This is a temporary web site whilst our new site is under construction.
About
Founded in 2003, INFECTION MUSIC produce electronic musical instruments for the discerning amateur and professional musician in need of quirky, fun, interesting and dynamic tools for use either in the recording studio or out on the road.
The company quickly established a reputation for excellence and gained immediate recognition by winning the Best Start-up Company in the North-East of England under the UK Government's E-Commerce Awards.
After a prolonged period away from manufacturing, we're now embarking on a new set of projects, which we hope will be of interest to a new generation of musicians.
Past Products
Our past products include the highly regarded ZEIT and ATEM step sequencers. Only a very limited number of these sixteen step, eight channel sequencers were ever produced. However, we're developing a new CPU board that will restore functionality to failed units and deliver a whole series of new and exciting features twenty years on.
New products
We're developing a new series of step sequencers, a small number of MIDI controllers, two desktop synthesiser modules and a range of Eurorack modules.
News
03-Jun-21 : New Machinery
Our new CNC Machine arrived earlier in the week.
The Sainsmart 3018 Prover is a well-specified entry level machine acquired so that we can learn the basics of CNC machining without breaking the bank. So far, we're very impressed with the build quality, which is astonishing given the price point (just £300).
We're hoping that this machine will speed up the production of small run and prototype front panels, which are currently a major bottleneck in our development cycle. Due to the COVID restrictions in place at our usual supplier, it's taking between six and eight weeks to get even the smallest of our Eurorack panels turned around. The problem is compounded by similar delays at the Print House that does all of our front panel printing.
As ever, there's a learning curve and I'm presently figuring out how to convert my mechanical drawings into G-Code that will generate the shapes and profiles we want. There's a whole new CNC router terminology to learn. Single flutes. Double flutes. Step Size. Feed Rates. It's amazing stuff.
24-May-21 : The Eurorack Bug Continued
I've made a lot of progress in the Eurorack project - the first four of five modules are working although my noise generator resolutely refuses to make much noise. I'm still exploring that one. Those featured are a collection of rather basic bread-and-butter modules designed to get the full system in a workable state and to establish a good workflow before we commit large amounts of cash to the bigger and more complex designs. The modules are:
1. Quad CV generator
2. Quad Input CV / Audio Mixer
3. LFO with range, rate, waveform and level controls
4. Dual three-output Buffered Multis
The PSU is a Befaco Lunch Bus. It's robust enough to withstand a lot of abuse. Thoroughly recommended.
Next up, a CEM 3340 oscillator core and an ARP White Face VCF, courtesy of Frequency Central.
Anyway, I'm a happy man. I'm still loving this.
Better still, we have our first sale. Yeah, you read that right. We have a sale.
It's been a while, David
25-Mar-21 : The Eurorack Bug
I've been well and truly bitten by the Eurorack Bug.
To make progress on modernising and extending the capabilities of our range of hardware sequencers, I set about teaching myself all of the analogue electronics I've forgotten since I left university, and that rabbit hole led to another rabbit hole, and then another, and then another.
The end result? I'm a happy man. I'm loving this. Expect some news shortly...
Cheers, David
05-Jan-21 : Customer Survey January 2021
Day #2 back in the old job. Still feels a bit weird.
In an effort to engage with potential customers, we've put together a short Customer Survey. Have a look. Fill it in. Shouldn't take more than a minute to complete.
No spam. No prize draws. No gimicks. Help us to help you.
So... here we are again. My first day back in the old job. Feels a bit weird, actually.
Anyway, I'm right into the thick of it, fixing broken code and generally kicking a number of hardware projects back into life. The first problem is actually remembering where I was with so many of these instruments. I last looked at Echo in August. I last switched on Haydn in March. My ZEIT prototype flickered into life slowly and... some of it comes flooding back. Not all but some.
As expected, our time management system, TIM, fell over. It's always had trouble understanding exactly when the first week of the year starts and TIM has recorded that I was missing without permission for most of last week. Fixing TIM is easy but... Lord above, it's remarkable (and embarrassing) how much PHP you forget in a year.
I've added a contact form to this web page so that customers can talk to a human being again. Jenny Lawson will handle customer feedback from now on. Customer Support hours are (for the time being) Monday - Thursday : 0830 - 1730, Friday : 0830 - 1330. The customer support office is closed Saturday and Sunday, and all major holidays.
What are we developing? These are our major interests:
1. Generative Music
2. Imagined Music
3. DSP-based Eurorack Synthesis modules
4. Any device able to locate my spectacles
16-Dec-20 : Echo Synthesiser
This is a slightly updated version of a demonstration video we released earlier in the year to show off some of the progress we'd made with the Echo Synthesiser project.
At the moment, Echo is a small, three oscillator VA monosynth and the video shows off some of the features already in place. The filter response is good but not perfect - I still can't get it to self-oscillate. The effects section works nicely with Flanger, Bitcrusher, Delay and reverb all sounding pretty sweet. External control via MIDI CC works well. Other features are planned including a jump to four note polyphony, an improved modulation matrix and a wider range of filters. Early days but we're incredibly pleased with this little beast. The bottom end really does shake the windows.
This version is just the bare PCB. We're working on a desktop enclosure. A kit form is also planned.
I'll get back to developing Echo in the New Year.
03-Dec-20 : A Fresh Start
This is a temporary web site. It's here because we've been away from manufacturing for a very long time and we need to reassess what we're doing and how we're doing it.
We're fully committed to resurrecting Infection Music in 2021 and beyond. No more distractions. No more side projects. No more teaching. No more tutoring. Just music and synths, and that's it.
We already have a small number of potential products on the test bench and, now that we're free of some past commitments, we'll crank those projects up a notch and see where they go.
Interested? Bookmark the web page and come back in a little while.
You can contact Customer Services using the form below.
Please note that Customer Support hours are (for the time being) Monday - Thursday : 0830 - 1730, Friday : 0830 - 1330.
The Customer Support Office is closed Saturday and Sunday, and all major holidays.
