You may notice that this is the same case as the controller. That's because I was supposed to build two of these instruments for a performance that happened at the Berwick in 2001, Quadraphonia. But after I finished the electronics for the first one, I got bored and couldn't build a second one.
The sound generator in this instrument is the good old 74sn677 or whatever, that Radio Shack chip that the Blacet Dark Star is based on. I based it on Blacet's original schematic, with some of my own modifications, then I designed a panning circuit using some SSM vca chips so I could have a stereo output.
I finished this instrument in a gruelling 9 am to 10 pm with no lunch session, then threw it in my bag and ran out the door because Lightning Bolt was playing at a loft right down the street. Luckily they hadn't started yet, and Brian Chippendale said I could play my instrument for three minutes before their set. I was really excited to use their big stack of amps, but somehow it didn't seem loud to me at all, even though he said everything was up all the way. I screeched away for a few minutes, then the table I was using fell over and the instrument went with it, and the two Brians took that as their cue to let it rip. Then it was REALLY loud so I had to step back and dance. It was a really great way to break out of obsessive electronics world!