Deckard's Dream DIY Build 19 - The trouble with voice cards
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2024
- It's been almost a year since I last looked at the Deckard's Dream. It was almost completed, I got sound out and was happy enough to let that feel like a conclusion to the epic journey of a build. But I still felt there was more to do, and I never quite managed to screw it into the box and put the slider caps on. So here we are, testing the voice cards, seeing if I can iron out the last issues and allow the machine to blossom into an instrument.
Index:
Intro - where are we now? - 0:00
Let's test the voice cards - 13:27
Testing the slots - 35:51
So what now? - 54:03
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5 Years in the making, how time flies.....🙋
From what I remember of taking my Deckard’s Dream mk1 prebuilt apart - the voice cards all have stand offs connecting them together into one big block. Then there is a giant zip tie securing that block to the motherboard, on original shipments they saw some issues with the voices wriggling free during transit without this.
You are nearly there, keep at it :)
Yes, I've seen that on Rev1s but there were no standoffs in the kit. And obviously I can't cable tie it all in if it's not working. And it's not being roughly handled or put on a truck. Once it's done then I'll definitely do something to secure the cards.
Solder inspection. Parts inspection. No fun but it’s so worth it. Cable, cable connections. Power connection.
Had been considering this (and TTSH/ Arp 2600 clone) build for past two years… as a DIY challenge with a wonderful synth waiting at the completion. But, have occasionally ended up with eurorack DIY builds that were ~ not quite right. Your experience here is making me feel better about passing on this build. I do enjoy the build process too… but it’s such a time sink when you can never truly be finished.
The 4 voices may allow you to enjoy playing the synth, but there will always be that "niggle" in the back of your mind that you are not getting the full potential out of this labour of love mammoth project. I would suggest you play with the four voice synth and record/sample from it as much as you can; whilst making a detailed list of all the faults already discovered, and any new ones (I hope there wont be) that might pop up. Then sit down for a pint with one or more experienced engineers (preferably ones who know this instrument) and run through the list.
I have a DD prebuilt synth and I love it. I joined the FB group to investigate the idea of perhaps building the expander etc... I think I'll hold off lol
great to see you back at it -its a great synth (when 100%) you will get it going - DIY is inherently frustrating.
Team up with mend it Mark or Sam LMNC. You could could do a couple of specials and fix it together.
I really like this series of videos and I admire your patience! I have some modules that I built with no luck but I don't even know where to start problem solving!
Are you saying that none of them are working? If so that can be put right. Reflow all your soldering. Check everything is the right way round and in the right place. All modules should work. :)
I hope it is resolved and becomes a reliable and expressive partner. You need to love what you hear from it, and ideally, for a person of your caliber as you say, a synth of that caliber should do what it is supposed to do in its entirety.
You have the voice cards, you have the synth, I'm sure it's fixable. It's an impressive project, I'm generally good at soldering etc., but I'd run out of steam after finishing 1 or 2 of those voice cards. But here is my take on the problem:
Those cards are heavy, things change when you move the thing around, so maybe it's a bad solder or lifted trace on the slot for card number 5. Take it apart, check for lifted traces around that card, reflow the solder on all the points of it (and probably all the other connectors while you have it out).
Then to prevent it happening again in the future (if it really is the problem, though probably do this anyway), make some kind of mounting bracket. Each voice card looks like it has mounting holes, so maybe you could get some plastic standoffs of the right length, and connect all the cards together so they all move at one. Then add a support bracket inside the case that hold onto the now monolithic card assembly.
If all else fails and you just end up hating the thing, I'll definitely give it a good home, PM me for my address 😂
Love the Blade runner poster
Hello there! The tuning is all done digitally and since you were using all the time slot one - you were just retuning that slot for differently calibrated / behaving voices..
Most of issues (missing waveshapes / missing filter output) should be easy to fix - some dry solders / minor problems on voices (bad TL074, bad switch or so).
Problem of voice 5 seems to be on mainboard and one of control voltages for waveshaping or filter behaviour being wrong.. Would probably need an osciloscope to check them out.
After all those years and all the work.. Go for perfect working machine with 8 voices, its worth it.
Good luck!
Hooray ✨️" i.m not here to be distacted by it.s loveliness 😂" fantastic
Gotta keep going to get it working properly, surely? So many hours have gone into it!
Well... Have fun !
FINISH IT!
Deckard’s nightmare. I don’t know, but I have heard you can find home organs in the shops these days, with upwards of seven voices. They have built in rhythm machines - all sorts of wonders. It’s worth having a flick through the yellow pages.
Best of luck!!
call Kent Spong - He'll get it going for you, you don't wan't only half a synth after all this time and work.
You have a ground issue with your case. Be careful because you could fry everything... Should be an "easy" fix. I say "easy", because it might involve removing components to get to the problem. You are so close, I know you will fix all these bugs over time. It sounds to me like you just have some wiring and or card seating issues. You have to take it apart and get the thing working properly, you owe it to yourself to make it perfect. You will get there.
I agree with this. I have a general rule of thumb for my DIY builds. If the problem is really weird and seems to shift, kind of like you would say about a person who has had a stroke. 9 times out of 10 it’s a ground issue. It causes really bizarre issues. I feel the frustration though. Trying to track it down can be brutal.I wonder if the motherboard pcb is touching the case? Or making contact with something it shouldn’t? Maybe line the inside of the case with Electrical Tape to insulate it? ( I know that seems silly, but my Ornament & Crime build did weird stuff because one of the screen solder pins was touching the faceplate… insulation tape fixed it )
Take your time, and go through each board to fault find.
Kudos for taking this on. Personally I think you’re mad! But, each to their own 🤪
Since the problem seems to be on the motherboard given swapping the voices doesn't make much difference, as a computer guy, my first instinct is to reflash the BIOS/OS, if you can do that, to make sure the cause is not some corrupted firmware, corrupted by some voltage jolt you've accidently given it during assembly and testing.
Fair assumption, but with computer motherboards you’d never imagine that the problem would be bridged components or a missing resistor - that is far more likely here. But I’ll keep it in mind.
Volume control should work even with headphone output. Something isn't right with your build there.
Sure, but not with the "build" just with that little bit :D