What is this!?

This is a 2HP Eurorack module that duplicates the functionality of the 909 ride and crash cymbal from Roland's TB-909 drum machine. It also plays a sample of the 808 cowbell, but it doesn't use the same synthesis strategy of the TB-808 at all, not even close, but the cowbell was a joke afterthought so relax. The TB-909 had a clock, binary counter, ROM, and output samples of these two cymbals as six-bit values. That got run through an analog DAC and some filtering and a VCA. The digital part of this is taken care of by a modern cheap microcontroller, while the analog part is faithfully copied from Roland's schematics. The pitch of all three voices can be controlled with a CV, which does respond to 1V/oct. OH!!! This part is really cool -- the samples can also play backwards :D

How come did you make it?

I've been obsessed with the 909 cymbal sounds since I fell in love with techno music. The 808 cowbell sound is one of the synthesizer world's most hilarious jokes, so tossing it into your productions should always get a smile or two.

What makes it special???

This module is very small, at 2HP, and performs great.

I'll have to build these as they get ordered, so don't be afraid to hassle me. I'm cool with hassling. Also, you can get a probably-complete kit (SMD pre-assembled) (but I'm notoriously disorganized) for less money, just ask.