[sdiy] good books/sites for synth electronics

[Tim Parkhurst]

On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 4:40 AM, Jamie Cresswell<zenke at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all
> After many years I am wanting to get back into analogue synths. Could anyone suggest some good books or sites that would be good to learn electronics basics for synth building and adapting.
>
>
> jamie
>

Hi Jamie,

For learning basic electronics and finding some fun circuits to play
with, I'd recommend any of the Forrest Mims "Engineer's Notebook"
series.
http://www.forrestmims.com/
http://www.forrestmims.com/engineers_mini_notebook.html
http://www.radioshack.com/pwr/product-reviews/Toys-Games/Hobby-projects-kits/RadioShack/p/2102913-Electronics-Learning-Lab.html

For more thorough electronic theory, "Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill.
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957

Also try the "Op Amp Cookbook," "IC Timer Cookbook" and others by Walter Jung.
http://www.amazon.com/Op-Amp-Cookbook-3rd-Walter-Jung/dp/0138896011

For a great collection of synth circuits and some theory behind them,
"Electronic Music Circuits" by Barry Klein. Highly recommended, and
Barry is even a list member.
http://members.cox.net/barryklein/em.htm

Electronotes. You will love this. Guaranteed. If you don't want to pop
for the entire collection, at least get the "Preferred Circuits
Collection."
http://electronotes.netfirms.com/

<self serving comment>
I also sell reprints of several books by Thomas Henry that concentrate
on one specific chip (e.g. 3080 OTA, or 566 VCO) or one type of synth
circuit (e.g. Drum Circuits or Noise Circuits) through Magic Smoke
Electronics at www.lulu.com/magsmoke
</self serving comment>

You will definitely want to get yourself a decent meter. I have one
that was less than $100 and does capacitance and frequency readings.
Not super accurate, but VERY handy. Also, do yourself a favor and get
an oscilloscope. You can easily get by with an older model with lower
bandwidth (5 or 10MHz is good enough for analog synth stuff), although
a dual trace model is recommended. Again, you can often find a used
model for less than two or three hundred, and a scope will make
diagnosing and troubleshooting SO much easier.

And welcome back to synth building!


Tim (good enough for analog) Servo
-- 
"Sire, the church of God is an anvil that has worn out many hammers."
- H.L. Hastings