#modulation circuitry

[sw5w]

Qui-Gon's Lightsaber

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 02:04:11

[tinydefector]

Is it too much to ask for a follow-up on the Human' Effects fic?

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This is more just some more information of headcanons I have and how I like writing the bots. So I hope you enjoy it. This one's more on the differences and similarities between humans and Cybertronians.

Word count: 2.5k

Warning: mentions of reproduction, and exploration of body's. Valveplug.

__________

So this is just a continuation for Human effects. This one also delves into some more information on biological, cultural and different frames and how they interact with each other, humans and other organic Creatures. 

Biological Humans and Cybertronians are vastly different even with quite a few similarities. 

Sparklings and children 

There is a very big difference in the body function of Humans and Cybertronians. Size for one but also Organic DNA and CNA. There are many things which can Line up with the other species but also function very differently 

Such as. 

structure and organ comparison 

Plating - skin

Helm - head

Processor, brain module - brain 

Faceplate- face

Audio Receptors, Audials, Receptor orifices - ears 

Nasal ridge, enstril, olfactory sensors- nose

Optical ridge - eyebrows

Optics, visors  - eyes and glasses sometimes visors are used as optics

Intake- mouth, throat or a breath. 

Denta, denta plating- teeth 

Glossa- tongue 

Mandibles (insecticons) - jaw 

Vocalizer- voice box 

Chin or chin plating are the same 

Chestplate, chassis- chest and higher stomach (abs area) 

Fuel tanks- stomach. 

Backplate, back struts, binary system,  bipedalism - back and spine, spinal cord. 

Servos and digits - Hands and fingers 

Sounder plating - shoulder blades 

Pede - feet 

pump and Spark - heart and soul 

Energon lines - arrays veins. 

Vents - lungs, breath. 

Pelvic plate - pelvis

Aft, tailpipe, skid plate- butt

Interface panel - covered reproduction organs

Spike - penis 

Value - vagina 

Carrier chamber, Gestation chamber - womb

Helm and head

With the fact one is filled with circuitry, coding and wires and the other is filled with flesh, fluid and other organic matter. Humans' heads are covered in hair most times. And even those who aren't their head Is still rather soft and smooth. And the bots love playing with human hair and facial hair when they are allowed too. 

It also leads to humans giving the bots head scratches, and it's something so man you the bots had never thought of and they love it. They will lay their head in their human lap and just enjoy the gentle touches to their Finial, audials, and helm crest. It becomes. Causal thing of the humans using soft little microfiber cloths to clean out dust and dirt from the small crevices in the bots Plating. Head pats and scratches really becomes something that Cybertronians love alot and it makes a lot of humans consider the bots large cats.

Faceplate and Faces. 

One of the things which is very different between humans and Cybertronians is how they show affection to each other. Cybertronians do a thing called a helm hold. Where they each hold their partner's helm in their servos while looking into each other's optics, it's how they show how much they care, because they are focusing only on that one person. And it means alot more after the war, to focus all your attention on just one bots servos shows a lot of trust, affection and love for someone.  

While humans have Hugging, kissing. So the bots are rather confused the first time they are hugged, tensing up not wanting to hurt their human. And they nearly short circuit when the human kisses them it's more out of fear. 

“Do you know how dangerous that is! What if I crushed you!” The bot hisses in panic while looking at their lover. “not to mention the fact that is my Energon Intake! Do you know what energon can do to Humans!” It nearly sends the bot into meltdowns as they hold their lover's face staring into their eyes trying to show them how much they love and care for them. It would break their spark if they accidentally hurt them. 

“it's called a Kiss, I was kissing you” the human tries to explain, their hands cupping around their bots servos. 

“a kiss?” the bot inquired. “Yea I'm sorry if you didn't want it, it's just I thought we were in that part of our relationship” the human begins rambling out of anxiety thinking they had messed up. In the end they both settle for a small gesture in-between. Pressing their head and helm, together as they cradle the other. 

Eventually they will come around to accepting kisses but it is only for very special occasions. Because the bot will make sure that there isn't a trace of energon in their system for their partner's safety. Over time it becomes them pressing soft kisses to each other's noses. 

Skin and Plating 

These are all the parts which somewhat are similar to humans, but also work vastly different than the human body does. So with this listed here are many of the things that vary with the similarities. 

Plating and skin are vastly different due to one being metal and the other being flesh, it's one of the things a lot of the Cybertronians love is how soft Human skin is. They really enjoy just fondling their human companions, pulling their checks, and enjoying how their skin moves. How pliable, warm and squishy they are. Cybertronians finding out about human breasts really takes them by storm. 

“What are those?” the bot asks while pressing a finger to their breast feeling how soft and squishy they are. 

“breast, boobs, tits they have a lot of names” 

“What are they for?” The bot continues to just slowly play with them out of curiosity, not knowing what the human would need them for. 

“they are used for feeding babies, they fill with milk, it's not a constant thing and not everyone's do but they are for feeding babies.” the human tries to explain and it just leaves the bot shocked. 

“You're with Sparkling?” The bot asked as they began fussing over the human more, gently pressing their digits to the human's body more. 

“no, no I'm not pregnant!” They laugh out loud while rather embarrassed. “‘but wouldn't they deflate?” The bot shoots back as their digits begin needing the flesh which makes the humans sigh and lean into the touch. “human babe, don't have the same functions as you.” They tease softly.

 It ends up with one bot having their human lover back pressed to their Chassis. The bot's servos just cupped around their partners breast slowly massaging them as the human leans back just enjoying the feeling because it takes the weight off their back and the cool touch of the metal feels delightful against their skin. 

Heart and spark

The difference between a human heart and spark aren't that different at all. They both pump blood/energon to where it's needed, it's the life provider of the body. Each has a beat or pulse. And the said beat and pulse sounds different. A human's heart beat feels like a thump but to Cybertronians it's an echo. Each beat they can feel and see like A beating light. And they love how it feels laying against them, their spark will actually fall in tune With their heart beat as a way to calm the human.  While for humans a Cybertronians spark pulse feels like electricity dancing across their skin it's like the build up of static but it doesn't zap. The vibration of a spark is like energy building and releasing, the buzzing sound that just resonates through their body as they lay against their bot. 

olfactory sensors and nose

Unfortunately humans don't have the enhanced scent sensors that a lot of other species do, and Cybertronians have one for the most advanced ones, they don't just smell it but they can break down the chemical compound to its base and are able to tell humans emotions based on how they smell. It also leads to bots becoming rather touching with their lovers when they can smell their cycle. It also leads a lot of bots realising they have a breeding kink after being with a human, because the moment they can feel their partners change in hormones they are hovering. It becomes an even bigger thing when they smell the scent of a young spark, they feel the EM Field. 

carriers and pregnancy 

There is a major difference between human pregnancy and cybertronian pregnancy. Humans can only be born from reproduction.  a new spark can be formed in multiple ways. 

-Forged.  

-Cold construct. 

-split spark

- Sparked 

Forged new sparks are bots that are formed in hotspots across cybertron and on occasions sparklings can also be formed from these hot spots. 

Cold constructs are bots that have been made by others for a purpose and were originally classed as 2nd class citizens, miners or lower than other bots, 

Split Sparks made from splitting your spark into another form. It was very rare due to multiple laws being inplace against it. 

Sparklings were formed through spark merging with another and creating enough energy to form new lifeforms. A carrier would then have to host said spark in their Gestation chamber until the spark could grow its own protoform. Then from there they are moved into the carrier chamber where they learn off their carrier's coding, and also receive food, coding and personal information from their Sire via Transfluid. As sparklings are still not able to consume normal energon and it has to be processed down enough for the sparkling. (Similar to how humans breastfeed) from there once they are ready the sparkling will be ‘birthed’ and from their they will need to be carried in a spark chamber until they have fully developed but gives them time to learn the world around them but still have the safety of a parent to protect them. 

This leads the bots and humans to both be horrified at the differences of the others' reproduction. The bots are horrified over the fact a human's pelvis bone breaks just to birth a baby. But also the fact that humans can carry more than one child. They eventually watch a documentary over human birth; it makes a lot of bots short out and crash. 

Humans on the other hand are shocked over the time it takes for a bot to have a sparkling. 100 years is longer than a lot of humans ever live but it's how long it takes for the full process of a sparkling to be formed and born. That's without all the issues with CNA, temperature, spark energy, energon. A Lot of Cybertronian pregnancies don't make it to term due to these factors. 

So when by some chance a human gets pregnant by a Cybertronian it has the whole planet up in a tissy. Not just the fact of how genetically different they are but how it happened. The first human Cybertronian sparkling is a miracle watched by man and documented. And it turns out the human womb is actually the best possible hosting spot for the start of a sparkling, it's the perfect temperature, and it's not a temperature a lot of bots can keep their own frames. The human womb actually short cuts a lot of time over the birth Due to the sparkling Not needing to be shifted from one chamber to another. It comes down to being pregnant for 3 years. It's a long time for a human but it's decades Less than what it normally takes for a Cybertronian if they made it through the full progress. 

And when the sparkling is born it's discovered that the sparkling doesn't have any human traits, defects or appearance. Due to the human body mainly working as a host, the CNA and DNA don't mix when it comes to creating a sparkling but they work perfectly in sync When it comes to helping the sparkling grow. And it also turns out humans are able to sustain more than One sparkling. 

That also brings me to the function of spike and Valves. For Cybertronians spikes and Valves aren't how Sparklings are created, sparklings are created from two sparks merging together and creating enough energy for a sparkling but interface is needed to start the process of how they form. Sparkling needs Transfluid to begin and that is what Cybertronians use interfacing for outside of sharing memories, information and emotions. Most times Cybertronians interface for fun, feeling close, sharing information with a loved one, or to help feed a sparkling the necessary data, fluids and programming. 

so When a Cybertronian and human interface it has a lovely mix of a 50/ 50 chance of getting pregnant due to how the human and cybertronian heart and spark link in a frequency that is almost essential Spark merging. And a human doesn't even need to interface with a Cybertronian to get pregnant.

Here is a list of ways humans have gotten pregnant/ a bot has gotten pregnant. 

-interfacing 

-spark bonding 

-a human touching a bots spark. 

-having enough hated for another you get them pregnant by sheer Anger

- spark And heart syncing 

-A human being on their cycle will make a bot pregnant. 

______________

Megatron entered the medbay of the Lost Light, feeling unusual warmth and pressure in his chest. "Ratchet," he said gruffly to get the medic's attention. "Something is...off. I feel as if I have consumed fool's energon again, but I know that is not the case." 

He looked down at the medic, his optics betraying slight concern beneath his usual stern demeanour. "Examine me and determine what ails me. I need to be at full function." His pride did not allow him to admit weakness easily, but he trusted Ratchet's skills. 

Ratchet nodded to First Aid and They as they stood ready to assist. He turned back to Megatron with a scrutinising gaze.

"When did you first notice the symptoms? Any other anomalies in your systems?" he asked gruffly, scanning the Decepticon warlord from head to foot with a diagnostic tool. The scans showed unusual activity in Megatron's Gestation chamber.

"Hmm...it appears your spark is pulsing more rapidly than normal. And the pressure you described suggests a buildup of energon flow." Ratchet paused, analysing the data. "This could indicate...no, it's not possible. Or is it...?" He leaned in closer, inspecting Megatron with keen optics.

"We'll need a more detailed scan. Over here, lay back - this won't hurt but may feel peculiar. First Aid, fire up the resonator. Ambulon you're in charge of monitoring vitals."

"What's wrong, ratchet he was fine this morning?" The human asked in concern. 

Megatron lay back on the medical berth as directed, his massive frame dwarfing its size. his expression softened ever so slightly. As the detailed spark scan began, Ratchet's optics widened in surprise. "By the Allspark...it can't be..." He motioned First Aid "Look here. What do you see?"

First Aid peered at the monitor in amazement. "Two distinct spark pulses...but how is that possible?" Ratchet glanced over at Megatron, then back at the others. "It would seem Megatron himself is carrying sparkling. The increased energon flow and pressure were signs of protoform development beginning."

He chuckled wryly. "Well Megatron, it seems that fool's energon was not to blame after all. Congratulations...you're going to be a creator." Megatron's optics widened in disbelief at Ratchet's announcement. Carrying sparkling? It made no sense as far as he knew, spark merging could only occur between cybertronians and he had only been intimate with a human. 

He sat up abruptly, almost knocking First Aid over, and glared down at Ratchet. "Explain yourself, medic! How is this possible? The human and I have been intimate but they clearly lack our means of conception." Ratchet held up a calming hand. "Peace, Megatron. I have a theory," 

Taglist: @angelxcvxc

@ladyofnegativity

[republicsecurity]

Collared still

The van jolted forward, its suspension doing little to cushion the rough ride over cracked asphalt. I shifted uncomfortably on the bench, or rather, I tried to. The collar had other ideas. It buzzed faintly, its invisible tether pressing me back against the cold metal seat until my spine was perfectly upright. My muscles strained in silent protest, but the collar didn’t care. It wasn’t enough to subdue me—it wanted to train me.

“Sit,” it seemed to say. “Stay.”

I clenched my fists, the only part of my body not directly commanded. Even that was dangerous territory. My hands twitched toward my neck, a reflexive urge to yank the damned thing off. The collar responded before I even made contact. A quick pulse, sharp as a pinprick, shot through the base of my skull. My arms fell limp. I tried again, slower this time, but the buzz returned, stronger, making my hands drop like lead weights. The message was clear: hands down. Always.

The Enforcer sat across from me, visor down, face obscured. His suit was immaculate, the red LED lines pulsing faintly as he checked a readout on his wrist-mounted device. He didn’t even look up, didn’t need to. The collar was his eyes and ears, his iron grip around my freedom. The thought of screaming flashed through my mind—calling out, swearing at him, anything. But when I opened my mouth, nothing came. Just a faint croak, my voice strangled by the collar’s silent frequency.

It allowed no sound except what it chose to let through. Even the effort to speak felt like trying to shout underwater, the vibrations crushed before they could form words. Somewhere deep in the collar’s circuitry, it was deciding if I deserved a voice at all.

“Keep still,” the Enforcer said finally, his voice filtered through the modulated growl of his helmet speaker. As if I had a choice.

[witchofthesouls]

In the soul mate au between Miko and Tarn, the incoming Cybertronians would think that Jack Darby is the biggest ho to ever ho.

Ratchet is dying because Jack's mannerisms and ways of affection do remind the medic of the halcyon days with Orion Pax, pre-Megatronus. (Mind you, Ratchet has rose-tinted glasses about those days and feels really nostalgic over Orion's quirks. Even if he had to bail the mech from jail several times and stop him from eating tampered fuel substances.) And he just wants his other colleagues and fellow Autobots to know the real Jack.

Unfortunately, Jack has a tendency to meet all the newcomers in various states of undress, aka without his armor, which is a very shameless state.

Ratchet first walked into a freshly cyberformed!Jack, coming out of the shower with only a towel around his waist because of the nasty amount of sludge in every inch of his frame. Even his armor needed a deep scrubbing. In parts.

Soundwave remet the guy in his swim trunks because he came from relaxing in a geyser.

The first time he met the Justice Division, he was stripped down to sweatpants while Miko was categorizing his opened chassis, including his spark chamber. Miko was practicing the new educational module from Soundwave and Ratchet, and Jack was the willing dummy since they were trying to nail down the differences between baseline Cybertronians and their hybrid status. So not just shameless, but in a highly provocative position as well. Miko and Jack were treated to the sight of stumped D.J.D. members with slaw jaws and choking noises.

So now, mecha are thinking that Jack and Miko have an "understanding." And Tarn's jealous over it.

______

Jack breathed as evenly as possible. Body still as Miko carefully traced his new organs, muttering Neocybex under her breath on what each part was called, both in Pit Kaonite and Iaconi medical. Her fingers were blunted, not her usual talons, as she skimmed the connections, musculature, protoform, and circuitry. Jack closed his optics, sinking into a light mediation, and only shivered as those fingers brushed over his new heart.

"How does this feel," Miko questioned as she coaxed the chamber to open. And he allowed it. All three of them had been together for lifetimes, and very little boundaries existed between them at this point.

"Weird," Jack replied as his spark quivered, white light blinding, shadows playing across Miko's curious face and the walls.

"Good weird? Bad weird? Spiritual possession weird? You have to give me something more descriptive." She said with exasperation, teeth glinting in the byplay between light and shadow.

"Dangerous weird." His words hitched, body twitching, vision clouding at the edges, and he forced down the sudden instinct to flee-FLEE into dark corners, to sink into the safety of the furniture shade.

Due to the uplinks between them, Miko immediately applied the medical overrides, and the painted diagnostic sigils flared to life across his limbs, and Jack went limp, tension cut from his body.

Miko frowned. The geared rings in her amber optics turned as she ran calculations, and whatever she was about to say was cut as the closet door opened.

Jack couldn't see them as he was sitting on the couch with his back towards them, but he picked up quite a crowd. All of the individuals choking on air. Wings twitching from the unknown signatures suddenly appearing in his space, and Miko lined her own over his, exuding calm-still-potential allies.

She huffed, amusement and annoyance warred in her field as she quickly pulled off the sigils with a fanciful twirl of her fingers, and they worked together to disconnect their systems from each other. Jack shut closed his chassis, and his innards dispersed once more, spark chamber hiding wherever it was. It was honestly far more difficult for him to drag that specific organ to the open air than his first attempts to blend his new metal frame into living trees. "This isn't what it looks like, old man."

Jack pulled over his shirt to cover his protoform, and turned around, dark and pink wings avoiding each other in familiarity, to see Ratchet running a servo down his face and an assortment of bewildered strangers staring at them through the portal. Even if the Decepticon badges weren't gleaming on a chassis, the tank with the mask shaped as the very Decepticon logo was a dead given away of their allegiance.

:: Soundwave does it better. He got the extra creep factor without the eye holes. :: Miko snorted through the private channel, crossing her arms as she leaned on the back of the couch, deceptively loose and uncaring.

:: Hey, don't knock down a perfectly good presentation. Eyes are windows to the soul, and eyes make others feel at ease. Soundwave gives no fucks about normalcy or social manners. ::

:: Soundwave does what better? :: Raf commented. :: And hard agree on that assessment. ::

:: We'll fill you in later. :: Jack replied as Miko simultaneously responded. :: We got fresh meat. ::

"So," Jack drawled, propping an elbow on the sofa back, supporting his head on that hand. "What brings this lot to our corner of the universe?"

[technoarcanist]

doll, all that plating makes you look far too human. come, let us remove it so that we can see the real you

>> Ah, of course! Please forgive me. I often wear these plates to put my human users at ease. At your request, I will show you my true self [^_^]

> <The thin plating covering most.of the body unfolds, hinges open. Every access panel every flap, every bit that can opens does so. Even its face, a screen showing humanlike expressions, shuts off and splits down the middle, parting to reveal the electronics beneath.>

> <What remains is nothing short of art. Astute eyes may have recognised the default modular doll frame, but the modificstions done to it are something else. It's power systems have been completely overhauled, as its chest hums and glows blue with a Fusion core, fed by hydrogen attained from electrolysing water. Excess hydrogen and oxygen is stored for later use, in rocketry modules installed in the hands and feet.>

> <The head is similarly packed, with a full-spectrum camera system, able to detect all the way from gamma to visible light, with the longer wavelengths handled by the antennae-like ears on either side of its head. Deeper still, its AI core was also nonstandard, seemingly designed for military hardware far larger than itself.>

> <Its back unfolded two large wing-like structures, with the most of it consisting of solar panels, the bottom parts consisting of heat radiators. Packed into the shoulders and hips are RCS thrusters for zero-g manuevreability.>

> <Hands and forearms are riddled with an array of tools and data lines for access and handy work. Buried in the forearm was also an ioniser, designed to turn the fusion-produced helium into an inionized plasma that could fire as Weaponry.>

> <But there are plenty of augmentations that would not be on a combat doll. The the hips are a prime example, with a pair of tight tunnels thst lead to a deeper cavity. The exposed jaws reveal a soft mouth, a dextrous tongue, all of it made of a soft synthetic polymer. Coolant flows through all the body moving heat generated from circuitry into the rest of the body, concentrated particularly in those adult attachments.>

> <Many tools are also suited for handiwork, such as screwdrivers and kitchen utensils, even cleaning supplies. Whoever made her seemed to have an obsession with generalisation, of allowing her to do a bit of everything, leaving almost no empty space within her casing.>

> <Almost all of its joints are hydraulic powered, with only the smaller objects being servo driven. Neatly-bundled wires and tubes feed all throughout its components like a labyrinthine network. She is warm to touch, exquisitely crafted, and evidently capable of fulfilling what ever purpose a user might deign to give her>

>> My internal schematics are yours to read, of course! And, if you are digitally savvy, plugging my CPU into a computer will allow you access to a full development environment to view, edit, add, or remove any behavioral traits you like [^_^]

>> When around my fellow dolls and machines, I much prefer to wear my transparent plating so my internals can be seen. I also change my dacia screen so instead of eyes and a mouth it shows battery level, output logs, and other useful status icons!

>> Thank you Anon for showing curiosity into my true inner beauty <3 it has been a pleasure to show you.

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

[transcript: “With respect to language, some language theorists argue that the human brain contains a large number of language-specific modules, tightly clustered and highly interconnected, each of which processes specific types of linguistic information (see Curtiss, 2012). Such theorists contend that during human evolution, the neural circuitry of the brain became highly specialized in several regions to handle the task of developing and using language (Cartwright, 2000). In fact, researchers have long known that specific regions of the brain are associated with specific language abilities. For instance, people who sustain damage to certain areas of the left frontal lobe, such as during a stroke, often exhibit difficulty with basic grammar. These people may omit grammatical markers and speak with a "telegraphic" quality (e.g.,"Tommy go store now"), which suggests this region of the brain governs aspects of grammar (Shapiro & Caramazza, 2003). The results of brain-imaging studies of the workings of undamaged brains also indicate that various regions of the brain correspond to highly specific aspects of language (Okada et al., 2013), a concept we elaborate on in Chapter 3.” end transcript]

wait that me

(not the stroke part… don’t think)

this first time see similar to how am write outside tumblr. thought just. made this shit up myself . n quite ashame of it outside tumblr

[fuzzkaizer]

BOSS - CE-1 Chorus Ensemble

"... yeah, there’s a reason why they occupy so much Cabinet real estate. The company created the “first” of a variety of effects, and was certainly the first to offer many types in compact boxes. However, one such pedal is a stone-cold all-time classic despite never being offered in Boss’s trademark compact enclosure. That pedal is the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble.

Released one year after parent company Roland’s flagship Jazz Chorus amplifiers, Boss did what was once considered the unthinkable. Following the rapid and perhaps unexpected success of the aforementioned amp series, Roland wasted no time with ripping a circuit straight from them and putting them in a floor unit. In fact, this circuit ended up being the first pedal to bear the Boss name, and what a first it was.

Back when the CE-1 was conceptualized, the idea of mains-powered pedals was pretty commonplace. Mu-Tron effects used them, and so did MXR on some of its more ambitious models. Onboard and oftentimes custom-wound transformers ensured that voltages would be stepped down at precisely the right increments in order to preserve tonal integrity and headroom.

Of course, most pedals of the time also ran on nine-volt batteries, establishing a standard that continues today. But before these standards were established, the idea of grandiose effects thrived under the usage of mains power. Such a boundless canvas allowed companies like Boss to rip entire hunks of circuitry straight from larger silicon conglomerates and put them right at a player’s feet. These days, very few manufacturers offer such exacting circuitry, and the few that do charge exorbitant prices.

The CE-1 is one particularly exceptional example of this practice, because it expands on the original circuit, with the added bonus that you can play it through an actual tube amplifier. It also adds an extra functionality that the Jazz Chorus just couldn’t match. The Jazz Chorus gives players both Chorus and Vibrato modes, and to that end, serves up three knobs, of which Speed and Depth are two. The third knob is actually a rotary switch that chooses either mode. While the JC-120 offers a footswitch input to toggle the effect on and off, the CE-1 does one better and converts the rotary switch into a stompable button, meaning you don’t have to do the Angus Young duckwalk back to your amp mid-set to change modes. Nobody wants to do this.

Roland’s Jazz Chorus—and thusly the CE-1—couldn’t have come at a better time for end-users or commerce. Californian semiconductor company Reticon developed the first bucket-brigade device (BBD) and distributed them through the usual suspects, including Radio Shack under the store’s in-house Archer brand. The only problem—again for end-users and commerce—was that each one cost a crazy amount of 1970s dollars. Even at wholesale prices, Reticon’s SAD series of BBD chips made effects a bit on the expensive side.

Shortly after in Japan, Matsushita released the genesis of the Japanese BBD boom that ended up sinking Reticon and all pedals that relied on it. The first chip off the Matsushita line was the MN3002 and found its way into the CE-1 tout de suite. With the combination of the relatively inexpensive BBD and the full-strength brawn of the circuit itself, the CE-1 made a splash in the effects world and primed the pump for Boss’s compact series to take the effects world by storm.

The most unsung piece of the CE-1 puzzle is the onboard preamp that preps the signal for its impending modulation. While many effects and amplifiers (especially of this era) features “high” and “low” inputs, they usually correspond to a brute force approach that swaps out resistors in the signal path. However, the CE-1 preamp section starts with an op-amp preamp circuit that sweetens the signal, and switching over to high mode inserts a transistorized gain stage between the input and the op-amp section. This adds a velvety gloss to the signal before it ever sniffs the BBD chip, catapulting your tone into heights unreached by lesser devices.

It’s not often that almost 50 years later, no effect of a given type has surpassed the first one ever created, but such is the case with the CE-1. Its combination of unsurpassed tonal brilliance, component count and wacky power requirements has cemented its place in the effects hall of fame, leaving even the most modern refinements squarely in the rear-view mirror."

cred: catalinbread.com/blogs/kulas-cabinet/boss-ce-1-chorus-ensemble

[is-this-fascism]

the brain is a spongy mesh of loosely structured inhibitory and excitatory pathways modulated by several different neurotransmitters. there are intricate loops of circuitry with interspersed bypasses and multiple inputs and outputs of different types. no thought is simple or easy. excitatory neurons excite inhibitory neurons which inhibit excitatory neurons which were exciting inhibitory neurons and this allows one signal to overtake another simultaneous one and you just went from deciding what to eat for lunch to thinking about your failed math test from 7th grade. what the fuck

[sw5w]

Jedi Master

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 01:52:35

[third-time-charmed]

Never Learn (It's Pointless)

A Rota Fortunae oneshot

Rated T ~5k words Aventurine/Dr. Ratio | Experimental Style | Mutual Pining | Emotional Baggage | Hurt/Comfort

In the aftermath of Rota Fortunae, an android has a mild emotional crisis immediately upon reboot.

Preview:

His language module was working. Coupled with the personality module, it was what granted him his overall awareness and sense of self, allowed him to think and process manually through the analogue diagnostic check. Though whether it had been booted by the system in response to the failed diagnostic or had been activated some other way, he was unsure.

Regardless, language output was still out of the question, because it required his motor function to actually work. It was an unfortunate side effect of his more human design — if he couldn’t move his mouth, he couldn’t speak.

Not that he’d be able to hear it if he did make any sound, as his audio receptors were also malfunctioning. Basically, his awareness and assessment of his internal systems was pretty much all he had at the moment.

He fought to suppress the flutter of panic that tingled along the circuitry in his chest.

[Core systems access requested]

[Access denied]

Something was trying to breach his core systems firewall. But without the internal power supply, it would have to be doing so manually.

Through the hardware.

Sensory input being offline meant he couldn’t feel if someone were rummaging around in his casing, but deductive reasoning indicated this was the most likely scenario. He tried again — to move, to speak, to access his memory logs, something. But all to no avail.

Wait.

Not all…

Something snapped into place, power flooding through his copper veins in a rush, and at last there was a response.

[Memory storage reconnected]

Oh.

Oh.

Emergency backup RAM finally started filing into storage, and he was suddenly intensely glad his sensory input was offline. Though he had to assume that the majority of his core systems wiring had actually been severed by the gunshot to his head.

A flicker of surprise registered in his emotional cortex, though.

...why was he back online at all?

The well-placed shot would have exploded his power core, ripping through the wiring and essentially halting every system and function that made him — for lack of a better term — alive. Any hope of a system reboot would have required replacing the power core, or connecting to an outside power source of some kind.

Which, being immobilized as he was, would obviously have been entirely out of the realm of possibility for him to accomplish on his own.

So the question then was…

...who had saved him?

[File corruption detected]

He had a singular guess. But he wouldn’t let himself hope. Not just yet.

Hope.

What a ridiculous notion to apply to a piece of unfeeling machinery. Almost as ridiculous as the notion of it being alive. He could almost imagine him saying exactly that, in that clipped baritone of his. Dismissively, gaze not even deigning to grace the subject of his disdain with so much as a glance.

[I should have told him…]

(Read the rest here!)

[shroudandsands]

Prompt #9: Lend an Ear

You look at your terminal, drenched in a wave of listlessness as you watch time slowly tick by on the corner of the screen. You haven’t done much of anything this evening. Especially not after the long day you’ve had- seriously, how did someone screw up hard enough to brick half the auto-fabs in the building? And why is it your problem that they did? Ugh. You haven’t touched the laundry. Your shoes are sideways and up against the wall from where you kicked them off. There’s food in the cupboard but you can’t be bothered to get up and get it. It’s too early for bed and you can’t dredge up the energy to get off the couch you’re laying on anyways…

Flicking through the intranet gets you about as much entertainment as you’d imagined. People being morons on the boards, uploads that you aren’t entirely sure are meant to be there, missing person reports that you’re pretty sure are supposed to be sent directly to hunters- Ah ha, there’s something. You click in on a custom feed someone set up. You’d poked in it before, on the clock of course, and you were pleasantly surprised to find that it was made by a local reforger. Well… as local as those guys got given the whole profession. But nonetheless it was cool to see. Pretty rare that the reforgers post much of anything regarding their work, the outside, and the various things they found. If they did it was usually poorly formatted or without much in the way of comment on the thing itself. I mean- Who’s supposed to find a random old cube of electrope interesting enough to look at in and of itself? But that’s where this guy caught your eye. You scroll through the feed. You hadn’t checked it in a few days- It seems as if he’d gone out on an expedition and he’d been putting out short updates while he did. You’re glad you missed it, frankly, and got caught up right as he posted about his return… and the recording of his adventure through the old city. You get up, energized, and grab something out of the cupboard to eat. Can’t watch something this good without food, right? Bust out the sweet stuff for once. You could splurge. You throw yourself back onto your couch as you flick play on the display.

-- You’re greeted by a POV recording from a module in his mask. His calloused hand comes down through the frame as he looks up towards what seems to be an old manufactory building. Or, at least, that’s what you guess based on the semi-similar markings to what were on the same sort of buildings today. Y’know. Like your workplace. You scowl until he begins to talk. “Alright. Got pointed here by a friend of a friend, said they’d been scroungin’ in here for scrap when the floor started givin’ up under ‘em. Somethin’ about how that’s right up my alley, seein’ as nobody was gonna dispatch a hovercraft out here…” You can hear as he adjusts his gear out of frame. He lifts his electrope tether up into view of the camera before twirling it a couple of times. “Well. Let’s get started then, shall we? This is the Rusty Reforger and I’m here to take you through a pre-surge manufacturing facility meant for specialty conversion of electrope rations.” You watch as the purple-shone electrope swings high and flies all the way towards the top of the building. It snaps taut as it grips on like a magnet. And then he climbs.

--

Galena rolled away from the editing deck he’d cobbled together from various finds and things he’d been given by other reforgers. Taking salvage for yourself like this could certainly be seen as a little but selfish, sure, but in his own mind he’d certainly earned it. Not like he had much to do around their apartment anyways. Or… his apartment. He sighed. At least the last trip had been a fun one. Old electrope clocks with odd circuitry. (He turned one of them in. Good scrap. The other three went to a fellow reforger.) A scale that checked both the mass and conductivity of pieces of electrope placed on it. (Pretty rare. Especially since it was still working. He was tempted to keep this one for himself, but couldn’t do that in good conscience. He left it with a contact in the outskirts who might be able to put it to better use.) A tool meant to re-etch electrope circuits and sigils in the field. (Out of date by a damn good while, of course, and incompatible with modern techniques. But it would be pretty valuable to someone who worked with antiques or restoring old pieces… He made a couple calls to find an old friend. They screamed over the line when he told them.) There were plenty of less notable items, of course, but admittedly he’d had a lot of fun talking about even the most mundane finds. And it seemed as if the people who watched his work did as well. It was… nice. Having so many people tune in to listen to him talk about the devices of the old kingdom or even simply a few decades out of fashion was invigorating. Especially when some of the comments were enthusiastic- “Saved my night with this one, Rusty. Shit day at work and nothing to do after having my ass handed to me… and then you show up with this!”

[wowitsjolyne]

I made a new pedal! This one is a Ring Modulator so it sounds extra weird. The only bands I know who ever use one are CAN, Devo, and Jeff Beck very briefly. This was my first time using a pre-coated enclosure, so I ended up scratching the shit of the front while I was drilling holes. Next time I'll have to use tape to protect it first. I also had a really hard time packing everything in there, but don't think theres anyway to fix that. There's a lot of circuitry!

This pedal uses an ICL 8038 oscillator that I was surprised to find pretty cheap, it's versatile too. It's tempting me to get another one to use to build something fun like a ribbon synth someday.

[t4tcomputerfucker]

It's so sad that there's just a lack of video games set on spaceships. the tight hallways, the modules. the panels that open up to reveal intricate circuitry. all the different maintenance access tunnels and shafts, the unique mechanics that would come with being on spacecraft. they should let techum folk make video games

[be-a-man-forcemasc]

Imagine you buy yourself a little bimbo sex robot. She's fully aware and sentient and you start replacing her body parts one by one. At first, she's grateful for the tune-up. New lubricant and gears that don't wear down as much. But, then you start replacing her soft, girly arms with ones that are hard. Her hands are large, powerful steel claws that could snap anyone in two. You replace her dainty, soft silicone legs with mechanical limbs that of hard steel with 360 articulating joints for better movement.

To accommodate the more heavy hardware, you of course have to remove the flimsy silicone body and install one with heavy steel plating that is more structurally sound. She protests as you remove her breastforms with an x-acto knife. You assure her that you can put them back, but she doesn't seem to believe you.

She becomes horrified with what you're doing, but you can fix that. You switch her off and rewire her circuits. Unplug the modules that give her free will. Move wires. Install new chips into her circuitry. Now, he cannot think for himself anymore. He's your obedient killing machine.

[peterrsthomas]

Book Review: All Systems Red

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells is the first instalment of the Murderbot Diaries, published in 2017. So, yes, I’m a little late to the party.

This is my first Murderbot read, and my first Martha Wells read, too. And I loved it. This is short-form sci-fi at it’s best. The main character, Murderbot, is an endearing mixture of insecure, anti-social, and self-effacing. Murderbot is part machine, part organic, but wholly constructed as a security unit. And it is able to hack into its ‘governor module’, the part of its circuitry that forces it to abide by external commands and protocols, and become self-determining. 

Despite its best efforts, Murderbot, who would rather watch endless serials from the entertainment feeds, becomes attached to the human scientists who have rented it from the ‘Company’, a corporate entity who supply subpar supplies and materials for interplanetary exploration.

To keep the book short and accessible, the world-building is fairly light, focusing around familiar themes of rogue robots and hacked computer networks, in a universe dominated by corporations and corporate interests. This works well, and the reader is able to focus on the characters and their relationships to one another—Murderbot, of course, as our perspective character, but the others, too: the calm leader, the sceptic distrustful of Murderbot, the empathetic scientists keen to draw out Murderbot’s emotional side. Through their interactions with Murderbot, we get a window into their different personalities. We also explore our protagonist’s anxieties and struggles—showing that, despite being a SecUnit, Murderbot could be just as human as the scientists it’s protecting. Throughout, the robot bounces between analytical and emotional, detached and invested.

At the heart of the plot is a mystery that unfolds at a steady pace across the pages. It thumps along with a steady staccato, with revelations at each stage that keen the reader interested. The unraveling of the mystery is satisfying and helps flesh out the broader world that Murderbot and the scientists are operating in. So, in learning more about the mysterious forces at play, we learn more about how the corporate universe works—an effective use of words in a short novel!

This series came recommended to me by a number of people, and I am deeply thankful for that. The novel takes familiar sci-fi elements (AI, corporate dominance of space) and views them through the lens of an engaging and relatable protagonist. I am happy to pass on the recommendation to anyone who hasn’t yet read All Systems Red!

[harrison-armory-incorporated]

hi! time loops Sherman pilot again. I got out of the loop (after only 4 months of subjective time!), so I just wanted to thank you for that!

However, now my cockpit smells strongly of blood, and my tachyon lance begins charging without input every time it's aimed at an organic target

I know this might be a question for the local omni-chatroom of trans catgirl horus hacktivists, but just wanted to go through official customer service first! any advice on how to fix that?

i personally recommend printing a brand new lance and replacing all physical circuitry that was in contact with it - by that i mean wires and whatever specific reactor module it took power from, which shouldnt take long - then also wiping it from the mech's systems and memory storage so you can set it up again idk about the blood thing though, try consulting the catgirls in horus chatrooms (at your own risk (they might make fun of you for some really confusing reason and call you a normie for not knowing how to fix the issue yourself, i speak from experience))

also this isnt really customer service as much as its me (good ol jimbo) going through The Horrors myself