to keep up!

bygjohn

@Krupa said:
I’m sure pasting social media stuff used to embed a nice preview as well, hard to keep up!

Maybe you shared it before it created the thumbnail?

Whatever, love the sound of this. Definitely has an atmosphere of those machines in the 1930s Frankenstein movie.

Krupa

@GUB said:
Probably 15 or 20 years ago I built a computer with a motherboard that had a vacuum tube sound card. You could see the tube blowing through a little window in the piano black computer case. I don’t know if the sound benefit, but it looked cool AF.

Ha that’s great, I’ve been thinking about getting some sort of one way glass type stuff as I plan to do lpg like things with incandescent bulbs (and LEDs where necessary) but thought it would be nice if you could see them operating without ambient light affecting them…

Krupa

@bygjohn said:

@Krupa said:
I’m sure pasting social media stuff used to embed a nice preview as well, hard to keep up!

Maybe you shared it before it created the thumbnail?

Whatever, love the sound of this. Definitely has an atmosphere of those machines in the 1930s Frankenstein movie.

Cheers, that’s a good vibe to be evoking 🙏

Krupa

I’m not sure what I made today , I think it’s a weirdly motorboating amp type thing. I think I had the feedback/zero input going for a bit but wasn’t hooked up to records at that point 🙄

Krupa

Just adding this link here as reference for my research

https://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?highlight=zero+input&t=65467

Krupa

And the PDFs from the early post (I’ll probably add others over time)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uy94kg0ak0fq7f5/AACFQrHfA4-4GQTrmcg0byISa?dl=0

Krupa

https://youtube.com/shorts/g8CE3vIsInk?si=3aW-laEsMVSBcwXV

Some newer designs, I’m only powering the 12/6v DC heaters in these, the rest of the tube is rubbing off CV and gate voltage from an sq1. I’m going to hook up the iPad MIDI so I can use some more interesting sequencers with them soon, suggestions welcome!

https://x.com/cgkrupa/status/1761305043238527180?s=46&t=JeJyoifJSGgqBasY9PzqZw

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3tR3z1NwM-/?igsh=MTdzY3B1dWlqOGQwYw==

Krupa

ps how does one get content to show in posts here, I’ve tried three different platforms and it’s still just showing URLs 😅🥲🤷‍♂️

Doh, video was set to private and I needed to use the watch?v=XXXXXX thing instead, I’m sure we used to be able to post Twitter stuff that showed though, did space Karen ‘fix’ that up too?