I was immediately captivated by the sound and the possibilities of the Ambika but quickly frustrated by not having stereo outputs like the CODE, OB-X and Co., PPG… With the separate outputs and a mixer you can get it but it’s a bit frustrating to use 6 entries of a mixer desk for it.
So I designed a small mixing module with adjustable spacing voice (like on the ppg). With that the Ambika becomes a killer especially in pad sound.
Initially I did this mod only for me. So, please, forgive me the draft aspect of the documentation but I do not really have the motivation (and the time) to finalyse or to develop the small pcb that will fit well with … Basically I made the prototype . Feel free to make this mod more accessible.
I designed this mod to be reversible and included the circuit in the case of the Ambika. Replaced the volume knob for adjust the spacing of the voices and I used the outputs 5 and 6 for the output L-R.
This mod will fit perfectly with the upcoming Ambika voices allocation mod from Olivier
I was wondering if anyone else has tried this mod? I think I’m going to try it in the next few weeks but as the instructions are in French and my only experiences with DIY/modding are the several shruthis/anushris/ambika I have built, I am not sure if I would be interpreting the schematics properly. I really dont want to kill my Ambika!
Yes curious to hear more about this. Ambika comes alive with all 6 voices being summed in an analog mixer rather than the mix out on the synth. But I also would rather not lose 6 inputs on my mixer!
I achieved the same mod as above but with just soldering 2 3to1 mono jack cables. The outputs of the Ambika already have an output resistor in them so you’ll get a simple passive summer.
Then it just takes 2 mono channels on your mixer and you can set the with via the pan on the mixer.
@shiftr, could you explain? I googled 3to1 mono jack cause I’ve only seen 2to1, and I can’t find anything that resembles 3to1, but I’m no electronics expert. What am I not getting here?
hum that’s interesting,
I don’t know why but I thought that Xewin mod would pan voices throughout the stereo stage somehow like:
1:100%left, 3:70%left, 5:40%left, 2:100%right, 4:70%right, 6:40%right
And as I understand from your discussion above, the left voices all have the same pan percentage, same for the right voices ?
so I guess the jacks solution might be more easy to do, cause i’d rather keep the volume knob, my berhinger copy of Dimension C doesn’t like the 100% hot signal from the ambika…
i am going to give this passive summer a try sounds way cool.
small question though, i noticed the individual outputs of the ambika are quite hot for my motu. can i just solder a resistor on to lower the volume ? which value would lower the sound by 12 or 24db for example ?
also shall one for each of the 3 outputs ? or common one on the ground ?
@shiftr, ah, I see. but I know nothing about making electronics, how would I make this on my own?instructions need to be reaaaal simple, but this sounds like a great, useful hack, so please explain more
i see the outputs are fitted with a 470 ohm resistor internally, could it be that plugging the individual outs on normal line vs high-Z input would result in the different level ? if so that could be the solution to my problem i tried on high-Z ones, i think. will try on the line inputs.
also, as this would be an ad-hoc cable just made to work with my motu and ambika, i dont mind doing a bit of fiddling to find an ok-ish value. as long as it does not destroy the sound of course.
if my interface is a motu and that i plug on a normal input, what would be good set of values to start experimenting ?
i could also go on the high-Z input if that help to guess a approximative good initial value to start experimenting.
i suppose i will start with low values and increase to see what fits
but if you have suggestions, feel free !
. Feel free to make this mod more accessible.
