PauTrons

Generation 1 (Number 44, 2013)

TicoTronics-derived concepts with a tiny footprint. The audio segment is a 4093-based cascading square-wave synth. The sequencer is the first four steps of a 4017 decade counter pinged by a 40106. The sequencer controls the synth, which is partially fed back into the sequencer for a bit of a shuffle when needed. RGB-LED’s help keep the time. There’s two outputs on this beast – one for control voltage that allows there box to interface with other modular interfaces. The other is standard audio output. Ala timeframe, this little number was built in November 2013 for the MEDIATE Art Group’s annual Silent Sonic fundraiser in San Francisco, Ca. For more info on MEDIATE and what they’re up to, check out their site. At the moment, Number 44 lives in Oakland, Ca.

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Generation 2 (2014-2016)

Another cottage-made, voltage-controlled addition to the VauxFlores family, we introduce the Pautron. Directly descended from Number 44, the Pautron combines the lo-fi chirps and crunches of a 4093-based cascading square-wave synth with a quick-and-dirty four-channel sequencer with two outputs – one providing a standard, stand-alone audio output and the other offering up a Control Voltage output that combines the voltage of each step with the chirps, glitches and wobbles of the synth section. The result – some relatively chaotic sounds and CV blasts from a moderately small footprint – not to mention a reasonable price-tag.

Oh, right, the name. Yeah, it’s named after my amazing wife Paulina Velazquez-Solis. She did the artwork for them and had a fairly large say in the design of the circuit – I mean, considering it’s kind of named after her, you would hope she would. Anyways, enjoy – feedback, etc – always welcome.

Gallery

Workshops (2015)

Moving into 2015 territory, which involved transitioning this build from perfboard to PCB as well as having it be featured in a workshop or two in DC and Costa Rica. Documentation of the CR workshop being kind of like this:

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Double Pautron (Number 52)

Aka the Double Pautron, because that’s basically what it is. The only difference between this guy and a standard Pautron, other there being two in one box is that each circuit also has a guitar-style tone control before the output and each unit is wired to an active mixer circuit before heading to the output. This particular number was on the bench from mid-2016 until the beginning of 2017 when it made its home in and around Boston, Mass.

Generation 3 (Number 52 Mk II, 2019-2020)

An update to this particular saga: At the end of 2018, I got an email out of the blue from an individual in Boston who had picked this guy up on Craigslist and was wondering what to make of it. After a couple messages back and forth, we decided to meet up on one of my trips to Boston and talk shop. All said, there were a couple tweaks that needed to be done to this guy, but other than that things were humming along quite properly. However, as I was on an EagleCAD kick at the moment, I felt like this was an appropriate challenge ala how to redesign this guy to fit in a much smaller package, as well as how to assemble it without using a half-mile of wire as well. Thus, the second rendition of this critter was born. 5 were made in total. One went to Pau, naturally. Another to Boston to the current owner of the original. Two are in Oakland and SF and one went to DC.