[sdiy] Starting Point?

[Brian Willoughby]

In my experience, the broadest coverage from the ground up is Craig Anderton's "Electronic Projects for Musicians," from 1975.

I have both a first edition from the early eighties and a second edition because the first is so ragged from use.

This book teaches how to solder, how to etch circuit boards, covers design principles and circuit descriptions for each project, and is broad enough to cover very practical things like power supplies. Granted, the projects are largely guitar-oriented, but there are some great keyboard effects in there like a parametric EQ (no oscillators, though). I built the ring modulator and sold it to a keyboard player who liked the sound a lot more than I did. There is only analog content (and mechanical content) in Craig's book - you'll have to read "Digital Projects for Musicians" to get into MIDI and programming.


Sure, if you want *all the words* then Hal Chamberlin's book is great. I feel like I didn't fully understand the Fast Fourier Transform until I read Hal's description of what that algorithm is doing. His book can be very advanced, although his descriptions are much easier to follow than engineering math texts.


Comparing the two, Chamberlin's book is 802 pages of incredibly dense topics. Anderton's is 220 pages where most chapters are devoted to a single effect and can be read in isolation with little background other than the introductory chapters.

Brian


On Oct 8, 2020, at 7:39 PM, BrightBoy <jdec at mindspring.com> wrote:
> Let's not forget the great Hal Chamberlin text, "Musical Applications of Microprocessors"
> (but don't let the name fool you as it covers analog, digital and hybrid synth design)
> 
> I still have NOS (new old stock) 2nd edition copies in mint condition for sale and most people 
> on here that own the book have bought it from me.
>