INSANIUM!!!!!

The Insanium (Machina Corpus Incognita)

An Abstract Vocal Synthesizer
(hybrid digital and analog synthesizer built around the amazing speakjet chip)

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Audio and Video of the Insanium in action: '
Parts Of Speech (Studio Improv -- 2 Insaniums and Vocals by LEP 6/15/05) Video Excerpt of Live Performance at BENT 2006 on insanium by LEP : "4000 Voices for Phonograph Over 100 Yards Away" watch video at YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOoAg1Dn9J8 Images of making the insanium: My current Insanium: Sand blasted Die cast aluminum with hand heated burnishing and luxurious wood trim. A working needle VU meter and a key ignition! DIY Insanium: For Sale: I have 2 Insanium 2 Betas left. The boards are fully assembled and I will sell them soon to get funds to order the final kit PCBs. Latest Insanium News and DIY: 8-06 Board Revisions and Schematics - The Insanium has been cleaned up with new layout to benefit from the following, and much more: - One Layer Layout, so PCBs can be etched DIY style more easily. - Digital and Analog components are completely isolated with seperate power, ground and bypass caps in ALL cases. - Ground flood reduces noise. - Speakjet configuration is controlled by PIC and now automatic (baud rate, detune, etc). - Noise should be reduced and signal increased by new layout (thanks for the suggestions unnamed E.E. for audiophile company) - Trace widths and clearances more compatible with DIY etching. (I don't use TLO82 OpAmps when building these - it is simply the same layout as the opamps I use - TLO72, NE5532, AD823. etc...). Here it all is: Board viewed from top with bottom copper visible (blue) , parts outlines and pads / drill holes (green). Top view: Parts and Jumper connections (red). The printable PDF of the Bottom layer laout! - boardfill2a.pdf Also, here is the eagle file if you are an eagle nut. PLEASE feel free to inform me of any errors or make and send me your own improved viersions of the board!! Eagle Layout .BRD: insanium2rev2a.brd This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. OLD NEWS: 7-06 I'm building two new fully outfitted insaniums now with custom touch sensitive filters and special preamps. They're being built with classic synth style meets victorian cabinet maker - pics coming soon. 4-06 The new, just created, INSANIUM II !!!! - Double sided printed PCB - Will be available as a kit. - 5 oscillators - 2 noise generators - 16 bit calculation under the new PIC's hood. - bit-crusher style distortion feature (very 8 bit) - optional pre-amp. - touch sentsitive analog filters!
The Main Circuit Board Kit is in Beta Testing! My version works great and has been used on tour in Europe and the US -- and it survived all that travel! People are welcome to order the beta version of the kit, circuit boards, or use my code to make their own projects or just ask questions or give feedback. Send Email to - lparker (at) calarts.edu Custom Insaniums, With or Without Custom Case are Available - email Lorin: lparker (at) calarts.edu Affordable kits are coming soon. Kits are already being beta tested by the very awesome: Mark Allen Joker Nies and Friends (from Cologne, Germany) Me
BENT 2005 -- "Phonetics of Unreal Beings" (4/28/05) The Public Premier of the Insanium 1.2:

More tech and code - for the PIC18f4520:

The Insanium is a 5 oscillator digital / analog hybrid synth. At it's core are a PIC 18F4520 (brains) and a Speakjet voice synthesizer chip, as well as
a bunch of analog and discreet components. It was designed and coded from the ground up by Lorin Edwin Parker and built from scratch (yep all that metal and wood was me too).

The speakjet is used for both speech, and as a synth (by controlling its 5 oscillators, envelopes, mixers and noise generators individually). It also contains analog filters, mixers, mosfet preamps and a slew of other sound stuff.

Here is the code I am currently using -- I have not edited it to be pretty, so be warned. There are a lot of old "test functions" in there that have been written out. Also, it is formatted as one long ASM file, rather than using .inc files with a linker. If you feel like looking through it, please be my guest. It is distributed with a Creative Commons Liscence. If you find it useful to your projects, please feel free to cut and paste or use the code, just be considerate and share your developments with the community at large.

Download: insanium.asm

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Otherwise just listen to the MP3 and you'll discover why the Insanium is the new standard in experimental digital / analog hybrid synths!

The insanium 1.2 used to look like this, but version 2 is much cooler even if it doesn't have a built in AM radio anymore, but who says it couldn't?

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