Some hardware mods on the NM1

ico · Joined: Jun 07, 2006 Posts: 12 Location: NL

Hi all,

Here are a few pictures of some modifications I made to my NM recently. Just to show off, actually, hehe. The hardware has been ready for ages, but only today I found the time to connect it all and write the software for the microcontroller.

The first mod is simply a joystick, I believe I've heard of somebody else doing the same thing before. The hard part was making a proper hole in the casing, connecting was easy: I just detached two potmeters on the frontpanel and hooked those on the potmeters in the joystick.

The second modification is a horizontal pressure sensor on the keyboard. This is a bit like aftertouch, but feels much more natural, and allows for vibrato and glissando's both up and down.

To do this, the keyboard was detached from the bottom plate and reattached on a small rubber feet. This gives the keyboard about half a milimeter room to wiggle when horizontal pressure is applied. The sensor is a simple opto-switch that is screwed on the bottom, positioned in a way so that a little plastic extension on the keyboard bracked is halfway the LED and the sensor. The signal from the sensor is sampled into a small microcontroller doing a bit of filtering and signal shaping, after which the signal is convered back to analog and led to the inpot of a frontpanel potmeter.

Both extensions work great, and allow for much more expression when playing. The only disadvantage of the way things are connected is that the signals are only available to the NM itself, and can not be used to play another synth module. If I find the inspiration I might change the way things are connected into something MIDI based, but for now this is just fine.

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blue hell · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:48 am Post subject:

Nice mods!

I'm surprised you found room for rubber feet under the keyboard, it looks like there is just 2 mm or so for my NM.

ico · Joined: Jun 07, 2006 Posts: 12 Location: NL

blue hell · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:03 am Post subject:

Ah, that makes sense, thanks.

Wout Blommers

ico · Joined: Jun 07, 2006 Posts: 12 Location: NL

cebec