Korg Volca Modular MIDI to CV PCB Design

I've been playing with a Korg Volca Modular recently, but it doesn't have built-in MIDI. There are some conversion kits available (apparently MIDI is broken out on the PCB inside - more here), but it also has a well-specified CV/Gate interface, so this is a design for a MIDI to CV converter with a Korg … Continue reading Korg Volca Modular MIDI to CV PCB Design →

Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 6

My Educational DIY Synth Thing is meant to be a platform for experimenting and one easy way to get started on that is with the addition of some off-the-shelf audio and synthesizer-oriented electronics kits. Part 1 - This introduction and high-level design principles. Part 2 - Detailed design of an ESP32 based PCB. PCB Design PCB … Continue reading Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 6 →

500th Post!

It turns out that whilst I wasn't really paying attention I'd crept up to 499 posts so this is my 500 post to this blog. At 400 posts, I rebuilt my Lo-Fi Orchestra and released The New Lo-Fi Orchestra and The 1812 Overture. At 300 posts, I wasn't really counting, but I think it was fairly … Continue reading 500th Post! →

Korg Volca Notes

I've managed to get myself a Korg Volca Modular and have been having a bit of fun playing around with it. I'm not going to do a review or get into the detailed specifications - there are loads of reviews online. I'm more interested in its hacking potential! There is a lot of information online … Continue reading Korg Volca Notes →

Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 5

In this final part of the series I present some simple configurations to show how the thing might be used. Part 1 - This introduction and high-level design principles. Part 2 - Detailed design of an ESP32 based PCB. PCB Design PCB Build Part 3 - Software design. Part 4 - Mechanical assembly and final … Continue reading Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 5 →

Pico MIDI “Pack” PCB Build Guide

Here are the build notes for my Pico MIDI “Pack” PCB Design. Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! Bill of Materials PCB link (GitHub link below) 1x H11L1 optoisolator. 1x 1N914 or 1N4148 signal diode. 1x each of 10Ω, … Continue reading Pico MIDI “Pack” PCB Build Guide →

Pico MIDI “Pack” PCB Design

This is a PCB version of my Raspberry Pi Pico MIDI “pack” Interface - something I've been meaning to do for ages! Here is the Pico MIDI “Pack” PCB Build Guide. Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! If you … Continue reading Pico MIDI “Pack” PCB Design →

Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 4

In the first part I described the concept and basic design parameters I was looking for and then in Part 2 I looked at the detailed electronic design, and in Part 3 at the code, for a board based on the ESP32 WROOM module I have. In this part I look into some additional mechanical … Continue reading Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 4 →

MiniDexed Quad DAC PCB Build Guide

Here are the build notes for the MiniDexed Quad DAC PCB. Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! If you are new to single board computers, see the Getting Started pages. Bill of Materials MiniDexed Quad DAC PCB (GitHub link … Continue reading MiniDexed Quad DAC PCB Build Guide →

MiniDexed Quad DAC PCB Design

This is the design for a MiniDexed IO board for the Raspberry Pi 5 that supports four GY-PCM5102 modules as described here: RPi 5 Quad Stereo Sound with PCM5102A. Build guide here: MiniDexed Quad DAC PCB Build Guide. Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any … Continue reading MiniDexed Quad DAC PCB Design →