FULLY BUILT SYNTH BUNDLE - with £10 discount included in the price.
CHERNOBYLIZER + FORT PROCESSOR
Black and Gold versions.
We are offering a bundle saving you on cost and postage.
OPTIONAL LASER-CUT ACRYLIC BASES
As an optional extra we now offer clear perspex base kits for each synth.
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CHERNOBYLIZER:
Dimensions: 15cm (W) 10.5cm (L) 3cm (H)
The new batch is gold and black.
(Note: We've added an optional faster shipping upgrade for orders to the USA or Canada. This should be available at the checkout.)
The Chernobylizer is a synthesiser designed by Isn'tses (Lisa McKendrick & Tim Drage). This psychogeographic and esoteric synth contains a world of unique aggressive sounds, including throbbing multi-oscillator pulsewaves, crunchy glitches, bass rumble, harsh noise, 8-bit-esque bleeps, geiger-counter clicks, birdlike tweets and a unique motor-like power-draining effect. Detailed PCB art covers both sides of the board.
The synth is controlled by five knobs and 9 touch-pads. Multiple oscillators interact in deep and mysterious ways, and can be manipulated by an unorthodox resonant pseudo filter and a versatile power-starving section.
A Brief Synopsis:
The Chernobylizer attempts to add to the conversation surrounding the Chernobyl disaster and is an experiment in horror noise. This comes from our own personal interest in Chernobyl and research into the radiation disaster. The silver outline on the front of the PCB represents the decontamination zone and the white outline on the back is the exclusion zone. The four large capacitors represent the four reactors of the Chernobyl plant. The touch pads are mutated forms, mutations caused by radiation. The power starve switch represents the draining of power to reactor 4. If the switch is turned downwards power will slowly drain from the four large capacitors causing the synth to create a sound similar to the reactor losing power followed by a Geiger counter crackle, then to little or no sound as it is fully drained. (note: this is not an on/off switch but if the synth is making no sound it may have fully drained and needs to be turned up). Turning the switch back up will restore power to the circuit in a full-on explosion of sound. This is a rough reenactment of how Reactor 4 exploded. The middle knob controls the wet and dry signal of the filter. All the 5 knobs can be experimented with to create various explosive, loud, crackling noises.
OUTPUTS
The synth has two outputs:
1. The output on the left is an audio output and includes all sounds coming from the synth.
2. The output on the right does not include sounds coming from the filter but includes all other sounds from the oscillators. It is an unfiltered, DC-coupled output which could also act as a gate/trigger signal when connected to other synths or modules. In this way it is compatible with various Eurorack modules and other synths which have CV or input.
NOTE
The Chernobylizer does not have an input.
LED
The LED on the right lights up when the synth is on and the one on the left flickers with the oscillators! We call them the bat eyes.
POWER SUPPLY FOR THE SYNTH - IMPORTANT
The Chernobylizer is powered by any standard BOSS-style 9v centre-negative power supply (not included). Or it can become portable with a centre-negative DC-jack-to-battery-clip adaptor (not included). Using any other power supply may cause the synth to short circuit so please be careful. If you are unsure which power supply to use we have links on our blog to the appropriate one to buy, it can be better to go with a good brand rather than a cheap one which may burn your house down :p. A standard 9v Boss GUITAR pedal power supply should be fine.
IMPORTANT
As this is an open circuitboard synth, take care to avoid placing on a metal/conductive surface while playing or you will short something out! If this does happen don't stress too much as often it only requires a chip replaced.
The Chernobylizer can be played with the Fort Processor which is another synth we have built. The output of the Chernobylizer can go directly into the input of the Fort Processor to get some really explosive or drone sounding noises.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/877645403/fort-processor-black-gold-fully-built
One of the reasons we love designing stand alone synths is that we really like the portability and versatility of them. Use it as part of your desk set-up with other gear, Eurorack and synths. Also great for outdoor stuff, just plug it into a small speaker and freak out the nature walkers in the forest. The option of having a battery clip and 9v battery makes it very easy to play outdoors, no carrying lots of heavy gear around. Please Note: headphones are not suitable with either of our synths as they require amplification which most headphones don't have.
For more information on the development and video of this synth being played by us please visit our blog:
http://www.isntses.co.uk/blog
The video here on Etsy doesn't have sound but gives an idea of size.
Demo of the Chernobylizer https://youtu.be/2C-XcKSadX8 for more videos search 'Isn'tses Chernobylizer' on YouTube.
Please note that the style and appearance of knob and components may vary slightly from the photos due to availability.
If you prefer to buy a kit and solder it yourself we will have kits soon!
Btw we have a T-shirt!
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/897400282/from-noise-you-were-born-t-shirt-noise-t
FORT PROCESSOR
This is the special deluxe version - with gold-plated contacts - of the "Fort Processor", a unique noise synth controlled by touch, light-sensor and knobs, which is also capable of distorting and chopping up incoming sound. It's an open circuitboard synth with detailed psychogeographic PCB artwork, and creates heavy, chaotic yet very playable alien sounds. Perfect for harsh noise, drone, industrial, power electronics, breakcore, chiptune, circuitbent, EDM and other experimental electronic music, or with the right external gear you could also rig it up as a ring-modulator-esque effect for guitar, vocals or other instruments. Plays especially well with strobe lights or colour-changing LEDs.
"Looks amazing, sounds amazing. Eats audio." - Tom Whitwell, Music Thing
The synth runs off a standard centre-negative 9v DC guitar pedal power supply - not included.
This Fort Processor has been newly built and sold by the designers themselves. We won't be making many of these available pre-built (it's usually sold in kit form) so this is a very rare chance to get a ready-made unit if you aren't into soldering.
Please note that the photos are illustrative, the Fort Processor you receive will function the same but may have very slightly different-looking components.
More details:
The Fort Processor is an experimental noise synthesiser and audio effects instrument designed by harsh fun noise duo ISN’TSES (Tim Drage & Lisa McKendrick) for Fort Process sound art festival 2018. This event takes place in the tunnels and bunkers of Newhaven Fort on the Sussex coast, and the electronics and artwork of the synth are based on the layout of the site, with inspiration from the surrounding landscape and ocean.
The synth is controlled by light, touch pads, 3 knobs, and a trimmer. Audio is created and manipulated by four sections which have been combined using a circuit-bent approach:
1. The audio input, (3.5mm) used to connect devices such as a radio, walkman, phone, tablet, mp3, instrument etc. This signal is distorted using high gain then run through a frequency divider to add two noisy sub-octaves. When no input jack is connected, the circuit feeds back and self-oscillates.
2. Squarewave oscillators pitch-controlled by a Light Dependent Resistor located at the top right of the PCB. This LDR can be played by moving lights near it or by blocking the light. The resulting sound can be further modulated by the touch pads which are the metallic drawings across the middle of the circuit board. Touch two or more of these at once to alter the sound. This can be understood as a live circuit-bending effect.
3. A variable-speed chopper, controlled by the 2nd knob. This rapidly slices between the distorted input/feedback signal and the light-controlled squarewaves. Turning the knob changes the speed, creating various ring-modulation, tremolo and cut-up effects.
4. A bass oscillator/filter/beat/drone generator, mutated from the classic ‘Twin-T’ analog kick drum circuit. This is triggered and influenced by the audio input and is controlled by the 1st and 3rd knob in conjunction with the trimmer pot. Knob 1 controls the decay envelope; turned anticlockwise this produces more percussive sounds, while turning it clockwise makes bass drones. When turned fully-clockwise it gets quiet to allow the other noises to cut through. The 3rd knob and the trimmer pot interact with each other to control the pitch of this section. The trimmer can be gently turned with a small screwdriver and can be viewed as a tuner to achieve either a resonant drum-like sound, or a more continuous bass tone. The trimmer should be tweaked before playing according to each users personal preferences. Expect random and unpredictable results from this section according to how the rest of the sections are influencing it.
The Fort Processor should be powered only from a 9v DC, centre-negative power supply, ie a standard BOSS-style guitar pedal PSU. Other voltages or polarities may damage the synth.
As this is an open-circuitboard style experimental synthesiser care must be taken not to short circuit anything while plugged in, do not use on a metal/conductive surface!
Dimensions: approx 10.5cm x 8.5cm x 3cm
Demo video showing some of the different ways you can use the Fort Processor: https://youtu.be/wkvFA43upWE
x Lisa
x Tim
