[sdiy] pitch to voltage

[Scott Bernardi]

There are two main difficulties with doing pitch to voltage on "natural"
instruments. One is isolating the fundamental. Instruments like guitars have a
lot of extra harmonics that the P2V converter can get confused by.
The second is delay.  It takes a minimum of 2 cycles to determine pitch, so at
low frequencies (like bass guitar) this becomes even more of a problem.
Circuits that help isolate the fundamental also tend to increase delay.

That said, EFM (http://www.ele4music.com/) offers the PV1 board (designed by
Harry Bissell) for $14. This assumes you've already got a nice squarewave going
in.  I got one recently, but haven't built it yet.
Harry, maybe you can comment on the p2v problem?

Nick Liebrecht wrote:

> I am planning to create a semi-modular synthesizer for use with the electric
> bass guitar.  I know that i will need an envelope follower, preamp, and
> pitch to voltage converter.  I had no problem with the first two modules,
> but the third has me stumped.  Could anyone point me towards some info on
> pitch to voltagge conversion?  I'm looking for schematics and theory.
>
> Thanks,
> Nick Liebrecht

--
Scott Bernardi
sbernardi at home.net