[sdiy] Interesting article on top octave generators.

[Benjamin Tremblay]

I had one of those top octave chips when I was a kid. I sliced up aluminum cans and attached strips to an old plastic air blown organ to make the keys into switches. 
This was my very first musical instrument. I had a 4017 sequencer generating on/off and octave up/down steps and a paraphonic twin T filter with an a/d envelope generator. 
I found that sending the divided tone right into the frequency control junction of T filter, and attenuating it with a transistor, created a strong sound that freaked out when I played chords. 
The first song I ever recorded on cassette tape used this sound. 
Somehow we got it to sync to a Synsonics drum.
I recall Paul of PJRC stating that the (now obsolete) Teensy LC could simultaneously generate 12 square wave tones on 12 pins. 
To me that’s an economical solution with tuning being controlled in the firmware.

> On Dec 27, 2024, at 1:40 PM, Donald Tillman <don at till.com> wrote:
> 
> On Dec 26, 2024, at 11:35 PM, Donald Tillman <don at till.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Many years ago I pointed out on synth-diy that, plugging the numbers in, the TOG chips had roughly double the error of the Hammond tone wheels.  And that I found that disappointing; all this technological development for significantly less accuracy.  Of course that's because tonewheels have integers in both the numerator and denominator while TOG chips are stuck with just the denominator.
> 
> Oh, also... TOG chips have an unnatural synchronization between the notes.
> 
> So in my view, 12 simple tuned oscillators can be far superior to a TOG chip.  Which is exactly what they used to use before TOG chips.
> 
> (I'm expected Tim to come through with something like "TOGs are not the GOAT".)
> 
>  -- Don
> --
> Donald Tillman, Palo Alto, California
> https://till.com
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