Jake's Custom Shop

Let me take you through the design process for a custom eurorack synth case. We start with a plan so we know the size and power requirements. A rough sketch goes back and forth, some hand drawings, some Microsoft Paint, and occasionally some 3D CAD. Once everything is squared away I start the wood working: cutting, gluing, sanding. Sometimes we have to iterate on a custom stain color too.
This one is a 140hpx6U with keyboard riser to mimic an old . 🤘

Doing a power system upgrade on an old custom eurorack case I built 3 years ago. Cool to see how well it has held up over the years and all the little design changes that have improved our newer cases. New power bus, more robust DC power supplies, simpler wiring, better threaded inserts.

May or may not have left my WiFi repeater out in the rain…

Somebody remind me to not screw up the smallest solder points on the whole PCB… or just add some test points to connect wires to when I do. If you can’t make it perfect, make it adjustable.
Progress on the Quad ADSR

Custom 3Ux84HP Eurorack, but this time in American Red Oak. After a bit of sanding, a coat of Medium Oak stain will make her shine

. Somebody left his JBL Speaker out in the rain…. If only I could find U57 I’d tell you why the battery is charged but the system won’t turn on🪛.

More updates on the QUAD ADSR. The software is nearly complete. I added 3 different curve types, exponential, logarithmic, and ramp. The rotary coders have been upgraded to have built-in RGB LEDs to indicate which curve type is live. The ADSR also has macros that allow you to scale multiple curves at once by pressing multiple curve select encoder buttons at the same time. This is great for modulation a VCA and VCF for the same audio signal. Oh, and also added support for a future expansion module with CV inputs ;).

The graphics on the front are the traces on the back, copied. Due to the complexity of this module, some of the traces had to be routed on the front, so why not own it and show it off?
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Finally pulled the trigger on a new Oscilloscope. Needed four channels for some upcoming designs, and the higher frequencies for analog video. Very happy with the GDS-1054B.

Been working on this ESP32-S3 video card for about 2 weeks now. Finally got a well-balanced RGB image, 150x200px. For the past 4 hours of work everything was too green. Thought it was the image conversion software I was using…. Turns put my janky circuit was janky

A gaggle of Modular Zeros…. After ~2 months of preparation, we are almost ready for the second “Intro to Modular Synthesis” class at Penn State Behrend on Thursday with .hss . Built four fresh 3U cases, redesigned our VCA, and assembled dozens of fresh modules. Can’t wait!

Finishing up a 12Ux150HP Moog System 55 Replica Eurorack case with a customized keyboard base. I had a fun time building this one. Most of the cuts were made in the driveway during a wonderful Pennsylvania cold spell. After getting fed up with frost bit fingers and snow on my tools, I took the stock material to the wood shop. What a luxury to work in a proper shop!

January was a busy month! Four fresh new designs, 5 re-stock orders and a new venture into analog video synths. More posts on these coming soon 🤘

Fresh PCBs for a fresh new 808 Clap Clone module… The 808 Clapster. New modules always get me excited. This one’s got a trigger button so you can give yourself a nice applause for a job well done.

We've been hard at work revamping one of our OG modules, and we're excited to share the Dual Voltage Controlled Amplifier V2.0!

What's New?

Clearer Control: Each of the two VCAs now boasts dedicated Envelope and Gain CV inputs with potentiometer adjustment, plus individual LED level indicators for each CV input. No more guessing, just pure sonic mastery!

Easy Access: Say goodbye to cramped layouts! We've redesigned the module with all potentiometers conveniently located on top and jacks neatly lined up at the bottom. Keep your tweaks flowing smoothly.

Enhanced Performance: This VCA remains a trusty 2-channel workhorse, with each channel featuring two level inputs and one audio input. Control your audio signals like a pro using the Envelope In jack (with LOW LVL pot) for setting off-state volume and the Gain CV In jack (with Gain LVL pot) for fine-tuning on-state volume.

Another new module in the works... More to come
Someone once told me "You can never have too many ____"

SYNTH THROWBACK THURSDAY.
MORTON SUBOTNICK

Morton Subotnick is one of the pioneers in the development of electronic music and multi-media performance and an innovator in works involving instruments and other media, including interactive computer music systems. Most of his music calls for a computer part, or live electronic processing; his oeuvre utilizes many of the important technological breakthroughs in the history of the genre.

In the early 60s, Subotnick taught at Mills College and with Ramon Sender, co-founded the San Francisco Tape Music Center. During this period he collaborated with Anna Halprin in two works (the 3 legged stool and Parades and Changes) and was music director of the Actors Workshop. It was also during this period that Subotnick worked with Buchla on what may have been the first analog synthesizer (now at the Smithsonian Museum).

In 1966 Subotnick was instrumental in getting a Rockefeller Grant to join the Tape Center with the Mills Chamber Players (a chamber at Mills College with performers Nate Rubin, violin; Bonnie Hampton, cello; Naomi Sparrow, piano and Subotnick, clarinet). The grant required that the Tape Center relocate to a host institution that became Mills College.

Subotnick, however, did not stay with the move, but went to NY with the Actor’s Workshop to become the first music director of the Lincoln Center Rep Company in the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center.

MODULAR SYNTHESIZER THROWBACK THURSDAY
DARIUSH DOLAT-SHAHI

Dariush Dolat-Shahi (1947, Tehran) is an Iranian-American composer and instrumentalist on the tar, the traditional Persian lute. His compositions include electronic and instrumental music as well as music for traditional Persian instruments.

This post-revolution Iranian album from 1985 is so ahead of its time, so completely off on its own sonically and stylistically – that you’d be forgiven for thinking it were a hoax. In reality it’s one of the most sought-after and exceptional records from the Smithsonian Folkways catalogue, here brought back to life in this facsimile edition put together by the Dead Cert imprint – housed in a hand-assembled replica sleeve with a vinyl cut at D&M For all intents and purposes, Iranian-American composer Dariush Dolat-Shahi’s ‚Electronic Music, Tar and Sehtar’ is one of the most incredible electronic records we’ve ever heard. Until now, it’s been the preserve of a small handful of collectors who rightly hold it in huge regard and close to their chests.

A syncretic traversal of Iranian folk music and modular synth strafing radio-phonic, musique concrète, neo-tanktrik and sound design disciplines, it simply sounds quite unlike anything out there (if you know better, please, please share!) and has had us, and everyone who’s heard it, utterly enraptured.

We're in the early stages of cooking up something special here at Jake's Custom Shop: an Advanced Cowbell Eurorack module that takes the classic TR-808 sound to a whole new level.

Here's a peek at the workbench:

️Dual pitch controls: Dial in the perfect "clang" or push it into deeper, darker territory.
Decay k**b: Craft the perfect cowbell fade, from snappy pops to long, lingering moos.
Trigger and accent inputs: Give your cowbell some dynamics! Add accents for emphasis or let it ride the trigger for pure rhythmic goodness.
️ Volume level control: Blend your cowbell seamlessly into your mix, from subtle spice to front-and-center star.
This is just the beginning, folks! I'm still tweaking, testing, and obsessing over every sonic detail. But I couldn't wait to share a glimpse of what's brewing.

What features would you love to see in the ultimate Eurorack cowbell? Drop a comment below and let's get the cowbell conversation flowing!

MOOG THROWBACK BACK THURSDAY-
POPOL VUH

One day, in the 1960s, while in the Munich University's library, Fricke and Herzog came across a religious book of the Maya, titled Popol Vuh.In 1969, Fricke co-founded the eponymous band along with sound designer Frank Fiedler and percussionist Holger Trülzsch. He was one of the first musicians to own and use a Moog III synthesizer, with which he recorded Popol Vuh's first two albums Affenstunde ("Hour of the Monkey") and In den Gärten Pharaos ("In Pharaohs' Gardens").

Fricke is considered a "pioneer of electronic music.Critic Mark Lager found the LP In den Gärten Pharaos "otherwordly" and "the most mind-blowing mystical experience.In 1972, Tangerine Dream’s founder Edgar Froese, "intrigued by Florian Fricke’s music," invited him to play in the opening track “Birth of Liquid Plejades” of the band's LP Zeit ("Time").

Although initially in his musical career, Fricke had accepted the moniker of kosmische Musik that had been applied by critics and fellow artists to his mostly instrumental compositions, since he regarded his music as being "fundamentally" far from the "space sounds" produced at the time, he came to entirely reject the term as soon as by the early 1970s. He declared that the "beautiful and honest way" for composers would be to free their minds without the use of technology.Around the same time, he repudiated the use of the Moog synthesizer and, in 1973, he sold his Moog to electronic-music pioneer, composer, and musician Klaus Schulze. From then on, he concentrated mainly though not exclusively on acoustic music.

The same year, he performed for the final time in a Popol Vuh LP, titled Seligpreisung ("Beatitudes"), their 4th, composing all tracks and playing an ecclesiastic organ, with the music recorded inside a church by Dieter Dierks' Mobile Studio and mixed in Cologne.

If you want to create any kind of rhythm in music, you need a time-keeping source. The Jake's Custom Shop Clock and Musical Divider Module features 8 musical divisions for creating long sequences across all of your sound sources.

If 6 MIDI to Control Voltage outputs are not enough for your system, then you can chain up to 8 MIDI-CV modules together. Each module will give you an additional 6 CV and gate outputs. We're not sure who would, but you can output up to 48 CV's like this!

In Mode 6, the Jake's Custom Shop MIDI-CV module supplies up to 6 CV outputs and gates.

Interfacing your MIDI keyboard does not have to be difficult nor expensive. In mode 4PV, the Jake's Custom Shop MIDI to CV module gives you the ability to play up to 4 notes on the same MIDI channel. Yup, creating chords on your is just this easy.