CYGN-B

[lasermaster1977]

I'm confused over a small amount of unclear information in the SPGN schematic. Excerpts attached. There are a total of 8 gate pins among the two Intersil analog switch ICs. The information stating what connects to each happens not to have made it into the .pdf document. As can be seen, two of the gates are labeled with a "5" or a "Z" or a smudge. I may be overlooking something obvious, but at present I don't see what that means.

I'm placing my bet that the 6 arrows in the red rectangle, whose labels are indistinguishable, actually connect to their corresponding labels in the red circles, of which there are also 6.
Now to determine the match-ups of the 6 arrows in the red rectangle.

At least it looks like the top-most arrow is a label with the "inverse" symbol above the letter, like "not D" or "not A".

[laserist]

Top to bottom U1 on the top right of the schematic
_
R = Inverted Spiral reset

R = Spiral reset

_
D = inverted spiral direction (These involve the spiral sweep axis not actually in&out. Spiral and inverse spirals or selected by the A/B bus select et al)

D = spiral direction

_
S = spiral

DIA = Diamond spirals

[Greg]

Thank you everyone for considering the gates and labels. The part I'm not seeing is that there are 8 gate inputs, but only 6 gate signals: reset, direction, and diamond, and inverses. But what is supposed to go in the two left over gate inputs labeled "Z" or "5" or something?

Here is a video of the Spiral Generator pretty much doing what it is supposed to do up to the 2QMM outputs. There is some clipping which probably is not what is supposed to be happening.

The first segment shows a lick where the ramp in / outs are controlled by the data to make the advance of the circles express the music by reversing direction hypnotically. This is the clever stuff I was looking for. Playing over top of stuff like this is what I'm after in laser shows. I'm only speculating at how these signals would have been actually used in the number, but perhaps these results suggest the guesses are not far off.

The next segment shows the diamond effect in combination with my use of the direction bit, which is what makes the diamond appear to point in four directions. In the actual number this bit was quiet. This is noteworthy, because with minimal editing to the source file, I can specify to play the show, drop the new real time input into that bit of the 351 data, and thus iteratively edit existing 351 data.

Video here:
https://youtu.be/tkCtnwUqkIs

[laserist]

It's an "S". That's the point where the spiral/diamond spiral switch is made.

[laserist]

I have no idea why they don't have a line over it. Maybe because they already broke convention with the DIA label.

[Greg]

From adat does mean I've already digitized those tapes. I used a Tascam DR-680 to record the 1/4 and the 8 channel adat tapes. You should be able to record the 8 channel adat tapes with the 24 channel deck and pull down the files via Ethernet. The Ethernet file transfer is amazingly slow BTW.

Another astounding contribution to the CYGN-B thread has been received. Highlights include a magnificently mounted and encased card cage and rack brackets to put an end to the cardboard box nonsense.

Something long awaited is the usb with all the .pdf files. A few of the files appear to have suffered corruption, and so these ones shown are the ones I don't have. It's really great to finally get to see all these! Thanks again Brian and Ron.

Can't wait to connect the antique sin cos pot and see if it really produces sinusoids rather than triangles like the one from the Magic Mountain console does. If so, then the rotator will look better.

The big deal, and that which requires all immediate attention though, is the mind blowing library of laser shows involving widely loved and heavily copyrighted music.

I'm wondering a few things. What is DC modified tracks about? DC signals present in the data? Or special hardware needed to output?

Should be fine to route the signals from the ADAT player to the 24 track recorder directly, don't need a mixing board for anything, right?

Does any input or output in the ADAT equipment permit a DC component in the signals?

The Dolby is only needed for the music tracks of the 1/4" tapes, not the data or any ADAT stuff. Correct?

No 1/2" Lightyears masters were received. Hopefully these exist and are safe somewhere.

[Greg]

Here's the pictures.

[Greg]

Or, wait. The idea is the ADAT decks connect using an optical cable for digital transfer?

[ronhip]

Greg,

Brian can correct me, but I believe that our ADATs were modified so they could pass DC signals. This was necessary for the imagery and color channels, but not the audio channels (though I believe all 8 channels of the deck were thusly modified.) We did not use optical output. I have no documentation on the ADAT modification, unfortunately. Hopefully your recorder inputs are also DC coupled!

Ron

PS. I think I have a Dolby box if you need it... And, I think I'll miss the cardboard!

Or, wait. The idea is the ADAT decks connect using an optical cable for digital transfer?

[ronhip]

Well... There's your problem... A Zeiss flash drive (Sorry Brian... but you work for a subsidiary. They must be keeping the GOOD drives in Germany!)

Let me know what's missing and I'll send it along to you. Or maybe I just zip up all the 6b documentation in one file?

Ron

Here's the pictures.