Hello everyone! I’m new to this DIY stuff but it has always been a dream of mine. Problem is I know nothing about eletronic circuits but I’m studying hard and trying to keep up. But to be honest I really need help.
So my goal to begin this journey is to build a drone synth mostly like Sam’s (except with a lot less than 100 OSC). So basically 8 OSC, 1 LFO and 1 Low Pass Filter and fit into a box and plug it to the eletric current. I’m going to start by building 1 OSC using the simple OSC schematics that sam provided. My main issue is beyond that point. But I’ll start with a simple question and then I’ll ask more along the way: how do I combine the sound from all 8 OSC? I noticed in Sam’s video he had all the out coming from the different OSC connected into a stripboard ou then to a jack output but I have no idea how to do it.
Thank you for your time and I’m really glad to have found and to be part of this community!
You can join them together using a mixer circuit. See my thread on sam’s stripboard design:
You are also going to want to power it. If you want you can build your own power supply. Link here for reference as well:
If you just want a simple project cause its all intimidating, just do like sam said and use some batteries! A lot of us here are beginners learning. There are also plenty of experienced folk.
Thank you very much for your reply Caustic. I’ll definitely look it out! I’m going to start with the simple stuff building just 1 OSC first and then connect using the batteries. When I’m confident enough I’ll try to connect everything and ask for help along the way because there’s already a lot information to process.
Any tips on where to buy boxes for the final product?
Might be a good place to start for a drone synth - it’s a really easy way to get 6 oscillators from one chip. I haven’t built one yet as I’m not to fussed about drone synths, but I’m hoping to build one for a video synth soon. Just came to mind!
Oh, and if you don’t know, the more professional metal enclosures people use for pedals/small synths are usually called Hammond enclosures (don’t know if that’s the style or the brand tbh). They’re good and tough, but can get expensive for anything larger than your average guitar pedal
Thank you for the info will definitely check that out and see if I can get some ideas from there that might be a good way to start it it looks really simple.
As for the boxes, the jewellry box is a really nice idea never thought about it. I don’t really want anything expensive since it’s my first try and I know something will probably go wrong so better buy cheap first and then upgrade.
One more question: does the potency of the resistors matter or the only thing that matters it the resistance value? For example on the simple OSC circuit do I pick a 0,6W or a 2W resistor or it doesn’t matter?
So, my noob knowledge on this is basically just that higher powered circuits might need resistors capable of handling a higher wattage. Anything that you do at this ±12V level wont need anything more than the 1/4W resistor you find everywhere, at least, that’s what I’ve found from the few things I’ve built so far. the tolerence % however does kind of matter, just to make sure you have close to true values. It wouldn’t matter on a simple drone oscillator bank style synth but it does on something like a 3340 oscillator which you want to accurately track your 1v/oct pitch signal or whatever you’ll want 1%
I just bought a bunch like this: https://bit.ly/32geTnF and it’s been sorting me out just fine so far
It is indeed thank you! I’m searching for parts right now on rapidonline. Since I’m from Portugal we have no way to buy all the components in one place here so I really have to buy them online.
Ive been making posts related to lists of materials, where to get them, and how much it will cost for some cheap sourcing options. If you have suggestions, i dont mind making another post.
I it will feel much better to build the box myself I will probably try it and I think I’m having some ideas on what to do and using what we consider “trash” might be a really good option. And I have access to a lot of wood so I can always start there
My main problem is the websites I’m looking are UK bases and the shipping costs to Portugal are huge and here I have no reliable source for all the parts I need. Do you know any places I can search outside the UK? I won’t mind a post with information and thank you for your willingness to make it.
