Designing a simple 5-step sequencer from scratch
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
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In this episode, we're building a really simple, 4017-based 5-step DIY sequencer. It's a great companion to my SHAPES VCO. if you want to build along, here's the bill of materials:
1x CD4017 decade counter
1x TL074 quad op amp
5x BC548 NPN transistor
5x LED
5x 100k linear mono potentiometer
1x 5k trimmer potentiometer
13x 1N4148 diode
10x 100k resistor
1x 68k resistor
1x 51k resistor
7x 1k resistor
3x jack socket
Chapters
00:00 Intro & what is a sequencer?
03:52 The 4017 decade counter
12:36 The CV output
19:43 Safe status LEDs
21:45 The gate output
28:15 Final design & outro 
Наука
Another awesome video, Moritz! It's one thing to give people a step by step plan, but your way of explaining the *why* of every design decision by starting from the problems they solve is educational gold.
Great vid as usual! It is worth mentioning for the ones unexperienced with the CD4017 that the outputs in the datasheet are numbered from '0' to '9' instead of the '1' to '10' we would name them. I made the mistake of using what in the datasheet was step '1' as the actual step one in my first sequencer. It took a frustrating while before I understood the problem :-)
yeah, that‘s why i numbered them 1-10 on my drawing - but you‘re right, a quick note might‘ve been good!
Starting at position 0 is the standard for computing and these were originally for analog computers. These are made to be chained together so each chip represents a single digit which is why it starts at 0.
I feel like I've struck a gold mine with this channel. This is exactly the kind of DIY audio circuitry design I've been searching for as an EE student. I can't thank you enough for making these!
THIS CHANNEL IS AMAAAZING. As a electrical engineering student, I thank you immensely for these explanations. Clear, concise, and very useful!
You know I love your drawings best of all. Surrounded by capacitors and diodes laying on tabletop It makes your videos not just informative but a masterpiece visually and esthetically pleasing
Your videos inspired me to be more serious about building synth modules instead of letting ideas and drawings sit around. Thank you so much for all the excellent information you provide in such a detailed, yet easily-digestible manner!
I was looking for this channel even though I did not know it existed.
and there it is, another episode of one of the greatest series from youtube, thank you Moritz!
if you make each stage of the sequencer using a discrete flip-flop, you can include skip switches (per the moog 960), which is a very valuable addition for live riff-generation.
this is a bit more elaborate than just using a counter-IC, but way more useful.
I love how you build your circuits one step at a time. It really helps me understand what every component does.
Love the sound of a singing oscillator in the morning
Man, the quality of your content is superb.
AWESOME job again, Mr. Klein!! I’m super stoked that even though you’ve chosen to expose the finer details of the 4017 sequencer, you’ve done it by starting from scratch, and giving us a clear explanation as to how those gates and outputted Control Voltage signals might work for not just one synthesizer, but also other ones with slightly different topographies as well!! THANKS AGAIN FOR SHARING!!'
SO enjoying these videos.. Thanks.
Thank you. I’ve been waiting on this video.
Can’t wait to get it running.
Really great presentation, explanations, delivery. Thank you.
Wonderful explanation
I am following along with your series and implementing it in the simulator.
Cheers ✨
These videos are so awesome!! Thanks so much 😁
Can’t wait to start breadboarding!!
You are a good teacher.
I agree - another great video! Thanks for this - was waiting for sequencing via breadboard.
Excellent design walkthrough. Completely understandable with good logical flow. Thanks!
This is a great video! Thanks for thoroughly explaining all the steps necessary to build this sequencer, very insightful!
For choosing number of steps 3, 4 or 5 with just a SPDT switch, if you have one with center off: pull down 4017 reset input with 100k. Connect diode from step 6 (anode) to reset (cathode). With nothing else happening, it will be five steps like before. Now also connect the common terminal of the SPDT center-off switch to another diode (anode) to reset (cathode). Connect one position of the switch to step 4 and the other to step 5. Now if the switch is thrown to connect step 4, then there will be three steps. If thrown to connect step 5, there will be four steps. If the switch is left in the center off position, the diode to step 6 will by default give a five step sequence. This is a similar function to what is in the RYO Penta sequencer (which I have built three) but implemented totally differently.
(cough) Rotary
Another great video! Your videos are really wealthy in information and I love the effort you do to explain questions that would arise in making a Sequencer with this design. I am gunna give it another go in making my 4 step sequencer.
Thanks for your awesome videos. It's helping me learn synth electronics, which I'm really interested in.
A most informative guide for the electronics n00b. Thank you so much. 💯
Top notch :) video. I played with the 4017 loads in the past when experimenting with making sequencers. Really excellent video. Thank you.
Really excellent video! I was about to ask about quantising the pitch but you just answered that as i was typing!
Great! So much usefull information in just one video.
Just gold!
I have been waiting for this video for a long time and of all the people to finally put it out, behold the great Moritz Klein - the clearest step by step explainer on RUclips. Thank you thank you thank you.
Im not even into modular but I love your videos and the way you teach us to have some intuiton about what could would wrong and what can we do about it.
Absolut fantastisch. Das erinnert mich an stundenlange und lehrreiche Abende, meinem Vater beim Aufbau seines Elektor Formant Synthesizers zu helfen. Danke für die Zeitreise!
indispensable info. kudos!
sos un genio moritz! paso a paso todo perfect!
this is high quality content
admirable. thank you very much indeed
Amazing content
Very thorough explanation. Mere mortals like me can understand it.
I can relate to fixing problems with a 4017 based sequencer.
Very inspiring, dealing with logic in my mind, compared to logic in real life electronics.
I built a 2x8 sequencer with quantisized pitch many years ago, maybe I have the courage to iron out the original design flaws!
GREETINGS FROM EAST TEXAS 🎉Hey brother man I’m so stoked I stumbled across your channel .. I’m self learning/teaching electronics so this is truly like finding gold nuggets in a saturated hayfield and I’m looking forward to getting my DIY sequencer from your store
Man, this is as good as it gets as far as instructions go, but me caveman, me brain hurt, me see circuit, me understand, brain still hurt, ooowoo.
I'll probably give this a try someday soon, I am always impressed with the amount of knowledge people are capable of, I cant imagine knowing what you know as well as you do. I know it's possible, and i have a fair amount of circuit building experience, but engineering level knowledge still blows my mind
Have you ever thought of doing a wavefolder circuit? That would be amazing. Love your vids btw. Thanks for sharing the knowledge
yup, coming soon!
This is a great series for DIY builders.
Just two notes on your design:
@14:46 The 1k resistor on the output will have an effect on the output voltage. A lot of designs I have seen have 50k and sometimes even 10k potmeters on the CV input signal. This means you get a voltage divider and the music is out of tune. If you put the resistor inside the loop (on the output of the opamp) and connect the CV output to the - input of the opamp, the circuit will (try to) keep the signal at the requested level and still have the short circuit protection.
@27:50 My Arturia Keystep gives a +5V signal on the gate output when I press a key. This is normal since Eurorack defines gate and trigger signals as 0-5V signals. All inputs should be able to handle -12 to +12V signals so having a 12V gate signal should not damage any module but the comparator and buffer should not be needed.
Sorry If I am wrong but, about the NPN led setup, if one of your LEDs actually gets destroyed somehow and collector gets disconnected, the NPN base-emitter path will act like a pretty weak diode shorted to ground. You may consider adding current limiting resistor into the emitter for the safety of the source.
(Edit: I am an idiot, he did put a 100k on the base.)
What value would you propose?
Leí el título y me suscribí de inmediato. Gracias! =)
5 steps….finally!
Rhythm and Melody
I like the idea with the opamp in the clock circuit helping with the gates. My AND circuit seems a bit overkill now.
did you have trouble with ghost gates? i remember battling those for days on end until i finally switched to this approach..
@@MoritzKlein0 for a while I just skipped the whole gate thing because I could not figure out a way. I just used the same square wave lfo to trigger the envelope.
And and circuit works fine, but it’s more parts and more complexity
the buchla 245 sequencer had an interesting feature where each step had its own on/off switch + trigger output! weird stuff. also have seen a ken stone 16 step sequencer design with a reset input that could be used to shorten it (but it was made up of 2 8 step sequences so it will often forget to skip for whatever reason)
Fantastic! The CV quantisation you talk about at the end of the video would take this into the territory of the wonderful ARP sequencer. The only other feature of love to see is a way of transposing the sequence with a CV input.
that’s a great idea!
@@MoritzKlein0 It's the feature I really wanted in Korg's little SQ-1 sequencer they released a few years back. Seemed like a missed opportunity that it didn't have that, and couldn't find any way of modifying it.
I am also looking for that feature but I cannot figure out how to make it. Any suggestions?
Super video btw :)
I'm surprised to see you're not on Odysee yet, like many other electronics channels.
Nice. I am quite surprised you didnt use the name Baby-X for a single time. This is what those 4017 based sequencers are known as in the Modular Synth DIY universe. I built a Baby-8 a few weeks ago, and added cascading. This pushes the possibilities even more. Have to copycat your gate stabilizer option, though.
This is a mostly different circuit than the “Baby 8.”
At 15:21, you also need a resistor to ground from the common point of all the diodes. Otherwise, a step you set to a low voltage will come out a bit high.
Man, you're fine example of NBE. What's NBE? Natural Born Educator :) After all these years of amateur electronics hobby I finally properly understand it's rules and laws :) Thank you for that!
"while we can't do much with 0 Volts, we can do a lot with 12 Volts"
🥰
Word of caution to the newbies like myself: don't assume that the HC4017 is the same as a CD4017. One very hot and broken IC later I have learned to double check my data sheets 😂
Amazing video, thank you ! I added a reset input and another row of cv sequencing, it's really fun to experiment on the circuit and play with it, the quality of learning in this content is likely responsible for a lot of new exciting home projects🙂If one was trying to move this to a standalone enclosure, would the power supply design in your Synth PSU video be a good choice ?
Cool
Another great video Moritz! I have a request though. Could you, if you find the time for it, make another "how to control my VCO" by showing us how to make an midi to cv module so that we can use our midi synth or keyboard to play with the VCO. That would be very very awesome. I have an Roland Juno 106 synth and would like to connect it to my VCO. Thanks in advance and keep up the good work. Greetings from the Netherlands.
I have some electronics background, but you take it to the next level of detail and understanding. Very much appreciate your work in helping me build up my own modular system. Any idea where I can find a true SP3T toggle switch? I need them for numerous designs and can't seem to find anyplace. THANK YOU!
Super well explained, thank you! What could you do with an ARMSID chip? Cheers!
Great Video and circuit again. thank you moritz. you saved my life! now there is one question i need to i ask. Why is the Gate's Duration exactly half the Sequence's note Duration?
I learned more about electrical engineering than 3 years of my studies here. But then again I probably wouldn't have understood a thing if I hadn't studied it at all, not that this is rocket science. But I wish we had courses where there would be step by step explanations what everything does in a circuit like you did here. Building the functionality step by step helped me learn so much. I think I'll try build this one day. Would a VCO and a step sequencer be enough to build a simple synth? Possibly with a VCF too?
yeah, sequencer + VCO is enough to have some fun. if you add a VCF, you’ll also want an envelope generator
You could just use a 1M pull-down and get an ~11V output of the unintentional voltage divider, instead of adding another op-amp. Not like the TL07x can output its full positive rail anyhow.
Im planning to line my line 6 helix out to these circuits. I have an old casio i might break out haha. Im going to do a vocoder because i cant sing but i can shred haha.
at the end, when talking about getting the gate, first, back up to a gate signal, by routing it thru a comparator to bring it back to the full gate output swing desired, and then rectifying it via diode, would it be possible or even work, to just set the supplies on the comparator to be VCC = positive supply voltage, and the VEE = GND? that way you wouldnt even really need the diode? i know youd still want the gate signal buffer at the output, but i was just curious as the diode will already drop most of a volt right there again?
this questions really for anybody who might be a bit more knowledgeable than myself. which if im being honest here, could even be the dude who comes in and sweeps up the place after moritz has done his magic or whatever... nonetheless, thanks to everybody who might have any advice here..
28:02 I've never encountered a "high" signal of 10V.. Especially not in Eurorack designs. Still an awesome video
i remember that some rené schmitz envelope needs 10V gates. just wanted to be thorough - besides, beatsteps/keysteps also send out 12V gates
Awesome work! Is there a way to control global gate time? Or, even better, individual Step and Gate times? (guessing this second option would complicate the circuit significantly though...)
Moritz I echo what many have said, awesome series and awesome teaching - your approach is patient, practical and paced well. I have built your VCO from the Erica kit and congratulations on that relationship btw. I have built your VCA, Envelope Generator and the 5 Step Sequencer, the latter 3 from scratch. The 5 Step as you may know from the IG feed is still on breadboard and I've had some challenges, but after several attempts I have a working model as designed. One question remains if you can comment. My CV ouput to 1 n/oct is sounding an octave approximately. I know you indicate the range of the voltage pots may need scaled down which I have done some. It's probably a combination as I never have properly scaled the VCO. For what I do it has been close enough. From the video version of the 5 Step the trimmer pot is a 5K. Is trying a larger trim a good step or I suppose increasing the 68k/51k resistor path might be the better. Thanks and again very glad to find your series at this stage of my explorations with modular. Keep up the great work!
Could you handle the gate/clock output via a transistor instead of that op amp thing you did? With the clock opening up the transistor to let the gate signal flow through?
Where Moritz mentions a “generic NPN transistor,” if this left you wondering what that would be, a 2N3904 NPN works nicely.
yup, though i use BC548s in this video - which use a different pinout
hi thanks for the detailed explanation! would 2n3904 transistors work instead of the ones you're using in your circuit ?
Since you are great in explaining everything - Would you mind to do another Seq? Maybe with 8 steps based on an Arduino and show also how to connect that thing properly to the +12v, -12v, 5v ? Would be awesome!
the 4017 is a decade counter; you can easily modify this design to eight steps by moving the reset onto 9 instead of 6.
ruclips.net/video/vHNQQ6yUGyo/видео.html
Hey Moritz, just curious why you chose to have a second op-amp on your gate output? To me it seems like the diode, 100k resistor, and buffer amp could be removed if you ground the negative supply of your quad op-amp IC. Wouldn’t really effect the rest of the circuit since you aren’t using the negative range anyway and would even allow you to get rid of the other protection diode on the clock
that would unfortunately only work with a rail-to-rail op amp chip, because regular op amps can’t reach the positive or negative supply voltage! i.e. if you gave a TL074 0 V as a negative supply voltage, the output can only go down to about 1.5 V.
Excellent video. I wonder, how easy would it be to implement a second set off switches to leave the gate open in between certain steps to allow 303 style slides?
really curious about this too. haven't worked on it yet, but i'll get into it soon!
Great videos. I have watched most if not all of your videos and all of them are very informative and well done. Thank you for them.
I've built the lfo in this video, from the schematics supplied, and when I touch the potentiometer the lfo speeds up. I followed schematics to a T and just can't figure out what is going on. Could someone please help me out with this problem?
Thanks for all your workshops. 😊 Is possibel use a secund cd4017 for the LED'S insted the npn drive transistors?
yeah, but i would try and keep the output current per pin at like 10 mA max to keep the chip alive for a while.
As always, a work of high quality. I have a question about the potentiometers. Where can you buy these small potentiometers?
these are the ones erica synths use in our collaboration DIY kits - pretty sure you should be able to find them on mouser/farnell
nice video as always! I was just curious , and maybe you answer this in the video (im like half way through lol) but I was wondering if you chose 5 step because of the old Buchla sequencer?
when i was planning the DIY kits with erica synths, they suggested an „easel-like“ five step sequencer. so yes!
Beautiful!! Once again, thank you Moritz for your videos!! Let me ask you: would it be possible to copy the gate circuit so I can have 2 indepent gate outputs?
yeah that should work!
Thanks man!
Great! I'm going to build this as a trigger sequencer without the cv out. I have question: the blue power cable which is connected to the Vcc- of the 074, is this -12V?
yes, exactly!
It’s really great lecture everything is clear. Thanks a lot! I have one question - my moog Mavis cv in is -5V to +5V range to get all possible pitches (at least thus is what I understood from the manual) how can I achieve that? I have a +/-12V power supply and I’d like to drive my opamp from 3.3V microcontroller pin. Can I bias the input voltage with virtual ground, so the input goes from -1.65V to +1.65 and the opamp gain wold be set to 3? Or I’m completely wrong here?
Nice work. Now can you get it below 10hp in 1U? If not then I still have the "KLEINste" 5-step. ;)
Hey! Your videos have given me the confidence to start gradually learning how to make my own audio gadgets. I would however like to learn the 'rudiments' and basic theory for electric components, circuits, electricity principles, etc. Do you know of -- and could you recommend -- a good video on these topics? Or do you think I can dive into it straight into projects such as these and slowly acquire the knowledge of the rudiments/principles in the process? Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
i'd recommend you try my DIY VCO series - i went over the core principles in detail there: ruclips.net/video/QBatvo8bCa4/видео.html
@@MoritzKlein0 Thank you very much! I will check it out now. Cheers
Why not use a peak detector for the gates?
28:14 Instead of re-boosting the gate output, couldn't you move the 100k resistor to the line with the diode leading down?
Why couldn't we just powet thr op amp chup with 0-12 volts like the decade counter? It would eliminate the need for most protection components (apart from clock input)
unfortunately not, because regular op-amps are not able to bring their output voltage down to the negative supply voltage. lowest they can do is Vee + around 1.5 V.
Hi, Moritz! I am curious. Is there a split power supply for the TL074?
yup, forgot to mention that explicitly!
How would I hook up the 5-step sequencer to the synth you made in your DIY VCO series?
great vid! what about the power supply tho? Usually Moritz, you use a 12V standard, but the counter you use is a 5V chip. Is there a translation somewhere? thank you very much for the inspiration!
nah you can use the 4017 with 12 V without issue!
While this is a great tutorial on analogue design, I would argue that sequencers are precisely the sort of modular component that are best produced by digital circuitry.
Hello, to reproduce the sequencer I used a simple oscillator with the 555, I use pin 5 to receive the.cv of the sequencer 'it works well but I can't get the oscillator to reproduce the silences, I don't know where to connect the gate output, I base it on the circuits of the I appreciate the video's help to resolve this issue with the rests... for the.clock use a 40106
Hey, im designing a Sequencer following your guide. Im trying to make it an 8-10 step sequencer cuz why not? One thing I'm struggling with is how I should do a Proper gate output. Im confused on how I should do it on a Schematic. I am trying to print them on a PCB To neaten things up.
Hallo Moritz, wich type of pots do you use on the breadboard? It might be someones with a build-in knob?!
these are the pots that erica synths use in our collaboration DIY kits!
Im new to all of this, why we need an LFO signal to the clock input? I have an atari punk console and I want to control it with this sequencer...
How to connect a signal from a modular synthesizer to a speaker amplifier, or active speakers from a computer?
Maybe this could be the next video. Audio out.
I'm a casual novice and find this fascinating. How would you daisy chain this to create a 16 step sequencer? Say you got to step 8, do you use step 9 to trigger the second IC onto its step 1 somehow?
I don’t see a negative -12V connection to the TLO74 op-amp; how can this work? Is that the black alligator clip?
Awesome!! I couldn't do better myself profoundly!!
Only one question: would it be practical to replace the comparator with NPN transistor just to assume the voltage raise?
as an emitter follower?
@@MoritzKlein0 In fact, yes
I already build the counter circuit on breadboard. Unfortunately my CD4017BE has burned out by using 12V directly. Another chip I used is driven with 6V by installing a voltage divider, so the counter works now. Is there any differences about the CD4017BE, the MC4017P or the V4017D from Eastern Germany? Great Project!
I think this might be due to the LEDs. The 4017 chip is not designed to directly drive LEDs..