Klee, mech WIP

Work-in-progress teaser ;)

Sub panel starting to take shape.

Close-up of right edge, the home of all rotary potentiometers.

Klee, starting out small

Returning to something way more DIY-ish after the off-topicness the other day, I figured maybe it’s time to officially kick off my Model 2 Klee Sequencer project. Thing is, I’ve had the bare PCBs for a Klee for over 2 years now, but I promised myself not to have yet-another-incomplete-project on my desk until I’ve completed some of the existing builds. Reckon that moment is here, finally.

For my Klee, the plan is to take the “design-route”. That is, get all the items needed before starting assembly and the put enough hours to measurements, planning and sketching. This way, I’ll hopefully end up with a fairly ready-to-assemble set of parts and be able to complete the Klee over a few build sessions. Spec-wise, its all extras/add-ons and sliders instead of rotary pots. Mechanically,  I’m thinking of doing yet another sub panel approach to hide sliders screws etc. and basing the panel design to Stephen Drake’s Klee. It looks like this:

..though I’ll aim for a standard rack unit instead of MOTM format Steve is using. If this doesn’t work out, then a desktop Klee should be just as fine.. Or maybe I’ll just add rack ears to have both!

Odyssey, sliders

Upgrades on the way.. ;)

One of the replacements..

..now hidden to the whole lot!

Odyssey, fixed again <3

A bit of a late post this as I’ve had my Odyssey operational for some months now, but at least there is a lesson to be learned here. To recap the situation a bit, the power supply failure with my Arp Odyssey caused something on the VCF circuit on board C to fail. This board also hosts the AD/ADSR generators and the output amplifier, but they weren’t affected by the PSU problems.

Repairing the VCF section turned out a trip far more winding than expected. I made a false diagnosis in the process and thus ended up “downgrading” back to the original 4023 VCF module AND even (unnecessarily) removing the potting material in order to be able to measure the entire VCF circuit in detail! I won’t go into details about de-potting, but if you want to read about the process, check out this excellent page @ ArpTech.

Anyway, as I was getting nowhere poking around the 40235 dual VCF module, the idea with the VCF downgrade was to restore the synth to factory spec. Less complex design, calibration procedures corresponding to the original service spec and a factory etched board should help removing possible DIY errors from the problem solving equation.. And besides, the 40235 is bit of a bitch to measure thanks to its compact part layout :)

Assembled 40235 Dual VCF board.

Odyssey, triumph over sliders

\:D/ Fatality, Arto, Win \:D/

That was of course pronounced with a Mortal Kombat-ish voice and hopefully in 8-bit sample depth ;). Yeah! I’ve been working on the sliders some hours every week and after about a month the “slider cleanup chores” are over! With a bit of practice (and once I built up the routine of cleaning a slider), it’d take me maybe something like 15-20 mins to clean up and assemble a single slider.

Repaired sliders on board B.