Comments on: Circuit Bending the Alesis HR-16 http://www.vidiotsquad.com stuff about stuff Sun, 04 Jul 2010 20:04:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: david http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-6117 david Tue, 18 May 2010 06:56:40 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-6117 I inherited a HR-16 from a friend a few months ago. I don't think it had it's power supply with it and I used it as part of a sound installation with one of the dozens of random power supplies we had on hand for everything. It worked great! Now I've dug it out again, went and bought a power supply to fit it and have turned it on. The controls work fine, memory works fine, all the pads seem to work. The "volume" and "select" sliders are missing but i can move them around with a car key and they work fine. Problem is.... I'm not getting any actual sounds to come out. Not from the pads, not from playing the demo song, nothing, not even a click track. I've got the outputs running through a mixer and headphones listening in on that. Moving the volume changes my ability to hear the faint hum of the circuits so it seems to be working as volume should. Any idea what's up? Did I kill the voice-bank or something? I've cleared the memory a couple times to reset it. I ran the self-diagnostic test, etc... I can do everything with it except hear what I'm doing. -david I inherited a HR-16 from a friend a few months ago. I don’t think it had it’s power supply with it and I used it as part of a sound installation with one of the dozens of random power supplies we had on hand for everything. It worked great! Now I’ve dug it out again, went and bought a power supply to fit it and have turned it on. The controls work fine, memory works fine, all the pads seem to work. The “volume” and “select” sliders are missing but i can move them around with a car key and they work fine. Problem is…. I’m not getting any actual sounds to come out. Not from the pads, not from playing the demo song, nothing, not even a click track. I’ve got the outputs running through a mixer and headphones listening in on that. Moving the volume changes my ability to hear the faint hum of the circuits so it seems to be working as volume should. Any idea what’s up? Did I kill the voice-bank or something? I’ve cleared the memory a couple times to reset it. I ran the self-diagnostic test, etc… I can do everything with it except hear what I’m doing.

-david

]]> By: Jacques Laroche http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-5463 Jacques Laroche Mon, 12 Apr 2010 01:43:35 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-5463 Great job! Thanks so much for the tutorial. I just got an HR-16 myself along with an EPROM reader/programmer and a UV EPROM eraser. Those two chips you are connecting the patches and switches to are the EPROM chips - they hold all the sounds the Alesis HR-16 makes. It used to be a pain to write new songs onto the chips (hand preparations for each new sound and a bit of hex editing and the use of a sound editing program), but a fellow by the name of Jan Kiefer wrote a program for windows (in VB I believe) which makes this process much easier. Maybe I'll write a tutorial for the whole process. Hope to hear more from you soon. -jacques Great job! Thanks so much for the tutorial. I just got an HR-16 myself along with an EPROM reader/programmer and a UV EPROM eraser. Those two chips you are connecting the patches and switches to are the EPROM chips – they hold all the sounds the Alesis HR-16 makes. It used to be a pain to write new songs onto the chips (hand preparations for each new sound and a bit of hex editing and the use of a sound editing program), but a fellow by the name of Jan Kiefer wrote a program for windows (in VB I believe) which makes this process much easier. Maybe I’ll write a tutorial for the whole process. Hope to hear more from you soon.

-jacques

]]> By: bod http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-210 bod Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:31:58 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-210 not at all mate, the battery in the hr16 is a barrel battery with axel connectors, its the pink thing in this photo.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/8841838@N07/2676035575/sizes/o/ hope this helps, but i dont know a suitable replacement. try farnell or rapid, there will prob be something. cheers bod. not at all mate, the battery in the hr16 is a barrel battery with axel connectors, its the pink thing in this photo…. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8841838@N07/2676035575/sizes/o/

hope this helps, but i dont know a suitable replacement. try farnell or rapid, there will prob be something.

cheers

bod.

]]> By: Jeff http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-209 Jeff Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:23:57 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-209 Hello, I guess I'm a little stupid, but can you tell me where the lithium battery is located? My HR16 won't hold any memory after I shut it off. I was looking for something that looks like a watch battery, but I don't see anything close to that. Thanks. Hello,
I guess I’m a little stupid, but can you tell me where the lithium battery is located? My HR16 won’t hold any memory after I shut it off. I was looking for something that looks like a watch battery, but I don’t see anything close to that. Thanks.

]]> By: bod http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-217 bod Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:37:16 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-217 hello, well, advice for a novice? depends on how much experience you have with soldering really. if you've never soldered anything then i would suggest practicing first, maybe buy a cheap electronics kit from maplin or radioshack, depending where you live. that way you can get a grasp of how to solder first beofre attacking your hr-16. you wouldnt want to ruin it regardless of how cheap you got it. the hr-16 is a fairly easy machine to start with though, there are only two chips to select bends on, just dont go digging about other places or you could kill it, perma-bend it. the best advice i can give you is to practise first, either with a kit like i talked about above or some cheap toys from the pound shop. learning to solder is key imo. also, always have everything you think you'll need before starting. like switches, solder, wire and a few tools. dont probe about near the psu source/connector, and dont touch any large capacitors. just using switches for your first is always a bit better, there is less work involved compare to a patch bay, and since a lot of the bends can sound the same, you can select your favourites to hard wire in with switches. let me know how you get on, and feel free to ask anything. cheers, bod hello, well, advice for a novice? depends on how much experience you have with soldering really. if you’ve never soldered anything then i would suggest practicing first, maybe buy a cheap electronics kit from maplin or radioshack, depending where you live. that way you can get a grasp of how to solder first beofre attacking your hr-16. you wouldnt want to ruin it regardless of how cheap you got it.

the hr-16 is a fairly easy machine to start with though, there are only two chips to select bends on, just dont go digging about other places or you could kill it, perma-bend it.

the best advice i can give you is to practise first, either with a kit like i talked about above or some cheap toys from the pound shop. learning to solder is key imo. also, always have everything you think you’ll need before starting. like switches, solder, wire and a few tools. dont probe about near the psu source/connector, and dont touch any large capacitors.
just using switches for your first is always a bit better, there is less work involved compare to a patch bay, and since a lot of the bends can sound the same, you can select your favourites to hard wire in with switches.

let me know how you get on, and feel free to ask anything.

cheers,

bod

]]> By: zahid http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-191 zahid Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:19:34 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-191 Hello, I recently acquired an HR16 drum machine for fairly cheap and am interested in bending it. I have read your tutorial and it seems fairly straight forward, however I dont have any experience with actually bendhing electronics, although I have read about it. Is there any valuable information NOT listed here that I shoudl know before trying to do this? I dont think im going to make the patch bay, just going to try a few bends out using switches. It seems fairly straight foward. Any advice or am i in over my head? Hello, I recently acquired an HR16 drum machine for fairly cheap and am interested in bending it. I have read your tutorial and it seems fairly straight forward, however I dont have any experience with actually bendhing electronics, although I have read about it. Is there any valuable information NOT listed here that I shoudl know before trying to do this? I dont think im going to make the patch bay, just going to try a few bends out using switches. It seems fairly straight foward. Any advice or am i in over my head?

]]> By: bod http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-197 bod Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:12:54 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-197 sweet, cheers for the info jeremy, it'll come in handy for others, and safes me opening mine up again! i've never had any issues stealing the power supply for LED's from the power pins of the IC's, and to be honest any of the IC's will suffice for this, just make sure to test them first, as not all the chips have the same pin formations. and make sure to use suitable resistors for the LED's. feel fre to post a link to your finished machine mate! i'd love to see it. cheers, bod. sweet, cheers for the info jeremy, it’ll come in handy for others, and safes me opening mine up again!

i’ve never had any issues stealing the power supply for LED’s from the power pins of the IC’s, and to be honest any of the IC’s will suffice for this, just make sure to test them first, as not all the chips have the same pin formations.

and make sure to use suitable resistors for the LED’s.

feel fre to post a link to your finished machine mate! i’d love to see it.

cheers,

bod.

]]> By: Jeremy http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-206 Jeremy Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:58:42 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-206 Thank for your answer. After a looking on the IC, i found the vcc (+) and the ground. They are on the pin 32 (+) and the pin 16 (ground). Thank for your answer. After a looking on the IC, i found the vcc (+) and the ground. They are on the pin 32 (+) and the pin 16 (ground).

]]> By: bod http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-205 bod Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:50:23 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-205 hi jeremy, cant remeber the exact point, but if you have a multimetre, check the IC's for the power pins and steal the power from there! hi jeremy, cant remeber the exact point, but if you have a multimetre, check the IC’s for the power pins and steal the power from there!

]]> By: Jeremy http://www.vidiotsquad.com/synth-stuff/circuit-bending-the-alesis-hr-16/comment-page-1/#comment-207 Jeremy Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:35:11 +0000 http://vidiotsquad.com/?page_id=12#comment-207 Hi! I am making a Bent HR-16. Can you tell me where you take the power for the switch's LED? I don't find any point + or - on the PCB. Did you take the power directly from the 3,6 V internal battery? Thank for your answer. Hi! I am making a Bent HR-16. Can you tell me where you take the power for the switch’s LED? I don’t find any point + or – on the PCB. Did you take the power directly from the 3,6 V internal battery? Thank for your answer.

]]>