FrankenBehry

[crankz1]

Hey ... what's up?
I don't get around HR as much as I used to. My bad.
I spend .... err, waste most all my time on the drum building forums anymore.

Anyhoo, I figure some of ya might get a kick out of my Behringer 2442 FX hack.

It all started out with an sm pro pr8 that went to sh!t on me.

The -v side of the power supply circuit had something seriously wrong happen. Blew up the filter cap. Maybe one of the rectifying diodes passed voltage the wrong way ???
I ain't smart enough for all that.

Anyway, I'm out 8 high quality .... pffft .... pres!
Dagnamnit!
Alright this kinda blows but, I end up at a local GC and they have a used Xenyx 2442 FX for $150.
Sweet, more cheap gear.

I'd say the mixer was actually brand new but, got returned because the cheesy little effects board in it is hosed. The signal is clipping constantly through the fx unit. Even with no signal sent to it.
Big whoop .... 100 cheesy presets. Yeah, I'm gonna miss those.

The xenyx pres sound decent enough to me and the EQ circuit ain't to bad either.
One problem though, I had ADAT lightpipe from the pr8 to my MOTU 828mkII.
Be cool if the Behry had that. hmmm, I do still have the optional ADAT card.

I'll hack that sucka in there.
Except, the awesome behry power supply doesn't offer +5 / -5 that the card wants.
Ok well, guess I'll scrounge up parts, scour the internet for info, burn myself umpteen times with the soldering iron and build something resembling an adjustable dual voltage supply.

Cool! Now lets tap some outputs and mount the card.
I tapped the direct outs, for basically a post fader send to ADAT

Guess what hadn't occurred to me?
The ADAT card got fried as well in the catastrophic meltdown of the pr8!


OK, I didn't just do all that for nothing!
$100 later and a special order to the land down under .... I should have a new card here in another month if I'm lucky.

OK, hack more ....

Add selector switches and tap the inserts. This way the feed to ADAT can be either pre or post fader.

Still waitin' on the card ..... bet I can fit more stuff in there.

to be continued

 

[crankz1]

V Xpanded

Roland VS-880 Xpanded .... a buddy gave me a dead one. Well, the harddrive is dead.

Shoulda took my own picture before I got my hands on it.

Here's the guts and a big-azz old HDD I got it to work with. Yay!

Bet I can cram that in there ....
It's kinda a cool unit really. Got two built in effects processors. Not to mention the fact that it's a multitrack recorder.
Another cool thing is that it can be controlled by the computer via MIDI and a cool program called VS Pro. Sweetness!

Tear it apart again .....

Hey, look at that empty spot!

Unacceptable! Must put something there!
VS Pro does just about "it all" but, let's add some core functions that we can touch.
It likes it when you touch it there.

Now I gotta fit that big-azz old HDD in there and hope nobody ever bumps the mixer if I record with it.

Stupid thing! Heck, if it'd boot up without a HDD I could use it for just the fx processors.
No dice! Needs a drive to work at all.

to be continued

 

[crankz1]

Heck with the HDD

Found some cool sh!t to make it a Compact Flash recorder.

No brainer really .... cool little CF card over big-azz drive. There's the dead 2.5 drive too.

You bet Imma fit that in there.

Coolie-O huh?

That's it, till the new ADAT card shows up.

-Ken

 

[mshilarious]

This thread is a combination of impressive and hilarious . . .

 

[RawDepth]

It is almost as entertaining as the duck tape segment on the Red Green Show.

Please stop! My eyes are tearing up from laughter.

 

[dodgeaspen]

Nice set up on the drums. What brand are they?

 

[crankz1]

Nice set up on the drums. What brand are they?

Thanks.
It's a custom set. I built them myself using Keller maple shells and Adonis lugs.
I'm an automotive painter for my day gig ..... so, the finish is all me as well.

Photobucket is being stupid right now .... or I'd post up a few more pictures of it.
Maybe later if anyone cares to see it.

 

[crankz1]

Looks like no one cares .... so, I'll post up anyway!

Those are from in my new jam room. Yay!

Those where from out in the shed I built.

I'm just an idiot .... enjoyin' the ride!

 

[Dr ZEE]

wow - cool stuff - thumbs up

this is all cool stuff here!
especially the shed!. nice work. Nice, civil and building-inspector-friendly outside - mad and outlaw inside - heh heh
The shed really grabbed my attention as I am in the middle of building one, about the same high as yours but 16' long. Frame/roof is done, working on siding slowly. Mine is for my agricultural needs though , but while building I was thinking about possibilities, heh heh , similar to what I see here.

keep up

 

[crankz1]

Cool man thanks!
Yeah the shed was built out of necessity, so I could build my drums and then have a place to beat the crap outta em.

Now I've got em in the house (kid grew up ... moved out. yay!), the shed is empty.
Guess I could use it for some agricultural .... or, would that be horticultural needs.

Think I'll be turning it back into a paint booth though.
Try and make some extra $$ (is there such a thing?) paintin' shells and whatnot.

 

[Dr ZEE]

Hmmmm, that would be a little tooooooooooooo nice for just painting booth. You could turn it into a specialty workshop and maybe add on a booth/box space.
Speaking of "extra $$$$" around. You never know really until you try offering something. It does not hurt to try...if you have some time to spare. Looking closer at the photo, It seems you don't have much time for mowing and whacking around ...heh heh

 

[dodgeaspen]

Thanks for posting the drum picks. I LOVE the job you did. I hate the color of mine, but I'm afraid to take the wrap off and change it. Maybe one day.

 

[crankz1]

Right on .... Thanks!

I kinda documented the build here.

Still waitin' on the dang ADAT card though!

 

[crankz1]

Been messin' around more ....

Got a brand new $230 (busted up) 4U mixer top road case from GC for $150 (seems like everything I get there lately has been 150).
It wasn't to bad though. Looked like one of the forks from a forklift poked through the bottom edge.
I half-azz fixed it and relocated the power supplies for the mixer/VS-880/ADAT into an enclosure that I fashioned together using a tractor-trailer mirror housing.
I'm such a dork!

Made a mount and mounted my 22" widescreen too.

Still waiting on the damned ADAT card!
Customer support tells me another month.
It needs to hurry up ... so, I can leave the poor mixer alone.

 

[crankz1]

Oh yeah ... my drum rack, umm "accessories", got some small attachments as well.

 

[Dr ZEE]

Huh! Nice network/phoneline connectors! "Call me , Baby, I'll be there for you." heh heh
I want to see video in action of this system!
I have to give five star to this thread

 

[crankz1]

Braided core cat5

Video .... hmmm, if I can borrow someones cam.
Eventually I'll get around to recording some audio at least.

 

[Dr ZEE]

you can get get a digital photocam with video-recording feature for well under 150 bucks

 

[crankz1]

Haha touché!