Project: The “Non-Violins” Synthamajig

Here’s a little something I cooked up while special-guesting at Motor City Steam Con, July 22–24, 2016:

The “Non-Violins” Synthamajig:

Here’s a static view, front and back:

The "Non-Violins"—'cause it ain't a violin no more — The “Non-Violins”—’cause it was a violin, but it ain’t no more!

Rear view of the guts of the Non-Violins — Rear view showing the guts of the Non-Violins

So what’s going here? Some of it is standard steampunk greebles (e.g., that faux wind-up key, the old vacuum tube being lit with a modern LED mounted behind it, some obtuse knob and mounting hardware choices), but the guts are a combination of totally legit early prototype circuits from my book (e.g., a four-step version of the Bleepbox Sequencer, of which only three of the steps can be pitch-controlled) and simple versions of a few others I hacked together on the spot (the voice is a stripped-down Single Chip Space Invader Synth driving a simplified Dirty-Cheap Amp).

Why did I do this? ’cause Emmy Jackson asked me to. Emmy is a really swell guy, and did me huge solids at both Motor City Steam and Penguicon (where he both handled book sales for me and the other authors on hand, and offered a safe space for my son if he should lose track of himself or get freaked out). He showed up at Motor City Steam with four rejected violin bodies, on the condition that I rework at least one to fit in with his Dieselpunk aesthetic. I gladly gave it my damndest (another instrument from this same weekend, the Diddley Fiddle, is still in development—as is, it’s a fine lil diddley bow, but damned if I don’t want it to be at least a tad more electromechanically rad-as-hell).

Here’s some video of me presenting the Non-Violins Synth to EmmyJ at Motor City Steam Con:

dave — Dave wishes the Non-Violens a fond fare-the-well