noise embedded.

Let There be Noise! The blog has "noise" in it's name so it's about time to write a post about noise! After finishing the 4xLFO module I started looking for another simple but useful module to build. After studying the ASM-1 schematics  it was somewhat obvious that  the noise module  would be my next project. It's almost as simple as the LFO and significantly widens the sonic possibilities of my synth. I only have 8hp wide blank front panels so a noise circuit alone felt like waste of panel surface. Of course the obvious companion for a noise module is sample and hold. By feeding white noise to sample and hold you get randomly changing control voltage. Feed that into the CV input of your oscillator and you get the classic "computer speaking" sound from the past. White Noise White Noise? Pink Noise? Most common noise types in synthesizers are white noise and pink noise.  White noise  contains equal amount of all frequencies and sounds a...

More Modulation, Please! After I got the Doepfer DIY synth up and running I immediately realized I needed more than one low frequency oscillator to modulate things. In the current setup I can modulate oscillator frequency, pulse width, filter frequency, filter resonance, another filter frequency, amplitude of the VCA etc... So one LFO simply isn't enough! The Schematic Because of my "quantity over quality" synth building philosophy I started looking for a really simple and cheap LFO circuit that I could easily multiply. I finally ended to the ASM-1 DIY synth page.  That's actually one of the pages I spent a lot of time in ten years ago when planning to build a modular synth for the first time. ASM-1 is a complete modular synth but not exactly compatible with the current Eurorack format as it uses -15V/+15V voltage. After studying the LFO schematics it turned out that the LFO is really simple. The circuit is pretty much as simple as it can get. A Schmitt tr...

The Ultimate Form of Sound Synthesis I have been dreaming of a modular synthesizer for quite some time. All those photos of the early synthesizer studios with walls full of potentiometers and billions of patch cables running wildly everywhere have such a lovely mad scientist vibe that you just got to love those machines! Buying a ready-made modular synth has never been an option for me. Soldering everything together is part of the charm. I even started building one about 10 years ago and bought the components for a DIY oscillator and filter. I managed to build the oscillator on a vero board but it never oscillated and I somewhat lost the interest on the project. The biggest problem is that you have to build quite a list of modules before you have a synthesizer. Yes, you get sound from an oscillator right away but it's quite boring and useless until you add a filter, vca, envelopes and some modulation. Even if I had managed to get the oscillator working it would have requir...