I had to get a bunch of cavities filled earlier this week, and my son put a Hot Wheels car in my pocket to help me feel brave. It must have worked, because I spent an hour daydreaming about my next synth instead of the drill grinding away in my skull.

Really good drawings

I carry a clipboard while I'm working on something. Each paper in its stack is a design brainstorm, an updated schematic to annotate before bed, a sickday's doodles, a PCB revision to review, etc.

What will fit in an Altoids tin? See speaker under PCB trick. Chamfer on enclosure bottom back to tilt back for display? (Not this time.)

Very early schematic draft. It's the "One Chip Space Tom" with the discouraged addition of voltage dividers on its control input. (Burns through batteries.) It outputs to a 7 segment numerical display, also discouraged. (Different numbers draw different currents, which biases the random number generation as the clock oscillator's control voltage drains. More on this later!) Circles are car wheels.

Heavily annotated PCB layout for a prototype to get around aforementioned voltage issues. I built one but abandoned it for its big size and bad sound.

Thinking about the big button cap lever, how will it mount, actuate the switch, print w/o supports, have the right "feel". Surprisingly tricky!

A rogue zine

I've curated some of these drawings into an OSKITONE SPACE DICE zine that unfolds to reveal the final circuit schematic. Buy a kit to get a copy, print your own, or reply back with your US-only mailing address and I’ll send you one.

Aw, thank you!

I have the hardest time talking nice about my own stuff. (Blame my Midwestern upbringing: quiet competence, good work speaks for itself.) My thanks to anyone who will do it for me.

Maker Update

I just love Oskitone’s enclosure design aesthetic. It’s so chunky and playful and perfectly conveys that this is a device made for fun.

And if you’re looking for a practical reason to make one, it really does function as an electronic substitute for dice. So you can add one of these to your next board game night and mix things up.

from Maker Update video by Donald Bell and DigiKey

Aw, thank you!

Hackaday

Synthesizers based mostly on CMOS logic chips have been a mainstay of DIY electronics for years, as have “electronic dice” circuits. This device mashes both together in an accessible way that uses a minimum of components.

We love the concept of presenting an evolving schematic diagram, which changes and fills out as each assembly step is performed and tested.

from Playful ‘Space Dice’ Kit Shows Off Clever Design by Donald Papp on Hackaday

Aw, thank you!

Carol Cleveland Sings

This adorable little synth hits the “Three C’s” of CCS instruments:

✅ Cute
✅ Colorful
✅ Cool Sounds

from this IG post by @carolclevelandsings

Aw, thank you!

Good stock

Space Dice machine, Scout synth, Higher Lower game, and APC noisemaker kits are all good and stocked on the store. Get 'em while I got 'em. More POLY555 kits coming soon, TBA in the next email from me. See previous email for what's up with my stickers.

And please reply back if you have any thoughts or questions or if anything in this email was interesting at all.

I am listening to Angine de Poitrine and I don't care that it's a gimmick!

Thank’ya f'readin’ m'messages,
Tommy from Oskitone