Latest News
We got our panels in... and they look great. The Rotating Clock Divider and the Shuffling Clock Multiplier now have a consistent look, since they are somewhat incestuous relatives that love to plug into each other.
It's here! Available this month from Big City Music.
More info on the Shuffling Clock Multipler...
Just posted the Eurorack Swash manual... Download it here
Also coming out in the next week.... Eurorack Atoner v1.1...
..And Shuffling Clock Multipliers!!
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Handmade Music Austin will be giving workshops at MakerFaire in San Mateo May 22-23. We'll be building Autonomous Bassline Generators, as well as Bleeplab's Nebulaphones, and some beginner kits too!
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Handmade Music Austin will be giving workshops at BentFestival 2010 in NYC on Saturday 4/24 at 4pm. I'll be showing how to make the SimSam2 (noisy wavetable sampler), and Eric Archer will do the Mini Space Rocker (thumb drum).
via matrixsynth

Gear Gas Store is now offering assembled versions of the Autonomous Bassline Generator. You can check them out here:
The beta version is out for review!
The Shuffle effect pushes certain beats ahead in time, keeping the others on-beat. CV Shuffle controls which beats are shuffled (every other beat, every 3rd beat, the first "n" beats, etc...), and CV Slippage controls how much the beats are moved (from on-beat to just before the next beat).
The Skip effect drops beats out, creating more cool beat patterns.
CV Pulse Width goes from short triggers to wide gates.
CV Rotate is borrowed from the Rotating Clock Divider. This allows you to get the odd divisions (x3, x5, x7, etc...)
CV controled range switching lets you speed it up with a CV gate signal (or a manual switch).
And there's a Resync input too!
The jacks are arranged so that some are shuffled/skipped and others are "straight". This allows for a reference beat to be played along with a syncopated version.
In Frac Rac format... via MATRIXSYNTH via Youtube via wonkythomas
The "voice" here is two Blacet VCOs VC Waveforms, which are crossfaded, sometimes at audio rate, being sequenced by a combination of 2 Binary Zones, a Mini-Wave w/ scale quantizer & a Doepfer 156 Dual Quantizer - a little OTT.
The RCD takes the main clock (MFB Dual LFO squarewave) & spits pulses every which way. The 8008 is being triggered by a bunch of RCD outs run thru the Doepfer 152 sequential switch section.
Metalbox Dual AD is also getting triggered by the RCD & is CVing the CGS Wave Multiplier.
Also performing after the workshops are DEREK JOHNSON/ANDREW SENNA/PAPER CLOUD/DUST CONGRESS.
All this presented by the Church of the Friendly Ghost!
Austin's new music electronics store is open for business providing repair, restoration, education, consultation and an array of vintage musical instruments. Come celebrate with us, check out the store, and enjoy live performances by some of Austin's finest synthesizer bands.
When: Saturday February 27th, 2010: 7PM-2AM
Location: Switched On 1111 E 11th St & Victory Grill
Cost: Free
4ms will be showing some of our latest eurorack modular gear and pedals.
Jason Nanna built a totally awesome Bend Matrix with dual MT8816 switching chips (one for a bent video fx processor, one sequencing an atari)... with a WTPA sampler in there too...!
The Shuffling Clock Multiplier from 4ms is the speedy cousin of the Rotating Clock Divider. The SCM has inputs for CV Rotate and CV Shuffle, which are connected in this video to the X and Y outputs of a joystick controller. In normal mode, the SCM outputs 8 clock signals that are exactly 1-8 times faster than the clock input (which is coming from a tap tempo module in this video).
The CV Shuffle drops beats out, dropping more pulses as more CV is applied. So at 0V there are no beats dropped, e.g. on the x8 jack there's a steady 1/8 note pulse. At 1V some notes drop out, e.g. we may get three 1/8 notes followed by two rests and then three more 1/8 notes, and this pattern repeats each measure. At maximum CV input we get only the down beat (first note of the measure)
The CV Rotate works like it does on the RCD (applying a CV routes the clock outputs to different jacks).
The sounds are generated by an EH Space Drum, an Andromeda mkII snare module, and a bass drum module by Jeannot
More to come!!
An alpha version of a 4HP Tap Tempo Eurorack module triggering a drum module. At the end of the video a 4ms Shuffling Clock Multiplier beta version (which has a tap tempo clock, too) is running between the tap tempo module and the drum module. These two tap tempo clocks in series create a roll effect that resolves on the downbeat...
The Tap Tempo module has a tap button that can set the tempo and/or output direct pulses. A 3-position switch selects the mode:
-Down position: tap button directly outputs pulses (no internal clock)
-Middle position: tap button sets tempo of internal clock
-Up position: internal clock is locked in tempo, tap button outputs additional pulses
The SimSam is a weird effect/noisemaker that Dann designed for the beginner's class at Handmade Music Austin. For the advanced class we built a Nebulophone, by Dr. Bleep
Watch the video of the SimSam
4ms at NAMM 2010:
4ms Rotating Clock Divider Only Sequence by ibdk
Now available in Eurorack format: a Rotating Clock Divider. More info here.

4ms Pedals and Eric Archer teamed up to present an interactive bass&beats installation at the Hope Center last night in Austin, TX. There were four boards around a table, each board had three Andromeda MK analog drum machines and one Autonomous Bassline Generator. Each board also had four LEDacle bendy-light tentacles courtesy of Bleeplabs, which could be shone on the photocells to sweep the filter sounds. Each device kept in time with an IR beam, and a MIDI clock ran between each board to bridge Nathan Wooster's MIDI-IR Sync devices. It was packed!!
We'll break it out again at the next Handmade Music Austin event Dec. 20 at the Salvage Vanguard Theater.
...on another note, the eurorack clock divider module is nearing completion. CV Rest, CV Roll jack rolls the divide amount across the jacks. Jumpers in the back select 8/16/32/64 maximum divide amount... Can you dance to 13 over 7 on a 6-beat reset?

The Austinist interviewed Dann Green about the 4ms studio. Listen to it here: Radio interview
Our studio is open for the East Austin Studio Tour, so come and see our stuff! We'll have instruments and noisemakers out for your playing pleasure on Saturday 11/14, Saturday 11/21, and Sunday 11/22, from 10am - 5pm. On Sunday 11/15 we will be doing a workshop at the Salvage Vanguard Theater at 4pm with Handmade Music AustinFriday Nov 20 at 8pm
4704 E Cesar Chavez, Austin TX
4ms Pedals will sail down your inner ear's vortex with an OctoPhonic surround-sound-and-light experience guaranteed to unclog your karmatic hairballs and give your inner yogi an alpha-wave electro-shock. Free show during the East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.)
Order one on our kits page
We just finished the first small batch of Atoner Eurorack modules. They work great in this format, the Atoner was meant to be a modular piece: this is no hack of a stompbox, it's a versatile processor for CV and audio signals. Pitch shifting/jumping, poly-rhythmic clock generation, bit crunch distortion, harmonic extraction...Read the handy User's Guide
Available at Big City Music!

ILAB interviews Dann Green at the 5th Annual Austin Analogue Synthesizer Party, over a cup o'JoyToy. Read the blog post here
First day of Handmade Music Austin is Sunday October 18 at the Salvage Vanguard Theater (Austin, TX). The advanced class will be building a tiny drum machine, and there will also be a free beginners class and open workbench time. At the end of the evening is a jam with all the stuff we built!
For an upcoming workshop series, we're making this autonomous bassline synthesizer. Should be fun and easy-cheap project. They can talk to each other, as well as other modules (drum, lead) over an early version of HAIRNET, an IR protocol (Hairnet Audio InfraRed NETwork) ;)
More info soon re: the workshop....
Preview photo of the upcoming batch of Eurorack noise swashes... Version 1.1 are more chaotic than ever! Available soon from Big City Music(edit: new new photo!)
New music from 22tape using the Bend Matrix! Soundclips are on the Bend Matrix gallery... and see his setup here.
From 22tape:
I use the BM as an audio, cv and midi router/sequencer. I plug in my fx using the dual 4x4 mode. I always have active the patch point of the external audio source 'in'. I'll also always have active a desigated 'out' patch point. Then, with the signal 'in' and 'out' always activated, I'll use the random patch playback so to capture all of the wonderful random sounds that result. I love the 'layer' functionality. Especially being able to use it 'live'!
Not only is the BM great for audio routing, I also plug in my Moog delay and Doepfer BBD delay's CV's into the BM-- so, during a random sequence, when a connection is made to the jack that corresponds to the CV's, those CV parameters are modulated at audio rate-- which results in wicked rythmic automation.
I also plan on using the BM to automate my Holiest Grail via MIDI. I'll assign certain buttons on the matrix to send MIDI CC numbers that correspond to the Holiest Grail's parameters.
Another fun thing-- if you have an audio software program that has a matrix module, you can setup, via MIDI, the BM to control the the software matrix module. So, whatever your twisted mind can create with a software matrix module-- you can control it with the BM!
Analogue Haven now stocks the Bend Matrix. Both the stock model, and a version with Trigger inputs and Photocells are available. Banana jacks or 1/8" models. Get one while they last!
Just posted a tech-demo/proof-of-concept video of a 4x4 full color LED button matrix. Watch the video here.
The button pads are from Sparkfun, and the LEDs are driven like the Peggy 2 but with common-cathode RBG LEDs instead of discrete LEDs. One STP16 chip can drive up to 8x8 RBG LEDs (192 LED elements). The buttons are scanned with a neat hack I figured out using the STP16 both as a constant current sink and a voltage output in such a way that only 4 extra pins are used on the microcontroller to read up to an 8x8 matrix.
We just finished a limited run of Euro-rack format Noise Swashes, available at Big City Music. Tweaked for constant self-oscillating chaotic insanity... CV input for modulating Swash (-5V to 5V), and bi-directional CV In/Out for "mood". Swash knob is handmade glass, and the pot is a Bournes 10-turn for micro-tuning your noise loop.
We're demoing the Bend Matrix in Los Angeles, Friday June 26. More details...
Il progetto Noise Collective has interviewed Dann of 4ms Pedals on Noisecollective.it. It's in Italian!
Also published in audiovideomusic volume 11
Three new videos posted today, demonstrating the MIDI Triwave Picogenerator. Two show the MIDI Triwave with the Bend Matrix as a sequencer controller, and one is with a standard keyboard as a controller.
Triwave videos
Coming to Austin for SXSW? Using 4ms gear or interested in checking out the latest toys on our table? Call or email to arrange a tour, or just let us know when and where you're playing.
We will be hosting a circuit bending workshop at South by Southwest: Thursday 3/19 and Friday 3/20 from 2pm-4pm. Please RSVP.
Announcing the MIDI Triwave! Turn your Triwave into a lo-fi two-voice duophonic synth, controlled by any MIDI source (keyboard, laptop, drum machine, Bend Matrix...) MIDI "Note" commands control the pitch and also trigger the channels on. MIDI CC commands control LFO Speed (your choice of CC#s). MIDI functionality can be enabled on either or both tone channels with the flip switches. Demonstration video coming soon!
MIDI Mod can be ordered with a Works Triwave or added to most existing Works Triwaves.
The big move: Austin in 2009.
We're leaving our warehouse studio in St Louis and moving the shop to Austin, TX. If you're in Austin or nearby, give us a shout out, we'll be the new guys in town! Look for our opening party in January...
The new Mondo Nocto is out: version II has an extra Pulse speed (Very Slow) and Tone knob (bass/treble mix). New low price, too, as we ordered a run of nice pc boards for these, so our costs and assembly time went down.
Forget sleep, the Bend Matrix is officially released and available!
Bend Matrix user manual:
New sound clips for the Stereo Panneur demonstrating the basic functions of the pedal. Gallery...
The latest from 4ms...
4ms Pedals will be premiering the Bend Matrix in a sound&light installation piece entitled
"Inside the Dreaming Machine", at the FUSEBOX festival in Austin, TX at the Pump Project, 702 Shady Ln, Austin, TX.
April 26th-27th @ 1:00-6:00pm: Open house
April 28th-May 2nd @ 5:00-7:00pm: Open house
April 30th @ 8:00pm: Performance
May 3rd @ 2pm: Circuit bending workshop
May 3rd, 2pm at the Pump Project, 702 Shady Ln, Austin, TX
The Nocto Loco kit has just been released!
It's ALIVE! The Bend Matrix 2.0 has been built and it's amazing... Kickoff party in STL will be announced soon!More information about Bend Matrix (wiki)
Bend Matrix 2.1 will have a dual 4x4 matrix, twice the connectivity of the Bend Matrix 2.0. This will be the first kit-friendly version... more details soon!
Phaseur, Swash, and Trwiave kits now available with pro double-sided silkscreened "green" board.
Slim box slips in your pocket without knobs or switches. Battery powered... a side project based on the Fuzz Jade.
Welcome, our newest mod to our newest effect... The Mondo adds independent level controls for everything. Mix in any amount of each Octave (1, 2, 3), and each Pulse Speed (fast, medium, slow), and Unity. Brings out all new (dis)harmonies and (off)beats.
Our first production run sold out! Second run of Nocto Locos is almost complete, expect shipment by Feb 16th.
Back to basics... we've re-vamped the noise swash board and put it in the classic steel 4" square boxes. Each will be decorated in a unique post-industrial fashion.
We're building batches of a delay based on the PT2399 chip for Donnerbox. These will be sold through Donnerbox, not as 4ms Pedals. There's two variations: an LFO modulated version, and a stompable dual Time/Echo-level version. about 4ms Pedals ... contact ... news ... pedals ... custom ... kits ... gallery ... dealers ... for sale ... barter list