The Lily and Molly synth Pair
By Adam soon to be author of Fathomistic Fantasy Books
.
Back Ground and
off the record notes
I was going to try and get my drivers permit several days ago. Needless to say my fight against my chaotic sleep patterns and my autism made things complicated. For the most part its about my medication for my disablity. Nothing serous. It is just really annoying sometimes. I joined this forum in hopes to further my study in electronics and be able to have a grasp on what is marketable. My preferable method of keeping tabs on the market is to be a part of the DIY culture as well as the, music, and fanbases. As in, I dont put things in peoples faces. That always annoyed the crud out of me. Instead I provide insight on my projects and to provide constructive opinions for other DIY’rs without asking for anything in return. The Linux community is a beautiful thing because of this. Just about the entire project will be open source and I hope Sam will consider sharing pictures of it on the website Look Mom No Computer. It is a gift for everyone who took the time to teach me something even while my disability made it difficult
.
I do plan on writing a book series starting from absolute beginner electronics. Then Just about all the way to being a masterful inventor obsessed with calculus and assembler. I can’t do all this work without putting food on the table. Of course this will all come in due time. My book series I began as a teenager has priority in my major writing projects right now. My scifi fantasy is a spiritual promise I made. If that makes sense. That one will surely be the first books to be published. My technical writing needs work if you could not tell. I suck at good technical writing. I hope to get constructive critique on my writing as well as my methods. Positive, negative, or otherwise. Just be sure there is detail when providing a negative insight. Show me something I can improve on and I will be grateful even with the harshest of words. In return I will show you the same respect in my constructive insight. Hopefully something positive to inspire people.
.
Overview of Lily and Molly
I plan on putting this together into sections that will be compatible with forum type posts. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. My first goal is to learn what I can about circuit bending. Then I will adapt it to fit behind a large 1ft (30 cm) by 2ft (61 cm) panel with other similar circuit bent parts. The cabinet will be within the measurements of 4 (123 cm) feet tall, 18 inch (46 cm) depth, and 6 (183 cm) feet wide. If I get my units conversion wrong please let me know. The AC to DC power supply will be external inside a shoe box sized enclosure. This won’t be your traditional modular, however everything will be in modular sections upon modular subsections.
.
I got a server type 24/7 power supply that can handle a rather large amount of current. It does not need to be powered 24/7 as far as I can tell. I got it cheap off of eBay and I have plans to replace it with a new 110 to 12v American standard power supply. This is just to get me started. Inside the cabinet will be multiple power boards broken up into sections. I will be using the traditional L7812CV 12v regulators and the L7912CV (-12v) regulators. Everything will be designed and tested on bread boards before soldered. Things are too expensive for guess work in my opinion. The power supply should be able to handle two cabinets. One I am naming Lily after my OC and Molly after one of my own tulpas. I always found Cosmo and his host Sam to make me feel normal. Even if it has nothing to do with Tulpamancy Sam has been very inspirational to me with his YT. My autism is not easy sometimes.
.
My First Circuit Bend
For the drum pads I hope to make it possible to replace the transducers with voltage control and triggers. All of which will be routed to another two panels dedicated to MIDI to CV conversion and patching. Having to organize cables on the panels seems a tad bit tedious to me. I admire those of you who can get around it. I plan on routing wire to a patch bay that will simply keep things organized and have minimal controls. Everything will be behind those panels.
.
When I took my first look at the insides I was worried about the green wire pictured. After looking it over with double A batteries I realized that its a (+5v) digital high signal. It essentially provides a supply voltage for the analog transducers and to provide a digital high for the demo/play switch. When I have my place cleaned up I will get this all started officially. My parents will help me with getting my drivers permit taken care of. With my state opening back up I plan to visit their farm and use their barn for getting a lot of metal cut and some wood work done. Basically I wanted to start this thread for the projects.
This reads like you are learning electronics and have plans to put out a book on beginner electronics, that’s good! However, many times you seem to be cutting yourself down or acting unsure. You dont have to impress anyone here, its ok to be chill.
My advice:
- Don’t put too much on yourself. It’s great to have goals and aspirations, but don’t agonize if you have setbacks or something. Just work on your projects, and keep on it, and you will do it.
- If you are learning, use that as an opportunity for your book. Write down your experiences good and bad. These are the sorts of things im sure could fill up a book with anecdotes.
- Find enjoyment in what you do.
- Listen and ask specific questions. People here are very helpful and knowledgeable and likely will assist you with problems or even suggestions.
- If you wish to use this forum as a way to be organized, perhaps you can make a wiki post so it can be easier to modify your posts later on?
sounds like a interesting journey you have planned , thanks for taking us along . plus I think it may unintentionally shame or should I say motivate some of us / me into pushing a bit harder towards our goals to .
Thanks for the advice. I have two blogs I hope to become active on. One is dedicated to my electronics DIY. I have been meaning to read the rules on this website. Some websites will not allow links due to liability reasons and because people think thats a form of dodging the rules. This always made things difficult for me because my first Blog was focused on resolving conflicts and ending rumors. It was a way to join all the forums I am on so I could simply post to my main blog instead of all the individual social websites. So my first question; are their any limitations for links on this forum?
.
Also to answer everyone’s question on my electronics background. I studied electronics on and off since I was little. My first tech book was from my math teacher for a Christmas gift in 4&5 grade 2003 roughly. I graduated in 2009. I did not comprehend the material at the time, but I became familiar with it. It was only a matter of getting kits and actually learning it. I started officially with the Radioshack Lab. After that I focused on digital and programmable micro-controllers. My first was the PIC chips 16f84A and the big monster 16f877A. Now I am learning ASM for Atmel and the Ben Eater famed 6502 microprocessor. I am still mastering EEPROMs and analogue. However, my only problem with circuit bending is getting used to not fallowing a schematic and the reverse engineering.
.
Lastly I will try to have something for sharing a link to my Blog to this thread on Monday.
The first look mum no computer zine covered bending (I think?). But by far my favorite resource is Nicolas Collins’ Handmade Electronic Music.
A bible for all things bent plus a great intro to most of the components and schema you’ll meet making synths. Enjoy
Here are some general guidelines.
Links to outside websites are generally fine. As long as it isnt spam, i dont personally even mind some self-promotion. Lets keep it within reason though. I reserve the right to remove links if they are deemed inappropriate or lead to sites which contain intellectual property or malicious sites. Common sense applies here.
There was some maintenance going on at midnight last night. I was going to try and get something up today, but I slept in due to the work being done last night. Living in an apartment sucks! So, I did get this sketch of the structures that will go inside the big cabinet. I have worked with wood a lot, but only recently have I got the tools to do better more precise wood working. I will be using a lot of hand tools like I said on the Rex’s forum. Looks very similar to this one only all really fine wood work.
.
The structure will hold up to 12 inch by 12 inch circuit boards. I found an eBayer who sells really big ones that are a litle bit bigger than a sheet of paper. I really want to pack things as close together as I can without causing thermal problems and or electrical interference between boards. I had other sketches done for a single module box, but I am deciding on ditching that idea for the prototype. I plan on keeping things cheap with these removable structures first before I build the two big cabinets. I will be putting my work on my tech Blog soon. I only had this sketch so I thought I would share that on here. I did order the voltage regulators last night when I could not sleep with the noise. Those should come in either the end of this week or next week. My image editor is on the fritz right now. Hopefully this size does not cause problems.
.
.
.
.
The front is where the panel will mount to. There is roughly 3 to 4 inch gap where the circuit boards will be mounted in the structure. I will try to get more sketches done to really solidify something I can build together with minimum of problems.
Update On things
The parts I ordered came in and then I realized that the capacitors I have are not the right ones. So I ordered the big ones on Jameco and then got to reading more into the schematic. I find this design in a lot of different places only slightly modified with different voltage regulators. Only problem is that I originally planned on using a AC to DC switching power supply. I can still use the one I ordered for a big MIDI DJ controller. The thing can handle up to 75 amperes. Thats nuts ya all. So, I broke down and searched out a wall wart that was AC to AC. Come to find out its basically a big transformer in an enclosure. Surprisingly I found a decent one that can handle 7amps. This will get me started. It puts out 12v AC it looks like a tacky brick and it will arrive Tuesday.
.
.
For now I hope others will learn from my mistake. Don’t buy a 50usd DC power supply. Ugh! SIgh!!!
.
The link to the power circuit
http://musicfromouterspace.com/analogsynth_new/WALLWARTSUPPLY/WALLWARTSUPPLY.php
Another Update on things
Good news is that I did find a power supply and I was really encouraged in the power supply thread. I suppose I really need to get back into studying circuitry analysis and polish up on my math. Primarily this is my way of boosting my confidence. I also learn of new ways of making things a lot more affordable. If you can find ways to optimize circuitry then you can spend more on the parts that are important to you and less on the passive parts.
.
The Power supply I found has everything inside its own enclosure. It even has its own fuse. Bad news is I think its on back order because its taking forever to ship. I also ordered two packs of sandpaper at a wide range a grit. Due to how I am an artist and I really enjoy even the smallest of details I want to make this cabinet the best it can be. I am still debating on the dimensions. I don’t have a reasonable wood shop for the details I want to put into this. I also been dealing with some life problems. Nothing serous. Just need to focus on fixing some problems before I really get back to this project. I am determined to be ready when even the power supply arrives. Also link below if anyone is interested in using the same idea.
.
.
THis is meant for out door lights. Led lights don’t use a lot of power on their own, but add a tun of them and the dusk-dawn sensors and you need more current. Take a look at Kevin Durrahs project the Led matrix cube and you will see what I mean in multiplexing high currents.
.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/power-supplies/g-lux-series-12vac-power-supply/1339/3087/
Wonderful news!
.
Not sure why I was not getting updates in my tracking, but my power supply came in today. As you can see I bread boarded it. I really wanted to understand the circuit before I even think about soldering. I double checked my work as I arranged the components on the bread board. I was ecstatic to see I got it on the first power up. This boosted my confidence tremendously. I used a fast burn 2amp fuse “not in picture.” I really did not want anything to happen if something went wrong. I still need to finish cleaning my apartment. Good news is I feel a lot better than I have been.
.
Curious to see how that supply works out for you, it’s really hard to find even a 3amp. I don’t know enough about anything to say otherwise but 8amps seems too good to be true. If it’s works out for you ill probably get the same!
and it looks like it could survive a flood , hopefully you won’t need to find out .
Just a heads up to you peoples interested in Ray Wilson’s Power supply circuit. Ignore the diodes that are put between the input and output pins of the voltage regulators. I killed like 5 of my 2amp fast burn fuses trying to figure out what I did wrong in the soldering part. Come to find out I had the diodes backwards in the bread board. Basically making them kind of pointless for being there. Apparently these diodes are shorting things out. So, keep all the diodes in their respective places, but remove the diodes that are on the input and output pins of the voltage regulators. I was using 1n4007 to replace the 1n4004. This might have something to do with it, but be sure to try disconnecting the diodes I mentioned and see if that fixes your problem with burnt fuses.
If they burn out the fuses when put in backwards, I would say they serve their purpose. But maybe I’m missing something?
In the schematic the diodes are facing two different directions on both the negative input and the positive input voltage regulators. Basically making the current go back in another direction. If the whole point of a diode is to make current go into one direction ie for direct voltage then having them face both directions causes a short, but why would rectifier circuits have this then?
edit: sorry cant type today
.
.
So, you need those diodes to rectify the AC signal. It’s not super easy to see, but they form a rectifier. In other words, when the AC signal swings positive, the signal goes through the positive regulator and when it swings negative it goes through the negative regulator.
If you look at Ray’s LM317/337 power supply, it might become a little clearer what the diodes do:
.
Also look at the circled spots. I apologize if I did not get the picture perfect here. I really need to get a tablet if I am going to be editing my art for DA. I basically mowed things down in these spots yesterday because I was trying to figure out what else I did wrong. I did get it to work, but like I said the voltage was slightly off. However, the major problems I was having was due to my solder joints were too close together. I do hope my solder skills improve. I can’t be wasting parts like this. I am going to make one more attempt at this for this month. I will see if I can’t get more parts next month.
.
.
If it really comes down to it
Sorry for the long explanation
This is a detour for sure -_-
.
I should be getting the last bit of parts I ordered in today. I need to buy more large caps, but that will have to wait till things get paid off. I was aggravated that I got the wrong power supply and the trouble with soldering was not fun. So, I still need to write code for the MIDI to CV module. I also need to study ASM because I hope to create a cluster of embedded systems with microprocessors. I plan to have 128 outputs for up to 16 polyphonic instrument voices. Being able to make the thing work without latency problems will require dedicated processors working together as one unit. I am fallowing the Ben Eater tutorials on ASM if anyone wants to fallow what I am doing.
.
My idea was to take the concept of Dynamic RAM and apply it to a grid of sample hold circuits. Basically a 16 by 8 matrix for keeping programming simple. Dynamic in computing means all memory locations refresh their data every other clock tick. Basically instead of 128 big sample hold circuits it will be 256 small and simple sample hold circuits that will bounce samples off each other once set. This basically prevents the multiplexing from being slow and causing latency problems. I plan on using an arduino nano to short cut the midi to binary conversion. It will take a full MIDI message and translate it to a 16 bit serial message. Using the SHIFT-OUT concept it will transfer the number between embedded system to embedded system until it reaches the matrix of sample hold circuits.
.
It will be tricky to get this to work without a split power supply. However, unlike oscillators it can be done. I just won’t have any way to test it other than Led brightness. I am hopeful that when I have at least leds lighting up from hitting the keys on my key board I will be ready to build a couple simple VCOs to test it. I am very hopeful that I will have a split power supply by then.
Power supply On-hiatus
Hello to code and Processor ASM
(Ben Eater)
Update
I hope I am not being annoying with these. If I am please let me know. Anyway I got some good and bad news. First off is the good news. I think I figured out the problem with my power supply circuit design. I am using a transformer rated for 8.3 to 8.5 ampere roughly. I am also putting 6 large 3300 uf caps on it. Then on top of all this I am trying to keep things safe with a 2amp fast burn fuse. When I subtracted capacitors this seemed to solve most of my problems. I was able to get the diodes onto the voltage regulator pins.
However, I was not able to get things to work properly with diodes on the output. Specifically between the output pins and ground. I really think this has to do with in-rush current. I will be reading up on all this to see if there is a simple work around like a large capacitor bank fused at 5amps. Then it will connect to the power supply boards through multiple 2amp fuses. My idea was to keep it simple and when its completed and I have a case built all the fuses will be in a plastic box with screws in it. There will be an open spot on the side of the cabinet where the cord will come out and the transformer can simply be screwed into place in like a cubby which will also make storing the cord a lot easier.
This will be the last update on the transformer in this thread. Any further progress I am going to put in the power supply thread to try and make things a little more organized for this thread. I am working on the Blog. I plan to get that fixed for regular posts and any questions or problems will be put here. Lastly I will be focusing on learning ASM and designing the arduino code to translate MIDI to a 16-bit binary number . I have started working on it using the “Notes and Volts,” tutorials. I am keeping the arduino as simple and short as I possibly can. In doing this I limit problems with latency and all the heavy lifting will be done on the other embedded systems. I will be using another arduino to keep track of settings and to store the official operating system on. Nothing too fancy just something to run the entire cluster properly and make it easier to debug and maintain.