Boxcar averagers, used in vintage nuclear test equipment, inspired the latest creation from AI Synthesis. What you get is the AI250 BXR: it’s an oscillator, a voltage generator, and an audio mangler all in one. And AI’s site is also a pathway into DIY modules, even on tight budgets.
Here’s the idea: you connect an audio or CV signal, then process it against either an external signal (including audio) or the internal, variable waveshape oscillator. (That internal oscillator can also be played with volts/octave, and you can treat the whole module as a VCO if you choose.) The process replicates boxcar averagers’ real-time mathematical capabilities, intended to acquire and analyze fast signals.
Onboard functions:
- Multiple comparators/operations, set with the Function and Argument knobs ((maths!!)
- Input 1 and 2 level knobs (level 2 doubles as oscillator pitch)
- Audio rate and modulation rate/LFO modes
- Patchable wave shape and OSC shape knob
- Distortion
- Dual inputs (plus swap)
- CV control of argument and function
- Geiger gates!
- Separate main and oscillator outputs
Full details:
Depth: 39 mm
HP: 14
-V mA: 11mA
+V mA: 120 mA
https://aisynthesis.com/product/ai250-eurorack-bxr
Abraham Ingle, founder of AI synthesis—yeah, nothing to do with that other AI—produced this as the company’s first digital module. (It’s built on the excellent Daisy Patch platform.)
AI is more than just a module brand. Abraham talks about how he was originally obsessed with modular in college, “but could barely afford to eat.” Information is more plentiful now, but he’s also giving back, with some great beginner-friendly, budget-friendly, DIY-oriented guides:
In addition to providing step by step build instructions, schematics, and circuit explanations, the site also includes a guide for getting started in modular synthesis, and a series of DIY Guides, with information regarding how Resistors actually work, and how to integrate a $26 scope into your Eurorack system.
I wanted to know more about the Boxcar Averagers, of course. Abraham tells CDM that his BXR “is specifically inspired by the SR200 NIM series, especially the SR-235 Analog Processor.”
AI is based in Portland, Oregon, but the modules are headed to Chicagoland, USA for this month’s Knobcon, where the BXR will debut.
Looking forward to this one! And it’s time to dig into some of those other DIY resources… (I took a quick browse, and I approve!)
