I have no idea what pushes you to make such high quality tutorial, it took you days of work, and months of previous studies and experience to get this level, to simply offer us few hours of tutorial. I have no idea what pushes you to do such thing, but I feel deeply grateful and I would consider Patreon for sure. Thank you so much
MORE OF THIS PLEASE. I've been spinning my wheels for months trying to apply electrical theory to practical circuit building (for synths) and found few tutorials that help explain how electricity actually flows through a circuit. Thank you.
yes! there's this assumption that I can just look at a schematic and follow what the electricity is actually going to do... this level of explanation is fantastically useful.
Please be careful when using a breadboard. It will create frequencies that will enter your body and cause damage. Wrap either the breadboard or your body in tinfoil to block out the frequencies. You must be careful with frequencies.
Hello, i have a weird issue, i was not getting any output and i checked ten times, i have the same exact circuit as you But then i borrowed a variable alimentation station and tried the circuit with different voltages and when i lowered to 2 volts i finally managed to get the sound. I weirdly can't get it to work with anything higher
First of all i want to say great videos, i have watch all of the diy series and i started to follow the tutorials with my own components, i just have one question, do you have any recomendation for buying a ociloscope ? is there a minimun bandwith necesary ? because all the cheap ociloscopes i see online are 20mhzs but i dont know if thats enough. Thanks for everything !!! ❤❤
Boy-o-boy! There's a whole argument waiting to happen here over the direction of electron flow through a circuit. Everything you are teaching about individual components and these circuits is 100% spot on correct ... ... except current flow is opposite of what you teach. Electrons are negatively charged. Electrons, and therefore current, flows *from negative to positive.* This means current is flowing actually opposite of the arrow direction of the schematic diode. *The schematic is correct,* but electrons flow *into the point of the arrow.* What you teach as far as the flow of electricity is "(very) old school", but you are not the only one on RUclips who continues to teach "voltage flow" or "conventional current" as opposed to "electron flow". I am NOT criticizing your videos, and your teaching methods are excellent. Teaching "voltage flow" changes nothing about what you teach concerning the behavior of the components and circuits, it doesn't really even change the *theory* of the water analogy you use here, just be aware that modern teaching uses "electron flow" which is in the opposite direction.
yeah that might be physically correct ( although you can also have positive particles as charge carrier) but the technical currentflow is defined as from positive to negative. So you could change every curcuit that has been made or published in a textbook but why would you. Besides it doesn´t matter bc it is just a matter of convention. Imagine that every electron going in one direction leaves behind a positively charged atom and you have the flow from positive to negative
@@bubhund6593 What you are describing is called "hole current". It refers to the atom or molecule that needs an electron to be balanced - they have a positive charge. As the electron jumps from one vacancy to the next, leaving a new vacancy behind it as it moves, these holes seem to move from positive to negative. The atoms are not moving, only the positive vacancy moves, like people in a fire bucket brigade. It's important to understand the direction of electron flow mostly to understand how semiconductors work at the molecular level, and it's the current flow that is taught in most electronics courses today and most electronics books written after 1960 (ish). You don't need to change a schematic to teach electron flow - it's correct either way.
Great Video! Question... How to expand? I built one VCO. 10k POT -> tuned transistor -> inverter -> opamp buffer -> inverting opamp. Beautiful frequency response. Then I tried to add another, same thing, to use another one of the 6 inverters. But they are entangled. One changes the frequency of the other. How to get two independent frequencies?
in my experience the inverters themselves are reasonably well isolated from each other. it's more likely that your oscillator's output is modulating the other oscillator's CV input path. try using shorter wires and keep the outputs (especially after amplification) away from those CV paths!
A couple things are missing for me to be able to follow along; I think I understand how the circuit works when I look at the 2D diagram, but trying to lay it out on a breadboard I realize I'm not totally sure how to connect it all together, and you don't walk us through it while you're filling the breadboard and there's no zoomed in view of the physical circuit. Did you make any amendments to this in later videos or on a patreon supplement or anything?
it's kind of an oversight on my part - i assumed most people already know how to build circuits on the breadboard. will do a separate, more basic video on that topic soon!
@@MoritzKlein0 And that would be a great video. My secret shame is that my dad knows electronics really well but even though we've built a few things together he's never been able to step back, slow down, and explain it well enough to me that I can really learn. And as a teacher myself of beginner coding and 3D modeling, I find I'm always having to do the same.
Forget making a synth, this is a fantastic intro to electronics. You've made me understand concepts that never made sense in the 7years I've been learning.
as an electronics engineer I must say this is the best introduction to DIY electronics I've seen so far! congratulations, you just earned a new subscriber.
This is probably the best Applied Learning example for basic electronics on the web. Moritz's basic explanation of electrical component function and circuit design are clear and engaging. Even if you are not interested synths or EDM, the stepwise process he describes to generate and shape a waveform by building a circuit all while monitoring progress with an oscilloscope and audio is invaluable. For those who want to go deeper (i.e. how does a schmitt trigger inverter work), I recommend Code by Petzold, but for most I think this will be all you need to get started in electronics.
You could also configure an Op-amp as a schmitt trigger to reduce the number of main ICs...adding more resisters but we all have a bunch of those already right! Electronoob has a good schmitt trigger equivalent op-amp example: ruclips.net/video/d-7Oyd8o8hE/видео.html&ab_channel=Electronoobs
Each component and where it is used: Breadboard - 13:16 40106 Schmitt Trigger Inverter IC - 13:16 1N4148 Signal Diode - 13:25 2.2nF Foil Capacitor - 13:43 100kΩ Resistor #1 - 14:06 9-15V Power Supply #1 - 14:14 9-15V Power Supply #2 - 19:24 TL074 Op-Amp Buffer IC - 19:24 1μF Foil Capacitor - 23:19 100kΩ Resistor #2 - 23:19 100kΩ Resistors #3 and #4 (see note below) - 26:18 Audio Jack - 26:39 Note: In the beginning of the next video, he replaces the resistors used at 26:18 with 10kΩ resistors, so these should actually be 10kΩ resistors.
So many "OH SHIT I GET IT" moments in this video. Your explanations are so perfectly clear it's insane, thank you ! One question : if i have a power supply with +12 -12v, i can connect the output of the breadboard directly into a eurorack modular without problem right ?
Yes you can. Two things are necessary: 1. one wire carries the the output signal of the breadboard (Tip of the mono audio jack) 2. The second wire connects the ground potential of your breadboard and eurorack (sleeve of the mono audio jack). The ground in your case should be between +12V and -12V (reference ground, 0V). In the end of the video it is the brown white line connecting the power supply to the breadboard, and the black line connecting the breadboard and eurorack. Reasoning for the breadboard ground between the two supply voltages: Lets say the eurorack uses a signal between +5V and -5V for input. If you connect the -12V on the breadboard with the eurorack ground you can only send a signal between 0V and 24 V . (24V is the voltage difference between -12V and +12V) If you use the 0V on the breadboard as ground you can send a signal between -12V and +12V. Limit the output below the allowed maximal input voltage. TLDR: Just watch out that the negative supply voltage is is not the ground you connect to the eurorack.
If anyone feels like they’re attention is drifting, or that the theory is so new that the info doesn’t stick, just keep watching and trust the process. This is the best oscillator tutorial on the internet. Your well on your way to your 40106 addiction 😂
@@urnoob5528 I tried a 74LS14 and had problems starting the oscillation, it didn't source enough current for my component values. I tried a 74HC14 and it worked. Grounding leftover inputs is a MUST with the sensitive CMOS inputs in 74HC.
The balloon analogy that actually demonstrates how no current flows through the capacitor is awesome. The capacitor = “a battery” analogy has never really worked well for me so this was awesome, thank you!
Actually in your analogy the quantity of water stored in the capacitor would be the charge, not the capacitance. Your video is very instructive nonetheless!
@@naught101 No, I was confused about this corner of electronics for a long time. I visualized batteries as just a big store of electrons that you could use up. If that were the case, then as soon as you hooked up a battery to a circuit, there would be a giant voltage, a huge zap, and everything would get fried as that huge pile of electrons pushed apart from each other and went to ground. Instead, batteries are electron *pumps*. They take in electrons from one terminal and push them "uphill" to go back out of the other terminal. They use chemicals to provide the energy needed to that. The "electro-motive force" describes how "hard" that pump is able to push to drive current and is why you have batteries of different voltages. In a pnuematic analogy, think of batteries as chemically-powered fans.
Thank you so much for video! I built my own oscillator from your VCO playlist and it’s working very well. Can this schematic be converted to LFO by replacement of 2.2nF capacitor?
This is the best introduction into electronics I got yet!!! Thank you very much! While watching, I had to resist putting more and more electronic parts in to the shopping basket and carrying my old oscilloscope (never used before) from the basement🙈
I've heard a saying that the better you understand something, the more simply you can explain it. I have no doubt that you possess an incredibly deep understanding of electronics and the concepts involved. This video is so very helpful and easy to grasp.
The foil capacitor you're using is a non polarized capacitor alright, however when you're working with sound or anything else that is sensitive for signals coming from something outside the circuit you really should treat the non polarized capacitors as a polarized one, let me explain... The foil capacitor is made of two metalized foils, separated by a non conducting foil, therefore you'll always have one of the metalized foils on the outside and the other below that making the most outside foil more sensitive for outside noise that it can pick up, so if you really want or need to keep out as much noise as possible you need to connect the outside metalized foil to ground and the signal to the other pin and you can measure with your oscilloscope and a signal generator what the outside foil is by connecting the signal generator to one side of the capacitor and the other side to ground and connect the oscilloscope to a small coil that you can make yourself it doesn't need a lot of turns and the smaller the coil the smaller the area that it can pick up the noise, or you just buy a specially made probe for that to do the same thing, now if you hold the coil or probe next to the capacitor you can either see it clearly or you can't see or just a tiny bit of the signal that you're putting into the capacitor with the signal generator. So when you see the signal very clearly you know that's the outside foil of the capacitor and when you don't see the signal or just a tiny bit, you know that's the inside foil and that's the pin you should connect to the signal of whatever you want to protect with the grounded outside foil from noise coupling into the capacitor, doing this makes sure you're keeping the noise to a minimum level.
The water model is a very good model to explain the idea behind electrical components. I just want to warn your audience though, when doing audio stuff we must be aware that around wires and every components, there's a electric and magnetic field which have influence on other parts of the circuit and can be influenced by. Because audio signal are by nature like alternative current, sometime this can have impact on the output, like weird hums and hissing. The water model doesn't modelize that without some tweaks... That said, for a beginner, this model is perfect, and sometime better than what some teachers actually do in an physic class. You explained it very well. Good job!
There are two types of teachers: those who says "look how it's simple" and those who says "look how smart I am". Thank you for showing us how simple it is.
probably one of the best videos i have ever watched on youtube, your explanations, analogies and the diagrams (lofi enough to be cool but relevant enough to be useful ) are outstanding. For the love of god dont stop making good content and finding ways to explain electronics to people.....subscribed
This was insanely helpful, thank you! When I was following basic oscillator circuit schematics the last time I got as far as getting a square wave and while trying to turn it into a triangle wave I accidentally fried the Opamp because I got confused and mixed up the 0 and -9V cables 🤦♀️ Which of course happened because I didn’t quite understand the circuit. I feel like I’m finally starting to get it now with your balloon analogy. Please continue making these!
This is pure gold. Thanks a lot, you explained things so nicely and easely that I expect a lot of people - me included - to start building DIY synths from scratch.
I’m just getting back into electronics again after taking a GCSE in it 22 years ago. I want to build my own synth and properly understand what is going on and this video series is perfect! Thank you SO much! Keep up the great work!
Thanks for doing this! Been building other people's designs but want make my own now so trying to really understand the basics well. This video is very helpful! Great job
Greatest video on electronics that I've ever seen. I've been tinkering with this stuff for years, yet cannot seem to grasp what is really happening in a circuit. Thank you so much, this is a big, big help!
This is beautiful. I’m not an electrician, but these analogies and the way you’re teaching is on par with my college physics classes. You should be proud.
I am troubleshooting a Schmitt Trigger Synthesizer that I built from a popular internet design. What you have taught me, here, will really help with finding the bugs in my circuit. So, a very timely video, for me. Thank you!
Your videos are excellent but I have to say the width of the square wave doesn't represent frequency. The repetition or number of times per second that the wave (square, sine, triangle etc.) repeats is the frequency. The width of the wave is irrelevant to frequency. You can have short spike shaped square waves at 100Hz or long square waves at 100Hz (or any other frequency).
From 9 min, the waterpump explanation tuned out to be a very good Surrealistic drawing XD But thanks very very much for the usefull informations!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome video,dude you helped me so much. Thank you. I have a reading disability, so I can read about what you did over and over and can't understand it at all. The way you just showed it in this video. Is amazing,I understand it all, everything you talked about. Now I can understand what they was saying in the books I'm reading. At least I know what there saying about the things you showed. Thank you so much 👍👍👍
I can't seem to get the OP Amp to work. I'm getting a good signal out of the Schmitt Trigger but nothing out of the OP Amp. I've checked my wiring several times and even replaced it with a new OP Amp. I even checked to make sure the signal made it down to the right pin on the OP Amp but I am still getting nothing out of it. Could it be that I am using a polarized capacitor?
@@MoritzKlein0 www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-4-inch-8-10W-Full-range-Speaker-102MM-8Ohm-Loudspeaker-HiFi-Audio-Part/263768374955?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item3d69d1feab:g:ObAAAOSwllpbKaVb&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACYBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkXKoKcbeZcOrOku%252BoOBl%252BS8zpTAaaRxvgqNB89y%252BiDQa%252Frsx%252BIBEmlEDVrRsOsr5cJztLIfPPWsdxDnOjKZJZlFHAqkGA1pcF2P8kAgrgaWe2ck4ARdrM8NPuHddvcs1tgh9Tm6kPe5MrppdRzV3EXklgg1vEO17ToocZlzh20QFjpRr3IH%252BOpQzYZN%252BJbJLyFLT%252B3olJDDfHuke8MPP3cMci7oOkjLtKYJDv2IKzAFt20vI5EaKXjf8lpKt77A%252BdqqGIX6mm84%252BmK7QUxm5iyoMkGmY2lFYqemCefVREx7GGzLv02EiFUjHes6iHxll5pf6yb%252B4XnSxTe5PrMypVElelHZWBRutNB9e06MIFZ6N6VOlnqyqeVvfOZdp7sjQvEO2qzvcpS9NxwWaBR4EebPvBSAb4GXug7ChunTbaHraVW7KcC6oScXEWVwR1o6K5j5FK1POBDammpoSQbt5reRiwRiALCw0f71OnxJI3r9vlZywQ9U3jF2SBwtUT0Mg8Zu8PNXJk4NMcXZlTU2YZ%252FiGF4%252FGA71kXT9QraluZPhJz7sgYaJHLmhiDUCypj4P1R1xNkrsIDOMrP1zVtpw1kH3SJ0ycsJ6NAeAOpzZGha642ggn8nM8IlZFTWoCroR8%252B82%252BVTcoVGDMSN41SwQ3%252Br2I3Kngkn3CvOL0ROEQ%252BHyFn1suGmvrT1CZ%252Fc%252B8GHWiGocj32BjNkV6gO4eWYUzzCohHEbg7YljzSJkHKHJs%252F9xqIzJ0Ip%252FEsdLUqvvdsh6%7Ccksum%3A263768374955ff7a9befd9a54a4f9390821503aec635%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524 like that
I once connected headphones to a digital output of my Arduino and listened to its audio... never in my life I've heard any noise as loud as that: my ear hurted for the next hour, luckily I don't have ear damage
THE PRICE OF SYNTHS SHALL HOLD US DOWN NO MORE!!! I can’t tell you how much i want to give you a hug man, thank you so much. I’m going out to buy components tomorrow!!! 😁🙏💕✨
This is a very significant video. You've done a great service to the world. Personally I wouldn't take the flow analogies so far, and would try to build intuition in terms of electrons etc. But that's just personal preference. Nonwithstanding that, this is a near flawlessly executed intuitive explanation of electronics, which is a rare thing to find at all, and probably the first to achieve such an explanation in so little time. Bravo.
Hmm, when i build the circuit, it doesn't seem to be affected by the resistor value at all. In fact i can completely leave it out, but this means that i cant change frequency. I am using a 4585 as the schmitt trigger
Final year Mechatronic Engineering student here (We take a lot of Electrical modules), and I must say this is a fantastic intro into electronics I found myself getting a great intuitive understanding of a lot of the circuits I've been working with for the last 4 years. And as someone who's also interested in synths this is a gold mine!
as a third year robotics student who has stayed away from the electronics side because it never made sense to me thank you. Fantastic intro to electrical engineering in general. Better than a £27k university course ever taught me.
this aint even electrical electrical is mostly high voltage stuff and machines small circuit with small voltage belongs in the electronics engineering domain power grid, generation, electric machines are electrical, if u study electronics engineering, u will barely touch on these subjects, like dippin yo toes in the water
If you are not an electrician, how did you start out learning about this? Do you have any book, tutorial or website recommendations? Please continue doing these videos, they are really great, thank you!
trial & error, mostly. actually, i started doing these videos because they're what i was - unsuccessfully - looking for when i was a complete newbie. as far as recommendations go, check out elliot william's logic noise series: hackaday.com/2015/02/04/logic-noise-sweet-sweet-oscillator-sounds/ apart from that: don't get bogged down by the gatekeepers, there's unfortunately a few in this scene. also, manage your expectations: many people think they need to be able to build a minimoog after two weeks. ideally, you should be able to find the fun in making a light blink - then you'll make progress fast! oh, and i see many people treating electronics with this awe, as if they're magic. they're not - if you look into it, everything is actually very logical and "mechanical". this is often hidden behind buzzwords and complex formulas!
@@MoritzKlein0 it has a -12V and a +12V and i can switch between. gnd, +5V, +12V and -12V ports. images.app.goo.gl/hrF56Jd7P7hqPbue9 it is this type of power supply
Daniel Mendes honestly not sure. are you certain it has a -12V output? on the aliexpress page it only says 12/5V.. if you have a multimeter, check the voltages at the outputs. if in fact you get -12, 0, and +12v at individual outputs, you can try it. also, it‘s a switching power supply, not a linear one - that means that it’s probably quite noisy. for testing purposes it should be ok, but not for „proper“ applications!
Bravo! I’ve been a computer scientist and electronics tinkerer for nearly 2 decades. Electrical engineering was my least favorite class. I learned more in these videos than I did in the last two decades. Thank you for putting this together. Now, off to build my VCO!
Best description of ac coupling ever! You rarely see someone going into what exactly the cap and resistor are doing for the network. This level of abstraction is absolutely ACE for someone like me!
Your explanations are absolutely genius. I've seen the water analogies before, but this takes it to the level of actual electrical circuit analysis is so many situations. WOW. Thank you.
Does anyone know if there is a reason why the Schmitt trigger chip uses the -V rail instead of the +V which is what I would expect? EDIT oh wait, I just realized something. I had traced the relative voltages based on the op-amp chip on the breadboard, but it's actually upside-down from the earlier diagram. So I had it flipped. The Schmitt trigger chip is connected to +V.
Subscribed so hard. Its hard to find so much good information in one place, there are so many vids and tutorials that cover little isolated bits, and you really have to prowl around through books and other tutorials to get the same amount of info. I wish I could have seen this 5 years ago when I started!
This is an excellent explanation of coupling capacitors. I sorta knew intellectually that they removed DC bias, but I didn't really get the how or the why before. Thanks! I'm hoping to learn enough from this series and others to design and build my own analogue synth from parts I've already collected over the years, so every bit of theory is very helpful.
When you say "plug in an amp"....what exactly do you mean? Will headphones do? Or does is need powered amplification? Also, what frequency did you get here? Measuring with an osc, I got 20kHz with the 1nF and 100k resistor. Bumped that up to 1M resistor to bring it down to an audible-if-piercing 2kHz.
it works with any kind of amplifier (hifi, bluetooth box with aux in, etc), but cheap headphones would be preferable because it doesn’t hurt much if you fry them when your circuit is set up incorrectly.
THIS merhod should be taught to youngsters, and get our kids falling in love with engineering and science! If we are to thrive, the time is NOW for our children to look at STEM the same way they worship hip-hop stars and celebs. Gotta run....I got an OSC to build!
maybe a stupid question but im just a beginner; Where in the circuit schematic does the voltage source/battery go? i can't really thing where you would put a + and a - terminal...
If you look at 19:47 he connected Ground to right blue line, 12+ to the red line next to the Ground line and the 12- to red line on the very left. hope this helps
@@xXRabbitmanXx oh no sorry, i didn't mean the breadboard but the actual schematic in itself, if you were to make this with just wires and components where would the power minus and plus go?...
Hey Moritz, hey everyone, why is the waveform not so “sharp” after the last step (adding a voltage divider). I see the same in my setup. I would expect sth like this from a low-pass filter, but not from a voltage divider? Thanks!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this series. You are like the Morgan Freeman of diy synth tutors. I would love to see more vids from you, on just about anything as long as you were teaching.
I noticed that the addition of your voltage divider really chopped the peak off you saw wave, changing its shape. Do you have any idea where that signal change is coming from?
I have no idea what pushes you to make such high quality tutorial, it took you days of work, and months of previous studies and experience to get this level, to simply offer us few hours of tutorial. I have no idea what pushes you to do such thing, but I feel deeply grateful and I would consider Patreon for sure. Thank you so much
> I have no idea what pushes you t
You could ask!
Interest and burning passion for what he does.
MORE OF THIS PLEASE. I've been spinning my wheels for months trying to apply electrical theory to practical circuit building (for synths) and found few tutorials that help explain how electricity actually flows through a circuit. Thank you.
exactly the reason why i started doing these videos. glad i can help!
yes! there's this assumption that I can just look at a schematic and follow what the electricity is actually going to do... this level of explanation is fantastically useful.
Super stuff, completely agree! Everything makes a whole more sense!
Yes. Thanks so much for doing this series!
Please be careful when using a breadboard. It will create frequencies that will enter your body and cause damage.
Wrap either the breadboard or your body in tinfoil to block out the frequencies. You must be careful with frequencies.
nice old school oscilloscope!
WOW, nice work not bad for a synthesizer start
This is great! Thanks!
Great video!
Hello, i have a weird issue, i was not getting any output and i checked ten times, i have the same exact circuit as you
But then i borrowed a variable alimentation station and tried the circuit with different voltages and when i lowered to 2 volts i finally managed to get the sound.
I weirdly can't get it to work with anything higher
First of all i want to say great videos, i have watch all of the diy series and i started to follow the tutorials with my own components, i just have one question,
do you have any recomendation for buying a ociloscope ? is there a minimun bandwith necesary ? because all the cheap ociloscopes i see online are 20mhzs but i dont know if thats enough.
Thanks for everything !!! ❤❤
Boy-o-boy! There's a whole argument waiting to happen here over the direction of electron flow through a circuit. Everything you are teaching about individual components and these circuits is 100% spot on correct ...
... except current flow is opposite of what you teach. Electrons are negatively charged. Electrons, and therefore current, flows *from negative to positive.* This means current is flowing actually opposite of the arrow direction of the schematic diode. *The schematic is correct,* but electrons flow *into the point of the arrow.* What you teach as far as the flow of electricity is "(very) old school", but you are not the only one on RUclips who continues to teach "voltage flow" or "conventional current" as opposed to "electron flow".
I am NOT criticizing your videos, and your teaching methods are excellent. Teaching "voltage flow" changes nothing about what you teach concerning the behavior of the components and circuits, it doesn't really even change the *theory* of the water analogy you use here, just be aware that modern teaching uses "electron flow" which is in the opposite direction.
yeah that might be physically correct ( although you can also have positive particles as charge carrier) but the technical currentflow is defined as from positive to negative. So you could change every curcuit that has been made or published in a textbook but why would you. Besides it doesn´t matter bc it is just a matter of convention. Imagine that every electron going in one direction leaves behind a positively charged atom and you have the flow from positive to negative
@@bubhund6593 What you are describing is called "hole current". It refers to the atom or molecule that needs an electron to be balanced - they have a positive charge. As the electron jumps from one vacancy to the next, leaving a new vacancy behind it as it moves, these holes seem to move from positive to negative. The atoms are not moving, only the positive vacancy moves, like people in a fire bucket brigade. It's important to understand the direction of electron flow mostly to understand how semiconductors work at the molecular level, and it's the current flow that is taught in most electronics courses today and most electronics books written after 1960 (ish). You don't need to change a schematic to teach electron flow - it's correct either way.
Great Video! Question... How to expand?
I built one VCO. 10k POT -> tuned transistor -> inverter -> opamp buffer -> inverting opamp. Beautiful frequency response.
Then I tried to add another, same thing, to use another one of the 6 inverters. But they are entangled. One changes the frequency of the other. How to get two independent frequencies?
in my experience the inverters themselves are reasonably well isolated from each other. it's more likely that your oscillator's output is modulating the other oscillator's CV input path. try using shorter wires and keep the outputs (especially after amplification) away from those CV paths!
A couple things are missing for me to be able to follow along; I think I understand how the circuit works when I look at the 2D diagram, but trying to lay it out on a breadboard I realize I'm not totally sure how to connect it all together, and you don't walk us through it while you're filling the breadboard and there's no zoomed in view of the physical circuit. Did you make any amendments to this in later videos or on a patreon supplement or anything?
it's kind of an oversight on my part - i assumed most people already know how to build circuits on the breadboard. will do a separate, more basic video on that topic soon!
@@MoritzKlein0 I think I eventually got it -- at least so far.
@@MoritzKlein0 And that would be a great video. My secret shame is that my dad knows electronics really well but even though we've built a few things together he's never been able to step back, slow down, and explain it well enough to me that I can really learn. And as a teacher myself of beginner coding and 3D modeling, I find I'm always having to do the same.
Forget making a synth, this is a fantastic intro to electronics. You've made me understand concepts that never made sense in the 7years I've been learning.
100% agreed, thank you so much!
Es verdad
HA! I can't recall a better explanation. Excellent work Moritz.
No kidding, I remember some of these concepts seeming so counterintuitive to me in my physics classes but this made things quite simple.
Completely agree. Subscribed for that reason.
as an electronics engineer I must say this is the best introduction to DIY electronics I've seen so far! congratulations, you just earned a new subscriber.
Great job, this kind of entry-level electronics audio videos are suprisingly scarce, thanks for this!!
I feel like my brain has just ascended the first step to becoming a Synth God.
Same!
So, Did ya make it? Like, how many steps are there? It's been 2 years now... God. 🤘💀🤘
Sir I think chancellor Charles is a SYNTH LORD
This is probably the best Applied Learning example for basic electronics on the web. Moritz's basic explanation of electrical component function and circuit design are clear and engaging. Even if you are not interested synths or EDM, the stepwise process he describes to generate and shape a waveform by building a circuit all while monitoring progress with an oscilloscope and audio is invaluable. For those who want to go deeper (i.e. how does a schmitt trigger inverter work), I recommend Code by Petzold, but for most I think this will be all you need to get started in electronics.
You could also configure an Op-amp as a schmitt trigger to reduce the number of main ICs...adding more resisters but we all have a bunch of those already right! Electronoob has a good schmitt trigger equivalent op-amp example: ruclips.net/video/d-7Oyd8o8hE/видео.html&ab_channel=Electronoobs
I have needed something like this for years. have my children.
Each component and where it is used:
Breadboard - 13:16
40106 Schmitt Trigger Inverter IC - 13:16
1N4148 Signal Diode - 13:25
2.2nF Foil Capacitor - 13:43
100kΩ Resistor #1 - 14:06
9-15V Power Supply #1 - 14:14
9-15V Power Supply #2 - 19:24
TL074 Op-Amp Buffer IC - 19:24
1μF Foil Capacitor - 23:19
100kΩ Resistor #2 - 23:19
100kΩ Resistors #3 and #4 (see note below) - 26:18
Audio Jack - 26:39
Note: In the beginning of the next video, he replaces the resistors used at 26:18 with 10kΩ resistors, so these should actually be 10kΩ resistors.
Thank you !
So many "OH SHIT I GET IT" moments in this video. Your explanations are so perfectly clear it's insane, thank you !
One question : if i have a power supply with +12 -12v, i can connect the output of the breadboard directly into a eurorack modular without problem right ?
you mean the audio output? sure! but the PSU voltage doesn't matter all that much, as long as you don't go above 15V!
Yes you can. Two things are necessary:
1. one wire carries the the output signal of the breadboard (Tip of the mono audio jack)
2. The second wire connects the ground potential of your breadboard and eurorack (sleeve of the mono audio jack). The ground in your case should be between +12V and -12V (reference ground, 0V). In the end of the video it is the brown white line connecting the power supply to the breadboard, and the black line connecting the breadboard and eurorack.
Reasoning for the breadboard ground between the two supply voltages:
Lets say the eurorack uses a signal between +5V and -5V for input.
If you connect the -12V on the breadboard with the eurorack ground you can only send a signal between 0V and 24 V . (24V is the voltage difference between -12V and +12V)
If you use the 0V on the breadboard as ground you can send a signal between -12V and +12V. Limit the output below the allowed maximal input voltage.
TLDR:
Just watch out that the negative supply voltage is is not the ground you connect to the eurorack.
If anyone feels like they’re attention is drifting, or that the theory is so new that the info doesn’t stick, just keep watching and trust the process. This is the best oscillator tutorial on the internet. Your well on your way to your 40106 addiction 😂
wat bout 7414
This is just a masterpiece of content from a Master.
@@urnoob5528 I tried a 74LS14 and had problems starting the oscillation, it didn't source enough current for my component values. I tried a 74HC14 and it worked. Grounding leftover inputs is a MUST with the sensitive CMOS inputs in 74HC.
The balloon analogy that actually demonstrates how no current flows through the capacitor is awesome. The capacitor = “a battery” analogy has never really worked well for me so this was awesome, thank you!
yeah i had that click for me while making this video actually. it's a really helpful insight!
@@MoritzKlein0 yep me too! great video
A battery is a bit like a balloon too, no? Just a different way of actually storing the energy.
Actually in your analogy the quantity of water stored in the capacitor would be the charge, not the capacitance. Your video is very instructive nonetheless!
@@naught101 No, I was confused about this corner of electronics for a long time. I visualized batteries as just a big store of electrons that you could use up. If that were the case, then as soon as you hooked up a battery to a circuit, there would be a giant voltage, a huge zap, and everything would get fried as that huge pile of electrons pushed apart from each other and went to ground.
Instead, batteries are electron *pumps*. They take in electrons from one terminal and push them "uphill" to go back out of the other terminal. They use chemicals to provide the energy needed to that. The "electro-motive force" describes how "hard" that pump is able to push to drive current and is why you have batteries of different voltages.
In a pnuematic analogy, think of batteries as chemically-powered fans.
Thank you so much for video! I built my own oscillator from your VCO playlist and it’s working very well.
Can this schematic be converted to LFO by replacement of 2.2nF capacitor?
This is the best introduction into electronics I got yet!!! Thank you very much! While watching, I had to resist putting more and more electronic parts in to the shopping basket and carrying my old oscilloscope (never used before) from the basement🙈
Congratulations - you’ve just taken me from electronic zero to dangerous in a single video.
Extremely educational and entertaining content!
I always like knowing just enough to dangerous.
Well put together and easy to understand. You make it easy to follow using the pipe examples. Looking forward to more of these👍🏻💪🏻
I've heard a saying that the better you understand something, the more simply you can explain it. I have no doubt that you possess an incredibly deep understanding of electronics and the concepts involved. This video is so very helpful and easy to grasp.
You are a fantastic teacher ... please add more videos
The foil capacitor you're using is a non polarized capacitor alright, however when you're working with sound or anything else that is sensitive for signals coming from something outside the circuit you really should treat the non polarized capacitors as a polarized one, let me explain...
The foil capacitor is made of two metalized foils, separated by a non conducting foil, therefore you'll always have one of the metalized foils on the outside and the other below that making the most outside foil more sensitive for outside noise that it can pick up, so if you really want or need to keep out as much noise as possible you need to connect the outside metalized foil to ground and the signal to the other pin and you can measure with your oscilloscope and a signal generator what the outside foil is by connecting the signal generator to one side of the capacitor and the other side to ground and connect the oscilloscope to a small coil that you can make yourself it doesn't need a lot of turns and the smaller the coil the smaller the area that it can pick up the noise, or you just buy a specially made probe for that to do the same thing, now if you hold the coil or probe next to the capacitor you can either see it clearly or you can't see or just a tiny bit of the signal that you're putting into the capacitor with the signal generator.
So when you see the signal very clearly you know that's the outside foil of the capacitor and when you don't see the signal or just a tiny bit, you know that's the inside foil and that's the pin you should connect to the signal of whatever you want to protect with the grounded outside foil from noise coupling into the capacitor, doing this makes sure you're keeping the noise to a minimum level.
The water model is a very good model to explain the idea behind electrical components.
I just want to warn your audience though, when doing audio stuff we must be aware that around wires and every components, there's a electric and magnetic field which have influence on other parts of the circuit and can be influenced by. Because audio signal are by nature like alternative current, sometime this can have impact on the output, like weird hums and hissing. The water model doesn't modelize that without some tweaks...
That said, for a beginner, this model is perfect, and sometime better than what some teachers actually do in an physic class. You explained it very well. Good job!
There are two types of teachers: those who says "look how it's simple" and those who says "look how smart I am". Thank you for showing us how simple it is.
this is awesome! i was just starting the process of researching and getting into electronics for the first time for audio reasons , perfect.....
probably one of the best videos i have ever watched on youtube, your explanations, analogies and the diagrams (lofi enough to be cool but relevant enough to be useful ) are outstanding. For the love of god dont stop making good content and finding ways to explain electronics to people.....subscribed
This was insanely helpful, thank you! When I was following basic oscillator circuit schematics the last time I got as far as getting a square wave and while trying to turn it into a triangle wave I accidentally fried the Opamp because I got confused and mixed up the 0 and -9V cables 🤦♀️ Which of course happened because I didn’t quite understand the circuit. I feel like I’m finally starting to get it now with your balloon analogy. Please continue making these!
hello, what kind of amp or speaker i can use to hear the sound. Just started on the Diy synth universe
either headphones or anything else that has an aux input!
@@MoritzKlein0 Can I plug it into a lm386 breadboard amp ?
@@gabrielguimaraes8967 i need a little more information on that amp circuit and what you want to drive with it!
@@MoritzKlein0 Might explain "line level" (0-1V?) in one of these. I've also wondered how the CVs are standardized, but I expect we'll get to that.
The lm386 works good for headphones at least.
This is pure gold. Thanks a lot, you explained things so nicely and easely that I expect a lot of people - me included - to start building DIY synths from scratch.
I’m just getting back into electronics again after taking a GCSE in it 22 years ago. I want to build my own synth and properly understand what is going on and this video series is perfect! Thank you SO much! Keep up the great work!
Should the capacitor on the Schmitt Trigger go to pins 5 & 7, or pins 6 & 7?
Absolute masterful example of presenting material, thank you very much
Thanks for doing this! Been building other people's designs but want make my own now so trying to really understand the basics well. This video is very helpful! Great job
I love these DIY synth videos! I have watched the whole series at least twice and am ordering components now to build my own.
This is exactly what I needed. I’m a novice and this is very helpful! I’m excited to start my journey into modular! Keep it up man!
Greatest video on electronics that I've ever seen. I've been tinkering with this stuff for years, yet cannot seem to grasp what is really happening in a circuit. Thank you so much, this is a big, big help!
Hello, thanks for the videos! I have a question - How would I go about using batteries as a power supply for the op amps?
This is beautiful. I’m not an electrician, but these analogies and the way you’re teaching is on par with my college physics classes. You should be proud.
I am troubleshooting a Schmitt Trigger Synthesizer that I built from a popular internet design. What you have taught me, here, will really help with finding the bugs in my circuit. So, a very timely video, for me. Thank you!
Your videos are excellent but I have to say the width of the square wave doesn't represent frequency. The repetition or number of times per second that the wave (square, sine, triangle etc.) repeats is the frequency. The width of the wave is irrelevant to frequency. You can have short spike shaped square waves at 100Hz or long square waves at 100Hz (or any other frequency).
From 9 min, the waterpump explanation tuned out to be a very good Surrealistic drawing XD
But thanks very very much for the usefull informations!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is a gem, finally something that actually teaches the basics of electronics well
Best tutorial on anything I’ve ever seen. Also, I’m a college professor.
Awesome video,dude you helped me so much. Thank you. I have a reading disability, so I can read about what you did over and over and can't understand it at all. The way you just showed it in this video. Is amazing,I understand it all, everything you talked about. Now I can understand what they was saying in the books I'm reading. At least I know what there saying about the things you showed.
Thank you so much 👍👍👍
After studying electrotechnics for years I really enjoy the water analogy. This is a real good Explanation :)
I can't seem to get the OP Amp to work. I'm getting a good signal out of the Schmitt Trigger but nothing out of the OP Amp. I've checked my wiring several times and even replaced it with a new OP Amp. I even checked to make sure the signal made it down to the right pin on the OP Amp but I am still getting nothing out of it. Could it be that I am using a polarized capacitor?
hey, can i connect an speaker (without an amp) directly to the audio out?
what kind of speaker?
@@MoritzKlein0 www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-4-inch-8-10W-Full-range-Speaker-102MM-8Ohm-Loudspeaker-HiFi-Audio-Part/263768374955?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item3d69d1feab:g:ObAAAOSwllpbKaVb&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACYBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkXKoKcbeZcOrOku%252BoOBl%252BS8zpTAaaRxvgqNB89y%252BiDQa%252Frsx%252BIBEmlEDVrRsOsr5cJztLIfPPWsdxDnOjKZJZlFHAqkGA1pcF2P8kAgrgaWe2ck4ARdrM8NPuHddvcs1tgh9Tm6kPe5MrppdRzV3EXklgg1vEO17ToocZlzh20QFjpRr3IH%252BOpQzYZN%252BJbJLyFLT%252B3olJDDfHuke8MPP3cMci7oOkjLtKYJDv2IKzAFt20vI5EaKXjf8lpKt77A%252BdqqGIX6mm84%252BmK7QUxm5iyoMkGmY2lFYqemCefVREx7GGzLv02EiFUjHes6iHxll5pf6yb%252B4XnSxTe5PrMypVElelHZWBRutNB9e06MIFZ6N6VOlnqyqeVvfOZdp7sjQvEO2qzvcpS9NxwWaBR4EebPvBSAb4GXug7ChunTbaHraVW7KcC6oScXEWVwR1o6K5j5FK1POBDammpoSQbt5reRiwRiALCw0f71OnxJI3r9vlZywQ9U3jF2SBwtUT0Mg8Zu8PNXJk4NMcXZlTU2YZ%252FiGF4%252FGA71kXT9QraluZPhJz7sgYaJHLmhiDUCypj4P1R1xNkrsIDOMrP1zVtpw1kH3SJ0ycsJ6NAeAOpzZGha642ggn8nM8IlZFTWoCroR8%252B82%252BVTcoVGDMSN41SwQ3%252Br2I3Kngkn3CvOL0ROEQ%252BHyFn1suGmvrT1CZ%252Fc%252B8GHWiGocj32BjNkV6gO4eWYUzzCohHEbg7YljzSJkHKHJs%252F9xqIzJ0Ip%252FEsdLUqvvdsh6%7Ccksum%3A263768374955ff7a9befd9a54a4f9390821503aec635%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524 like that
I once connected headphones to a digital output of my Arduino and listened to its audio... never in my life I've heard any noise as loud as that: my ear hurted for the next hour, luckily I don't have ear damage
THE PRICE OF SYNTHS SHALL HOLD US DOWN NO MORE!!! I can’t tell you how much i want to give you a hug man, thank you so much. I’m going out to buy components tomorrow!!! 😁🙏💕✨
This is a very significant video. You've done a great service to the world.
Personally I wouldn't take the flow analogies so far, and would try to build intuition in terms of electrons etc. But that's just personal preference. Nonwithstanding that, this is a near flawlessly executed intuitive explanation of electronics, which is a rare thing to find at all, and probably the first to achieve such an explanation in so little time. Bravo.
Hmm, when i build the circuit, it doesn't seem to be affected by the resistor value at all. In fact i can completely leave it out, but this means that i cant change frequency. I am using a 4585 as the schmitt trigger
This is great, except that tone totally triggered my tinnitus. doh!
you win some you lose some
What type of resistors do you use the most? Love your channel btw
Final year Mechatronic Engineering student here (We take a lot of Electrical modules), and I must say this is a fantastic intro into electronics I found myself getting a great intuitive understanding of a lot of the circuits I've been working with for the last 4 years. And as someone who's also interested in synths this is a gold mine!
What’s missing here is how to make a simple dual rail power supply, if I don’t know how to make that all of this is a waste of time.
as a third year robotics student who has stayed away from the electronics side because it never made sense to me thank you. Fantastic intro to electrical engineering in general. Better than a £27k university course ever taught me.
this aint even electrical
electrical is mostly high voltage stuff and machines
small circuit with small voltage belongs in the electronics engineering domain
power grid, generation, electric machines are electrical, if u study electronics engineering, u will barely touch on these subjects, like dippin yo toes in the water
Nice video very helpful. PLZ use de esser on your dialogues😅
I read the manual on building synthesizers and a book on electronics. I should have just watched this video.
If you are not an electrician, how did you start out learning about this? Do you have any book, tutorial or website recommendations? Please continue doing these videos, they are really great, thank you!
trial & error, mostly. actually, i started doing these videos because they're what i was - unsuccessfully - looking for when i was a complete newbie. as far as recommendations go, check out elliot william's logic noise series: hackaday.com/2015/02/04/logic-noise-sweet-sweet-oscillator-sounds/
apart from that: don't get bogged down by the gatekeepers, there's unfortunately a few in this scene. also, manage your expectations: many people think they need to be able to build a minimoog after two weeks. ideally, you should be able to find the fun in making a light blink - then you'll make progress fast!
oh, and i see many people treating electronics with this awe, as if they're magic. they're not - if you look into it, everything is actually very logical and "mechanical". this is often hidden behind buzzwords and complex formulas!
wish you coulda seen the face i made when the first demo sounds kicked in. awesome video Moritz
Hello, great video, can i use a modified 12V power supply from an old dvd to power up the module?
really depends on the specs of that power supply! does it have -12V, ground and +12V? and is it a switching power supply?
@@MoritzKlein0 it has a -12V and a +12V and i can switch between. gnd, +5V, +12V and -12V ports.
images.app.goo.gl/hrF56Jd7P7hqPbue9 it is this type of power supply
Daniel Mendes honestly not sure. are you certain it has a -12V output? on the aliexpress page it only says 12/5V.. if you have a multimeter, check the voltages at the outputs. if in fact you get -12, 0, and +12v at individual outputs, you can try it.
also, it‘s a switching power supply, not a linear one - that means that it’s probably quite noisy. for testing purposes it should be ok, but not for „proper“ applications!
This guy is incredible. This video is a true gem. Thank you
Bravo! I’ve been a computer scientist and electronics tinkerer for nearly 2 decades. Electrical engineering was my least favorite class. I learned more in these videos than I did in the last two decades. Thank you for putting this together. Now, off to build my VCO!
Incredible, thank you.
As an electronics magician you would make a good plumber too lol
That was a great video, cheers!
Best description of ac coupling ever! You rarely see someone going into what exactly the cap and resistor are doing for the network. This level of abstraction is absolutely ACE for someone like me!
Your explanations are absolutely genius. I've seen the water analogies before, but this takes it to the level of actual electrical circuit analysis is so many situations. WOW. Thank you.
Grate video! how did you make the DIY power supply? I need the same for another project.
ruclips.net/video/pQKN30Mzi2g/видео.html
Wow... and no things start to make sense... 30 years after my engineering courses!
god I love you...you just saved my interest in electronics
Learning so much from this. Next time I'm back in NK I'll buy you a Döner from Imren or a Risa - your choice.
This has got to be the greatest electronics 101 intro that I've ever watched. Fantastic!
Does anyone know if there is a reason why the Schmitt trigger chip uses the -V rail instead of the +V which is what I would expect?
EDIT oh wait, I just realized something. I had traced the relative voltages based on the op-amp chip on the breadboard, but it's actually upside-down from the earlier diagram. So I had it flipped. The Schmitt trigger chip is connected to +V.
yep, it’s hooked up to V+ and ground!
Subscribed so hard. Its hard to find so much good information in one place, there are so many vids and tutorials that cover little isolated bits, and you really have to prowl around through books and other tutorials to get the same amount of info. I wish I could have seen this 5 years ago when I started!
This is an excellent explanation of coupling capacitors. I sorta knew intellectually that they removed DC bias, but I didn't really get the how or the why before. Thanks! I'm hoping to learn enough from this series and others to design and build my own analogue synth from parts I've already collected over the years, so every bit of theory is very helpful.
100% fascinating and informative!
When you say "plug in an amp"....what exactly do you mean? Will headphones do? Or does is need powered amplification? Also, what frequency did you get here? Measuring with an osc, I got 20kHz with the 1nF and 100k resistor. Bumped that up to 1M resistor to bring it down to an audible-if-piercing 2kHz.
it works with any kind of amplifier (hifi, bluetooth box with aux in, etc), but cheap headphones would be preferable because it doesn’t hurt much if you fry them when your circuit is set up incorrectly.
THIS merhod should be taught to youngsters, and get our kids falling in love with engineering and science! If we are to thrive, the time is NOW for our children to look at STEM the same way they worship hip-hop stars and celebs. Gotta run....I got an OSC to build!
ha well said, love it!
excellent video. excited for more. love your illustration style and handwriting. and of course the clear explanations.
I echo Jono's comments. You are very good!
maybe a stupid question but im just a beginner; Where in the circuit schematic does the voltage source/battery go? i can't really thing where you would put a + and a - terminal...
If you look at 19:47 he connected Ground to right blue line, 12+ to the red line next to the Ground line and the 12- to red line on the very left. hope this helps
@@xXRabbitmanXx oh no sorry, i didn't mean the breadboard but the actual schematic in itself, if you were to make this with just wires and components where would the power minus and plus go?...
Wait not worries i figured it out
Hey Moritz, hey everyone, why is the waveform not so “sharp” after the last step (adding a voltage divider). I see the same in my setup. I would expect sth like this from a low-pass filter, but not from a voltage divider? Thanks!
check out part 2!
holy shit where was this in my experimental physics class
I am 8 minutes in and i have already learned so much
Hey, im new to electronics in general
Do you have any recomandations where i can buy all of that stuff?
preffered shops in the eu (germany)
mouser.com
here‘s a mouser basket: www.mouser.de/ProjectManager/ProjectDetail.aspx?AccessID=049f9f9dc9 you‘ll have to check if the parts are available though!
@@MoritzKlein0 thank you
Is there any example for a full schematic including the Op-Amp, AC coupling, and voltage divider?
here's the final schematic: ruclips.net/video/FUz3gFAh9pY/видео.html
If only my professor explained things like you 23 years ago... Great quality content.
The moment when I suddenly understood my physics classes of 15 years ago -_-
Homemade multivibrator, super cool
1902 PowerPoint style. Nicely done.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this series. You are like the Morgan Freeman of diy synth tutors. I would love to see more vids from you, on just about anything as long as you were teaching.
I noticed that the addition of your voltage divider really chopped the peak off you saw wave, changing its shape. Do you have any idea where that signal change is coming from?
check the next video in this series, i explain this issue in the beginning :)
In half an hour you just gave me a better idea of how electricity works than an entire semester of college, from the bottom of my heart thank you.