Bends for the CASIO SA-35 ?

[migraneboy]

Another newbie here with newbie questions

I have been bending my Casio SA-35 for a while and have got it to play random loops and glitch with a few push buttons, but thats about it... theres very little about this machine on the net, so I was hoping you guys might now some tricks..

Ever since I started to bend it, a certain amount of hiss was introduced to the overall sound.. not that bad, but if anyone has had success in removing hiss from these things, please tell me how!

I´ve heard people talking about a "voltage crash pot" and  Im wondering  how exactly is it done ?

I would also like to build a pitch control for it, but can´t seem to find the right spot for it.. is it even possible with the SA series keyboards?

[andy_wheels]

the voltage drop is discussed in the other 'sa' thread. it might be different on the sa-35 so you might need to experiment.

the sa tends to do a solid, turning off, crash when you try and short many of the points on the circuit board. the way to get around this is to use a small value pot between your two testing probes so theres a bit of resistance when you connect points. this will help you find rings, distortions and buzzy modulations.

i think all the sa's are crystal locked so pitch control isnt an option. someone can correct me if i'm wrong.

[migraneboy]

thanks andy!!

good tip about using small value pots between the crash points! I was wondering if trimmers work for this purpose .. so I could "fine tune"  the aproppriate level for each crash..

[the_zombiest]

trimmers would work instead of pots but when you're probing a pot is a lot more practical as it has a dial knob and trimmers don't.  For the final soldered bend, I personally prefer to use resistors.  Make a wild but educated guess after using a trimmer/pot and solder a resistor inline.  It works out much cheaper, but doesn't leave any room for fine tuning.

i think all the sa's are crystal locked so pitch control isnt an option. someone can correct me if i'm wrong.

it can be acheived by making an external oscillator.  I got a Yamaha pss-120 to pitch up and down using a 2 Inv IC (4011), it was a royal pain in the arse to make but worth it in the end.  I presume it'd work on an SA casio too.

[sn7ke]

Sa 35 is basicly a pimped SA 5 i think.
So same hardware.
Chek www.natemc.com for a tutorial for the SA-5 !