My AE Modular uses 5 volt power only. It’d be nice to have the two synths communicate. Is there a DIY power supply that only does five volts?
Not sure I am getting the question here. Now assuming I have the right type of synth in mind (Abused Electronic Modular from Tangible Waves, super cheap with patching done via pin header cables) that will get really antsy if you feed it anything outside of its voltage range. Kosmo, on the other hand, will happily process anything you patch out from it (although some DIY modules might find the 0-5v range from the AE a little low, most should be fine). So if you want to use both together, it’s going to be a one way flow or a really careful exercise in making sure you don’t feed the AE anything too hot.
You can’t power a Kosmo off of just 5v though, as many of the modules just wouldn’t work properly, if at all.
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But why can’t I build a large form factor synth and run it off 5 volt if I make all the modules run on Teensy and Arduino?
What I’m talking about is building a large form factor AE Modular. To clarify, I’m not talking about building a Kosmo or 5U in this instance. I’m talking about making all my own modules via Teensy and Arduino which only run on 5 volts just like AE Modular.
Oh, that you can do, no problem. You’d have to design the modules yourself, mind you. Then you can just run it off of a 5v brick running into a distribution board, maybe with some filtering caps to smooth out any spikes from the brick etc.
Also be aware that the power draw from the digital devices is going to be way higher than that of the all analog stuff, and calculate the size of power supply accordingly.
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Thanks for the clarification.
You certainly can do that. Take a look at this YouTube channel:
They’re doing lots of +5 V modules in Eurorack format. It’d be simple enough to adapt them to a larger size front panel with larger jacks.
@HAGIWO is on this forum too.
They use Arduino Nanos in everything. In some cases it’s not really necessary; you can do most synth modules using analog circuitry, although there aren’t that many +5 V designs out there.
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SWEET! Thanks. I bought an Arduino Uno student kit and the Arduino for Musicians book. Trying to learn circuits and C programming from that. Since my AE Modular is basically fleshed out, I can take my time, design and breadboard a bunch of stuff over the course of the next year or so.
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During my prototyping apprenticeship I used a lot of AC 5v source. I did some experiments with lm7805, I even saw low cost eurorack power supplies working well with this IC pulling 5v from +12.
Some hybrid/digital modules use this same method after power input to avoid problems, as in cheaper power supplies 5v tends to lose power when ±12 modules are spending too much…
I had a lot of fun on the protoboard with unipolar +5v, but I suggest you try using at least +12v and everything will work better!
Or maybe do this adaptation with voltage regulators on the power input if you’re in Eurorack… I’m starting with this mode and I opened a topic about DC protection on the inputs, since most of my projects are from 0v to 12v.
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