I knew it was obsolete, but I loved the old knobs, switches, and patch cables. It felt like an analog computer from the 50s, and the sound palette was rich and expansive.
About
About Triangulum
Triangulum Research began as a project to rebuild an Aries System 300 based modular synthesizer.
Why the name
The name Triangulum Research is a nod to the Aries synthesizer that got me started. The constellation Triangulum is adjacent to Aries in the night sky. Triangulum is latin for triangle. The triangle wave is one of the fundamental waveforms used in subtractive synthesis. Research because I am researching whether I can figure all this out.
Timeline
How it happened.
My Aries came from a dumpster behind the Cole Science building at Hampshire College, where it had been discarded along with an Altair, an old plotter, and a pile of graying tech viewed as obsolete as of the mid-90s.
I had used the Aries as function generator for testing amplifier and filter designs, while was working on my Div III (senior thesis) at Hampshire. I knew it was obsolete, but I loved the old knobs, switches, and patch cables. It felt like an analog computer from the 50s, and the sound palette was rich and expansive.
As I learned how to use each of the modules, I discovered that some of them did not function, so I pulled them out and began to study them (I have never been shy about disassembling things) .
It turned out that only 7 of the modules were built from Aries kits. The rest were homemade, a mix of wire-wrap breadboards, and soldered breadboards. I studied the circuit design of each and sent away for datasheets for each of the chips, so I could figure out what they role each of them was supposed to play. It took the better part of a year to collect all of the info (this was before you could find everything on the internet).
And then I moved to San Francisco to try to find work.
People at Cell saw me working on these strange electronic modules, and started bringing me their electronic projects for advice or repair. I fixed many amplifiers, synths, drum machines, arcade games, speakers, computers, and even a few toasters and an electric kettle or two.
Flash forward to the future… October 2016.
I am still repairing stuff as a hobby, and I’ve taken a renewed interest in my synthesizer; designing some new modules for it using an open-source PCB design program called Kicad. The market for Eurorack modules seems to be very active. Maybe now is the time to see if I can earn a living designing electronic instruments.
The archive
Documentation, preserved and organized.
The practice