Notes from the bench.

Some pictures of an Aries in the wild

A kind reader provided some photos of his rig. He built it himself from kits purchased from Aries and Rivera Music Systems in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Trouble with the faceplates

As I was getting modules ready to sell, I noticed that some of lettering and graphics on the faceplates had scratched off. A few tests indicated that the silkscreening was not sufficiently solid to hold up under long-term use.

A Video Demo of the AT-327

I’ve created a simple video demo of the AT-327 to provide a more tangible introduction to the module.

AT-327 production photos

A side project

I had two working SSM 2050s from an old DIY module that never worked very well, so I build a new Aries format module based on the AR-344 design.

The Thomas DiMuzio Alpha-Trianguli Demos

My friend and dog’s godfather, Tom DiMuzio has been playing around with some of the Alpha-Trianguli modules and has made a series of demos which show off some of the timbres one can create using them.

An Aries for sale — with keyboard

I received an alert from a reader that an Aries was for sale locally in Billerica, MA. If you are looking to buy an Aries and are in the area, now is your chance…

Aries System 300 Restoration

These are photos from a restoration I recently completed. It is (as one might guess) an Aries System 300 that a client found at an estate sale.

The AT-327 Multimode Filter prototype demo

At long last I’ve got everything back from manufacturing, and I’ve tuned them up and made a few demos. The sound quality and range of timbres exceeds my expectations.

Testing the filter with White Noise and LFOs

Here are some more sounds from the multimode filter.

Almost done building the prototypes

The tempcos have arrived

Sorry, no pictures or sounds yet. I installed one on one of the prototype VCOs and the thermal frequency variance is gone. Going to begin assembly of 5 VCOs to send to the fine folks who have offered to QA them in the real world.

Breadboarded the Multimode filter

I finished breadboarding the a +-15V version of the Aries AR-339.

Breadboarding in the morning sun

My friend Mike finished the comparison build, and it works perfectly. Now patiently awaiting the arrival of the tempco resistors, and breadboarding the AT-314 VCF.

Penultimate VCO boards

I received the final prototype boards on Monday, and assembled the first one using parts from the test BOM (Bill-Of-Materials) order. The purpose of doing this is to make sure the Bill-Of-Materials and the board are correctly specified, so that when I send the order to manufacturing, I can expect it to work.

Renderings of each of the modules

I found myself going down a rabbit-hole of 3D rendering products and techniques when I’d rather be building synthesizers, so I’ve opted to present each module in the simple Kicad render. The first System 300 will come with 12 modules shown below.

Crude 3D rendering of the full collection

I have not yet figured out how to get povray to produce the output I want, so here is a rough (non-raytraced) rendering of the whole set of modules I intend to make.

The new boards

Sent off the penultimate prototype boards to manufacturing this morning. Here are 3D renderings of each.

Sine output working…

I got back from CA last night, and finally got the chance to troubleshoot the triangle-to-sine waveshaping circuit.

The first prototype of AT-317 Analog VCO module

The sine output is not fully operational yet, but everything else is working to spec.

An homage to Dennis Colin and the Aries System 300

I’m putting together this site to share information about the development of the Alpha-Trianguli System 300 series of analog synthesizer modules. The design goal is to make a series of modules that closely match the original specs of the Aries System 300 modules.