ESP32 WROOM Educational Modular Synth Thing PCB Design

For the context of this PCB design, see: Educational DIY Synth Thing. The build guide can be found here: ESP32 WROOM Educational Modular Synth Thing 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! The Circuit The key design decisions … Continue reading ESP32 WROOM Educational Modular Synth Thing PCB Design →

Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 2

In the first part I described the concept and basic design parameters I was looking for. In this part I go into detail about how I'm going about implementing them with an ESP32 WROOM board. Part 1 - This introduction and high-level design principles. Part 2 - Detailed design of an ESP32 based PCB. PCB … Continue reading Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 2 →

Educational DIY Synth Thing

For a while I've wondered if it was possible to find something that could be used to learn about the basics of analog synthesis. This is the first part of a series of posts looking at the possibilities. Part 1 - This introduction and high-level design principles. Part 2 - Detailed design of an ESP32 … Continue reading Educational DIY Synth Thing →

Selecting Microcontrollers for Music

I was browsing some of the newer ATtiny chips the other day and started to make a note of some of their properties and it made me realise I actually have quite a few different microcontrollers at my disposal and many more I could be having a look at. But having committed to not attempting … Continue reading Selecting Microcontrollers for Music →

PICO2/AFPOC

February saw another momentous step in the ambitious John Cage Organ Art Project at Halberstadt when the playing chord changed for the first time in two years. The resultant chord will now continue to play for another two years before the next change. The project is a performance of John Cage's ORGAN2/ASLSP, generally known by … Continue reading PICO2/AFPOC →

Diagnosing and attempting to fix a Yamaha DX100 – Part 2

At the end of part 1, I've established that the basics all seem ok (PCB, interconnections, power) and that basic digital logic stuff is happening. I rounded off my write-up with the following ideas for what to investigate next: Get some proper triggering from the chip enables to check for valid data signals. Check out … Continue reading Diagnosing and attempting to fix a Yamaha DX100 – Part 2 →

Arduino EEPROM Reader PCB Build Guide

Here are the build notes for my Arduino EEPROM Reader 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! If you are new to Arduino, see the Getting Started pages. Bill of Materials Arduino EEPROM Reader PCB (GitHub link below). 2x … Continue reading Arduino EEPROM Reader PCB Build Guide →

Arduino EEPROM Reader PCB Design

This is a PCB version of the Arduino EEPROM Reader/Writer as described here: https://github.com/beneater/eeprom-programmer but with slight adjustments to support reading of 27Cxxx style ROMs often found in vintage equipment. Build Guide here: Arduino EEPROM Reader PCB Build Guide. Update: Since developing this board, I've found a much more comprehensive DIY board here: https://github.com/TomNisbet/TommyPROM. The documentation … Continue reading Arduino EEPROM Reader PCB Design →

Building my Oskitone Poly555

This isn't really a post like my usual blog posts. This isn't a project of mine as such or a build guide or anything. It is simply a few comments and photos of my building my Oskitone Poly555. https://makertube.net/w/a8SsXP33nymrRqNxXnbbNA I've always liked the idea of the Oskitone. I've used it as the inspiration for some of my … Continue reading Building my Oskitone Poly555 →

Diagnosing and attempting to fix a Yamaha DX100 – Part 1

I was very lucky to be offered a non-working Yamaha DX100 from Simon Walters. On arrival I can see it attempts to boot but apart from the odd character on the screen, I wasn't really getting anything useful happening. My thinking here is that as it is a pretty nice synth with most of its functionality … Continue reading Diagnosing and attempting to fix a Yamaha DX100 – Part 1 →