Tamagatchi Mannaro: DIY Soundbox Based on Forrest Mims Atari Punk Console
The Atari Punk Console is one of DIY sonic electronics’ all-time greatest hits. Designed by Forrest M. Mims III — the brilliant electronics artist and engineer whose hand-drawn books were once promoted in Radio Shack — the “Stepped Tone Generator” as it was originally called is an excellent circuit for first-timers or those wanting something simple and adaptable. You can read up on the APC over on Wikipedia, with some good links to what the circuit does.
The Cracklebox is, similarly, a “greatest hit” of electrical noisemaking, a simple, self-contained synthesizer with speakers.
Put them together and add some comic art, and you’ve got the creation you see above, created by Massimiliano Farnea, aka maxfarnea. It’s been watching over the site from the CDM Flickr pool (which has various other stuff like this, as does the pool for our friends at MAKE and some other Flickr pools). So I had to know more. Here’s a quick preview from its creator — and the story behind that fantastic illustration:
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Our friend James Grahame (of
I couldn’t be more proud to share this one: over a year in the making, my book Real World Digital Audio is now hitting shelves:
Looking for gifts for others, or yourself? Or a way to drop hints about what you want? CDM is here to help. Next up for digital musicians ready to give and receive: music with a conscience, and books worth reading, many suitable as stocking stuffers.


Sorry to disappoint you, but Real World Digital Audio will not be a new MTV reality show where participants live together in a boozed-up recording studio for a few months and have “issues” with their fellow audio engineers. Though I’m still holding out hope for that.




