OFF: DikMik in a box

[Doug Pearson]

Yeah, I know that posts about musical equipment are of less interest to the
90% (?) non-musician populace of boc-l than posts about comix, Y&T or
summer blockbuster movies are to me ;^), but this is something that
Hawkwind fans (especially the non-musician ones) might want to check out,
'cause the message title comes from a comment made by one of the guys I was
jamming with last weekend ...

I recently obtained a little box called a "Triwave Picogenerator" from a
guy in Illinois (USA) who makes guitar effect pedals and other electronic
music equipment.  Included within are two audio generators and three (hence
"triwave") modulating LFO's (low-frequency oscillators) that can vary the
pitch of the two audio generators.  Although it looks a bit intimidating at
first (there are 13 knobs, three buttons, and 3 LED indicators on it), it's
remarkably easy to use, and definitely requires no musical knowledge
whatsoever.  Two of the knobs control the primary frequency of each of the
two audio generators; with a little practice and a few flicks of the wrist,
you'll be playing DikMik's part from "Electronic no.1".  Three more knobs
control the rates of the LFO's, which are displayed by the flashing LED's;
at a slow speed, you can get long pitch sweeps (listen to the very
beginning of Nik's 'SR94', before the drums come in), while at the highest
rates, think "Shot Down In The Night" ('Live 79') or "Valium Ten" (on which
you can hear LFO rates being adjusted from slow to fast).  Six of the knobs
control the amount by which each of the 3 LFO's modulates each of the 2
audio generators (3x2=6), ranging from a slight vibrato to radically
wacked-out pitch sweeps.  The last two knobs control the mix between the
audio generators, and the overall volume.  The three buttons each "reset"
one of the LFO's.  For instance, pressing and releasing the button for a
LFO set to a slow rate gives a sound like,
"WOOOOooooIIIIiiiiEEEEeeeeeeeeEEEEiiiiIIIIooooOOOOOOOOooooIIII...".  By
pressing and releasing, then waiting and re-pressing the button, this time
holding it, you can get a sound like "WOOOOooooIIIIiiiiWOOOOOOOOOOOO...".
And, by pressing and releasing the button, waiting, then repeating, the
sound is like "WOOOOooooIIIIiiiiWOOOOooooIIIIiiiiWOOOOooooIIIIiiii..."
(that's 3 releases of the button).  There's a huge range of crazy sounds
that can be created, many that go far beyond anything I've ever heard on a
Hawkwind album!  And in conjunction with other effect like delays, things
just get crazier ...

Easy to use - if you can operate a blender (yeah, I admit, it's more
complicated than a toaster), then you can play the Triwave!  And it costs
less than US$150.

For more information, including audio samples, check out:
http://members.rotfl.com/soundshimmer/triwave.html
or write Dan Green at: green at soon.com

Note that I have no affiliation with the individual who designs, constructs
and sells these devices.  But I had to pass on this information because
this is one of the coolest musical items I've ever bought, and anyone who's
interested in creating Hawkwind-inspired electronic sounds, but doesn't
want to (or can't afford to) shell out for a "vintage" analog synthesizer,
should get one, too!

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com

P.S. whoever's organizing a private HW performance/sci-fi convention can
count on me for $50 if needed, even though I probably couldn't make it over
to the UK :^(