Introduction - Hello Wally

The purpose of this blog is to help me chronicle my efforts to create my own modular synthesizer - "Wally", short for "Wall of Knobs".

To be more precise, I began working on electronic musical synthesizers back in the late 1990's, and managed to DIY a few modules as well as built a number of Synthesis Technology's "MOTM" modules. By 2000, I had lost the drive, and a few years later I sold my MOTM modules and packed away the rest of "Wally".

Recently, I've experienced somewhat of a Renaissance in my interests, and I re-assembled what parts of Wally I still had around, just to see what I could do with him. The results were encouraging, and I've decided to resume work.

Here is what Wally looks like right now, spread all over my parlor:

Wally, a Theremin and some old TAMA drums, posing in front of the piano.
Excuse the mess.

Not much of a "wall" anymore, that's for sure. Maybe a nightstand of knobs. He was a lot more impressive when he was 3x that tall in a large rack enclosure with two rows of MOTM modules. The link above has a picture that's closer to the mark - the tall skinny one second from the right.

The "ARF" modules were built for me by a fellow named Ric Miller, and they're the majority of the working parts of this synth - the VCO and VCF. The PAiA MIDI->CV8 converter I built from a kit, and the rest is my design, done on a variety of perfboards and copper-clad boards.

In future blog entries, I'll discuss my plans, dreams, and progress. I hope you'll join me for the ride.

(And equally, I hope the ride actually gets out of the driveway.)