Rakit Drum Synthesizer DIY kit

by **blinddrew** » Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:22 pm

Got one of these at Synthfest at the weekend, thought I'd do a quick build diary here in case people are interested (and in case I get stuck!) :)

Right, counted everything twice now, time to get on with it...

by **garrettendi** » Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:36 pm

Looking forward to this!

Idiot question, how exactly do you operate it? I saw the SOS review but I'm still unsure. Does it have MIDI in?

by **Jumpeyspyder** » Mon Oct 08, 2018 5:26 pm

It has a piezo built into the enclosure - so you can tap it to trigger it.

It also has a trigger in and CV in sockets

by **blinddrew** » Mon Oct 08, 2018 5:48 pm

What Jumpy says ^^^. I have nothing that generates either CV or trigger outputs so I shall be hitting it. Gently. Unless it doesn't work in which case I might hit it harder.

Heading out now so here's a couple of progress shots:

Chips, transistors, capacitors and LEDs attached.

Legs clipped off the back to give working room. Next up is about 40 resistors so I'll be leaving that to tomorrow.

by **garrettendi** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 9:49 am

Drew my soon-to-be wife (less than 5 weeks now!) won't be happy with you!

I checked the YouTube video Rakit posted for this and ho-lee cr** this thing is amazing!

I can't solder to save my life but it's a skill I want to learn. Might ask my missus to get it as a Christmas present!

by **The Korff** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:27 am

garrettendi wrote:I can't solder to save my life but it's a skill I want to learn.

It's not too difficult, but well worth learning! The main thing is to equip yourself properly — decent iron, solder sucker, wiping sponge, good lighting and patience. Half a day in front of a few YouTube tutorials (and some 'donor' boards and components) and you'll be good to go!

by **garrettendi** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:28 am

:thumbup:

Given I have another hobby which is model trains, I think my taking the time to learn soldering is a no-brainer!

by **The Elf** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:57 am

If there's one 'old guy' skill we need to pass on it is soldering. If *I* can do it, ANYONE can!

You will never need to buy another over-priced jack-to-jack cable again...

by **blinddrew** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 1:21 pm

All resistors attached:

Don't worry about not being able to solder, you will be able to after this! :D

On a serious note, a good iron, a bit of patience, and let capilliary action do the work.

by **blinddrew** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 1:59 pm

You will need quite a lot of solder though...

Finished article? Maybe, not sure I've got the right leads to test it!

by **garrettendi** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:04 pm

Looks great! Very neat and tidy. Does it not just plain TS cables on the output jack?

I've also seen the Baby 8 Step that can be used as a sequencer for this

by **James Perrett** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:13 pm

blinddrew wrote:On a serious note, a good iron, a bit of patience, and let capilliary action do the work.

I'd just like to emphasise the need for a good iron. When I started everyone said go for a basic 25W iron - they're OK for occasional use but can easily run out of heat if you try to solder a large connector. I'd say a 40-60W temperature controlled iron is much better - I've had my current temperature controlled iron for over 30 years.

by **BigRedX** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:01 pm

Looking at the controls, this is for "pitched" drum sounds only? No noise for "snare" or "claps".

I used to have a great (but very unreliable) noise-based percussion synth, and IIRC the design was originally published in E&MM magazine. It had a very sharpe attack and a real "crack" to the sound that I haven't heard from any other percussion module since.

Anyone know what a modern equivalent would be?

by **blinddrew** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:23 pm

garrettendi wrote:Looks great! Very neat and tidy. Does it not just plain TS cables on the output jack?

I've also seen the Baby 8 Step that can be used as a sequencer for this

Yep, but it's mini-jack and, it turns out, the only TS cables I have in the house are 1/4".

I am not getting good noises out of it at the moment, might be because of the adaptor I'm using but I'm not convinced.
I've dropped them a line so we shall see what comes back.

by **garrettendi** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:24 pm

Moron question here (as per usual) but have you tried it with a plain 9v battery?

by **blinddrew** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:06 pm

Yep, it is plugged in... ;)
(I know that's not what you meant, yes i'm using a battery, tried two in fact just in case one had flattened).
I'm in touch with the man at Rakits - I think I've probably boogered something up somewhere.

by **garrettendi** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:21 pm

I apologise unreservedly for my presumption! :headbang:

by **blinddrew** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:23 pm

Not at all, by adaptor in the earlier post I meant the audio-plug adaptor not the power supply, I can see how that could have been confused. :)

by **garrettendi** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:25 pm

Yeah I thought you might have meant you were powering it from a wall wart which made no sense as it has a battery clip thingy

by **blinddrew** » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:54 pm

Nope, it's a tip +ve so none of my guitar pedal adaptors would have worked.

SOUND ON SOUND

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Rakit Drum Synthesizer DIY kit