TAMA Techstar TS305

[Circuitbenders]

iIve just finished a TAMA Techstar TS305. In the end the guy that owns it only wanted to pay for the three tom channels to be modded but i built an far too complex and overengineered LFO, added audio input to drum pitch FM, and each tom has its lowest pitch extended, a high pitch switch, and double decay switch, an LFO to pitch switch, and an audio input to FM switch.



The main problem with these things is thet have just about the bare minimum of circuitry that you could possibly get away with so theres not a lot you can do in there without ending up building whole new chunks of circuit, in which case you might as well just get a different machine anyway.

I'll get some audio up asap.

[nochtanseenspecht]

wow thats a lot of interesting options . audio fm input sounds like a very good idea
nice job !

[Circuitbenders]

External audio to pitch FM is certainly the source of some of the most interesting sounds. I was going to set it up with internal switching so that any channels oscillator could be modulated by any other channel, but the wiring looked like a nightmare. You can always take a lead from a channels individual output back into the audio input.

Thinking about it now, i wonder what would happen if i routed a channels audio output back into itself via the external audio FM.  

[Gordonjcp]

Well, the Korg Polysix has a pedal input that lets you feed a control voltage to the VCF cutoff.  You can have a lot of fun by cranking up the resonance and feeding that with a nice 808 bass drum, for wibbly-wobbly big farty basses.

[nochtanseenspecht]

Well, the Korg Polysix has a pedal input that lets you feed a control voltage to the VCF cutoff.  You can have a lot of fun by cranking up the resonance and feeding that with a nice 808 bass drum, for wibbly-wobbly big farty basses.

hey nice.. could you use "any" audiosource without dammaging the vcf ? must try that

[Gordonjcp]

I guess if it's not too loud...  I'd need to check the service manual to see exactly how it's wired, but I suspect it's designed for a 0-5V swing at least.  I know I needed to really crank the channel volume on the HR-16 to get a good "wibble" out of the filter.  More possibly tomorrow, when I dig out my Polysix and a signal genny.

[nochtanseenspecht]

hey Paul, does the Techstar also have cem ic's ?

[Circuitbenders]

not as far as i could see. Its mostly a few op-amps and some LM13600's. Nothing that interesting anyway

[Circuitbenders]

got some more details and demos here:

http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/newsarchive/TAMA.html

[Z3R0]

Just checked this one out. It's a cool sounding machine. Some nice mods you've added to it by the sounds of it

[ponc]

Hey, i got an old TS 305, and i would like to mod it a bit.
I am pretty new to circuit bending, and was wondering if you can give any tipps on what to look for, directions on where to find what?
mainly i'd be happy to start by adding decay or something.

Am thankfull for any tipps you might wanna spare!