DRUM MACHINE USING NASA TECHNOLOGY - Rope Core Memory Sequencer

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

All of the Vlogs and DRUM LOOPS from this machine are available here www.patreon.com/lookmumnocomputer :) This was not the machine I originally had in mind. I hope to make a version 2 which is a more performative sequencer. As this design does not lend itself to live sequencing. The next machine is a bit more involved circuit wise as it adds another dimension to the wire. scanning. But if I get the rope core flame lit again there will be another

[@Lantertronics]

My apologies, I meant no offense! When I said I loved it, I meant I loved it. Your videos and delivery are amazing.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

​@@Lantertronics haha it's all good. It comes up quite a lot how much I mispronounce and use the wrong words for things and mis spell/punctuate. It's not that I have a problem with it. I just don't understand why energy is spent on something when the communication has been understood that's all. Having had a lifelong struggle with spelling and phonetics i see the language and writing as something to interpret and evolve, im aware not everyone sees it that way. grammar police are the antagonists in my life haha.

[@Lantertronics]

Oh, I see I wasn't the only person to comment on it. Yeah, different people have different accents, all are valid. Yours is part of your awesome vibe. Keep the vibes going!

[@iron9217]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER I can't argue with how it's pronounced when the person understands what they are doing 100x more than me! I'm not here for the english lesson, I'm here for the wild creations.

[@Lantertronics]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER Agree with you on all counts. Keep up the great work! :)

[@videotrexx]

As someone who was building electronics back in the early 1970s, your energy, enthusiasim and electronic inventions continually amaze and entertain me.

[@wackyvorlon]

He’s just fantastic honestly. I wish I could come up with a fraction of his ideas. I dream of playing with even a fraction of the cool stuff he plays with!

[@scottmanley]

Synths and Space technology in the same video!!!!

[@LJSpit]

His imagination is boundless.

[@OldManSmith712]

Your wiring work and labeling are always satisfyingly chaotic and clean. Great work, and looks/sounds awesome.

[@DonChups]

Reading the little dymo labels and notes of the wiring is oddly satisfying in itself.

[@Enders]

Its wonderous. I can't imagine what you originally had in mind off hand... but this thing is a work of pure technological art. The sentient life-forms born in the wires will be proud.

[@Lantertronics]

I love the way you say "comparator"

[@tonycook1624]

Isn't it really "com-pAra-tor" ?

[@pedrotarroso]

"Weaving a drum beat" is one of the most beautiful sentences ever!

[@hobbified]

I thought it was a wee bit o' drum beat :)

[@emmanueleferrarotto2986]

It's large, it's kinda weird and it makes odd noises. It's a classical Sam machine ^^ Great job once again

[@DanielGBenesScienceShows]

At the CORE (sorry, not sorry) of basically every incredible synthesizer ever designed, from MOOG to Synclavier to KORG is a brain exactly like yours. This is profoundly beautiful!

[@fooosco]

What I really like about Sam is that whatever crazy electronic crap he works on, he always ends up producing beautiful sounds.

[@michaelshultz2540]

Im a 68 year old electronics technician my first introduction to electronic music was Synergy, Tomita ,and Kraftwerk the later of which i seen at a small theater in coconut grove Florida in 1975. I love your creations and art. In the event of an electronic apocalypse you and others like us who still retain the knowledge of elemental electronics will be invaluable to rebuild our society and it's technology. Way to go. All the kids in school around the world should be learning electronics technology from kindergarten on as a part of the 3 R's . Guess basic education would be called the ERRR's then. You keep me loving electronics an all things quirky 🤪 ✨️ 🖖👽✌️🙂

[@aaronjennings8385]

It's strangely comforting that a programmable computer can be built by hand with off the shelf stuff.

[@Earthenfist]

What's fun is that weaving and computation have a VERY old history. In fact, some of the first mechanical computation devices were for weaving machines. The first punch cards were pattern cards for incredibly complex looms.

[@jimbobur]

I remember learning about rope core memory listening to the 13 Minutes to the Moon BBC radio series about the Apollo 11 landing (would 100% recommend a listen). So cool to see the technology used to make music! 😁

[@berntolovhellstrom8891]

An absolute astonishing work, hats off. I really hope young people become interested in doing electronics, music and art because of your exceptional way to do things simple and not to overcomplicate things. I really love what you do!

[@asn413]

i cant get over how much you feel music :D it's like the force or something! you use your instruments as well as you understand their workings. glad i subscribed.

[@janderogee]

Your explanation of rope memory was explained so clearly, that for the first time I finally understood the concept. And I was shocked that I didn't realize it before, they are just transformers! Nothing more than that! Finally, that's the trick! Sure you can add bells and whistles, but in essence they are just transformers. Where the beauty is in the ease of addressing the data and the way the fact that no hardware is needed (switches or jumpers) to define the value of the bits, just wire. So thank you for showing us this fun project and presenting it to us with your inspiring enthusiasm.

[@Moppedsebi]

If you had done this back in the 70s, you could be a legend in music today! This is awesome technical skills combined with musical spirit! I really love what you do and I admire how much time and effort you put into these weird ideas!

[@JboEnterprise]

I love that the pieces in the museum are all great showcases of early age electronics. Using music to show what each technology does is just a really great way to make it easy to understand.

[@JeremySpidle]

You say, "Comp • er • ātor" I say, "Compare • uh • tor"... but beats are beats, no matter the era of hardware! Just wow!!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

😂haha that works. There's a T-shirt design in that

[@GeomancerHT]

It's also selector not selecter :P

[@jamescorcoran2034]

I can say the words... but Sam can give them meaning

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

@@GeomancerHT I wish it was selecter. and I asked my dymo if that was allowed and it said I can write it however I want. so I did :D

[@GeomancerHT]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER I was just thinking about how this labeling machines don't have inbuilt spell check XD

[@sn1000k]

As a big Look Mum AND CuriousMarc fan, this checked all my boxes. What a great video and great exhibit for the museum. Keep it up friend!

[@Ziraya0]

Since you're using a high frequency, I wonder if you could use EL wire to visualize some aspect of what's happening

[@craigedgar2828]

Yes! Red EL Wire shaped like a vacuum tube filament & put inside large faux tubes to mount on top

[@Ziraya0]

@@craigedgar2828 I meant using EL wire to weave the core memory sequences but that sounds cool too

[@mikemesec]

I wonder if that would work. Sounds like it might.

[@ericwazhung]

Whoa! And here I was just thinking a different color wire for each loop. EL for the selected loop would be friggin' amazing. Zif this isn't awesome enough. From a technical standpoint, I'd think the fact that EL has current going in on one layer and out on the other would mean the magnetic fields would cancel each other out. But, if one layer was powered at one end, and the other at the other end, that might fix that.

[@aedeatia]

The Apollo computer also used electro-luminescent panels for the computer displays, so he'll be able to use two NASA technologies!

[@brendenbradach]

As an electronic engineer this was a blind spot for me. I love to know these old ways of doing things. I am glad you showed off a build using this principle.

[@Hainbach]

„I am weaving a drum beat“ - wonderful video!

[@LJSpit]

You blur the lines between Art and Science/Technology. Truly amazing.

[@Yourmom-bl1yx]

This is what kids should be watching… not tik tok… more need to learn the basics and level of creativity that can come from understanding electronic signal flow… great job love the video

[@analog_mind]

Analog technology will never fade away, there will be always someone like you that loves experimentig and have fun with old technology and obsolete components. ANALOG WILL NEVER DIE!!!

[@zinckensteel]

You know what? One of these days you need to cameo on Doctor Who - I can't imagine they'd find you difficult to write into something; not a whole lot of folks are waltzing about casually mixing the tech of the 70's with the tech of the future ;-)

[@DantalionNl]

Really nice and creative build, love to see all these existing technological elements combined in ways never done before. Cheers! Bet the inventor of the uniselector never imagined it being combined with core memory.

[@UrvonDiviner]

Never knew how rope core memory actually worked, such a simple concept and such a clear way of demonstrating it. Thanks!

[@Nobe_Oddy]

YOU are A MAD WIZARD and The GAWD of ANALOGUE!!!!!! WOW!!!I am so HAPPY that I stumbled across your channel, you blow my mind in EVERY VIDEO!!!!!!! THANK YOU for bringing me this Joy!!! You're just Amazing bro!!! :D

[@umaikakudo]

Another comment mentioned to put the ferrite coils on movable sliders to make passing the wires through easier. It would be next level to incorporate analog loom weaving machinery to allow the operator or a pre-programmed mechanism to rapidly weave the wires in real time to change the beat.

[@johnannan2506]

Absolutely bloody outstanding!! I actually cheered when the machine started to work. I watch your videos with amazement…. I’d love to be able to make a tenth of of the things you create. THANK YOU !!😊

[@AenesidemusOZ]

Your dedication to using and reinventing the technology of yesteryear (aka my youth 😂) is amazing and hugely appreciated. Thanks for your enthusiasm and infectious love of electronics.

[@TheOriginalFILIBUSTA]

IRN BRU! I haven't had one of those in 35 years. Man, that beat! I didn't want it to stop.

[@unclemick-synths]

I used to work for STC and we were developing an add-on for exchanges that replaced the ceramic core memory to add functionality. The exchange was oblivious to being manipulated - like the innocent victim of some kind of weird alien parasite! 👽

[@MrAsBBB]

Love the fact that you understand both music and electronics. Very much my background but over the years been involved in engineering. I can remember being excited as you with producing electronic music. Keep the enjoyment coming.

[@8bitwiz_]

It's brilliant, it's beautiful, and it's edumacational too!

[@JohnSmith-jl3fm]

Forever amazed at the dedication you put into your projects. Thanks again👌👍

[@sam-you-is]

the BG music during the explanation of the principle was fantastic

[@Kneichion]

Brought back so many memories, I could even smell the solder fumes lol Made me smile, Really cool

[@larsmannetje001]

I've got absolutely no clue what kind of madness you're performing all of the time, but I absolutely love every single video of yours, so cool!

[@ianbaxter3905]

Brilliant as ever Sam. Until 12 minutes in I was like "but... why?" then suddenly got it.

[@douglasboyle6544]

I was the same way but instead of "why?" I was saying "what?"

[@ulrichvandetroeten]

Fascinating, how you get always cool beats out from trashy things

[@ExcessiveSpareTime]

There's something so surreal about seeing this in the same studio as all of his synthesizers.

[@lesstalkmoredisco9445]

What a cool video. Amazing track at the end. Throw that in during a techno set and I’d be floating

[@TheSynthnut]

This is so crazy, but super cool. Love the idea of"weaving" rhythms, seems very apt!

[@peter.stimpel]

What a freak in a very positive way. Love your way of recycling old concepts.

[@merman1974]

Very cool, love that the Patreons got involved weaving the beats too.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I find it amazing how much stuff you can done in such short time! New projects every few weeks and every single one is massive and well done. I wish I would get as much done in my time.

[@KeritechElectronics]

3:26 that's exactly how the residual current circuit breaker works: it monitors the vector sum of all currents passing through a toroidal core transformer and if it's non-zero (like with a single wire going through), it'll induce a current in the secondary and activate the trip coil. If all currents sum up to zero (e.g. a current enters on one side and the same current enters on the other side, like with the loop here), no secondary current is induced. Slightly messy build, but a beautiful project nevertheless! Cool to know that some Soviet telecom tech was an inspiration. Adding a Nixie tube display for the program number would be a nice touch too. Or selecting the program with a phone dial.

[@satibel]

I suggest 8 channel analog (de)multiplexer 4051 It's basically 8 switches that controls to which pin the common should be connected according to the binary value on the input. You can use a binary counter (with a single 555 as a clock source) to cycle through the 8 outputs, and a 7 segment display driver with the associated display connected to the same input to show which line is currently selected.

[@gregs8672]

555 is still alive! I recently discovered how useful this component is

[@campbellmorrison8540]

You're a bloody gem, wonderful explanation and use of technology. The only thing I have to say is its a com paar a tor not a com per a tor , it compares signals :)

[@ChadBillAnderson]

Damn this is so dope. I commend you for having the patience to build this

[@perrymattes4285]

I think this is absolutely amazing using this tech in this way.

[@m.a.6478]

Wholly cow, this is amazing! I'm an electonics engineer an can understand what you are doing (obviously you know what your doin' ;-) ) but I would never have this idea. You're great!

[@tonyitalia7798]

11:34 WOW the sound is very good, very cool.

[@rcrnitto]

5:44 The giggle we've all had when the thing you built works perfectly the first time😄

[@klassisch3039]

Wow dude that is a big project nicely done!!!! I love the layout of all the different pcb's in the box!

[@xliquidflames]

What a _fascinating_ bit of electronics history. I saw a video of some people restoring that Apollo guidance computer mentioned in this video. The conspiracy nuts say computers weren't advanced enough to send people to the moon in the 60s. Well. That's half right. They really had to come up with new methods of doing certain things and do a lot of this rope memory programming by hand. They had no business going to the moon with that technology but they made it work. They invented their way to the moon and back. I always wondered what else could be done with this stuff. This is such a cool idea. I wish I lived over there so I could come see this in person.

[@xliquidflames]

To be clear, I'm being a little facetious when I say the conspiracy nuts are half right. The computer tech did not exist when they began planning for Apollo. But by the time they sent the first humans to the moon, the technology _did_ exist because they invented it. The Apollo rockets were the first computers to use reprogrammable microcontrollers, the first integrated circuits and those computers ran on this rope memory technology. It didn't exist until Raytheon, a NASA contractor, invented it specifically for Apollo. So, the conspiracy nuts are half right but they're wrong when they say no one has ever been to the moon. Most of the programming of the rope memory modules for Apollo, the weaving, was done by women because it was akin to sewing and the men were doing more "important" work - the 60s were a different time. They used long needles to pass the thin wires through the magnetic cores. Those women sat there for hours for weeks just doing the weaving that he's doing in this video, just on a much larger scale.

[@toamastar]

Yoooo those beats were sick with the synths, you are so incredibly talented! :D

[@Michael_Michaels]

The end result (11:34) is mind-blowing! Very well done my good sir!

[@ChristianBehnke]

I love this so much ... "Hey did you know you could do this?" Not a f*$%ing clue before this video, but it SOUNDS AMAZING! 🤯

[@trulyinfamous]

You are the absolute coolest. Every project you have done is something interesting.

[@douglasboyle6544]

The whole premise of this project is utter insanity and I'm here for it.

[@NterpriseCEO]

One day I will come to england and visit this museum. For now all I can do is watch these videos from accross the pond :)

[@maxupp]

Amazing work. Here's an idea for the museum: You could find someone that's good at ICs, and contrast each of your historics-based creations with a modern equivalent. Just to show how far we've come, in addition to where we came from.

[@hobbified]

In a lot of cases, that'd be one chip, with the size dictated by the number of I/Os it needs. Which means a lot of stuff would be a 5mm square chip with some 0402 passives next to it and then a connector to send the signals off somewhere :)

[@renecouture3719]

Maybe it's the shorter edited video, but you make wiring up a circuit look like child's play. I can't do this. Great work!

[@WN_Byers]

Legend. Produces on ANYTHING

[@ybtech]

Absolutely brilliant! Great work.

[@CoopersCrazy]

Learned about rope core memory from 17776: What football will look like in the future, haha. Insane to think about them sending out space probes with this technology, but it did protect them from getting their memory corrupted by cosmic radiation and such. (I highly recommend 17776 btw, what a cool read.)

[@arenotdiy7280]

This is on par with the relay sequencer, amazing in every aspect.

[@AnalogDude_]

for this stuff you should use LM393 or LM339, they are designed comparators and faster, like 300 nSec. C7, 470nF is pretty big, my ADSR uses 2nF2. maybe the capacitor should be behind the diode, apparently the signal from the "coil" is larger than 0.7 Volt that it's makes it through the diode (D7), don't think you need that diode, negative voltages will close the FETS in the TL072 even further. you do need a 10nF capacitor on the voltage divider / threshold. Cool technology these coils.

[@jozefbania]

The Omnissiah directs our footsteps along the path of knowledge.

[@amarissimus29]

555 Is amazing. I can't count the number of projects I've used it in.

[@h2o1969]

I had my doubts and did not follow this on Patreon, but, as usual, it turned out really cool. Plus, the braids look nice too. I love how you have multiple rhythms set up with one of those spool thingies. Mad mate!

[@tronskanal5010]

Ropecore Drum Sequencers are the best Sequencers!

[@earthsteward70]

Mad man makes a MIDI sequencer from late 1950s parts for the most part.

[@seed_of_the_woman]

this explains why we’ll never make it back to the moon, much less mars. 👑 love, david

[@orztirr1417]

I fully approve of everything this madlad does.

[@chemicalvamp]

Thats such a cool demo for wire programming.

[@bzqp2]

I really like the LEGO-hotglue prototyping technique :D

[@Lantertronics]

I'm completely obsessed with the Apollo Guidance Computer. Springer published a great book on it, and I recommend everyone check out Scott Manley's video "The Computer Hack That Saved Apollo 14."

[@leftmono1016]

Fascinating time. I read something once where a hoax conspiracist employed a computer expert to research and debunk the AGC. The expert ended up writing a book on how groundbreaking it was😀

[@TheBadBull]

I especially recommend CuriousMarc's series on reviving a real AGC.

[@Lantertronics]

@@TheBadBull I will check it out!

[@clydesight]

Brilliant! Your energy and skills are amazing to watch! Great video, thank you.

[@jamesburke2759]

I actually love this machine. its the occam's razor of data retention.

[@gerardstrik2555]

Pure gold! Modern day genius, if you ask me.

[@MeeBilt]

Tasty beats/beans 6:50 and awesome rope core tech - what more could you ask for. Loving it!

[@georgemiller2129]

This is excellent. Never stop doing what you do.

[@midinotes]

Compar-rate-a ! 😄 Love it! I will never go back to calling it a comparator (com-parrar-tu) ❤

[@JazzyFizzleDrummers]

I've had the idea of running audio signals through core-rope I'd be curious to see how it works as a filter

[@ChadDoebelin]

And he dropped a banger with it. You are rad!

[@jamesh5460]

Dude! Part of the drum kit sounds like Blue Man Group. Very cool.

[@Antony_Jenner]

Old school techno! Love it.

[@jimarens1991]

Common name for the enamel coated wire in the USA is "magnet wire" 32 AWG (american wire gauge) is comparable to 0.2mm diameter wire. Enamel has surpassed lacquer as the usual coating.

[@cypherdras]

mate, that is insane, great work

[@simonisenberg4516]

That was some dope demo towards the end there.

[@gannas42]

Holy... what a great application and demonstration of this classic technology! Great work, man. Very rad!!

[@himselfe]

It'd be fun if you had this hooked up to the telephone exchange, where each pattern gets its own number, and a modem converted the bit patterns so you could dial in from another part of the museum and output the sequence to a synth.

[@wackenthaljef]

Thank u Sam for all ur vids! ur incredible!....amazin!!....and ur a little.....craaaazyyyy!