Recently I've done some slightly different things with the Gnome Micro-Synthesizer. It involved modification of the trigger jack and the addition of the external input jack for the Gnome.

The black pin jack for the trigger was removed and in its place a stereo phone jack was inserted. The tip and ring were connected to each side of the trigger button on the front panel - the shield was automatically connected to ground. This means that if I wish to plug in an external trigger footswitch, it can be done using the tip and ring connections. If I want to use an external trigger voltage, I use the tip connection and ground with the ring connection unused (see figure C).

For some time I wanted to interface my electronic piano with the Gnome. This was not difficult, as I merely installed a regular mono phone jack with the shaft connection automatically to ground and the tip connection to where the outputs of the VCO are bussed. (Evidently, Dana's piano is capacitively coupled at the output. To be safe, you should install a coupling capacitor as described earlier. Once again, the audio bus is at TS-2, lug 3. — ed.)

This now means that I can use the VCF and VCA for my electronic piano. Some of the effects are weird, such as when the Gnome's VCF is set for the fastest possible repeated sweep. This will give the most spectacular effects, but pleasant effects are obtained by adjustment of any of the filter controls. Also, I have found that I can add slower attacks to my piano using the VCA and the external footswitch trigger that I've made.

That's about it, but it allows for a phenomenal amount of experimenting. Just a few cents worth of jacks, and it's done. Just thought I'd pass the idea along to share with others in case they're into this type of thing.

Our thanks to Craig Anderton and Dana Lee for their contributions. We've had many requests from our readers concerning external inputs for the Gnome. Perhaps you can find the answer to your special needs here. Good luck to all you wire freaks out in Gnome Mans Land!