CIRCUIT BENT FM-3 GRISTLEISM
The Gristleism is a LO-FI audio loop player from the designers of the Buddha machine FM3. There are 13 audio loops based on samples of the electronic group TROBBING GRISTLE. The unit comes with a pitch range control which can easily be increased to slightly higher (faster) and a lot lot lower (lower). I have placed the pitch and volume controls on to the front of the unit for easier control. The speaker is taken from a Furby and the loop advance button is on the front of the speaker this made more room inside for the added pots and switches. I have also added LDR (Light Dependant Resistor) light control the pitch (brighter light = higher pitch and vice versa) to create a sort of optical ambient theremin.

The increased pitch range mod is easy to implement. The original pitch control VR2 (top left of circuit board) has been removed. On my unit VR2 measured 500k simply replacing this with a 1meg pot would increase the low range a lot but does not allow you to increase the pitch. The volume pot can be replaced with a 1k or 10k pot with an on/off switch.

Because the Gristleism Uses such low sample rates for the audio loops adding a low pass filter can produce further sonic possibilities. the filter can be used to either cut out some of the higher harmonics of the loop and give a more rounded softer sound or if the filter has resonance it can be used to create more interesting sonic loops. Below is a Gristliesm with a 12db per octave low pass / band pass filter with cut-off and resonance control.
Gristleism
Below is the schematic for the filter design, as it needs a 9v supply i have included a section to produce the 3v to power the Gristliesm This filter also would work well on both the Buddha machines.
12db-Filter
Quantity Part
1
Lm13700 op-amp
1
100k pot linear
1
47k pot linear
6
20k resistor
4
4k7 resistor
4
1k resistor
1
12k resistor
1
47k resistor
1
33k resistor
2
100uf electrolytic caps
2
1uf poly caps
2
1nf poly caps
1
SPDT toggle switch
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