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Author Topic: 70's drum machines...  (Read 8906 times)

LoFi-Ninja

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70's drum machines...
« on: October 06, 2009, 08:47:14 PM »

Hi..

I recently found a Donca Matic Mini Pops something something.. I can't really find anything about it, but I've found some hints that it MIGHT be associated to Korg ..

I'm going to mod it, but other than the regular decay/tune/cutoff and so on that is possible with these old analog drum machines do you have any ideas for it ? I know they can become real heavy wall rattling bass shakers  ;D

So far I've got individual outs and triggering. Also injecting an audio signal instead of the snare/tom/highhat oscillator..

Do you got any hints ? Or links or whatever to other modified vintage drum machines ?? Also ANY info about "Donca Matic" of any kind is welcome ! I need a service manual/schematic aswell !
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electoyd

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Re: 70's drum machines...
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2009, 10:08:25 PM »

sure korg did a mini pops drum machine-never heard of donca though, but could easily be a korg company in another country, do you stay in america or europe?  mmm dunno what your chances are of finding a service manual, though maybe if you could get a service manual for the korg mini pop you could compare it with the guts of your machine, they may be similiar.  Donca sounds kinds american though, but the more i think about it......could be anywhere, is it in good condition?  sure the korg mp i saw only had a few preset patterns on it, though you could maybe set up triggers, have you opened it up yet?
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Circuitbenders

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Re: 70's drum machines...
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2009, 11:25:50 PM »

aren't there about 20 different korg minipops machines?  I'd guess is was a differently branded version of one of them as this matrixsynth post would suggest http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/12/keio-korg-minipops-donca-matic.html but working out which one might be an issue.

I'd imagine that the synthesis is about as basic as you can get for each sound so you might be able to find pitch and/or decay controls but not much else. You can probably isolate the positions of each sound on the board but without a schematic and if there are no trimmers on the board you might do well to just bridge some resistors with a pot and see what happens.
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LoFi-Ninja

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Re: 70's drum machines...
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2009, 07:48:53 AM »

I'd imagine that the synthesis is about as basic as you can get

Yup.. Capacitors, resistors and transistors. That's it...

By the way Paul, are you jealous  ;D :P

I'll snap some pics later.. I have to take some of the other found equiptment I have. I know I promised you.
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Circuitbenders

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Re: 70's drum machines...
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2009, 12:03:38 PM »

By the way Paul, are you jealous  ;D :P

I think i'll survive without another Rumba and Bossanova to add to my collection  ;)
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