DMX Krew's Opal Rhythm Computer

Ed Upton aka DMX Krew had a beloved (and rare) RSF SD140 stolen, and instead of trawling the second hand spaces for a costly replacement, he decided to build his own using the Bela Platform. Designing the software in Pure Data, he build his own version of the seminal Drum Machine which was originally recommended to him by Aphex Twin. The Bela Blog features a detailed story with pictures, here's an excerpt:

Taking the plunge with Pure Data
I knew nothing about programming or electronics but it sounded almost like something I could manage if I was prepared to be very patient. I had done some of my own visuals for my live shows using Quartz Composer, and Pure Data seemed to be a similar graphical / dataflow kind of programming environment that I thought I might be able to learn. I decided to download Pure Data and see if I could get the hang of it. If I had some success then I would support the Kickstarter and order a Bela & BBB.

The first few days with PD were very very slow and I almost gave up. Every sentence I read of the online guides assumed programming knowledge that I didn't have. I had to Google almost every term I came across just to understand the absolute basics of how to get started. However, once I had a grasp of the concepts, I looked at some drum machine examples others had made and started adapting things to make my own. The PD forums were extremely helpful both at the beginning and throughout my journey. My first drum machine in PD used the basic graphic interface to allow 808-style grid programming of a few DMX sounds. It was ugly and simplistic but it worked. I added a couple of features like tuning of samples, accent levels for each sound, and pattern swing, and suddenly it began to sound pretty good!

Here's the blog post in full. Thevideo explains how he did it more concisesly:

A one-of-a-kind drum machine, made from scratch. Best known as DMX Krew, Ed Upton has been making acid, electro and IDM-laced bangers since the early '90s for some of the underground's best-loved labels, including Aphex Twin's Rephlex, Legowelt's Strange Life and, more recently, Hypercolour.

When Upton's favorite drum machine – an ultra rare RSF SD140 – was stolen and he couldn't find another one, he learned how to solder and designed and built his own. The Opal Rhythm Computor is a drum machine and sampler filled with sounds from his Roland Alpha Juno synth that doesn't look or sound like anything you can buy in a store.

Here's a quick view of the vintage gear in his studio
 

And some of his most treasured B-Sides:

You'll find his Bandcamp here: https://dmxkrew.bandcamp.com/album/strange-directions

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