Flying Weevil

Really HIGH!

Thanks to the nut-case DanP!

Baby Mani Sleeping Soundly

Jules wrote to me recently with a wonderful picture - his new baby boy with his old Weevil (c.2006 I think).

"I cannot tell you how brilliant the weevil is in terms of helping this little baby sleep."

Heart-warming!

[My niece also had a lot of fun with a Postcard Weevil from the age of 1year6months and I've heard similar from a few people. I'm always a bit surprised that they seem fine when putting the touch-plates in their mouths because that can certainly give a tingly little shock!]

Postcards are changing..

Announcement of the newly updated PostcardWeevil 2009 version.
Pretty similar to the previous version but with the better dials as used on the BoardWeevil for a greatly improved overall feel. There's also an extra IC chip to update the minijack output level - its much more consistent than before (though, of course, maintaining all the PWeevil's sonic characteristics). Small extras also include battery polarity protection and they now come in a sturdy cardboard box with updated instruction sheet. The new one is slightly larger than before, measuring roughly 8cm square, and is built on a lovely blue PCB with gold-plated touch pads.
Hitting the shop in the next few days...

Weevils

We Three Weevils
Postcard // SYN1 // Board

SYN1 Batch

SYN1 Rear

New Website / New Modular / New Weevil

Time for some big shifts!

I've been hinting at behind-the-scenes work for the last few months and can finally reveal all.
There's been a complete website overhaul: www.bugbrand.co.uk
I have announced the new BugBrand Modular system
& the BoardWeevil is now creeping into production

***
Website - big thanks go to Both Design for a really excellent service! Nick Burning Origami has taken the open-source ZenCart system and customised it in a wonderful way.
This is a great step on from the old website (which I made myself) - much more integration and power! There's still quite a lot of info to port across from the old site, so keep checking over the coming weeks (and let me know if there's anything in particular that you'd like to see returned)
***
BugBrand Modular - this is, no word of a lie, super-damn-exciting!
Something like 6 months in development (which is actually pretty quick) to reach a good starting point covering full systems and a nice range of modules (there WILL be more soon too).
I'm not going to be making many systems at this early stage, but several modules will be coming out in 1/8" Frac format (compared with my standard 4mm banana Fracs)
I wouldn't have been able to do this without the help my small team of testers provided - I extend great thanks to them all!
Top bananas were: Mike MuffWiggler, Richard Quirk and Girilal Baars
1/8" testers were: E.Hurlburt and H.Munz
I've just put up some new YouTube demos and there's a section of audio files on the web too.
****
Board Weevil - the 1st batch is now out at a reduced price (limited quantities) just to use up my initial stash of PCBs. Within the next couple of weeks I'll be releasing the proper production version with changes to the screen-print (made lighter) and a few minor layout tweaks (more space around the dials). I hope to keep these in regular stock through the year!
****
Enjoy 2009!

BoardWeevil09 - first view

Here's the initial build of the new Weevil for 2009 ----> the BoardWeevil

Its like a souped-up Postcard and takes in some new design ideas I've been playing with through 2008. My aim has been to create something with the power of previous big Weevils, but which is more easily replicated (to try to meet demand...)

Some notes:

• Three Oscs with Lo/Hi Ranges with the usual Quasi-ringmod
  
• Oscs 2 & 3 can Sync to Osc1
• Osc1 also has a Light Sensor for pitching (switchable)
• Power starve for the Weevil-heart - this also has a switchable Light Sensor
• Balance Control fades between Ring1 (oscs1 & 2) and Ring2 (oscs 1 & 2 & 3)
• Simple Tone Control
• Output Level dial feeding a standard 1/4" jack
• Onboard Mini-Amp
• 14 body contacts (gold plated!)
• All Dials are 9mm Alps -- still compact, but much sturdier than the orig. Postcard ones.

Due for release in Jan09.

Postcards - now in Yellow

The PostcardWeevil has changed colour....

AudioWeevil08 batch1

Released today and gone in an unbelievably short time! (under 30mins)

What is this?

Update: Details of the new AudioWeevil08 are now on the Bug Sound-devices page

(click to view big)
More details soon....

Updating::::
Prototype work is just about done!
More details coming soon. I'm sure you can read so know what this is...!...

Weevil08 in Mexico played by Erica

Sent to me by Felipe Waller, this is an amazing and touching video of Erica playing a Weevil in Mexico. Thanks to Felipe and good luck to Erica!

Welcome Weevil08

Here's the test run of the new Weevil08 design. Its got a similar 3-osc heart to the PostcardWeevil, but the end results are quite different due to the more-involved circuitry with extra pitchings for the Oscs, filter control, etc..

These boxes can make some very rich drone tones along with all manner of crazed'n'burble Weevil sounds! Here's an mp3 demo - 6 minutes covering some of the sonic possibles, recorded straight into a soundcard with no processing...

These will be hitting the BugShop sometime in the next couple of weeks.

More Postcards

There's more changes coming in Postcard world..
Yesterday I picked up my first batch of professionally made PCBs for the new version PostcardWeevil. The circuit is pretty much the same as the recent Postcard07, but tweaked to more compact size and efficient layout due to the open possibilities of pro-pcbs. The touch-points also seem to be even more responsive and there are multitudes of wierdy sounds resident within the little circuit.

Three lo-fi oscillators, quasi-ring-modulated together.
Five control dials and nine body-contact points.
Power starvation to send the oscs into chaos.
Mini-amp / speaker for on the move sonics.
And mini-jack output for big PA squeal power noise.

These will be hitting the BugShop right before Christmas when I'm back from work in Holland.

AudioWeevil07 Production Run

The batch is born...
More details on the main BugBrand site

Solar Weevils - 1st Performances

SolarWeevils had their first airing at the recent Offload Festival in Bristol.

Just to recap the idea - the mini batteries are charged up during the day by the solar panels. The Weevils are silent during the day but when evening comes a light sensor kicks the sound circuit into life and the Weevils perform a dusk chorus until their power drains and they quieten for the night.

The design actually had to be changed at the last minute - tests with the SuperCapacitors from MUTR hadn't been so great, so a change was made to using miniature NiMH rechargeable batteries. These behave in a much more stable and long-lifed way and allowed the addition of LEDs driven by the 3 oscillators. Blinky, clickety, squeek-noise.

This project will be mutated sometime in the future, but there's not much sun around these parts at the moment so I reckon its hibernation time until spring.

Solar Weevils - prototyping

Here're some initial details of my new Solar Weevil project which is kindly supported by Middlesex University Teaching Resources (MUTR) - they're a really interesting shop selling lots of different materials / components - mainly focused on supplying education establishments, but also with some great bits for DIY tinkerers. They're supplying me with the solar panels (4.5v 100mA) and super capacitors (10F, 2.5v). Super capacitors are really interesting and I'll discuss their uses in more detail at a later date - here they're being used as little rechargeable batteries.

This is the other thread of solar work along with the modular stuff. What I've tried to do is make a system that stores energy during the day and then, using simple light sensors and transistor switches, switches a little Weevil synth circuit on when dusk arrives. As the light fails and the stored power is drained, the Weevil sounds move through different territories until starved of power.

These will be built in multiples and then hung from bushes at the Offload Festival - when dusk comes the swarms will burst into an evening chorus!

More details over the next few months!

Trio of Weevil07

Its taken a while but finally the Weevil07 cranks into (vague) production. Here's the first batch of three, freshly constructed. The design is updated a bit from the Weevil07 Prototype - bigger case (proto was too fiddly small), range tweaks, LEDs...

The range of sounds, compared with the Weevil06, is extreme and powerful:
- tweaked oscs now with pulse width adjustment for extra versatile sounds
- powerful analogue low-pass filter with resonance control
- more responsive touchplate - the touchy sounds you can get are super-chaos!

Full production should commence in July (though, judging by my recent form, times may slide somewhat).

New Weevil Prototype

So, finally, here's the new Weevil07 prototype. This proto is a bit of an experiment to try a few new techniques. I've not scheduled proper production yet, but will be doing a couple more prototypes shortly - these'll certainly be a little bit bigger as this design is a little too cramped - bigger touchplates, better knobs and spread a bit further apart. Must add the internal speaker too...

The New Stuff:::
Front Panel - this tries out some CNC ideas. Its made from an engraved PCB (tinned) with 9 contact plates and dial engraving around the knobs. I've chosen not to add labels for the controls.

Oscillators - again, like previous Weevils, you get two oscillators that are ring-modulated together for a bunch of audio chaos. There's a switch for low or hi freq and there's a new pulse width control for each osc - ranging from 50% sqr wave up to a very narrow pulse. The low power circuitry is a bit different too - again this just starves the oscillators, but behaves quite differently from the old designs.

Filter - this is much more powerful than other Weevil filters. Actually, its similar to what I used on the one-off Weevil Knievel - a 2pole resonant low pass filter - pretty gnarly with the resonance turned up.

Touchpoints - there's 3 points for each osc (two pitching and one pulse width) - the outside sets of touchpoints. The central 3 are - ringmod output, ground and filter mod (touch this to open up the filter)

So, as I say, general production is still a way off, especially with a bunch of projects coming up for me... Stay informed with updates via the BugBrand mailing list

& here's a new YouTube demo of it: