Microrack – First Impressions

When I first heard about the Microrack concept, I was still playing around with my own Educational DIY Synth Thing so naturally I was really interested in seeing what it would be about. That was back-end of 2024. It has taken until now to realise that from the original Kickstarter. Now that I have one in … Continue reading Microrack – First Impressions →

TD4 4-bit Sound

Over on my other blog, I spentt a fair bit of time looking at the TD4 4-bit CPU. One of the things I wanted to do with my NAND Oscillators and Logic Sequencer PCB was hook up the address/select pins to something else. And with three select pins, allowing the choice between 8 notes, what better … Continue reading TD4 4-bit Sound →

SP0256A-AL2 Sings the Twelve Days of Christmas

Partly prompted by a programming challenge by Futzle on Mastodon, I thought it might be interesting to try to get my Arduino and SP0256A-AL2 to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas. https://makertube.net/w/diBkzrhkh3tekAPBhGzrVj Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! … Continue reading SP0256A-AL2 Sings the Twelve Days of Christmas →

Atari Synth Cart Controller

This project uses my Atari 2600 Controller Shield PCB in reverse, to allow the Arduino to act as an Atari keypad controller and thus allow it to control the Atari Synth Cart. https://makertube.net/w/ryCciwFyQQpcs1Q4Wwy52x Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive … Continue reading Atari Synth Cart Controller →

Mini Listening Post

One of the most fascinating pieces of electronic artwork I've seen is Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin's Listening Post when it was on display at the Science Museum, London. Designed in the early 2000s it was on display from around 2008 for a number of years, but unfortunately it has been packed away in storage … Continue reading Mini Listening Post →

Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Build Guide

Here are the build notes for my Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Design. 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 electronics and microcontrollers, see the Getting Started pages. Bill of Materials Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield PCB (GitHub link below) … Continue reading Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Build Guide →

Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Design

Having build my AY-3-8910 Experimenter PCB I thought a slightly simpler format board would be useful, so I've put together an Uno shield-format PCB that can support one or two AY-3-8910 chips. Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Build Guide Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any … Continue reading Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Design →

Arduino and SP0256A-AL2 – Part 6

Finally I'm doing something arguably slightly musical with my SP0256A-AL2! Playing it over MIDI. Part 1 - Basic introduction and getting started Part 2 - Arduino programmable clock Part 3 - Using a Raspberry Pi Pico as a programmable clock Part 4 - Using a HC4046 PLL as the clock Part 5 - Using an I2C SI5351 programmable clock … Continue reading Arduino and SP0256A-AL2 – Part 6 →

Arduino SP0256A-AL2 Shield PCB Build Guide

Here are the build notes for my Arduino SP0256A-AL2 Shield Design. 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 electronics and microcontrollers, see the Getting Started pages. Bill of Materials Arduino SP0256A-AL2 Shield PCB (GitHub link below) … Continue reading Arduino SP0256A-AL2 Shield PCB Build Guide →

Arduino SP0256A-AL2 Shield Design

Having spent quite a bit of time with an Arduino hooked up to an SP0256A-AL2 on a solderless breadboard, and now that I've got some ideas for how I want to sort out the clock, I thought it time to create a PCB to save the unreliable wiring getting in the way! Arduino SP0256A-AL2 Shield … Continue reading Arduino SP0256A-AL2 Shield Design →