Pony VCO

Befaco Pony VCO

I decided to replace my two Mammouth Boutique modules with two new Befaco kits.
The wooden front panels are very cool, but they contrast a bit with the rest.  Besides, if the modules are okay, I wanted something else.

After much hesitation, I decided to replace the oscillator with the new Pony VCO from Befaco. The other alternatives were two completely different modules: Make Noise STO and Klavis Twin Waves. One for its clean sound and simplicity, the other for its possibilities. In the end, the Pony VCO was chosen for its size (only 4 HP) vs its possibilities. And it's a kit ... well ... kinda.

Pony VCO is a very complete oscillator. It can generate over 7 octaves a sine, a triangle, a sawtooth or a square. It can also be used as a low frequency oscillator if need be.
There is a Thru-Zero FM input, which means that when the modulation signal falls below zero, it continues to oscillate, reversing its phase. This technique should make for some nice metallic sounds. It has a timbre control in the form of a wavefolder for more sonic possibilities. Small but powerful.

The kit

The kit is quite simple: two switches have to be mounted and adjusted with the front panel.  You assemble the front panel.  And that's basically it. The rest are surface mounted components already mounted.

Given the narrowness, the ten or so soldering operations needed require some dexterity and attention.

 

 

Bob calibrates

Then comes the calibration. The kit includes a small card with a QR code leading to the manual. Great idea. Except that the manual is incomplete and does not contain the necessary illustration to know where to measure the reference voltage. Fortunately, the complete manual is available on the product page.

The calibration does not pose any particular problem.

 

 

In the rack

With the two Music Thing Modular modules, the bottom row is starting to take its final shape.
Note that I took advantage of my purchase at Befaco to order a synth Duster, a handy anti-static duster and bananuts, those coloured minijack nuts to change the look of my Befaco modules and my Erica Synth filter. Befaco has a new colour code, with black nuts for the inputs and red for the outputs. Beautiful and practical.

My bottom row is getting complete.

Nearly finished botom row

And finally, a small sound illustration.  It is made of two main parts. The first is the sine output of the Pony VCO, modified by its timbre and the Twin Drive, filtered by Ripples and animated by Tides and Rampage. This is about the first minute of the sound bite. It is detailed in the patch notes below.
For the second part, a PWM wave is split into high and low frequency parts by a multi-mode filter and animated by Tides and Rampage envelopes. The sum of the two is then passed through Rings, then Beads in stereo mode.

Jay F. · The Machine (Part 2)

 

 

Patch of the first part of the track