the boardweevil launches from the end of jan 2009 and replaces last year's weevil08 design. this new design furthers the sonic potentials in a beautifully presented compact package
for ultimate portability. it is something like a souped up postcardweevil - you get a one-board-synth that lives outside any enclosure - but the circuitry has evolved from the
postcard's simplicity to give a powerful and more controlable device.
weevil core - within the boardweevil are three oscillators and two (quasi)ringmods. like previous weevils, each oscillator has a wide-ranging pitch dial plus a range switch for
selection of low-freq clickety or audio-rate drone tones. oscs 2 & 3 can be syncronized to osc1 with individual switches. the effect is most audible at audio rates where you get
wonderful harmonic tones - osc1 sets the base pitch and then the rates of osc2 / 3 set the harmonic overtones. osc1 also has an ldr light sensor that can be switched in to affect
the pitch - the more light falls on the sensor, the faster things run. osc1 and osc2 are combined through the first ringmod (rm1) and then the output of this is combined with osc3
in rm2. the balance control is used to crossfade between the two ringmod sections.
bend features - it is these extras that bring the weevil to life! turning the starve dial strangles the power supply to the osc/rm section sending things into areas where the
oscillators fight between each other in chaotic ways. in a similar setup to osc1, there is another switchable light sensor to control the power starvation. the stable/instable
mode switch provides some smoothing to operation - in stable mode the starvation appears something like an overall pitch-range-shift, while the instable mode results in far great
levels of cross-modulationary-fighting. fourteen body contact points hook you straight into the circuit - touching of different combinations allows signals to flow in unexpected
manners. this becomes an extremely reactive and interesting means of control.
output section - a simple treble-cut tone control provides some signal shaping before the final output level master volume control.
1/4" jack // mini-amp - the weevil output is on a standard 1/4" mono jack socket or, if no plug is inserted, the sound passes to a mini amp and speaker for go-anywhere oscillation
noises.
here's a quick audio mp3 demo recorded straight to disc (no effects). its just a quick romp through some of the sounds from the jack-output.
