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I've had trouble with embedding images from my website (alanp.info) for years, now. I always figured something about my computer was screwy.

TURN ON SSL! I had to go to the settings in my account on my provider's website to manually enable SSL Certification.

If you have your own domain, like me, and can't be arsed with dancing prancing wow-wee-zow-wee stuff, turn on SSL at the very least.

Now all the images in my Misc DIY threads work!

I've been on the fence about getting a hand-held desoldering tool for awhile, and picked one up a few weeks ago.

Bloody hell.

You do have to clean it... multiple times each session... but it works very, very, very well. The pots just fell out of the old PCBs I was harvesting parts from (they've been sitting in the cupboard for half a decade... didn't want to waste the parts on 'em) and the rotary switches very nearly did as well! (The retaining clips on those work a bit better than the average 9mm pot retaining bits.)

If DIY electronics is a big hobby, and you're on the level of owning and using a scope, I'd recommend getting a FR-301 as well.

Is there any reason not to use a 78L05 regulator in place of a gonzo-size 7805?

https://nz.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=support/delivery&intcmp=NZ-WEB-_-HP-EB1-_-Jul-21-_-delivery

Looks like it has finally dawned on them that sending me ten different types of component in ten separate bloody courier bags is a massive waste of resources.

Twits.

Let me first say that I love pedals like the Rangemaster, and the Fuzzface.

But I can't help but think that designing PCBs for rare, out of production parts like the CA3080 is somewhat irresponsible, if you can use a part still in production, like the LM13700, in the case of the CA3080. Also, I'm not talking about projects already in existance, like Rangemaster PCBs, or even Music Easel projects.

Some parts, like the germanium parts used in fuzzes, it's more murky, for me. On the one hand, more germanium parts are not being made, so we're gonna run out eventually. On the other hand... silicon just doesn't sound the same, especially the diodes.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel, especially in the synth world, where Alfa Rpar, Xvive, and CoolAudio are making old, once-rare parts like the Curtis Electro-Music chips, and the old bucket brigade delay chips. Not to mention vactrols!

But... with the rising instances of buying rare chips from ebay, and getting either scammed, or getting dead chips, I'm on the fence about designing for parts that are not in production anymore.

[Ultrastoner]

This thread is intended to archive what each variant of Big Muff sounds like.

For Juansolo's list of component values: http://80.229.1.38/stompage/Muffs.htm

I'll update the descriptions in this post with any descriptions posted below. So get to posting, people!

Ultrastoner
Designed by Juan to excel in the stoner rock sound.

1971 Triangle

A traced example of what it says on the tin. IMO one of the best sounding muffs out there. Can nail a lot of muff tones that people have in their heads.

Mad Professor Fire Red

TSM680

It's rather aggressive. Tight on the lower stuff with a mild mid scoop. Yet it all stays nicely defined. Well, we like it anyhow.

Skreddy P19
Designed to cop Gilmour's tone on _Comfortably Numb_, if memory serves.

Skreddy Mayo
Designed to cop Smashing Pumpkin's tone on _Siamese Dream_

Skreddy ? Lady

Thick sounding muff with a massive bottom end. Really rather lovely.

Dreamer

Ram's Head

Triangle

Civil War Russian

Green Russian

Third Edition

Violet Ram's Head

Foxy Lady

Anyone got the service manual for the MN3007 version of this?

Have a happy christmas, everyone! Don't have too much christmas food!

(And happy birthday, Jesus )

Something I see across all electronics DIY forums of all stripes are "What iron should I buy?" threads.

There are always helpful responses on various brands and models of soldering iron, usually listing the pros (and, sometimes, the cons) of the replier's preferred iron.

Something quite a bit rarer is a reply stating that, as long as your iron has enough oomph behind it and a tip that can physically transfer heat to the particular size part you have, technique is something that the person should work on.

I'm curious as to you guyses thoughts on the matter.

I thought I'd start this thread to clarify my position on this sort of thing.

I like steampunk creations where the art follows the function -- a neon bulb instead of the usual LED, keyboards where the usual plastic caps are replaced by exquisitely formed wood and copper caps or something, that sort of thing. The keyboard thing has been done very, very well before.

What I don't like is where an existing, functional item (like, say, a telecaster) is taken, the functional parts are left completely alone, and a lot of additional, superfluous shit is screwed onto it, like trumpet valves that do nothing, or copper pipes that do nothing. As for the goggles on hats thing -- be honest; other than once when they bought them, have those goggles ever been used as goggles, or just as a fascinator?

I guess that, for me, it's the difference between carbon steel swords that are sharp and have good balance and weight, versus aluminium swords that can be bent by a two year old, cannot hold an edge, but do look good in fancy dress!

Okay, there are spoilers in this for the very end of the Wheel of Time book series.

Stop reading now if you haven't finished reading all fourteen books.

Shoo.

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One of the biggest problems I have with the finale is... Rand decides that the best option is to destroy the Father of Lies, the Dark One, the source of all evil in WoT-verse.

He goes to do so, and the Father of Lies tells him, if he does, humanity will destroy itself through it's own evil! Honest! Really! Would this face lie to you?

And so, Rand is like, well, you ARE known as the Father of Lies, and all you've done is cause death and destruction and basically be a boil on the arse of the universe, but I'm totally going to believe you! You can live!

Gaaaaah! 

Maybe WoT-humanity would have fucked up. Maybe they would have ushered in a new golden age. We'll never know, because they've been condemned to the same fucking shit that has already happened.

This week, I've been thinking about dumping my Gillette Mach 3 razor that I've used for a couple decades now, and trying something different.

One option that I considered and then disconsidered equally fast was a straight razor (cut-throat.) I can sharpen knives, but razors I'm not so sure of. Plus they're a bit spendy.

The other one I'm thinking of is the "Safety Razor", the oldfashioned kind that take those disposable double-sided razor blades. I'm leaning towards this.

Also, how important is this lather brush business? With the Mach3 cartridge razor, all I do is slap foam on my face and shave.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/108677277/The-definition-of-a-kilogram-is-officially-going-to-change

Possibly a very geeky thing, but I can't help but think of the reason behind the metric system.

This is all AFAIK. Google an authoritative source (ie, not me.)

The chief, burning reason for the metric system was to define a system of measurement that could be replicated, anywhere, *PRECISELY*, independant of existing golden standards. One standard for the inch was three barleycorns. Barleycorns grown where? Of what dryness? Jammed together how hard? You'd never calibrate a micrometer with this level of precision.

Quote: "The metre was originally defined in 1793 as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole." This meant that, given a good cartographer, you could recreate the golden standard for one meter anywhere on Earth. (On Mars, or Venus, you'd be out of luck, admittedly.) This repeatable standard was the basis for the other metric measurements -- one litre is defined as the volume contained by 0.01x0.01x0.01 meters. One kilogram, in turn, was defined as the weight of one litre of pure water, at sea level, at four degrees celcius.

Precision is important to a degree that would make a medieval peasant accuse a modern engineer of idolatry. It's interesting to investigate, and I highly suggest you do.

In the Mad Max 2015 game (I have like 170 hours on that game, in steam... it's fun!), the V8 engine has several upgrade stages.

It probably says something about the Tim Taylor mentality in Mad Max, when the beginning, "Bantam V8" has a supercharger and a scott hat.

But, as you upgrade the V8 to moar powar, the air intake goes from the scott hat, to (IIRC, I don't hang around on that stage long) a big pipe, to TWO round pipes, to three pipes, to finally, like a really limited range set of panpipes, four round pipes going into the carburetters (and thence, the blower.)

What difference does stuff like this make?

Also, during the petroleum distillation process that happens in a refinery, is diesel unavoidable, or can the engineers do some jiggery-pokery to turn it into petrol? Because I'm wondering what Gastown do with all that diesel, if they can't turn it into something else.

Traditional folk tune, had a horrible discovery just now. If you google 'Slane' on it's own, you just get the Irish plot of land, not the music.

I first discovered at church, through a song called "Lord of Creation", that the tune to "Be Thou My Vision" was, in fact, a traditional Irish tune to which the words of Be Thou My Vision had been placed. (An overly enthusiastic "modernity" type had put up, at one place I went, "Be You My Vision", but that's another story.)

http://www.digitalsongsandhymns.com/songs/9021

Not sure I'll ever forget 'Lord of Creation' either, as an elderly lady at church introduced Dad and I to it. Sounds silly on the internet, but some things you never forget, like that.

Silly thing to say, but even though I don't speak a word of Finnish, I love the meter of this track, and how steady it is, and the rhythm. (It's even better if you know the basic outline of the lyrics, but even then I don't know how it maps against the syllables.)

Steady. Steady. Steady. Steady. Steady. Steady.

Weird, but it's so different to the disjointed rambling attacks of rap...

At one time, Phobos on Electro-Music was doing a weekly show playing some of Louigi Verona's compositions from his "Dronings" project.

Essay on Louigi's philosophy behind the project:
https://louigiverona.com/?page=projects&s=writings&t=philosophy&a=philosophy_droning

The drones:
https://louigiverona.com/?page=projects&s=music&t=droning

I saved a handful for later listening, and really should go through and re-listen to the rest. This is amazingly restful, generally, and is like the really good kind of abstract art, where your mind picks things out of the mix, and wanders off to explore the immaterium.

Ones I saved: 46, 97, 193, 220, 236, 240, 250.

https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2809507#2809507

For those who are interested, the gent behind Farndurk has done a post with pictures on how he did his letter stamping for his stompboxes.

A technique I've tried a couple times now is one that I picked up from Quincas' videos -- put the bare PCB in the helping hands thing, load it with resistors and diodes (legs hanging free), and top solder the lot in one go. Then flip and cut the leads.

Has anyone else tried this?

And by that, I mean what ideas do you have for "upcoming" projects that have yet to gel in your mind in a solid form?

My current back-of-the-mind concept is (another) sequencer, but entirely microprocessor driven. The many analog inputs (may as well go 4x8 if we're going to this much hassle) aren't too much of a problem, given enough switching and muxing and shit. The main thing I'm turning over is the control layout, and what to include on it. Eurorack only has so much space.

What projects do you have percolating in the back of your noggin?