Without the voltage dividers, the output voltage should be about equal to your positive rail — are you using +12 V? That’s enough to trigger anything. If you’re not getting +12 V on the outputs then there’s a mistake in your assembly. Output jack tip terminal should connect directly to 4017 output pins so there’s no way voltage can be low.
If you’re only powering it with +5 V or something like that, that’s another story.
Oh, now i think i got it… i have conected the jack after the led, right near the pots… i measured there last night, i think i got arround 1.8 v, or something like that, if i find the time i’ll measure the voltage at the 4017 output pin. The whole thing is powered at 9 v, as the schematic sugested.
The important thing is to have no voltage divider before the jack: This
reduces the voltage at the jack (there’s a path for current to flow from the 4017 to ground through R2, so there is a voltage drop across R2), while this
(with no path to ground through R2) or of course this
(with no R2 at all, jack connected directly to 4017) doesn’t.
This is the entyre thing i did. i don’t remeber exactly if with the divider i had 1.8 output or without, it was quite late for me and decided to call it a night. the thing is that before even doing a measurement, i tried with and without the 3k and 2.2k divider, without any succes, that’s why i did a measure check afterwards. as you can see in the photo, i only have 1 resistor to ground from the led, from the + of the led i’m going to the pot, right before the pot i hooked the output jack.
I was gonna suggest this video for sure! I haven’t made this mod as I have no desire to have more than eight to sequence (just my preference), but IF I was inclined to do so this would be my approach. I’ve watched it a few times and he seems to make everything pretty clear and simple…to my understanding anyway…I’m a noob…
Hi. Ive build the baby 8 a few years ago using @EddyBergman schematic. I like to expand its functionality by adding a reverse switch so thatbthe CD4017 counts backwards. How can i do that? Does anyone have a schematic? Thx in advance
That’s not possible with this particular design because it uses the CD4017 and it doesn’t have that functionality.
Take a look at Kristian Blåsol’s baby 8, also a 4017 based with a few additions to allow for chaining etc. I’ve not seen any working reverse play for the basic baby 8. However most of the microcontroller based sequencers can shuffle with ease.
You could also look into replacing the 4017 counter ic with something like the CD4510 or 74HC192 as they can both count up and down.
I’m split balling here but do let me know if you try a different counter ic. Innovating is always easier when someone else does it first 
Crack on!
Edit: the 4510 is a BCD counter, you’ll need a CD4028 to interpret BCD into simple 1 to 10
Hi,
I’ve found this interesting piece on YouTube:
schematics included at the end of the video
Lets see if I can make an baby 8 sequencer from it with a switch to toggle for both directions. 
