[sdiy] Alltime best ring modulator circuit... ever?

[JH.]

The best RM circuit has a "quadrant slider" for wet/dry mix, and an 
attack-decay envelope for FM of the RM's own modulation oscillator, with 
controls located on the left side of a keyboard.

*Everything* else is secondary to this, including the choice of ICs.

JH.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "anthony" <aankrom at bluemarble.net>
To: <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 5:58 PM
Subject: [sdiy] Alltime best ring modulator circuit... ever?


I was wondering what people think is the best ring modulator circuit, both
for use in a modular synth and maybe as an effect for other instruments like
guitar.

I suppose different circuits have their merits, but I was wondering things
like: are the circuits with MC1495 or MC1496 or even the MC1595, MC1596
better than something built from an OTA? And is there a big difference in
results between the MC1495 & MC1496? I think the latter is more readilly
available and they seem like nearly interchangeable parts, but the former
seems to be more sought after. And I wonder if this is just because there
were some classic early circuits that used the early chip and people haven't
thought to use the latter chip?

And how about AD633 ring modulator circuits?

And since I'm using the old term for what is generally called a
four-quadrant multiplier, I should ask about the grandaddy of them all: the
simple Ge (or schottky?) diode ring/2-phase-splitter transformer combo. Ken
Stone makes a case for this and even sells a popular ready-built circuit
(that is always on my Christmas list but I never get...). He speaks of the
raw, gritty power of these units that just don't seem to obtain with other
ring modulator units. I personally like this circuit. I have built one using
classic Hewlett Packard Ge diodes that I matched and 2 transformers
(600Ohm:600Ohm CT roughly) that I got from 2 identical telephones (crude
tests on my scope showed a relatively high impedence on both sides), but I
have yet to test it. I had wanted it to work like a tremolo sometimes, but
responses from an earlier post said that that wouldn't really be possible
because I couldn't get a really low LFO frequency through that transformers.

OK! So I think the general answer to which circuit is best would be: it
depends on your application. But I do want to know the relative merits of
the MC1495, MC1496 & the AD633 and others I've forgotten or just didn't
bother to think of.
And THEN I would like some opinions on the alltime best ring modulator
circuit ever. (Hence the subject of this message...)


cheers,
Anthony


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