One important tip for those who have built this or those who are going to: If you output these circuits, outputting to a GOOD powered monitor or amp with GOOD speakers will show you just how amazing this can sound! I say this because if you only use a tiny speaker, you may soon become bored or discouraged by the poor sound. Trust me - this has big, powerful sounds just waiting for proper amplification! Thank you, Kristian, as always. This is a great tutorial for people who are just getting started in building sound-making electronics. Things get more exciting from here, folks, so have fun!
Wish I could like this twice! Its one thing to be able to dig up schematics online, but being able to see someone go through the entire build gives me much more confidence that I can replicate these circuits as a beginner. Thank you for making the wonderful world of synthDIY that much more accessible
5 лет назад+5
Thanks for the kind words. Now go and build yourself a modular! You can do it! 👊👍😉
This is great. I’ve started to build this, but don’t have enough parts to have all 6 yet. I’ve built it with two so far. I’ve also added cv in to both oscillators and I’ve also got two different capacitors for each oscillator with a switch to change frequencies. Sounds pretty good being controlled by my sequencer. Thanks for your videos, they’re awesome👍
I back here to review the plan. Making a synth is a tall order, so I'm just trying to make sure this is what I want. I have a half built 6P14 tube amplifier with a serious cost overrun preventing its completion, but this I have most of the parts covered. I'll use you for inspiration. I like your videos, they work for me. thanks
Hi Kristian. I´m well impressed with the work you have put into this, not just building the modules, but the additional 'support' files too. The spreadsheets, the schematics, etc. A lot of work has gone into this, that much is obvious. I will be going through your plans at my leisure, and try to figure out what is going on for my own education and entertainment! Again, well done, and keep it up!
I tried starting my own modular synth a few months back but got stuck with school. Picking it up again, this has to be the best series on the internet for this stuff. Kudos to you for having suck an awesome format!
5 лет назад
Thank you, glad if I can help you and others get a modular going :) If you have anything to show, please let me know...
Some tips if someone is trying this out, I found that using a 10K potentiometer with a 1uF capacitor gives a pretty good harmonyc rich sound when synched to another 10k + 1uF oscilator. Also the original article in the description has a few fun and really easy ways to add new features like light controlled frequency and an envelope of sorts with a couple of capacitors. Great build Kristian :)
5 лет назад+1
Guille Arana thanks for the tips. Two oscillators with almost the same pitch makes a really nice phasing sound. I wanted a big “span” for my oscillators some low and some high. They both have their uses. And yes. Loads of fun experiments in that article series on hackaday.
I enjoyed this video! I'm also making a diy synth from circuits I find on the internet. Your potentiometer is going into 0 Ohm when tuning al the way to the max. I found that when I put a small resistor (lets say 100 to 1k ohm) in series with my potentiometer, it sounds a lot nicer when you reach the maximum of the potentiometer. Thanks for sharing this awesome video. Hope to see more in the future :)
6 лет назад+3
Oh thanks for a great tip! I don’t like that these oscillators glitch out at the top (0) position, a 100 resistor will solve this. I’ll try that out. Thanks again!
btw if you want the outputs of the oscillators to be buffed you can sacrifice one inverter for each output as a buffer... Just connect one inverter in between the oscillator output and the jack... This is what I did with mine... Halfes the module from 6 to 3 oscillators but the most expensive parts are the pots and Jack's anyway... So if I need more I just use another Cd40106
5 лет назад+1
Thanks that is a great tip! I actually rebuilt mine just the other day adding a tl074 and a tl072 for buffering. Could have used just one 40106 more. Will keep this in mind. 👍
What does the buffer do? Is this what would allow cv to happen?
5 лет назад+2
thnknde no buffering makes the sound not be changed by signals from later in the signal chain. It kind of stops signals from going the wrong way (backwards).
@@dtharmo you need to feed it through an Schmitt trigger... So connect the output of for example of the first oscillator (pin2) not to the jack but to pin 3 and then pin 4 to the jack...
Hi Kristian, just a heads up: in the MIAW components list, you forgot to add the T072 and T074 for this. Thanks for posting this series! Can't wait to start building them (parts are on the way!)
Amazing buddy! If I’m not mistaken you just taught us how to build a really easy FM Synth. Whoop whoop! You could easily add a vactrol with a switch to either use the the potentiometer for the frequency controls or a cv input via a a patch plug. Keep up the great work.
Hi Kristian, Thanks for sending me a couple of your PSUs, POW panel and bus boards from your tindie store. They made the trip to Australia without a hitch. I've built them and am very happy with my results given I am completely clueless re synth DIY! I've been trying to figure this build out but I am a little confused about something on the schematics. The value 1, 2, 3, 6 oscillator circuits coming off the 40106 all seem to have the potentiometer between the input and output pins of the 40106. But the value 4 & 5 circuits are different. the potentiometers look like they are only between in the input signal and the input pin on the 40106. Is there a reason for this? or am i just not understanding the schematics and they are really the same? regards Dave
Hi Kristian and thank you. I have made a start with it and the 4106 chipset. I have a square wave on the scope and the vco makes a variable noise with a pot using just pin 1 and 2. I am a bit lost as to inputs and am not getting it! I have nothing going into the input on pin 1but it works. Could you please explain what exactly I input to pin one? Also how and where the patch cables go. I see in your demo video you tested it with a single patch cable but I could not see what was coming from the other end of it? Sorry to be so dim. Pete
I am also a big fan of the CD40106... it's probably the first time I could actually create sound out of an electronic circuit. Currently I'm working my way around and try to shape the square wave of these CD40xx family IC. Maybe with some LDR filter. ;)
hi, sorry for the question. looking at your schemetatics there are some op amps but they are not mentioned neither in the video nor in the BOM. can i ask you why? does it work even without op amps?
4 года назад+2
Yes it does. The opamps are there as buffers. Which has some effect on how the sounds interact with each other in later modules. I did a buffered mixer just to get other results from this module. And then in a much later episode I said I added buffers to this one. Buffers are good so that the next module isn’t affecting this module. But it totally works without it aswell.
Troubleshooting question: I have completed the hex oscillator, test is 100%. I've also implemented a buffer (from the David Halliant's schematic featured in MIAW 4.1) . My first TL084 (incorporating 2 buffers & 2 LEDs) test is 100%. However; my 2nd TL084 is where I'm having issues, for some reason I'm only getting audio at a specific resistance on the 100k pot (@ 23k). I've troubleshot & removed & replaced the pot, & TL084, ... No change. 2nd oscillator audio tests good but the led(bi-polar) illuminates red when buffer pot is turned off, as opposed to of as the LEDs do with the first TL084. Any thoughts? TIA Kristian
Kristian, you've done a phenomenal job here! The most thorough collection of DIY synth videos I've come across. I'm already putting together a bill of parts to build a few of the modules. I'd love to see you and Sam from Look Mum No Computer get together for some sort of collab. Quick question, what capacitor potentiometer pairings did you end up using for your 40106 oscillators?
4 года назад
Thank you so much for your kind words, and I really hope you get a good modular going! I think the pairings is in the video.... But I would suggest you try it out on a breadboard yourself as you can use components you already have and get the frequencies you require. Sam is a hard man to get in touch with, but yeah that would be great! :)
Great series, inspired me to also try and build some! You don't seem to mention a bus board, though, and I can't see any connector sockets or something like that on the builds and in the component list. How did you hook the modules up to the PSU?
3 года назад
In the first “week” of this series I just used DuPont cables for power. I have since made a bigger psu and a bus board. If you look in the miaw playlist you will see it all. ;)
Thanks for these awesome tutorials .As a beginner i have a question.I have built 4 of these oscillators and everything worked perfect for me.Then when i build the ones with tl072 they almost generate no sound and they only make a noise when i switch the pots. to a specific range.I will be glad if someone can help.
what would be the voltage output for this? im asking because i need to build an oscillator bank for a video snyth that uses a vga output, which takes 0-0.75V signal
Год назад
This one output up to 10-12v! So you need to add a voltage divider to the output to get down to those levels...
Hi, Kristian. Thank you so much for this video series. This is my first DIY synthesizer build. I have a question. On the schematics shows resistors labeled with 100 value. Is it 100 ohms or 100k ohms? It is not listed in the parts list. Also do the resistors need to be precision 1% tolerance or not? Forgive me if I’m being dumb. All the best.
3 года назад+1
Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of synthdiy. :) if the schematics shows without a k the. It is similar my 100ohms. So a very small value. I do miss to add some components to the spreadsheet and in this case it could be because I rebuilt it with buffers somewhere in the second week I think. In this case these 100ohm resistors is there to make sure there is no voltage going back into the opamp. 1% is the “normal” value nowadays but if you have some 5%lying around you can use them just aswell. It doesn’t need to be that exact in this module at least. :) keep on asking it’s the best way to learn. :)
Hello Kristian, thanks for your great videos. I have a question about connecting the pots, due you have noises issues with the lenght of the wires ? or do you manage to avoid using wires ?
4 года назад
I use wires for my pots all the time. I don’t have trouble with noise. This could be because of lighting in the room or what kind of enclosure. Although I haven’t had trouble with noise in any of my enclosures either. Do you have the same ground in all modules if you use two or more power supplies make sure to connect the grounds together. Check these things and get back, and maybe we can come up with more reasons. ;)
Hello, thanks for your answer. It was just a question before building my own modules, I need to gather lots of informations to make no mystakes. I am curently planning to build the simple VCO from yusynth. Did you build it yourself ?
@ i actually google'd it and... sorry for asking, it was so simple haha! Of course, what you say is right and i'll try it. i'll do a proto with your schematics with some transistors to begin. Once again thank you for your work man (+ the fact that you still take time to answer basic questions like mine...) you're a hero!
Thanks for these videos man. I'm a retired carpenter and have been interested in electronic music since I heard the MOOG when it came out. Can I make one on when the LFO is high and the other one on when the LFO is low?
I have experimented with feeding one of their LFO output's into a spare inverter, so this inverts the LFO. Now you have 2 LFO signals which are mirrored. Using these as a pair to 2 switched (4066 ic) or maybe even transistor gates you can get mirrored flip flop types of routing :)
Sorry this is a late reply, but all you need do is to duplicate the sync circuitry but connect the diode in reverse. An oscillator with the diode connected as shown in video will be held off when the LFO output is high, and an oscillator with its sync diode connected in reverse will be held off when the LFO output to it is low. That's a nice easy way of creating a two-tone sound, for example, by mixing the output from the two oscillators.
Hey I have a question and maybe you can point me in the right direction. What types of parts should I invest in to start my building and experimenting process. I'm talking components on a fairly large scale. Do you have a video that encompasses all of what I would need to have a bank of parts to draw from? This might be the video.
3 года назад
That is a good question. And should be it’s own video I guess. I talk about it loosely in the first videos. But a resistor value kit, electrolytic cap kit, cheramic cap kit, a bunch of lm358,tl072, and a set of transistors and a set of diodes is a good start. Then quite quickly you probably want a few lm13700 and a few quad opamps aswell, tl074 and lm324. Check out the spreadsheet I did in the first week to get exactly what you need for each project and just sum the parts together for a good shopping list. :)
Got crazy idea (inspired by Look Mum No Computer) when looking prices of 40106's per 50pcs; own wall of oscillators with 40106's! Maybe long time project, already build DozenDrone with 12 oscillators, 29 more to go for first part of wall :D
Olá Kristian, tudo bem? O projeto é interessante, simples mas interessante. Como controla-lo com um teclado? Ainda não entendi bem o funcionamento do CV. Grato
4:29 Is "connecting the plus voltage and ground" just a matter of +12v and GND from a standard euro header? Or is it necessary to bring the voltage down before sending it into the 40106? Thanks in advance!
7m50s: I think this is wrong: the 2nd oscillator works when the 1st oscillator output is LOW. When the 1st oscillator output is high, the output of the 2nd oscillator is always low
Are your schematics on Easyeda public? I've been trying to look up the live schematic of this one since I saw the easyEda watermark, but couldn't find it.
Couldnt find the right 10.000uF capacitor...It was big and expensive, is that right?
4 года назад+1
You don’t need it. It was all just examples of capacitors and pots I had lying around. Take some other values and experiment with values until you get a range that you want. :)
Hey Kristian, thanks for your great vids. I'm just looking at your schematic and noticed there's a TL074. Is this necessary, or can you just connect everything as you've shown in the video? What does the TL074 do? Thanks!
Seems to be an IC chip for buffering nit amplifying. What you can do instead (because I read the comment just below) is used the 40106 chip instead. So have ur audio out from one oscilator go into the next pin then out of the following one. Then go audio out.
Wanted just to ask you something about the 40106 VCO bank. Just to double check: Vcc (+5V) , Vdd (+12V) , Vee (-12V) and Vss (Ground) I noticed that the 40106's 14th pin is named VDD, but connected to a VCC?
Do the capacitors have to be ceramic?I'm buying the materials for some of some of these modules but I can't find some ceramic capacitors and I was thinking about electrolytic ones because of low price, will they work the same way? P.S Thank you for this series, you basically did all the hard work for us viewers :)
5 лет назад
No any capacitor would work. Usually ceramic caps are the cheapest ones. But pick a few different values to get different ranges of the oscillators. You will end up needing some slow and some fast. :)
What would be the size of the faceplate for this and the Nicholas Ronnenburg passive multi, and are the uploads to scale? I have a friend who can machine them but they asked me these questions. Can I open them with any software and figure this out if need be?
5 лет назад
thnknde the uploads should be to scale. Just make sure they are 128mm height, then it is correctly scaled.
5 лет назад
You can print them on a normal printer also to check sizes and to see if it fits in your modular.
@ I have a friend who can cnc faceplates for me, so I was hoping he could just load the image and it would just chop chop chop to scale lol. Thanks for the advice and making this content!
Hello Kristian! Would like to let you know that I've just soldered the PSU2 and how grateful I am for your effort:) Is there a comprehesive video on how to solder this module, like the one you did for the powersupply? If not I'm still going for it;p
4 года назад
No not for this one. The thing here is it is supposed to be so simple that you can do it yourself as a training. ;) Thanks and good luck! You can do it!
Having a problem with my build. I have 6 working oscillators. I can play any combination of oscillators from one single side of the chpi through my mixer. But when I connect oscillators from both sides of the chip to the mixer I get no sound and my power supply starts to hum loudly. After looking at the Hackaday pinout for the chip I connected pins 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 13&12, 11&10, 9&8, but now I notice at 8:40 in the video Kristian seems to imply that the higher number pins should be connected the other way round. (8&9, 10&11, 12&13). Which is correct? Any other ideas what may be wrong?
5 лет назад
I’m live now if you wanna talk about it? We can check...
For others who may be reading this now, the simplest way to remember is that apart from pins 7 (GND) and 14 (V supply), all odd numbered pins are inputs and all even numbered pins are outputs.
I've tried to build this type of circuit, but i used electrolitic cap instead of ceramic, with value of 1uF and a pot of 10k. when i wire in a CV signal, let's say range from 0 to 12V (my chip is powered by 5V) only a very small range of the CV actually controls the tone. the rest of the range is just inaudible (dunno if its super sonic or just not oscillating, i shuld check that) also i wanna try running this at 12V instead of 5V maybe this will help...
5 лет назад+1
IF you built this exact oscillator then there is no cv input. You get a kind of sync or timbre input which just turns the oscillation on or of. Doing it rapidly enough kind of gives a different pitch. Doing it really slow gives a more rhythmic effect (on off) maybe that is why?
Kristian Blåsol I ended up figuring out by testing a bit how to get it working on an acceptable level! I have a turingmachine module spitting out random pitch voltage into the cv and it can melodically track it. Now of course it no where near 1v/oct of course and it’s not perfect but for a relatively simple cheapo module I now have 4 voices that can either be independently outputted or mixed with cv control for each one or all of them at once. So I can set a “chord” and then use cv to shift it. It’s pretty good!
5 лет назад
Nice! Did you do something special to the cv inputs? Do you have a yt video showing it in action? Would love to see hear it. :)
Hello, I have begun this project with success using a ceramic cap as you are showing. Can we use electrolytic caps as well? Thanks!
6 лет назад
Yes. I just picked a few values to fit the frequencies I wanted. I think I used a few electrolytic caps aswell. Just try out values until you find the frequencies you want. :)
PLL chip is one of the greatest for osc's. Did you've tried it? I've paired it with 40106 for modulations and intermodulations - a great combo. Just one thing I've couldn't manage: how to pick out the saw output from PLL's timing capacitor's cycle! I know that it will be twice faster but just couldn't make it to work.
5 лет назад
Yes I did a 4046 vco. Your design sounds interesting. Do you have a link or schematics? Would love to take a look.
Uh-oh! I think I caught the bug... I went through the components list and have about two-thirds of the components. I'm running out of excuses to start the build, darn it! One question as I am new to all this, can these first modules be plugged directly into the audio interface on my computer or do I need to build something else first before being able to hear these oscillators. Great series, btw! Thanks for sharing your years of Modular knowledge.
5 лет назад+1
Haha oh no, another one bites the dust. 😂. The output signal is quite “hot” so it might break the interface if plugging it directly in. Build a mixer so you can attenuate the signal, or just make a voltage divider with two resistors to get the signal in the 1v range should work.
Yet, another question - I have the same scope you have and my sounds are fine. However, I don't get any waves like yours? I cheated and split the six over two boards. Do you think we need to ground any unused chip legs as shown in the schematic? Thanks, again.
Nevermind, turns out I was using an old audio splitter that seemed to mess up the signal. I ended up tying just a bunch of alligator clipped cables and got it to work fine.
Hey Kristian, in your parts Excel, it says that you need a 10000uF capacitor for this module; where exactly is this needed? Can't find it in the schematics...
5 лет назад+1
It is used for one of the six oscillators. It is just a suggestion as any value works. I just chose values that went from really slow oscillation to really fast (or from low frequencies to very high frequencies). So you can pick any cap+resistor/pot that gives you the range you want.
Super dumb question. What's the input to the circuit? I'm very confused with that. So, you connect the Logic Inverter to a power supply ofc, but the input of the circuit is a Function Generator with a certain fixed frequency or are you connecting it direactly to a power source? Thanks for the help, and again, sorry if it's a silly question.
5 лет назад
Well this would be the function generator. You connect it to power and this circuit creates six square waves that can set the frequencies with the pots. You can the use the outputs of these six oscillators as sound or to control other things. You could use one output from one oscillator to the “sync” input of one of the other oscillators to create the stutter effect that I show in this video also. Hope this better explains what it does. Take care.
Thanks! I wasn’t analyzing this properly, later I realized how it worked lol. Just another question. The diode has to be connected to the Jack port? I tested it without it to take the output of one circuit to the input of another, but it didn’t work with the Diode input but with the normal capacitor input.
@ yeah I see people making sequencers with multiplexers and multiple pots for different resistance values, but I was hoping it'd be easier than that haha
A vactrol in parallel with the pitch pot, with CV input controlling the vactrol's LED. BUT use a 1k current limiting resistor on the LED or it will blow the LED and the whole vactrol will need to be replaced :)
I have tried something with the CD4093. Since it's Nand, it allows the first in to modulate the second in. Really nice effect. Check out my serie on synth design also.
Kristian, do you make your own panels? If not, may I ask where you acquire them? They look nice!
5 лет назад
Well I design them in inkscape. But then I send the files off to a laser cutting firm which cuts the panels for me. I talk a bit abou the panels in the “half way” video.
@ I think the schematics really intimidates me, besides that soldering on a protoboard requires you to create all the paths, but i am making some reads about the components
4 года назад+1
toviaj ok, start by doing just one oscillator on a breadboard. It is just a pot, a cap and two pins on the ic. And power to it of course.
If you're going to use US Dollars as a baseline currency, your "grammar" (for lack of a better term) is off. You describe 13 dollars and 70 cents as 13,7. Cents are denoted in two decimal places, with a period instead of a comma. It would be 13.70 Not trying to be a grammar nazi, just trying to clear out any confusion for your audience. I love this series. I'd also suggest some sort of forum, where we can compare notes, assist and troubleshoot each other, and share builds. Reddit? Discord? Your own website? Look at your options and choose what works for you, Kristian. This is really exciting.
just curious. why did anyone, never impliment voltage control to these IC chips ???? i mean. ive seen this IC chip used before as oscillator/vco whatever. but never with CV input. why ?
11 месяцев назад
There is a way to implement cv control on these. They are quite more complex and I guess that was the biggest selling point that they were easy… :) But I have seen schematics with cv versions of this circuit.
One important tip for those who have built this or those who are going to:
If you output these circuits, outputting to a GOOD powered monitor or amp with GOOD speakers will show you just how amazing this can sound! I say this because if you only use a tiny speaker, you may soon become bored or discouraged by the poor sound. Trust me - this has big, powerful sounds just waiting for proper amplification!
Thank you, Kristian, as always. This is a great tutorial for people who are just getting started in building sound-making electronics. Things get more exciting from here, folks, so have fun!
True! :)
What would you suggest? I know nothing.
Wish I could like this twice! Its one thing to be able to dig up schematics online, but being able to see someone go through the entire build gives me much more confidence that I can replicate these circuits as a beginner. Thank you for making the wonderful world of synthDIY that much more accessible
Thanks for the kind words. Now go and build yourself a modular! You can do it! 👊👍😉
This is great. I’ve started to build this, but don’t have enough parts to have all 6 yet. I’ve built it with two so far. I’ve also added cv in to both oscillators and I’ve also got two different capacitors for each oscillator with a switch to change frequencies. Sounds pretty good being controlled by my sequencer.
Thanks for your videos, they’re awesome👍
I back here to review the plan. Making a synth is a tall order, so I'm just trying to make sure this is what I want. I have a half built 6P14 tube amplifier with a serious cost overrun preventing its completion, but this I have most of the parts covered. I'll use you for inspiration. I like your videos, they work for me. thanks
Hi Kristian. I´m well impressed with the work you have put into this, not just building the modules, but the additional 'support' files too. The spreadsheets, the schematics, etc. A lot of work has gone into this, that much is obvious. I will be going through your plans at my leisure, and try to figure out what is going on for my own education and entertainment! Again, well done, and keep it up!
I tried starting my own modular synth a few months back but got stuck with school. Picking it up again, this has to be the best series on the internet for this stuff. Kudos to you for having suck an awesome format!
Thank you, glad if I can help you and others get a modular going :) If you have anything to show, please let me know...
This should be a book Kristian
speedwolf there is such a book, called, Handmade Electronic Music, by Nicolas Collins. Excellent resource for what is shown here and beyond.
Some tips if someone is trying this out, I found that using a 10K potentiometer with a 1uF capacitor gives a pretty good harmonyc rich sound when synched to another 10k + 1uF oscilator.
Also the original article in the description has a few fun and really easy ways to add new features like light controlled frequency and an envelope of sorts with a couple of capacitors.
Great build Kristian :)
Guille Arana thanks for the tips. Two oscillators with almost the same pitch makes a really nice phasing sound. I wanted a big “span” for my oscillators some low and some high. They both have their uses. And yes. Loads of fun experiments in that article series on hackaday.
@ sure I also liked your idea of using really low osc as triggers or square LFOs
I enjoyed this video!
I'm also making a diy synth from circuits I find on the internet.
Your potentiometer is going into 0 Ohm when tuning al the way to the max.
I found that when I put a small resistor (lets say 100 to 1k ohm) in series with my potentiometer, it sounds a lot nicer when you reach the maximum of the potentiometer.
Thanks for sharing this awesome video. Hope to see more in the future :)
Oh thanks for a great tip! I don’t like that these oscillators glitch out at the top (0) position, a 100 resistor will solve this. I’ll try that out. Thanks again!
trim pot is used a lot in bending alongside the pots to prevent crashes so you can find the exact min/max
btw if you want the outputs of the oscillators to be buffed you can sacrifice one inverter for each output as a buffer... Just connect one inverter in between the oscillator output and the jack... This is what I did with mine... Halfes the module from 6 to 3 oscillators but the most expensive parts are the pots and Jack's anyway... So if I need more I just use another Cd40106
Thanks that is a great tip! I actually rebuilt mine just the other day adding a tl074 and a tl072 for buffering. Could have used just one 40106 more. Will keep this in mind. 👍
What does the buffer do? Is this what would allow cv to happen?
thnknde no buffering makes the sound not be changed by signals from later in the signal chain. It kind of stops signals from going the wrong way (backwards).
For example, just have to plug pin 4 between pin 2 and jack ?
@@dtharmo you need to feed it through an Schmitt trigger... So connect the output of for example of the first oscillator (pin2) not to the jack but to pin 3 and then pin 4 to the jack...
Hi Kristian, just a heads up: in the MIAW components list, you forgot to add the T072 and T074 for this. Thanks for posting this series! Can't wait to start building them (parts are on the way!)
Amazing buddy! If I’m not mistaken you just taught us how to build a really easy FM Synth. Whoop whoop!
You could easily add a vactrol with a switch to either use the the potentiometer for the frequency controls or a cv input via a a patch plug. Keep up the great work.
These videos are very helpful and beginner friendly. I appreciate you making them! Thanks
i love the tupperware case!
Hi Kristian, Thanks for sending me a couple of your PSUs, POW panel and bus boards from your tindie store. They made the trip to Australia without a hitch. I've built them and am very happy with my results given I am completely clueless re synth DIY! I've been trying to figure this build out but I am a little confused about something on the schematics. The value 1, 2, 3, 6 oscillator circuits coming off the 40106 all seem to have the potentiometer between the input and output pins of the 40106. But the value 4 & 5 circuits are different. the potentiometers look like they are only between in the input signal and the input pin on the 40106. Is there a reason for this? or am i just not understanding the schematics and they are really the same? regards Dave
Hi Kristian and thank you.
I have made a start with it and the 4106 chipset.
I have a square wave on the scope and the vco makes a variable noise with a pot using just pin 1 and 2.
I am a bit lost as to inputs and am not getting it!
I have nothing going into the input on pin 1but it works.
Could you please explain what exactly I input to pin one?
Also how and where the patch cables go.
I see in your demo video you tested it with a single patch cable but I could not see what was coming from the other end of it?
Sorry to be so dim.
Pete
I am also a big fan of the CD40106... it's probably the first time I could actually create sound out of an electronic circuit. Currently I'm working my way around and try to shape the square wave of these CD40xx family IC. Maybe with some LDR filter. ;)
hi, sorry for the question. looking at your schemetatics there are some op amps but they are not mentioned neither in the video nor in the BOM. can i ask you why? does it work even without op amps?
Yes it does. The opamps are there as buffers. Which has some effect on how the sounds interact with each other in later modules. I did a buffered mixer just to get other results from this module. And then in a much later episode I said I added buffers to this one. Buffers are good so that the next module isn’t affecting this module. But it totally works without it aswell.
Super helpful! Thanks a lot for this series
Aaaaa thanks for the tutorial!
Hi Kristian, could you please do a video on how to use your oscilloscope? It would be very helpful.
Troubleshooting question: I have completed the hex oscillator, test is 100%. I've also implemented a buffer (from the David Halliant's schematic featured in MIAW 4.1) . My first TL084 (incorporating 2 buffers & 2 LEDs) test is 100%. However; my 2nd TL084 is where I'm having issues, for some reason I'm only getting audio at a specific resistance on the 100k pot (@ 23k). I've troubleshot & removed & replaced the pot, & TL084, ... No change. 2nd oscillator audio tests good but the led(bi-polar) illuminates red when buffer pot is turned off, as opposed to of as the LEDs do with the first TL084. Any thoughts? TIA Kristian
Kristian, you've done a phenomenal job here! The most thorough collection of DIY synth videos I've come across. I'm already putting together a bill of parts to build a few of the modules. I'd love to see you and Sam from Look Mum No Computer get together for some sort of collab. Quick question, what capacitor potentiometer pairings did you end up using for your 40106 oscillators?
Thank you so much for your kind words, and I really hope you get a good modular going! I think the pairings is in the video.... But I would suggest you try it out on a breadboard yourself as you can use components you already have and get the frequencies you require. Sam is a hard man to get in touch with, but yeah that would be great! :)
I saw a TL072 and TL074 in the schematic provided in the description link. But its not demonstrated in the video? Can anyone please help??
TUPPERWARE for project boxes..Genius
Great series, inspired me to also try and build some!
You don't seem to mention a bus board, though, and I can't see any connector sockets or something like that on the builds and in the component list. How did you hook the modules up to the PSU?
In the first “week” of this series I just used DuPont cables for power. I have since made a bigger psu and a bus board. If you look in the miaw playlist you will see it all. ;)
14:35 Or you could just replace the two resistors with a single pot and have it both ways via an adjustment, tapping off the middle pin.
Thanks for these awesome tutorials .As a beginner i have a question.I have built 4 of these oscillators and everything worked perfect for me.Then when i build the ones with tl072 they almost generate no sound and they only make a noise when i switch the pots. to a specific range.I will be glad if someone can help.
what would be the voltage output for this? im asking because i need to build an oscillator bank for a video snyth that uses a vga output, which takes 0-0.75V signal
This one output up to 10-12v! So you need to add a voltage divider to the output to get down to those levels...
Hi, Kristian. Thank you so much for this video series. This is my first DIY synthesizer build. I have a question. On the schematics shows resistors labeled with 100 value. Is it 100 ohms or 100k ohms? It is not listed in the parts list. Also do the resistors need to be precision 1% tolerance or not? Forgive me if I’m being dumb. All the best.
Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of synthdiy. :) if the schematics shows without a k the. It is similar my 100ohms. So a very small value. I do miss to add some components to the spreadsheet and in this case it could be because I rebuilt it with buffers somewhere in the second week I think. In this case these 100ohm resistors is there to make sure there is no voltage going back into the opamp. 1% is the “normal” value nowadays but if you have some 5%lying around you can use them just aswell. It doesn’t need to be that exact in this module at least. :) keep on asking it’s the best way to learn. :)
@ thank you for answering my question.
Hello Kristian, thanks for your great videos. I have a question about connecting the pots, due you have noises issues with the lenght of the wires ? or do you manage to avoid using wires ?
I use wires for my pots all the time. I don’t have trouble with noise. This could be because of lighting in the room or what kind of enclosure. Although I haven’t had trouble with noise in any of my enclosures either.
Do you have the same ground in all modules if you use two or more power supplies make sure to connect the grounds together. Check these things and get back, and maybe we can come up with more reasons. ;)
Hello, thanks for your answer. It was just a question before building my own modules, I need to gather lots of informations to make no mystakes. I am curently planning to build the simple VCO from yusynth. Did you build it yourself ?
is it possible to add LEDs to the output? or would that mess with the circuitry? that would be very cool!
There are a couple of ways to add leds. Using opamps or transistors to isolate them from the signs path.
@ excellent tranks! and also thank you for this amazing series, the internet needed it!
@ i actually google'd it and... sorry for asking, it was so simple haha!
Of course, what you say is right and i'll try it. i'll do a proto with your schematics with some transistors to begin. Once again thank you for your work man (+ the fact that you still take time to answer basic questions like mine...) you're a hero!
Thanks for these videos man. I'm a retired carpenter and have been interested in electronic music since I heard the MOOG when it came out.
Can I make one on when the LFO is high and the other one on when the LFO is low?
I have experimented with feeding one of their LFO output's into a spare inverter, so this inverts the LFO. Now you have 2 LFO signals which are mirrored. Using these as a pair to 2 switched (4066 ic) or maybe even transistor gates you can get mirrored flip flop types of routing :)
Sorry this is a late reply, but all you need do is to duplicate the sync circuitry but connect the diode in reverse. An oscillator with the diode connected as shown in video will be held off when the LFO output is high, and an oscillator with its sync diode connected in reverse will be held off when the LFO output to it is low. That's a nice easy way of creating a two-tone sound, for example, by mixing the output from the two oscillators.
Hey I have a question and maybe you can point me in the right direction. What types of parts should I invest in to start my building and experimenting process. I'm talking components on a fairly large scale. Do you have a video that encompasses all of what I would need to have a bank of parts to draw from? This might be the video.
That is a good question. And should be it’s own video I guess. I talk about it loosely in the first videos. But a resistor value kit, electrolytic cap kit, cheramic cap kit, a bunch of lm358,tl072, and a set of transistors and a set of diodes is a good start. Then quite quickly you probably want a few lm13700 and a few quad opamps aswell, tl074 and lm324. Check out the spreadsheet I did in the first week to get exactly what you need for each project and just sum the parts together for a good shopping list. :)
Hi there, im looking now at the schematics and i see something that is not coresponding with the video.
do i need and TL072 and TL074 for this build?
Got crazy idea (inspired by Look Mum No Computer) when looking prices of 40106's per 50pcs; own wall of oscillators with 40106's! Maybe long time project, already build DozenDrone with 12 oscillators, 29 more to go for first part of wall :D
Olá Kristian, tudo bem? O projeto é interessante, simples mas interessante. Como controla-lo com um teclado? Ainda não entendi bem o funcionamento do CV. Grato
4:29 Is "connecting the plus voltage and ground" just a matter of +12v and GND from a standard euro header? Or is it necessary to bring the voltage down before sending it into the 40106? Thanks in advance!
Yep. Just use +12v and gnd from the power header.
@ Cheers, thanks again.
7m50s: I think this is wrong: the 2nd oscillator works when the 1st oscillator output is LOW. When the 1st oscillator output is high, the output of the 2nd oscillator is always low
Are your schematics on Easyeda public? I've been trying to look up the live schematic of this one since I saw the easyEda watermark, but couldn't find it.
Couldnt find the right 10.000uF capacitor...It was big and expensive, is that right?
You don’t need it. It was all just examples of capacitors and pots I had lying around. Take some other values and experiment with values until you get a range that you want. :)
@ oooh now I get it haha. Thank you ^^
Hey Kristian, thanks for your great vids. I'm just looking at your schematic and noticed there's a TL074. Is this necessary, or can you just connect everything as you've shown in the video?
What does the TL074 do?
Thanks!
Seems to be an IC chip for buffering nit amplifying. What you can do instead (because I read the comment just below) is used the 40106 chip instead. So have ur audio out from one oscilator go into the next pin then out of the following one. Then go audio out.
Wanted just to ask you something about the 40106 VCO bank.
Just to double check: Vcc (+5V) , Vdd (+12V) , Vee (-12V) and Vss (Ground)
I noticed that the 40106's 14th pin is named VDD, but connected to a VCC?
Do the capacitors have to be ceramic?I'm buying the materials for some of some of these modules but I can't find some ceramic capacitors and I was thinking about electrolytic ones because of low price, will they work the same way?
P.S Thank you for this series, you basically did all the hard work for us viewers :)
No any capacitor would work. Usually ceramic caps are the cheapest ones. But pick a few different values to get different ranges of the oscillators. You will end up needing some slow and some fast. :)
@ Thank you very much!
What would be the size of the faceplate for this and the Nicholas Ronnenburg passive multi, and are the uploads to scale? I have a friend who can machine them but they asked me these questions. Can I open them with any software and figure this out if need be?
thnknde the uploads should be to scale. Just make sure they are 128mm height, then it is correctly scaled.
You can print them on a normal printer also to check sizes and to see if it fits in your modular.
@ I have a friend who can cnc faceplates for me, so I was hoping he could just load the image and it would just chop chop chop to scale lol. Thanks for the advice and making this content!
Hello Kristian! Would like to let you know that I've just soldered the PSU2 and how grateful I am for your effort:) Is there a comprehesive video on how to solder this module, like the one you did for the powersupply? If not I'm still going for it;p
No not for this one. The thing here is it is supposed to be so simple that you can do it yourself as a training. ;) Thanks and good luck! You can do it!
@ If you say so chef !
pls, give me an answer... if a put a keyboard (the output of him in the input of oscilator), he'll oscilate too?
No this one does not have cv. So you cannot control it with a keyboard. Build the 4046 vco or aac vco instead for that.
Having a problem with my build. I have 6 working oscillators. I can play any combination of oscillators from one single side of the chpi through my mixer. But when I connect oscillators from both sides of the chip to the mixer I get no sound and my power supply starts to hum loudly.
After looking at the Hackaday pinout for the chip I connected pins 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 13&12, 11&10, 9&8, but now I notice at 8:40 in the video Kristian seems to imply that the higher number pins should be connected the other way round. (8&9, 10&11, 12&13). Which is correct? Any other ideas what may be wrong?
I’m live now if you wanna talk about it? We can check...
For others who may be reading this now, the simplest way to remember is that apart from pins 7 (GND) and 14 (V supply), all odd numbered pins are inputs and all even numbered pins are outputs.
How can I connect this Module to the PSU?
I decided to just turn the pot up to like status. 👍
I've tried to build this type of circuit, but i used electrolitic cap instead of ceramic, with value of 1uF and a pot of 10k. when i wire in a CV signal, let's say range from 0 to 12V (my chip is powered by 5V) only a very small range of the CV actually controls the tone. the rest of the range is just inaudible (dunno if its super sonic or just not oscillating, i shuld check that)
also i wanna try running this at 12V instead of 5V maybe this will help...
IF you built this exact oscillator then there is no cv input. You get a kind of sync or timbre input which just turns the oscillation on or of. Doing it rapidly enough kind of gives a different pitch. Doing it really slow gives a more rhythmic effect (on off) maybe that is why?
Kristian Blåsol I ended up figuring out by testing a bit how to get it working on an acceptable level! I have a turingmachine module spitting out random pitch voltage into the cv and it can melodically track it. Now of course it no where near 1v/oct of course and it’s not perfect but for a relatively simple cheapo module I now have 4 voices that can either be independently outputted or mixed with cv control for each one or all of them at once. So I can set a “chord” and then use cv to shift it. It’s pretty good!
Nice! Did you do something special to the cv inputs? Do you have a yt video showing it in action? Would love to see hear it. :)
👏 👏 👏
👍👍👍
hey man what kind of soldering iron is that ? its completely amazing. i need one
This is a nice project for this IC.
Thank you!
Hello, I have begun this project with success using a ceramic cap as you are showing. Can we use electrolytic caps as well? Thanks!
Yes. I just picked a few values to fit the frequencies I wanted. I think I used a few electrolytic caps aswell. Just try out values until you find the frequencies you want. :)
@ Great! Will do, thanks
PLL chip is one of the greatest for osc's. Did you've tried it? I've paired it with 40106 for modulations and intermodulations - a great combo.
Just one thing I've couldn't manage: how to pick out the saw output from PLL's timing capacitor's cycle! I know that it will be twice faster but just couldn't make it to work.
Yes I did a 4046 vco. Your design sounds interesting. Do you have a link or schematics? Would love to take a look.
@ easyeda.com/RealMook/4046_Synth_1_0-76ae65b986194525ba4fca0d6a65d9d1
If you're going to build a 4046 osc, use the Big Daddy of them all, the Thomas Henry x-4046 osc:
www.birthofasynth.com/Thomas_Henry/Pages/X-4046.html
Hello! I did exactly what you showed here, but my chip became hot as an oven and I hear absolutely no sound. What could it be?
I think this one is dead now
Is this 1v/Per octave?
No. Look at one of the later episodes 1.2 I think for an exponential converter which gives a vco 1v/octave.
@ oh, thanks!
Uh-oh! I think I caught the bug... I went through the components list and have about two-thirds of the components. I'm running out of excuses to start the build, darn it! One question as I am new to all this, can these first modules be plugged directly into the audio interface on my computer or do I need to build something else first before being able to hear these oscillators. Great series, btw! Thanks for sharing your years of Modular knowledge.
Haha oh no, another one bites the dust. 😂. The output signal is quite “hot” so it might break the interface if plugging it directly in. Build a mixer so you can attenuate the signal, or just make a voltage divider with two resistors to get the signal in the 1v range should work.
Yet, another question - I have the same scope you have and my sounds are fine. However, I don't get any waves like yours? I cheated and split the six over two boards. Do you think we need to ground any unused chip legs as shown in the schematic? Thanks, again.
Nevermind, turns out I was using an old audio splitter that seemed to mess up the signal. I ended up tying just a bunch of alligator clipped cables and got it to work fine.
Hey Kristian, in your parts Excel, it says that you need a 10000uF capacitor for this module; where exactly is this needed? Can't find it in the schematics...
It is used for one of the six oscillators. It is just a suggestion as any value works. I just chose values that went from really slow oscillation to really fast (or from low frequencies to very high frequencies). So you can pick any cap+resistor/pot that gives you the range you want.
@ Aha, I see, thanks! Love your series btw, very helpful! :)
Super dumb question. What's the input to the circuit? I'm very confused with that. So, you connect the Logic Inverter to a power supply ofc, but the input of the circuit is a Function Generator with a certain fixed frequency or are you connecting it direactly to a power source?
Thanks for the help, and again, sorry if it's a silly question.
Well this would be the function generator. You connect it to power and this circuit creates six square waves that can set the frequencies with the pots. You can the use the outputs of these six oscillators as sound or to control other things. You could use one output from one oscillator to the “sync” input of one of the other oscillators to create the stutter effect that I show in this video also. Hope this better explains what it does. Take care.
Thanks! I wasn’t analyzing this properly, later I realized how it worked lol. Just another question. The diode has to be connected to the Jack port? I tested it without it to take the output of one circuit to the input of another, but it didn’t work with the Diode input but with the normal capacitor input.
4:19 start
Nice! Is there a way to add a CV input jack to control the pitch of one oscillator?
There’s supposed to be. I haven’t built it yet so I don’t know if it works though. For now I have sync in which makes it do some fun stuff aswell.
@ yeah I see people making sequencers with multiplexers and multiple pots for different resistance values, but I was hoping it'd be easier than that haha
A vactrol in parallel with the pitch pot, with CV input controlling the vactrol's LED. BUT use a 1k current limiting resistor on the LED or it will blow the LED and the whole vactrol will need to be replaced :)
could I use 4093's and tie the inputs as I have bundles of them. 4x shmit nands
Maybe. I think so. I should try it on a breadboard first just one to make sure you get sound out of it. :)
Oh and please let me (and everyone else reading the comments) know the results. 👍
I have tried something with the CD4093. Since it's Nand, it allows the first in to modulate the second in. Really nice effect. Check out my serie on synth design also.
I did notice they are not proper patch cables , they are stereo jack leads
Yes they are. But they were cheap. Who cv was the goal at that time… :)
Kristian, do you make your own panels? If not, may I ask where you acquire them? They look nice!
Well I design them in inkscape. But then I send the files off to a laser cutting firm which cuts the panels for me. I talk a bit abou the panels in the “half way” video.
kul att följa :) bygger lite egna också nu
Kul att ha dig här :). Vad bygger du för nåt?
There is a book called, Handmade Electronic Music, by Nicolas Collins. Excellent resource for what is shown here and beyond.
its a great tuto, but I cant even start.
How do you mean that you can’t start?
@ I think the schematics really intimidates me, besides that soldering on a protoboard requires you to create all the paths, but i am making some reads about the components
toviaj ok, start by doing just one oscillator on a breadboard. It is just a pot, a cap and two pins on the ic. And power to it of course.
@ thanks a lot,
ooohhh yyyeeessss. technical porno!!!!
Hi
Well hi there. 👋
If you're going to use US Dollars as a baseline currency, your "grammar" (for lack of a better term) is off. You describe 13 dollars and 70 cents as 13,7. Cents are denoted in two decimal places, with a period instead of a comma. It would be 13.70
Not trying to be a grammar nazi, just trying to clear out any confusion for your audience. I love this series. I'd also suggest some sort of forum, where we can compare notes, assist and troubleshoot each other, and share builds. Reddit? Discord? Your own website? Look at your options and choose what works for you, Kristian.
This is really exciting.
just curious. why did anyone, never impliment voltage control to these IC chips ???? i mean. ive seen this IC chip used before as oscillator/vco whatever. but never with CV input. why ?
There is a way to implement cv control on these. They are quite more complex and I guess that was the biggest selling point that they were easy… :) But I have seen schematics with cv versions of this circuit.
@ can, CV be implimented with signal diode to wiper ,or one side, of each potentiometer, leading to , CV input source ?
I imagine those patch cables aren't as durable/might get gross due to the material.