Has anyone here actually tackled the MFOS Subcommander guitar synthesizer?

[MikeH]

I've been checking out this project for years now and I've never built anything in the synth realm really, so I'm seriously considering diving into one.  Has anyone else?  How did it go?

http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/mfosweb/navigate.action?MAINTAB=SYNTHDIY&PROJARG=GUITARSYNTHAUG2007/GUITARSYNTHAUG2007.html&PHOTOURI=&TOOLSURI=&CATPARTNO=SUBCOM001

Beavis had one going for a while, not sure if he ever finished it:

http://beavisaudio.com/projects/UberSubCommander/

[jefe]

Never built it, but I've been eyeing that project as well. I'd be interested to see if anyone here has tackled it!

[wavley]

I've been kicking it around few quite a while now too, one of these days I'll actually order the board and parts and build it.

[StephenGiles]

I think there is some pretty sensible circitry in there, remember that there are no tracking oscillators.

[MikeH]

I think there is some pretty sensible circitry in there, remember that there are no tracking oscillators.

So, do you just mean that this is not really a true synth, or is there something else I should be noticing?

[Jaicen_solo]

I keep looking at it myself, i'm a sucker for guitar synths.
However, I already have a Microsynth, so I can't see any real reason to build the MFOS.

[StephenGiles]

I think there is some pretty sensible circitry in there, remember that there are no tracking oscillators.

So, do you just mean that this is not really a true synth, or is there something else I should be noticing?

Correct, it's more of a guitar processor.

[lightcycle]

I bought a PCB and built it. Considering the size of the project I didn't have too many real problems, apart from a few shorting tantalums, but it took me quite a while to finish.
It sounds nice, with the possibility of mixing clean, square and octave down square versions of the guitar signal through the filter and amplifier. Given a choice I would however have preferred a meaner, less tamed filter.
If you feel you want a synthy pedal with lots of knobs you will probably not be disappointed with it.

[MikeH]

Sounds cool- I went ahead and bought the board; so I'll probably spend the next 10 years or so populating it.

[ricothetroll]

Hi,

I recently finished it. I must say, this thing is a lot of fun ! For the moment only a few things were dispointing, but might be easily improved :
- the clean signal seems to have a serious high loss. Taking a look on the schematic I think this is because R5 is ridiculously small (15k) for a pull down input resistor. I'll switch it for the usual 2M2 and see if I still have the treble loss.
- the signal to gate sometimes responds in a weird way. I'll try to mess up with the gain of the input preamp and see if I'm more satisfied then.
- the VCA's LFO is far too fast for my taste. The advantage is you can get ring-moddish sounds but I would prefer tremolish ones. Increasing R111 should do the job.

I also would like to add the Electric Druid's tap LFO circuit in order to have more LFO waveforms available (and the tap tempo function of course !). I'll do all that when I'll have some free time, and let you know if it's satisfying and how to do those mods.

Best regards.

Eric

[Ben N]

I keep looking at it myself, i'm a sucker for guitar synths.
However, I already have a Microsynth, so I can't see any real reason to build the MFOS.

So, do you have only one overdrive? 

[Jaicen_solo]

Actually, I have no overdrives, just a heavily modded valve amp

I do have a fair few fuzz boxes though...