Autonomous Bassline Generator

I was waiting to go play at a house party when the mailman delivered a highly anticipated package from Austin; an Autonomous Bassline Generator kit from 4ms. With only an hour to spare, I heated up the soldering iron, put it all together, and used it at the show. I must say I was impressed.

This tiny-mighty is only the size of a pack of cigarettes but it has an analog filter with LDR control, IR sync capability, and a pseudo-random (algorithmic) arpeggiater that makes for really fun improvisational playing. And the waveform/filter combination sounds pretty powerful despite the toy-like appearance.

I can't say enough good things about Eric Archer, the guy who designed it. His site has lots of other great ideas and some kits too (including one for a TR series bass drum circuit clone). His designs make me feel like some of the big manufacturers are asleep at the wheel (or at least out of touch with what the public wants). Why hasn't any of the big names produced anything this affordable, simple, and useful? It shows, I think, a different approach to music making. Even though it's a digital circuit, the ABG captures most of what musicians like about the experience of playing analog equipment.