SX-150

projects

- CommentAuthorJP
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
Mine just arrived all the way from Japan. Plugged in the batteries and it's ready to go. Gonna play with it a lot tonight.

So who else has got one? Anyone modded theirs yet?

I looked at a view sites over the weekend to see what people had been doing.

I'd love to find some way to take out the control touch panel thingy. And replace it with a number of different interface options. I'm especially interested in seeing if this could be plugged into an arduino and controlled via a computer - I'm assuming it must be possible.
- CommentAuthormaersk (dovemouse)
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
I've definately seen someone add MIDI control to it. Looks pretty simple too. http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/07/how_to_control_a_gakken_s.html Here you go.
Im definately thinking about getting myself one. Where did you buy yours?
Ebay looks good to me.
- CommentAuthorxndr
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
I think an Arduino + digital potentiometer IC will be all you need. I assume that the pen/touchstrip is some type of linear potentiometer...
- CommentAuthorphreak
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008 edited
Does anyone know where i can pick up a SX-150 in Tokyo, Japan. I'm actually there and have a friend in mind, that i'll send it to for his birthday, and maybe get a hold of one too.
- CommentAuthorJP
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
@phreak try a news paper stand, it's just a magazine.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they are all sold out apparently people were buying up stock like crazy so they could resell them.
- CommentAuthorphi
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
Make magazine is now stocking and selling these online in the US (!)

http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKGK8

i got mine from japan, the magazine is super cool, lots of synth pics and background (in japanese).

oh, phreak, try finding a Kinokuniya Bookstore, you're looking for the magazine "Otonanokagaku", by Gakken. There should be a Kinokuniya in Shibuya, close to all the vinyl shops....good luck:)
- CommentAuthorJP
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
I wish the magazine it came with was available in the US. It's awesome. I'll get some pix tonight online.
- CommentAuthorJP
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
ohh and does anyone who has one know what the EXT-Source plug does. I trued plugging the output from my macbook into it, but it didn't seem to change the sound at all. I was assuming it would just pass the sound "through" the synth, maybe my cables were wrong.
- CommentAuthormaersk (dovemouse)
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
Yeah, im pretty sure you're right about the EXT-source. I read somewhere its used to distort and play around with external sounds using the synth.
- CommentAuthorjanimation
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
I have this thing for a while now but never got the ext-source to work. Read something about a bad batch somewhere. Does anybody have one with a working ext-source?
- CommentAuthorsharpeye
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
i think its for accepting pitch change voltage - the magazine did a mini theremin kit that connects to this, as an alternative to the touchstrip thing
- CommentAuthorlindane
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
It works with the mini theremin. I just got my gakken and theremin kit a few days ago. You have to mod the theremin with an out if you want to hook it in to the sx though. Luckily I have a crafty roommate that helped me with this. I have tried various inputs from my 303 and other toys but the only thing that seems to work is the theremin so far.

Can anyone tell me if the Resonance on/off switch works for theirs?? Mine doesn't. I think I broke dat sheeet putting it together :(
- CommentAuthorlindane
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
oh yea. Also, did anybody get a backplate with theirs? I didn't. R they supposed to come like that?
- CommentAuthorjanimation
- CommentTimeNov 10th 2008
The backplate is the cardboard square you can cut out the box inside the magazine. My resonance works. I've seen a video with other ext.source than the theremin, so it should be possible. Tried everything i could think of, nothing works.
- CommentAuthorJP
- CommentTimeNov 11th 2008
@lindane - You should meter the theremin out and see what it's generating to change the pitch.

@lindane #2 my resonance works, it makes it more _spacey_

Funny thing was today that I was driving everyone crazy with the whinny squeals, until someone put on a mid 90's acid track and suddenly the sound made perfect sense and everyone wanted one. It really does need a context.
- CommentAuthorphreak
- CommentTimeNov 11th 2008 edited
Thanx jpsykes and phi, i thought maybe this guy on the video sells it seperatly somewhere three floors below akihabara and it's possible to meet him. Not like that . ;) I'll try to get one!
- CommentAuthorsstaccato
- CommentTimeNov 11th 2008
are these useful after 30 minutes?
- CommentAuthorsharpeye
- CommentTimeNov 11th 2008
good for sireny type effects but you aint gonna play much of a melody on them with the pen

we use one live and with lots of effects it makes quite a nice noise, but then again we are quite a noisy duo!

you can hear it in action if you look here

www.myspace.com/theflashoftheblade

although it might be hard to distinguish between monome noises and gakken noises! - you can vaguely see it at the bottom of the screen
- CommentAuthorsstaccato
- CommentTimeNov 11th 2008
cool thanks, any more opinions on these. they are expensive right now and made out of cardboard and dont do much, yet i still want one
- CommentAuthorlindane
- CommentTimeNov 11th 2008
I give it the thumbs up. Esp. for the price tag
- CommentAuthorsstaccato
- CommentTimeNov 19th 2008
anyone manage to get the ext. source input to work?
- CommentAuthorsp
- CommentTimeNov 19th 2008
Just picked mine up last night from Kinokuniya Bookstore in Little Tokyo, LA. Too much fun... now i gotta figure out how to incorporate it into live sets haha...
- CommentAuthorlindane
- CommentTimeNov 20th 2008
ext. source works for me. Only with the mini theremin though, thus far. :{
- CommentAuthorphreak
- CommentTimeNov 20th 2008
Heppa, found them. Wow, my friends at home will be happy about getting a synth from the postman. Yeah!
- CommentAuthorJP
- CommentTimeNov 20th 2008
@lindane, any chance you can hook the theremin up to a meter and see what it's passing in?
- CommentAuthorsstaccato
- CommentTimeNov 20th 2008
please do. I read it has to be only analog signals.
someone plugged their analog synthesizer in and turned it up and it effected the output slightly
- CommentAuthorc1t1zen
- CommentTimeNov 22nd 2008 edited
Here's the Schemos
http://houshu.at.webry.info/200808/article_3.html

I heard the audio input isn't a frequency to pitch converter but an envelope follower. The guy who designed it is also on the SDIY email list. Same person created the Gakken Theremin, I believe, so it makes sense they work well together.
- CommentAuthorsstaccato
- CommentTimeNov 22nd 2008
c1t1zen, what does that mean in layman terms
- CommentAuthorjacobian
- CommentTimeNov 23rd 2008 edited
As much as I love Japan and synths...just do yourself a favor and get the nic collins book. Seriously.

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SX-150