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Monthly Archives: May 2008
My first EAGLE schematic
I’ve done plenty of quickie hand-scribbled schematics, and at some point some computer-assisted ones (hell, I have a degree in Computer Engineering, it came up once or twice…). So I decided for the Arduino sequencer, I should do a little schematic using recent tools. EAGLE now runs reasonably on OS X, and for noncommercial/evaluation things, the light version is free.
Here’s a PNG of the schematic (Click for a big version and go easy on me, it’s my first EAGLE file…):
And if you actually want to do something with it, here’s the .sch file.
I’ve represented the Arduino connections and various jacks (MIDI, 1/4″ for clock, etc.) with the pinheader objects which don’t 100% correspond to the Arduino pin numbers. Note that for example, Arduino pin A0 is actually pin 1 of the ANALOG block here. Hopefully that’s not too confusing.
Tagged arduino, eagle, schematics, synthDIY
Diversion – Arduino Sequencer V2
While I’ve reached a “pause point” on the Sound Lab, I decided to revisit the Arduino 8-step MIDI sequencer I built for my presentation at Notacon. There are a number of improvements to be made and bugs to be fixed (for those who were there, you may remember it completely failed for the demo – it worked great during setup, but not the demo itself)
What I plan to do:
- Simplify Panel Wiring – I somewhat ridiculously wired the panel originally. Instead, it’s going to get a 5V bus and a ground bus, which will cut panel-PCB wiring by a lot. I’ll also fix the issue with the MIDI output while I’m at it…
- Add a Clock output/tempo indicator – This will be for sync with the Baby 8 sequencer that I haven’t built yet.
- Properly implement a start/stop button – I originally was going to use an on/off switch, but that didn’t work right in the original design so I scrapped it. Since then, I got some of these LED-equipped lever switches, so it will have “running” and “stopped” indicators as well.
- Switch the PCB to a 276-159, and permanently hardwire it to a Modern Device RBBB – they’re selling 5 RBBB kits for the price of one Arduino Nano – how can I refuse?
I think those are all the major changes in store. Stay tuned!
Press The Button Podcast for May 28, 2008
Similar to the May 14th show, with clunky 4-track loops, but thematically mixed, with lots of comedy, some Recycled Rainbow material, and other stuff.
Summer of Synth-DIY: week 1
So far, I’ve made a pretty good start on the Sound Lab:
- Entire board (sans connections to front panel and inter-board connections) is soldered. The PLUS kluges are crazy. Let me tell you that much. Pictures soon.
- I seem to be short a 33k resistor for the S&H board. Curses! It’ll have to piggyback onto my next parts order.
- Got the glass out of the dead scanner I’m using as an enclosure.
- Got a sheet of acrylic for the front panel. Need to cut it to fit, and then drill lots of holes.
- Dumb idea? Run a BlinkM on the inside with a cool pattern, leave the paper on the inside of the acrylic as a diffuser, AND HAVE THE AWESOMEST, TRIPPIEST COLOR-CHANGING SOUND LAB EVER BUILT? Maybe. I’d have to get a BlinkM, and then run a 5V rail out of the power supply. It may not have enough light output, too…
I’ve made a couple of design decisions on the cigarbox modular:
- The connection medium will actually be exposed screws – I have a large quantity of clip leads to use, and connecting the points to the circuit board can use lugs attached to the screws. Plus it’ll look really cool and dangerous.
- I want to try to only use conventionally available PCBs- nothing custom. Mostly things along the lines of the Radio Shack 276-159/Electronix Express PB-12 size factor.
- Modules: Some kind of 40106-based multi-oscillator, some logic-gate based “modulators”, a mixer somewhere at the end. Maybe a simple SVF?
- I need to find some tiny L-brackets to attach the PCBs to the cigar box. My first search (at a big-box hardware store) was fruitless.
Press The Button Podcast for May 21, 2008
Vaguely improvisitory music (AN-200/RY10 sync). Tossed in some samples from “Manos: The Hands of Fate”. Later used some voice samples from Autumn Leaves (which at least one listener seemed to dig, calling and asking about the music and the show and whatnot.).