Thank you! It took me a lot of rehearsing and improvising live to get to a point where I can feel confident in doing one-takes. And carpal-tunnel, which made me adverse to editing audio.
great work! please dont spare us the boring details, sharing as much information about the process of building something from scratch to finish is always welcome.
These presentations have a nice balance between assuming the audience is intelligent but not genius level engineers. I didn't major in electrical engineering but get really excited about projects like this, and appreciate the brief step-by-step explanations. Thanks for your consideration!
Checkout the cheap 7 segment modules on Amazon that use the TM1637. You can run the display from one wire and the display doesn't need an active refresh.
Is there a need to buffer your outputs to protect your circuit from interfering with the other modules you hook into? I know you used an opamp to use some of the rail voltages for scaling, but if you used the Arduino as a 5V gate/trigger generator, would you need to put an opamp buffer before your output jacks to protect everything else or am I over complicating things?
Yes! Sometimes a buffer is needed to raise the level, but in any event it's critical to protect the microcontroller from the higher voltages present on the synth signal lines. If you take a look at the schematic for the Mutable Instruments grids (PDF available here: renbeeves.com/blog/modular/2018/06/17/mutable-instruments-schematics.html) you'll see on the lower left side that the clock input signal is fed to the base of a transistor (2n3904) and its collector is on the 5v rail with some resistor. The emitter connects it to ground when the input is high, effectively toggling the 5v pullup, and that way the signal the microcontroller sees is always 0v or 5v, never higher or in between. For the outputs you can do the reverse, though it's less critical as 5v signalling is sufficient for gates. Still probably a good idea as you could easily accidentally plug a higher output signal into the jack. Some have suggested a 5.1v zener is sufficient for this but I haven't tried that method.
Yeah, love old computers, but they're a little complicated for my skills! Digital is easy nowadays with microcontrollers but it used to be way more intense.
Scanned LEDs are one of the worst sources of interference in Eurorack. This is because quite high currents are being switched and fed into the 0V which is also the analogue reference for many ICs. The solution is to avoid Mickey Mouse circuits like this and implement constant current and current steering techniques. Think about it, do you want to be part of the problem, spreading bad practise, or part of the solution?
Very good presentation, subbed.
Thanks! Love your performance vids - have tried my own but the one-take track is totally beyond me!
Thank you! It took me a lot of rehearsing and improvising live to get to a point where I can feel confident in doing one-takes. And carpal-tunnel, which made me adverse to editing audio.
great work!
please dont spare us the boring details, sharing as much information about the process of building something from scratch to finish is always welcome.
These presentations have a nice balance between assuming the audience is intelligent but not genius level engineers. I didn't major in electrical engineering but get really excited about projects like this, and appreciate the brief step-by-step explanations. Thanks for your consideration!
Wow, what a cool series. You put this together well and give very good explanations. Subbed.
Very useful series. Good job, you deserve a lot more views!
Checkout the cheap 7 segment modules on Amazon that use the TM1637. You can run the display from one wire and the display doesn't need an active refresh.
marvelous, thk u very much !
This is awesome, thanks.
Is there a need to buffer your outputs to protect your circuit from interfering with the other modules you hook into?
I know you used an opamp to use some of the rail voltages for scaling, but if you used the Arduino as a 5V gate/trigger generator, would you need to put an opamp buffer before your output jacks to protect everything else or am I over complicating things?
Yes! Sometimes a buffer is needed to raise the level, but in any event it's critical to protect the microcontroller from the higher voltages present on the synth signal lines. If you take a look at the schematic for the Mutable Instruments grids (PDF available here: renbeeves.com/blog/modular/2018/06/17/mutable-instruments-schematics.html) you'll see on the lower left side that the clock input signal is fed to the base of a transistor (2n3904) and its collector is on the 5v rail with some resistor. The emitter connects it to ground when the input is high, effectively toggling the 5v pullup, and that way the signal the microcontroller sees is always 0v or 5v, never higher or in between.
For the outputs you can do the reverse, though it's less critical as 5v signalling is sufficient for gates. Still probably a good idea as you could easily accidentally plug a higher output signal into the jack. Some have suggested a 5.1v zener is sufficient for this but I haven't tried that method.
wow man, you are impressive at this stuff
im smart, but im not good at this stuff........yet haha
Assume you're all over 8-bit guy?
Yeah, love old computers, but they're a little complicated for my skills! Digital is easy nowadays with microcontrollers but it used to be way more intense.
I mean more specifically because he's recently done a whole thing on character LCDs
Oh hadn't seen that - will take a look! Have had LCDs explained to me a dozen times and still have no idea how they work TBH
Scanned LEDs are one of the worst sources of interference in Eurorack. This is because quite high currents are being switched and fed into the 0V which is also the analogue reference for many ICs. The solution is to avoid Mickey Mouse circuits like this and implement constant current and current steering techniques. Think about it, do you want to be part of the problem, spreading bad practise, or part of the solution?
Link your schematics then