[sdiy] Simplest stuff to begin with, and a few questions

[Dave Magnuson]

At 12:06 PM 4/18/04 EDT, Robotboy8 at aol.com wrote:
>   Absolute simplest in terms of building and soforth?

LFOs and VCAs are pretty simple (generally). The ASM-1 style LFO is a good
place to start, and perhaps the MS-20 VCA. You can also build a simple VCA
with a CA3080 and a few other parts. 

> Also, I'm thinking of designing modules for 9v batteries and headphone
>outputs (the better to make music on the Metro, at school, and soforth) and
>leaving most things on breadboard until I'm VERY sure I'm happy with the
>module.

If you're planning on using 9V batteries, I'd suggest using a bipolar 9V
design, rather than using a single 9V battery.  Many of the circuits you'll
find were designed for +/-12V or +/-15V.  Quite a few will work on +/-9V,
but you'll need to do some serious redesigning to get them to funcion at
+/-4.5V (which is what you'd get with a single 9V battery).

 
>  As soon as I get back to my computer (as opposed to this one, which
>hasn't got the schematic on it) I'll post it somewhere, though you all can
>probably see how I'm thinking it would work... I haven't a clue what values
>to use for the parts, though.

I noticed you mentioned variable caps in your oscillator... most people try
to avoid this technique for synths.  There's nothing wrong with building an
oscillator this way, but it'll be hard to get voltage control of the rate.
It will probably work fine as an LFO, but you may find there are better
oscillators to use as your main VCOs.

Dave Magnuson

Resonant Frequency:
resfreq at hoohahrecords.com
http://www.hoohahrecords.com/resfreq/index.html
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