Synthetase's World of Nerd - Articles

4-Way Stereo Input Selector

2026-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

I created this 4-way stereo input selector module becuase I needed an analogue stereo input selector for a couple of audio projects I had in mind.

Small Power Amplifier Build

2025-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

I built this power amplifier recently for a friend of mine. It’s a “moderate power” ESP P3A that’s intended to drive a pair of bookshelf speakers.

Stereo RCA breakout box

2023-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

I’ve built quite a few amplifiers over the years and every time I get to the point of testing them, I always end up having to hack together some kind of RCA-to-rat’s-nest interface (including a level control) so I can connect a source like a CD player into the jumble of boards and wires sitting on my bench that constitutes the device under test. But no longer!

Nintendo Switch Re-Skin

2022-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

When I was a kid, I had a Gameboy Color in Atomic Purple. I loved that thing to death and I always thought the translucent case was the coolest thing ever, so when I noticed people on ebay selling custom shells for the Switch, I just had to have one.

Death of Zen Class A Headphone Amplifier

2021-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

Having never listened to a class A amplifier before, and with nothing better to do during the long Covid shutdown, I thought it might be nice to build one. The circuit is another of Rod Elliott’s designs: the low-power headphone variant of the “Death of Zen” class A power amp. There’s quite a bit of history to this circuit, which Rod explains in the original project article. It’s well worth a read if you’re at all curious about the design decisions or class A in general.

Yamaha CDX-397 Repair

2021-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Recently, one of the channels in my Yamaha CDX-397 CD player died. After disconnecting the working channel from the amplifier and turning up the volume, I could still hear faint music, so clearly something was still working. Time to investigate!

Setting up a Test Matrix

2020-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

This post is the text version of a talk I gave at the Melbourne Ruby meet-up earlier this year. I thought some people would prefer the information presented in plain text over the video. For anyone interested, I’ve embedded the video below.

has_protected_token

2019-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

I recently released has_protected_token to the world. It’s my first ever Ruby gem and I’m pretty happy with it.

OpenSSL and Ruby build failures

2019-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

I came across the following error while trying to install an old version of Ruby recently:

On Learning New Things

2019-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

I recently had occasion to write a little C code. This is something I haven’t done since around 2005 and it meant I had to go back and re-learn a lot of the basics before I could tackle the task at hand. It got me thinking about my approach to learning and why I do things the way I do.