infradead
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Tacoma WA

The filter is nested inside the battery compartment and is powered from the same 6v adapter as the Gameboy.

External controls are provided for Cutoff, Resonance, Bypass, Envelope Follower and an internal Mode selector switch.  Please see the demonstration video for a brief introduction to these controls.

The filter can operate in mono mode, effecting the entire signal from the Gameboy.  In stereo mode, the clean signal from the Gameboy is panned hard left, while the filtered signal is panned hard right.  This allows the performer to selectively program what elements of their audio will pass through the filter.

The Envelope Follower allows the filter to be automatically animated by the dynamics of the signal.  This is particularly useful for imparting filter characteristics to resonant basslines.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wor … -bit-music

this is pretty damn cool.

kitsch
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matt's mind

^ made by bananalogue, for any synth geeks...

infradead
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Tacoma WA
kitsch wrote:

^ made by bananalogue, for any synth geeks...


heart

hotmessization
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Wheeling, WV

Where's the "I will come to your house" pledge option?

Also, sweet design. The component layout is killer work.

kitsch
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matt's mind

my only concern with it is since you cant use batteries anymore, you'll necessarily have the hum from using an AC adapter...  which is sort of a big thing with them generating a decent audio signal...  thats the only real downside i see, otherwise using the battery compartment for modding space would be a no-brainer all the time...

hotmessization
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Wheeling, WV

Does the DMG not have proper power supply filtering? All you really need is a Zener diode at the power connection and possibly some very small compensation caps to ground at whatever op amps it uses.

KeFF
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Turku, FIN

this is overly badass!

Krubbz
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Fargo

Wow.  I love this.  I agree with kitsch though.  The loss of the battery compartment is a pretty big one.  Apart from no longer being portable, the A/C adapters I've come in contact with can be a little sketchy and if bumped the wrong way it'll shut down the whole thing.  I wonder if there's a chance of a breakout box model.

hotmessization
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Wheeling, WV

When is somebody just going to make a surface mount Game Boy circuit so that we can this any mod in wherever?

Chainsaw Police
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Sydney, NSW

Some points from over at 8bc that I feel need to be heard over here.

Apeshit wrote:

People will want to implement their own ideas. Housing the mod in the battery compartment will most definitely deter a lot of people from backing the project. A kit would give the freedom to make breakout boxes and such.

kineticturtle wrote:

This device seems super cool, but I'm trying to figure out why you're using kickstarter to sell it since you're basically just using it as a store. Your $2400 goal only accounts for about 14 or 15 of these modded gameboys, which isn't enough to reduce the cost of production through mass fabrication, and it seems like you've already fully developed the thing so there's no real development cost that needs to be covered...

Why not just have an online store and sell them outright? As it is, you're basically just saying "I want to sell at least 14 of these, and if I can't sell 14 then nobody gets any", which seems pretty arbitrary.

Last edited by Chainsaw Police (Oct 28, 2011 10:17 pm)

denshi
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regarding AC hum, the demo video i posted was recorded directly from the GB out to laptop.  the filter conditions its own power tap and uses the "prosound" audio.  i didnt have any problem with hum using the adapters i will be including with the project.  obviously, some gameboys have had a hard life over the last 20+ years, or poor/faulty adapters - but the units i am using have all been tested.

as Chainsaw Police reposted some points, ill repost my replies here as well.  basically, i conceived of this project (8 years ago: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/lsdj/message/2783) to be an onboard internal filter inside the battery compartment - for use as a performance tool in situations when you are already tethered by a line-out to a mixer/PA/etc.

Apeshit wrote:

Housing the mod in the battery compartment will most definitely deter a lot of people from backing the project. A kit would give the freedom to make breakout boxes and such.

the entire conceptual idea is that it fits in the battery compartment. 

if you want an analog filter with envelope follower in a breakout box, there are a some great schematics resources online for guitar pedals that fit the bill. 

that is not the perview of this project, as such i realize it wont appeal to everyone.  that wasnt my intention.  i had a concept 8 years ago of an onboard analog filter with envelope follower, and that is what we have made. 

however, i do want to support the DIY community - i began building modular synthesizers via DIY kits.  i am doing the math to see if i can offer this as a bare bones.  its still going to be rather more expensive than most DIY folks are used to, as i need to pay royalties for the design and the PCBs are being made here in the USA.  ill have a better idea next week if it is possible.

nitro2k01 wrote:

I take it the actual filter topology is the aforementioned Wasp filter?

its closer to a 303, but not a clone, thats just a generalization on the sound of the resonance to my ear. 

kineticturtle wrote:

Why not just have an online store and sell them outright? As it is, you're basically just saying "I want to sell at least 14 of these, and if I can't sell 14 then nobody gets any", which seems pretty arbitrary.

i hope thats not what it seems like i am saying.  i simply need help to fund the PCB run and parts supply.  i dont have pockets deep enough to launch it without some help, and kickstarter seemed like a more interesting way than a bank loan.   

thanks for the feedback.  im certainly glad to answer questions, and while i appreciate that the project is not for everyone, i hope that it will find an audience and help folks in their musical endeavors.  since music is so subjective, it follows that musical tools will also have their own merits and foibles.  its probably some of those traits that attract us to making music with gameboys in the first place.

best wishes
seth nemec
bananalogue/works, ltd.

nitro2k01 edit: Fixed the formatting so the quotes are more readable.

Last edited by nitro2k01 (Oct 28, 2011 10:58 pm)

hotmessization
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Wheeling, WV

I don't think kineticturtle quite understands the overhead needed for mass production.

I'm also working on a Kickstarter to fund the effects pedal business that I'm starting up, and I have a very similar goal range, so I understand where you're coming from.

It's not "I want to sell 14 of these to make this much money." It's "I NEED to sell 14 of these to cover the overhead so that I can make more."

This stuff is not cheap to do. I moved to another town at the beginning of October and am staying here until November just for a higher paying temp job to fund just the prototypes of my pedals before launching my Kickstarter. I've already invested a ton of money.

Unless you're already an established business, the overhead for a new product simply isn't reasonable in the slightest. Kickstarter is a great way to handle that issue.

Edit: Another point, I'm hand-soldering my stuff with through-hole components. These filters are surface mount, so I'm assuming they're going to be made with a pick-and-place machine. When you do this, you can't just buy 14 of a certain component or even 100. You have to get entire reels or tubes of your components, and that gets expensive. Sometimes, parts suppliers won't make custom reels for your parts, and you have to buy a reel of thousands of parts which will come to a total of over $1,000 just for that one component to be used. (However, I'm assuming that you chose your parts carefully and only picked parts that your supplier will offer reeling service for). But even if you choose something that offers reeling service, a reel and tape is a $7.00 service, so if you have 100 different components on a board, that's $700 on the reels alone, plus the cost of the components themselves.

Last edited by hotmessization (Oct 28, 2011 11:35 pm)

herr_prof
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thread recap: when people who install backlights meets dudes who design actual hardware, hyjinx ensue.

Ive known of Seth and his work for almost ten years, and I have to say Im really surprised how people are reacting to this thing here. He's cool, the idea is cool, and I wish him the best of luck.

Last edited by herr_prof (Oct 29, 2011 2:17 am)

infradead
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Tacoma WA

i'm not going to be happy till i can have batteries and a VCS in my gameboy


edit: to the four of you who get my joke.  i salute you

Chainsaw Police
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Sydney, NSW

Hey, i like the idea. I actually posted a request for schematics asking for essentially a simpler version of this, but hadn't thought of mounting it in the battery compartment.
I'd definitely buy one.

Victory Road
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Gosford, Australia

Dunno if I have to vision to incorporate it into the bubblegum chip pop sound I want, but that's fucking cool! I've much respect for people who can do such intricate stuff like this.

Haven't been able to actually watch the vid yet though so I'm eager to get on decent net and actually listen to the filter. If there was a way to include an input for envelope CV that would be just tits out insane.