Modular Synth VCO Design & Build
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- Опубликовано: 12 авг 2017
- In this video I build a voltage controlled oscillator (sawtooth core). It's inspired by the early Elektor Formant synths, and designed to integrate with existing Eurorack synthesizer systems.
I'll also talk about how I breadboarded up a MIDI to 1V/octave converter to go with it for keyboard/computer control.
0:05 - Sound tests
1:12 - Build Montage
2:30 - Controls explanation
3:44 - Inspiration (Elektor Formant, NGF)
5:01 - Schematic overview
7:53 - Heater experiment
10:17 - Reason for building this
10:44 - Breadboarded MIDI to 1V/OCT converter
13:23 - PCB bodges made
14:15 - Outtro
KiCAD design files: github.com/schnommus/formant_...
Code I wrote for the PADI IoT stamp in the video for MIDI/CV conversion: github.com/schnommus/padi-mid...
Hadn't originally planned on publishing a video about this board but I had so much fun with it that I though it was worth making a video about!
WEBSITE POST: sebholzapfel.com/blog/modular...
CALLSIGN: VK2SEB 
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Liking the synth design stuff. Would love to see more of that. There are not many doing this on RUclips..
Very clean schematic with good annotation. Don't see that very often in the synth community. Good job!
Astounding video and skills. I really hope you to keep working in the modular synth area and keep producing interesting designs. You have a megaton of potential
Thanks so much for sharing your build and the documentation. Im sure i will find it very useful .
Excellent project! I have been digging into this synth stuff and really like how it teaches me so much about different basic building blocks of electronics. Videos like these are like precious gems.
Hi all. New to modular/eurorack and due to cost going down self build route. Glad to of found this channel.
Creative, and thanks for sharing. RUclips needs more people like you!!!!!
Great video! Thanks for explaining everything so clearly!
how does one get so practiced at electronics that they're able to create something so cool like this? truly inspiring!
I was searching for a video that described the theory of this style of VCO design, this is great! Thanks!
It's Dreadful... ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!
Wow awesome. Please keep up with the nice diy synth videos.
Awesome vid, would love to see more like this. Ideally a breakdown of some even more "basic" components like a LPG or Envelope generator. Thanks!
Very nice. Loved the schematic layout and circuit explanation. Thanks for sharing. Best Wishes n Blessings. Keith Noneya
This video was fantastic, and really inspiring. More, please!!
Great work!
_"I don't have a Eurorack synthesiser, I want to build one."_ Exactly my thought. I started learning EE only to be able to create a modular synth of my own. And I got to really loving it. Ray Wilson has some neat projects and so I'm at the stage of learning to design a VCO. But I thought that all the technical development over all those years would make opamps somewhat temperature resistant. Why did you end up using TL072 instead of the classics like LM324/358?
Opamps are not the issue (not perfect either but nothing is). Thermal characteristics of transistors and resistors on the other hand.... they can be a real doozy. Also one of the many reasons for why opamps are not perfect (even down at the dye level).
Honestly I tried so many times to build just the sawtooth VCO core based off Ray Wilson’s designs and while ray has made some great stuff and I absolutely love his work, I never had any luck building a stable and working vco core
So I resorted to looking across the internet for one of the old CEM3340 chips found in the Roland SH101 and other various synths, and I based my oscillators around that chip. I’ve never had any more issues regarding volt per octave circuits and I love this chip, despite its higher price tag
Cheers on your DIY adventures,
Mylo
Thank you so much! I can't wait to get around to messing this up.. :D
Awesome video, thanks!
Nice work 👌
More of this please
it sounds very good! or better, for my ears it sounds veery good.
The heater circuit is a very cool idea! (no pun!)
Thank You.
Cool solution. I built the Formant MSS2000 and a Moog System 55 clone.
Impressed! :) You've managed a MIDI to CV device from unknown components and talks so easily about this :)
I guess you have a degree in electronics or long-long hobby hours with all this stuff.
P.S. Just searched for "simple triangle 1v/octave oscillator schematic" as 40106 seems to hard to work with a simple expo-converter (on 9v, not a serious thing though).
Beautiful PCB, really satisfying. It's neat that you use SMT parts so you can place the circuit and controls on one PCB. I've built Ray Wilson's VCO (which seems really stable) and I'm messing around with a CEM3340 right now. I like that your design has a heater and a voltage ref - even though the CEM3340 should technically be temperature stable it seems kind of wobbly sometimes to me. I could spend my entire life messing with VCOs!
if you have a project with that chip and u can share it i'll be eternally grateful :) i was thinkink about acquiring one or two.
@@skriptico Here's the schematic on my website: blinkenl.info/CEM3340_VCO_rev3_schematic.png - This is optimised for Eurorack with a 12V dual supply. Be warned though, the frequency can be sensitive to small changes in the supply voltage, so I've been considering stepping down and regulating the +V supply, maybe through a simple setup with a zener, or a reference voltage like vk2seb used in the video.
this chaneel is awesome, hope you make more video
you are a genius
Really liked this video. The explanations were extremely useful as I'm trying to design my own synths as well. Hope to see more diy synth modules.
Great job! Would love to be able to do something like this without following a tutorial one day.
Nice work. 11:22 of course its an IoT device.
Is your MIDI -> CV converter works good? My MCP have so big error that it caused up to 10 cents errors between tuned C octaves. After buying A-190-3 module problem disappeared
Great and inspiring video! Was wondering if you had a link where I can get all the components necessary for such a project. I saw you had a box at the beginning with all the pieces.
Hi, good job! Did you test de octaves tuning? How does chip heating compares with tempco vcos?
A rack mounted synth? That'd be an interesting project :)
There's 'good stuff' here on your channel Seb. Looking forward to seeing more food for the Brain....thanks for posting mate!
You probably have a ton of optocouplers around; they're a component in just about every switch mode power supply. I had a couple of dead wall wart power supplies that I harvested optocouplers from for a MIDI project--they're not the fastest, but they seemed to work well enough for my application.
Any chance you can provide the schematic for your power supply circuit? It looks realy simple I am very interested.
Great job on the module its great
Wow! Great work!!!! And your circuit is totally stable!
Is it possible to get Pdfs of the schematics?
Great job, what is the purpose of the two diodes between vcc and gnd in the vco ? thanks
probably wrong polarity protection
Cool channel, hope you are ok and hopefully you will make more videos in the future.
i had hoped there would be more videos.
me too
By the way can you get a +/-13 or 12volts refrence voltage chip ?
I don't know of any off-hand, but you could always buffer/scale to a lower voltage through an op-amp (given you use correct resistor tolerances). Similar thing done in this design but only for the negative rail.
Really interesting - so 3 years on? Do you have a synth?
Brilliant video although I nead to be a few more years through my degree to fully understand the circuit.
I love these videos! I have a general question, I am designing a midi controlled analogue synth and am currently writing a report towards it. I need to write some technical design specifications before considering the design and give reason to why I chose them, such as waveform output voltage, current in etc. Could you give me some examples of what can be aimed towards at this point and how we would support these specs ? thank you, keep it the great videos :)
Jack Tranckle - probably late for suggestions but reading Ray Wilson’s “Make: Analog Synthesizers” and probably only available as a pdf at this point but Barry Klein’s “Electronic Music Circuits” should give you some good ideas on writing out your paper.
Reminds me of Flylo's Cosmogramma/Gridworld years.
Can you link the harold guys site in the description? (:
The main site is at haraldswerk.de/
Seb was looking at haraldswerk.de/NGF_E/NGF_VCO_Core_two/NGF_VCO_Core_two.html
How could a BeagleBoneBlack board with a 7"-Touchscreen be integrated as a computer in a portable Eurorack (mounting, power supply, USB I/O)?
This is sure interesting.
Btw, is Kicad any good?
I am thinking a bit on trying to learn some PCB design tools myself. Perfboard and wire apparently is too hacky for todays hackers...
I don't mind it actually, it used to be a lot more quirky a few years back but it's definitely improved and is a lot more intuitive now. There are a few things I miss from Altium like nicer BOM management, via fencing/stitching; but these have slower workarounds. If you're keen to learn KiCAD I can recommend this video, it's extremely succinct: ruclips.net/video/zK3rDhJqMu0/видео.html
Alexander Wikström . I had absolutly no idea how use kicad about 2 months ago . I decided to take the plunge and find it very good. Thou im still trying to work out how to make custom libary components ie obselete parts.
Alexander Wikström: I'll address the why pegboard is fast coming to a end is that a lot of modern Ice are not available as through hole packages... only surface mount. Making a PCB is incredibly cheap... the biggest cost is the time to learn the CAD software.
Don't be discouraged from taking on either method. Some projects can be accomplished much quicker through quick protoyping methods, others may be easier to make a pcb for. I always tend to go with the path of least resistance or at least the method that suits the requirements at hand. If there is even the slightest chance of implementing the design into something else in the future then a pcb is worth the effort in the long run.
By the way how did you get the lm3046 into kicad ?
The correct SOIC footprint was already there, just had to create the custom component. Should be able to pull it out of my kicad files if you want it (files are lm3046*): github.com/schnommus/formant_vco_prototype
"Ble-e-e-e-ep Blo-op Ble-e-o-p!
That was cool! Did Thonk print the custom pcb for you? I didn't see anything on their site regarding customized parts. Did you have to contact them directly?
He probably printed it in pcbway.com or a similar site. There';s plenty of them, and some chinese are extremely cheap
PCB board can be purchased?
im new at electronics, I wonder how you built the white breadboard?
If you meant the solderless breadboard that the MIDI to voltage converter was built on, you can just buy those. He didn't make it.
Ebay is a good place to get them, especially if you're not in a rush and can wait for delivery direct from China, to save money. They're usually described by the number of holes. e.g. a 270 hole one is a really small, cheap one. A 400 hole one is a bit bigger, and probably big enough for that circuit.
Or did you mean how he built the circuit on the breadboard?
You export ur pcb files in the respected format w the factory ur working with and u can choose the solder mask (the white colour.... Or it can even be purple)
What are you applying before you put the components in it? Looks like a paste of some sort... with a syringe
Solder paste.
It's a soft goo of flux holding together lots of microscopic balls of solder.
When heated, the flux turns to liquid, does its cleaning job, then evaporates, leaving the solder balls in place to melt and join the components to the board.
Sounds really interesting. Would this circuit run on +-12V?
Any new vids? We neeeed you
I turned to synth DIY also after years in radio homebrew. VY 73 DE W0XO
I thought the doubling of the input voltage would be linear, not exponential?? For instance, y=2x is linear.
Ethonian Ribberdunce Yes, you would be right, but for each octave, the frequency doubles.
I think it’s y=2^x
WE WANT THE STRIPBOARD Through-hole VERSION! :)) strip-board! strip-board! strip-board! (shouting) :P
anyone can make a custom vco ?
No. VCOs are one of the most difficult designs. You have to calculate and calibrate quite precisely the expo converter and them do all the waveshaping, which is a lot of work. Currently there's in production a chip called 3340 which sounds wonderful and makes all the heavyweight. In fact is the same chip used in some classic Oberheims, Moogs and Sequentials
That was cool.... your RF stuff is a bit ... erm... "too RF" for me.... seeing as all of this is 3 years old now, I suppose you must have given up... that's a pity... I'd have liked to have seen more of this.
This video have 34k visualizations, but only 700 likes. Logic?
YOU BOUGHT COMPONENTS FROM THONK?!?! ARE YOU MADE OF MONEY???!
Non vintage synth; SMD hasn't common components as in the old fashioned way...
Way, way better diy designs are available. And have been for about 20 years.
what designs would you recommend? Thanks
Example required... we are curious.
Wow, Ian Fritz!!. Yeah, for sure there's a lot of easier ones even with more character, but the whole video is just extremely interesting and absorvent. The SDIY comminuty needs a lot more of this