Macumbista Mini
Before the folding, Buchla-style case of the Macumbista Modular was complete, I built the Macumbista Mini (2009). It was recycled from my first synthesizer (a quite primitive machine built in 2001 around the SN76477 complex sound generator IC which is now quite dead) and the case began its life as the home of an ancient modem.
It has about a half ampere of power, with a 220V mains connection, and can hold four panel widths of the modules which I have been designing (one panel width = 61mm).
In Feb 2010, I stayed up until 4am the night before my flight to Venice (not the wisest idea, to be sure) re-making the Macumbista Mini to include my new Voltage Controlled Slope/Analog Logic module alongside one of Marc Bareille’s Polivoks filter clones and a set of passive input/output attenuators. The combination is not unlike one of the Serge M-Class panels actually! The new configuration had it’s live debut in Padova, displaying incredible feedback/chaos possibilties which I’ve documented below:
Macumbista Mini demo #1 by macumbista
This demo is an edit of three different settings, using two cross-modulated Voltage Controlled Slopes through an Analog Logic module and a pair of Polivoks Voltage Controlled Filters. Feedback from the audio mixer is returned to the control section of the VCS modules.
With the lid on, the case looks like a very small suitcase, making it an ideal piece of carry-on luggage–except that, in the words of my first electronics instructor: “Airline security would probably detonate it in the parking lot!”
The first version of the Macumbista Mini from January 2009 is pictured here, with an 8×8 matrix mixer module which I built for early versions of the Neanderthal Electronics workshop.
