Arduino and AY-3-8910 – Part 2

Following on from my initial experiments in Arduino and AY-3-8910 this post looks at the sound generation capabilities in a little more detail and adds some basic MIDI control. Part 1 - Getting started and looking at playing YM files. Part 2 - Adding basic MIDI control. Part 3 - Basic experiments with direct digital synthesis. Part 4 … Continue reading Arduino and AY-3-8910 – Part 2 →

Educational DIY Synth Thing meets Korg Volca Modular

When designing my Educational DIY Synth Thing I always had in mind that I might be able to hook it up to my Korg Volca Modular. This post looks at the implications and possibilities. Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive … Continue reading Educational DIY Synth Thing meets Korg Volca Modular →

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 →

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 →

Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 3

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 for a board based on the ESP32 WROOM module I have. In this part I go into detail about the code. Part 1 - This introduction and … Continue reading Educational DIY Synth Thing – Part 3 →

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 →

ESP32 DAC Envelope Generator – Part 2

Following on the back of my ESP32 DAC Envelope Generator and in particular my note at the start that it was essentially the code algorithm and none of the electronics that might make it useful, I started to try to find the simplest possible circuit that Just Might Work as a voltage controlled amplifier (VCA) for … Continue reading ESP32 DAC Envelope Generator – Part 2 →

ESP32 DAC Envelope Generator

I'm continuing my series of experiments with the ESP32 by considering how I might use the twin DACs onboard the WROOM module as a Lo-Fi, 8-bit envelope generator. I've not looked at envelope generation before, so this is a good excuse to see what it is all about. Important Note: This is NOT an envelope … Continue reading ESP32 DAC Envelope Generator →