hello everyone [im a new guy]

[oculairus]

hello everyone, first let me ask...why is it that whenever i need to find information, i always and i mean ALWAYS find help or atleast the best place to start is at a website that ends with co.uk ? im thinking the uk is like...i dont know...great  , and maybe i should move there. far better place than the states, especially for this type of musical expression/scene. ...or maybe its just kansas isnt cool..either way, this is highly irrelavent to what im needing information wise...so lets move on.


ive read this forum on every little detail dealing with bending a SnM, and ive checked the board scans from the links here, ive googled everything i could think of...ive basically done everything in searching for info just short of buying the CB book by ghazala, but i havent done that as i havent any money right now..
but my problem is i cant seem to find a board scan like the board i have in my s&m.
ive found a few glich bends as to when i press n hold the glitch button and press buttons on the face of the snm, it glitches out like crazy, ive found one that causes just chaotic insanity with some c3p0 noises in it, a form of a loop, and ive mounted the 1/4"output jack and instaled a reset button.
but i just cant sem to figure out this pitch knob.
ive found this one IR that if i touch it will lower the pitch, and after many many hours of tinkering, ive found that if i connect an alligator clip to a potetiometer, and another clip to the potentiometer, and touch it to this one spot just above..er below..epends on how you have the SnM sitting..above in my case the set of like...maybe 12 silver lines where the three or four have to be touched for a weird glitch, and i turned the knob, it worked!
i found the pitch bend!!!!
then when i drill the hole, place my potentiometer in there, and solder the points all up, it doesnt bend the pitch at all.
i havent cross soldered anything accidentally to make a connection that shouldnt be there, and im positive ive placed the wires in the correct spots, but it doesnt work, so i unsoldered the wires from the potentiometer and now its jsut sitting here...
im not sure how old my SnM is, but it doesnt have the Texas Instruments logo on the board, and the number on the board is right next to what looks to be where the black n red wires from the batery compartment is wired up, and the number is 1040675-15 .
anyone have any idea on whats going on here and why i cant for the life of me figure out how to put a pitch knob on here?
ive tried almost everything.
can somebody please help me?
if i have to, it would take a little while to take a picture n resize it n whatnot, but i could take a picture to show you what im talking about n what the board looks like if need be.

[Circuitbenders]

hmmm, any chance you can put up a board scan? I'm assuming you're in the US as most of the speak&maths machines i've come accross in the UK tend to be boards 4 or 9, i'm not sure i've ever seen an S&M serial ending in 15. Maybe you have some kind of freakish prototype 

I have come accross a couple of S&M machines that just refuse to be modified with a pitch bend no matter what i try which is quite mysterious.

I usually go with a version of this:


but with both the high and low connections connected to pins on the bottom left of the big chip where the LOW one is connected there. I also usually have 2 100K trimmer pots, one soldered to each side of the the 500K pitch pot so you can adjust the pitch width for the widest range without crashing.

[computer at sea]

I'm also in the states and have bent up a few SnM's.  I usually use the bottom left chip for the pitch bend.  The base is two in from the right on the top row and the high and low are two and three in from the right on the bottom row.  I've had luck with 3 different boards like this.  Hope yours works out; the first working pitch bend is a big thrill. 

[mrsteve81]

My serial number ends in 16.
Do I win a prize for having the biggest number? Like your modded freebass maybe? 

[oculairus]

hey all, ive finally gotten myself a 47k resistor... only one problem... way back before i actually started looking at the xxK names... well, i was thinking it was like one of the videos i seen on youtube.,.. you just get some switches n knobs and make it work... and i already drilled a hole and placed a 10K potentiometer in there...
and well, its not all bad... i copied the schematic of the picture...well, to the point of attaching  the alligator clips to the potentiometer middle part, to the resistor, to the base point, and connected an alligator clip to the low point.
now, the knob doesnt work at all with modding the sound... but when i press the on button, and its making sound, i can press and hold down on the button and it drops the pitch dramatically, and when i let up, it returns to normal.
and when i press n hold the Go button i get this crazy static glitching sound.
but since id rather have a pitch knob instead of this crazy concoction ive gotten, im going to hold off on the soldering.
and ill take a picture of my board here sometime tonight once my mom gets home...she usually has her camera in one spot, but its not there..so i have to wait 

you think a different K potentiometer would require  larger hole? like....a 500 k would be enormous compared to the 10K hole?

[computer at sea]

you think a different K potentiometer would require  larger hole? like....a 500 k would be enormous compared to the 10K hole?

Happily, this is not the case.  The resistance of the pot has no relation to the size, and you should be able to get a 500k pot that will fit nicely into the hole you already have. 

[oculairus]

you think a different K potentiometer would require  larger hole? like....a 500 k would be enormous compared to the 10K hole?

Happily, this is not the case.  The resistance of the pot has no relation to the size, and you should be able to get a 500k pot that will fit nicely into the hole you already have. 

great!
now i just have to find a radioshack around here that has a 500K potentiometer

[Circuitbenders]

off topic but oddly you can't get 500K and 50K pots in the UK, you can only get 470K and 47K ones.

Anyone know why that is?

[computer at sea]

now i just have to find a radioshack around here that has a 500K potentiometer

Unfortunately, Radio Shack doesn't carry 500k pots (add this to the lengthy list of reasons they suck).  You could get a 1M pot and run a couple of 1k resistors in parallel.  Unless I'm mistaken, that should cut down the resistance to around 500k.  There are a couple of tutorials on how to do this floating around the internet and also some info in the Casio SA-1/PT-20 thread here.

[mrsteve81]

Is radio shack the US version of maplins?
i.e.-overpriced, never stock the things you actually want.
I'm embarrassed to say the staff in my local maplins know me by name. And I hate that store.
Still until I can be bothered to open my own store or buy what I'm going to need in bulk I guess I'll have to keep paying through the nose for their stuff.

[computer at sea]

Is radio shack the US version of maplins?

Sounds like the exact same thing. 

I kick myself every time I go in there, which is, unfortunately, often enough that they offered me a part time job recently. 

Horrified/strangely flattered, I politely declined.

[mrsteve81]

I'd have taken it. You might have got a staff discount.
Or if the CCTV wasn't up to much, maybe a 5 finger discount. 

[beatpoet]

now i just have to find a radioshack around here that has a 500K potentiometer

Unfortunately, Radio Shack doesn't carry 500k pots (add this to the lengthy list of reasons they suck).  You could get a 1M pot and run a couple of 1k resistors in parallel.  Unless I'm mistaken, that should cut down the resistance to around 500k.  There are a couple of tutorials on how to do this floating around the internet and also some info in the Casio SA-1/PT-20 thread here.

Best bet for pots is to order online, radio shacks prices are awful. 
www.kelvin.com has 500k pots btw if anyone is looking for them.  They do have a minimum order, though...

[oculairus]

hello again.

im dreadfully sorry for the long lag inbetween my posts.
lately ive encountered a GIANT computer problem and had to reformat everything.
ive just recently found this website agian after many weeks of searching.
im going to take a photo of my board and upload it tonight.
is it true you cant get the 500k pots here in the US? whats up with that? are there bombs made with this stuff or something and the government is trying to keep us protected from ourselves?
thanks for the link to kelvin.com, im thinking of ordering 10 of those this monday once i get paid.

wow im glad this website is still existant 
its been like....i think maybe a year or longer since i originally created this thread and ive had this dangfangled SpeaknMath bewildering me for far too long, its time to complete this contraption.

[computer at sea]

You can get 500k pots, just not at Radio Shack.  I usually use either jameco or mouser for pots.  Mouser has a better selection, but their catalog is terrifiyingly huge.