Physical Computing - Project Idea

Physical Computing - Project Idea
I am going to make an analog modular synthesizer.
I am a huge fan of electronic music instruments and I thought it would be a great idea to build one from scratch, so that I can learn as much as possible about how to create custom made electronic music.
Synthesizers can be very complex and have thousands of different sound parameters. In this project I will start small and I want to focus on the fundamental of synthesizer, such as the oscillators or in other words VCO ( voltage control oscillator ) and CCO ( current control oscillator ).
Oscillators will mainly produce sound waves such as sine, square and triangle waves which in not very interesting for an instrument, but it’s the sounds every synthesizer is based on. In my oscillator I will add effect such as frequency modulation, Sample & Hold and low frequency oscillation ( LFO ) to generate some more interesting sounds.
The oscillator will be patchable, which means that you will be able to move wires around to produce different sounds and get different effects out of the IC's. The project will also have multiple modules so you can connect the oscillator to a separate speaker module so that you can hear the sounds, or you can patch it to another instrument to make a more complex and interesting sounds.

Some sketches of how the oscillator patch interface can possibly look 

An oscillator is not much of an instrument so I going to make a step sequencer which is compatible with the oscillator so you can generate melodies based on the sounds coming from the oscillator. The idea is that the sequencer can take any sounds as its input, so you will be able to connect it to your phone or your guitar and generate melodies with it.
I will also make a separate speaker module with volume control, so you can either connect it directly to the oscillator or you can connect the oscillator to the sequencer, then connect the sequencer to the speaker to complete the series.


Image of research in basic sound making using IC's

Idea of the different modules can look like
All the components will be soldered onto custom designed circuit boards.
I will use many different types of IC’s for this project.
I will most likely only use IC’s for this project so I will not control any of the synths using any programming using the Arduino. This will be a unique challenge for me and I believe I will learn a lot about IC’s, circuit and electronics as a result.
Here is a list of IC’s that I will experiment with:
  • 4046
  • 40106
  • 4066 
  • 4017
  • 4015
  • 556
  • 4040
  • 4051
  • 4069
  • 4070
The project will use only voltage as input and the final output will be generated sounds.
I want my instrument to be portable so I will use 9V batteries together with voltage regulators to create a steady flow of 5V going into my IC’s.

I am also very interested in interface design and I would like to put a lot of thought into how to interact with the synthesizer. I want to make the inclosure out of laser cut wood so that it’s lightweight but also very nice looking. There will be a good looking interface that will allow the user to experiment with patching wires and turning knobs to make interesting sounds.



There is many ways of interacting with sound and for this project I have decided to simply use potentiometers and patch wires as the main interaction. I think it’s a nice way to control sound and simple for everyone to use and I personally find it very rewarding to turn knobs to control sound.

My minimum viable product for this project will be a working oscillator together with the speaker module, with both modules having a nice laser cut inclosure and nice interface.

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