[sdiy] Synth Electronics

[Richie Burnett]

Looks like an interesting setup there Jeff!  What STM32 board are you using? 
...and what LCD panel?

-Richie,



-----Original Message----- 
From: Jeff Whitman via Synth-diy
Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2024 9:19 PM
To: Pete Hartman
Cc: synth-diy at synth-diy.org
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Synth Electronics



Paulo,

I also wanted to build an analog synth, mainly so I could learn more about 
analog synth design using off the shelf osc, filter, vca, etc chips. I am 
mostly a digital guy and experienced in writing embedded code, but my analog 
skills date back to when electrons were much bigger in the late 70’s :) 
After a lot of research, I decided to use Sound Semiconductor chips. I find 
their data sheets excellent and very detailed with lots of application 
examples, they have some eval boards you can buy and can download the 
schematics. They also have been really good at taking feedback to make the 
data sheets even better.

Thus far I have built an osc card, a VCA card, a main board, and a 
pole-mixing filter board that I am just now testing. I am making my boards 
and layout in a way as to make debug easier. I am using an STM32 micro for 
all the firmware. I started by breadboarding most of the circuits, and now 
have moved to making real boards in the last six months from JLCPCB. Using 
Sound Semiconductor chips was a great choice for me and I have essentially 
implemented what is in their data sheets, but with digital control.

Ok, now make fun of my green towel electro-static mat :)

Jeff

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On Apr 8, 2024, at 4:38 PM, Pete Hartman via Synth-diy 
<synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:





On Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 5:54 PM Paulo Constantino via Synth-diy 
<synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:

Hi all,

I want to build an analog synth from scratch. I currently work as a digital 
IC design engineer at a semiconductor company and I have good knowledge in 
analog circuit design, but I'm not that good at advanced analog circuitry.

Can anyone recommend me a book or some tutorial on synth electronics?



This is a perennial topic.  I'm sure there are good things in the archive:
https://synth-diy.org/ (about half way down the page are the archive links)

If you can find a copy, Electronotes taught a lot of folks here the 
foundations of what they know, and worked out and explained a lot of what is 
considered standard now.  Unfortunately they're no longer available from 
Bernie (and please, list members, let's not turn this into another debate 
about that topic), so you will have to find someone who is selling their 
copies.  Join the sister list marketplace at synth-diy.org for your best shot 
at this.

A lot of folks will recommend _Make: Analog Synthesizers_ by the late Ray 
Wilson, whose website is still available here: 
https://musicfromouterspace.com/

I learned a lot from several books by Thomas Henry which are available at 
lulu.com

https://electro-music.com/forum/ has a lot of discussion and lots of 
contributions by various folks with "names" in this area, as well as a wiki 
containing a lot of circuits.  You'll find recommended websites to look into 
such as https://yusynth.net/ https://ijfritz.byethost4.com/ 
https://www.schmitzbits.de/ and a ton of other discussion. 
https://modwiggler.com has some fora that also cover this sort of thing, but 
there are lots of other topics there too, like discussions of the latest 
gear from the major manufacturers etc etc.  Some of that goes on on E-M as 
well but modwiggler has been the main hub for that for a while now.  It's 
all background that would be good to have even if not directly about the 
electronics.

Dr Aaron Lanterman has kindly made his Georgia Tech course "Analog Circuits 
for Music Synthesis", which covers a lot of the common blocks that a lot of 
analog synths/modules use as standard, available on youtube. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYk8r3QlNi8&list=PLOunECWxELQS5bMdWo9VhmZtsCjhjYNcV

And there is some very good advice from Paul Schrieber of Synthesis 
Technology here, about things which aren't usually given much thought: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBGyEBQnIws

As for getting rich :) I think Paul S has some relevant commentary about 
that as well which should be findable in the archive.

Pete
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