Big Fat Mama - Portmanteau reply

[gstopp at fibermux.com]

     This is a cool idea and one which pops up in my brain once in a while. 
     One thing I've been thinking of recently (a total coincidence to this 
     thread!) is using a 4046 as a VCO. These can be set up to sweep from 
     zero hertz to 4 megahertz with one sweep of the voltage control input 
     from ground to V+! Since it can go so fast it seems ideal for driving 
     a chain of counters to create a harmonic mixer or a slide-pot 
     draw-your-own-waveform thingey. They are linear VCOs but I'm not sure 
     what the tracking scale is. I wouldn't be surprised if they have an 
     accurate linear scale over the whole range. Anyway if tracking does 
     not need to be 1V/oct these may be real fun.
     
     And if you don't use them as a VCO, you can always use them as a 
     wide-range phase-locked loop like in a pitch tracker! Hey maybe you 
     can switch between the two modes.
     
     I gotta mess with one soon.
     
     Chris List's response to this thread is right on! He's totally right 
     you guys, it's not that much more work to make the circuits 
     "pro-level" and I cannot stress enough the *absolute fact* that 
     building the control panel is 90% of the work! Every damn time I make 
     a new circuit saying "wow man this is killer cuz it's such a simple 
     circuit, I'll just throw it into some box" I end up cursing myself 
     spending five evenings in a row soldering in the damn wires.
     
     But anyway it is a cool idea, you know that Einstein or whoever quote 
     "Simplicity is Elegance". Anything that I come up with I'll share with 
     the list.
     
     - Gene
     gstopp at fibermux.com


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Big Fat Mama - Portmanteau reply
Author:  ukuscxt at ReadersDigest.co.uk at ccrelayout
Date:    11/19/96 3:27 AM


     Wow! When I posted the Big Fat Mama message, I anticipated getting 
     flamed from Virginia to Vladivostok. Instead, several people seem at 
     least interested, even enthused. I don't want to further fragment the 
     thread by replying separately to everyone so this is a big fat 
     portmanteau answer.