musicks



Tuesday, April 1, 2014

alka gltch card for the Buchla 208 module clone

Having installed a prestopatch on my EMS Synthi and creating DIY resistor cards for it, I decided to try my hand at making a card for Roman Filippov's Buchla 208 module clone. After discovering the pitch is not standard on the 208's edge connector, unlike the Synthi's I realized I would need to design and etch my own card rather than use stock copper stripboard. This is the result. 

This design is for producing glitch and circuit bent-style sound effects.






House Margaret

So... here is why I haven't released any proper music(k) in ages. May I present some random photos showing the resulting details from my restoration of an 1893 Victorian era brick home in Woodbury, New Jersey, home to alka's Angels Den recording studio (not pictured).

Having an extremely limited budget, I am unable at this point to accurately return the building to its original layout as it was seriously altered in the 1950s when it was turned into 3 separate apartments. Most details shown are more akin to an artistic process rather than a historically accurate restoration. Many items were found cheaply in antique shops, thrift stores, and other people's trash. However, I feel I have been respectful to period details as much as possible and it feels like home.

As with any Victorian house restoration, it is a work in progress and these photos are certainly not the end of the story...


Regarding the name House Margaret, one of the photos features a framed photo of my Great Grandmother, Margaret O'Brien Kuhn... who I remember being a very strong-willed woman. She was born in 1896, a few years after this house was built... she is my physical link to the Victorian era! So I named our home, a symbol of family, after her.