blue lantern asteroid mini synthesizer price : $435.00

format: euro doepfer compatible, 3u height (5.05") power current consumption: +108ma, -83ma

depth: less then 45mm

circuits involved: vco, vca, envelope generator, sub harmonic generator, noise generator, and trigger striking circuit.

vco
vco type: triangle core, transistor discrete design.
vco waves: triangle, sine, square, sub harmonic pulse.
noise generator flavors: white and high pass white noise.
vco modulation sources: (2) direct input cv's labeled 'pcv', (1) hi spectrum linear fm input, (1) variable sync input, (1) attenuated cv labeled 'mod cv'.
internal hard wired modulation: bi-polar decay source, and 'pop cv'
trigger spike.
the pop gives a small punch to the sound.

envelope generator
timings: 1uf capacitor charge, 9.7uf cap, or middle position is 0.47uf cap timing.
these effect the snappiness of the decay. middle position of the switch is best for drum and short percussive sounds.
-trigger striking system: the internal trigger conditioning circuit allows from 2.5v to 10v input for successful triggering of the envelope generator. the internal trigger voltage is about 12v. this allows for big drum sounds, and strike effect.
there is a 'thru' jack to pass the input signal to another asteroid synth for daisy chaining.

mixer
there is a summing mixer with direct output (pre vca and pre booster), this makes the module act like a normal vco for you to patch to a filter, etc.
you also have a mixer input jack so that you can mix another vco or two asteroid mini synths together.

vca and analog delay
the vca can be patched directly into, bypassing the internal summing mixer. this is great for send and return. you would patch from the asteroid mini synth's 'sum' to a filter for example, then patch back into 'ext vca' to return the processed sound.
the booster knob will boost signals also patched into the ext vca jack.
-the delay has modulation for: repeat, time, and level.
-the vca is a high quality cool audio v2164 based vca with it's own attenuated 'modv' cv input.

final output you get a dry post vca synth level output, and a 'perc' output. the difference is the 'perc' output can have the delay fx mixed in.
there is a line level 1/4" output jack.
all outputs can be used simultaneous.

some odd ball notes about the module
in order to use the square wave as a sound source for you have to patch from the jack above the toggle switch and select the square wave, and patch that into the mixer input 'mix'. one interesting patch is to patch the square wave into a cv input to create a saw wave. i did this because i wanted to give you the option.

if you wanted only the square wave sound source after you did the mix in patch, you can turn off the triangle or sine wave as that has no level knob. you can also use this method to make noise bursts with no vco waves mixed in. the noise generator does not have to be patched like the square wave, it is internally routed to the mixer. just use the noise level knob to adjust the noise level. on the direct noise output, the level knob does not change the anything, it is a direct out.