Here's another jam session to demonstrate the sounds of the Monotron-Squared, a dual VCO monotron with square wave circuit - see earlier posts for project development.
Monotron-Squared - Jam/Demo by MickeyBoyeeee
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monotron-Squared: Preliminary Demo
Here's the first demo of monotron-squared, which is very close to being complete and tempting to keep playing in its current (not-quite-finished) state!
Note that the square wave-shape circuit is engaged, and the only pots I use hear are cutoff, resonance, LFO rate, LFO depth, PWM, keyboard tracking depth, and the pitch range (1Meg-ohm) that drives the second VCO from the first (see previous posts).
Also, the 1Meg pot is not grounded (case wise), so I only touch it for some buzzy interference effect...
More to come.
Note that the square wave-shape circuit is engaged, and the only pots I use hear are cutoff, resonance, LFO rate, LFO depth, PWM, keyboard tracking depth, and the pitch range (1Meg-ohm) that drives the second VCO from the first (see previous posts).
Also, the 1Meg pot is not grounded (case wise), so I only touch it for some buzzy interference effect...
More to come.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Monotron-Squared update
1 mega-ohm still not enough! Though much better. May do a voltage divider before pot.
Also, can't get CV mixer to work, so will either build MFOS mixer (which I have for audio out from mono 1 and VCF2 (as separate filter input) OR I may just get an RC4580, as this op-amp operates at 5V no problem. Getting some fat sounds out of it so far - will put some demos up soon.
Also, can't get CV mixer to work, so will either build MFOS mixer (which I have for audio out from mono 1 and VCF2 (as separate filter input) OR I may just get an RC4580, as this op-amp operates at 5V no problem. Getting some fat sounds out of it so far - will put some demos up soon.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Monotron-Squared update
Wrong about 300k ohm on CV link between VCOs - took out resistor to reinstate pot as 500k, and I think I'll change it for a 1Meg pot!!
Also, from Din Sync's CV mixer design, 100k resistors on inputs (from VCOs) are too big - tried parallel connection with 100k to give 50k, and had much stronger signal. In fact, with the 100k's, the square wave mod does not work - so will try 47k (or even 36k or 25k?!?!).
Also, the polarizing switch was busted, so testing became frustrating. Have to re-do switch!
When polarizing mixer is working, its amazing!
(Note: LM358 was working, but I did try 5532 and it does not like minimum supply voltages!)
Lesson: Get a solderless breadboard, mate!
Also, from Din Sync's CV mixer design, 100k resistors on inputs (from VCOs) are too big - tried parallel connection with 100k to give 50k, and had much stronger signal. In fact, with the 100k's, the square wave mod does not work - so will try 47k (or even 36k or 25k?!?!).
Also, the polarizing switch was busted, so testing became frustrating. Have to re-do switch!
When polarizing mixer is working, its amazing!
(Note: LM358 was working, but I did try 5532 and it does not like minimum supply voltages!)
Lesson: Get a solderless breadboard, mate!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Monotron-Squared - problems update
Dual Oscillator Problem Fix:
So I found a way to fix the dual oscillator connection, and combined with a 260k potentiometer, will also adjust the range of the second VCO. This should work in a similar fashion to the range adjustment for the monotrons' ribbon "keyboard", except it'll be adjusting the range of the incoming CV signal.
The connections I am using are C5 of monotron 1 (there is no capacitor here, just the terminals, and labeled NU on the schematic from Korg), and the middle bottom pin of Q1 from monotron 2 (which I think is pin 2, but could be pin 4 - have no data sheets on that dual transistor - don't know which way is up on it either!).
Between these connections I put said potentiometer - only had 500k, so added a 550k in parallel to make it about 260k - anything less than 100k has a really widely spread range, and more then 300k is also useless. Still, this will be neat for adding layers of notes.
The pitch knob is still operational on second VCO (monotron 2), but the most exciting thing is that any pitch bending on VCO 1 (i.e., from the LFO, or CV pitch bend) is also received at VCO2!!
CV Mixer Section:
Since I'm still a bit crap at soldering, I often file the gaps between the copper strips on the pre-fab experiment boards to make sure there are no shorts. Since I disconnected and reconnected a few times, I had filed kind of sloppily and had actually divided one of the power rails!! What a doughnut! So I reconnected this using a blob of solder.
Now, when things were not working properly, I still had the polarizing CV mixer section working, but since filing the power rail I also dropped the LM358 op-amp on the floor! I still have not hooked it up again and may need a replacement. I do have a NE5532, but its minimum supply voltage is +/- 5V. The monotrons' Vcc is 5V, but I have measured only 4.67V and have concerns about this operating inefficiently. Therefore I'll probably just replace the LM358 if need be.
LFO Routing:
I have since stripped down most of my re-route switches for LFO 2 (LFO from monotron 2) but have a short between the switches I re-did. I used the soldering iron to shrink the heat shrink, and I got a little solder in this, so I think it'll be an easy fix.
VCO 2 Routing:
Since I'm re-doing so much, I decided to try and flip the output of VCO 2 from before the square wave voicing circuit and after it, so that in the former connectivity the dual sawtooth waveform will get some square shaping, and the latter connection will combine square and sawtooth waves. Also, I have a connection to take VCO 2 directly back to VCF 2 - which is then equivalent to simply mixing two individual monotrons - each being played from the same CV notes.
This should give some really fat tones and harmonics - in fact, with the triggered noise gate output, mixing VCF 2 out put with VCO1, with some LFO and stuff, and lots of resonance, I'm already getting some dark and twisted overtones layering up the single voice. Its pretty awesome.
Conclusions:
So, all I have to do is wire/solder CV 260k pot between monotrons; re-do CV mixer inputs and output; check LM358 op-amp is working - if not: replace it; clean up or fix LFO routing switches; and, drill out one more hole in the front panel to accommodate 260k pot.
In the future I may try to reinstate the ribbon controller, as its quite fun to use, and great for wobbly effects and sweeps, etc. But to do this I need to get hold of a ribbon cable connector - I already have an adequate piece of ribbon cable that I stripped out of a busted DVD player, and it is compatible with the monotron ribbon cable connector. But not sure if I can be bothered just yet...
So I found a way to fix the dual oscillator connection, and combined with a 260k potentiometer, will also adjust the range of the second VCO. This should work in a similar fashion to the range adjustment for the monotrons' ribbon "keyboard", except it'll be adjusting the range of the incoming CV signal.
The connections I am using are C5 of monotron 1 (there is no capacitor here, just the terminals, and labeled NU on the schematic from Korg), and the middle bottom pin of Q1 from monotron 2 (which I think is pin 2, but could be pin 4 - have no data sheets on that dual transistor - don't know which way is up on it either!).
Between these connections I put said potentiometer - only had 500k, so added a 550k in parallel to make it about 260k - anything less than 100k has a really widely spread range, and more then 300k is also useless. Still, this will be neat for adding layers of notes.
The pitch knob is still operational on second VCO (monotron 2), but the most exciting thing is that any pitch bending on VCO 1 (i.e., from the LFO, or CV pitch bend) is also received at VCO2!!
CV Mixer Section:
Since I'm still a bit crap at soldering, I often file the gaps between the copper strips on the pre-fab experiment boards to make sure there are no shorts. Since I disconnected and reconnected a few times, I had filed kind of sloppily and had actually divided one of the power rails!! What a doughnut! So I reconnected this using a blob of solder.
Now, when things were not working properly, I still had the polarizing CV mixer section working, but since filing the power rail I also dropped the LM358 op-amp on the floor! I still have not hooked it up again and may need a replacement. I do have a NE5532, but its minimum supply voltage is +/- 5V. The monotrons' Vcc is 5V, but I have measured only 4.67V and have concerns about this operating inefficiently. Therefore I'll probably just replace the LM358 if need be.
LFO Routing:
I have since stripped down most of my re-route switches for LFO 2 (LFO from monotron 2) but have a short between the switches I re-did. I used the soldering iron to shrink the heat shrink, and I got a little solder in this, so I think it'll be an easy fix.
VCO 2 Routing:
Since I'm re-doing so much, I decided to try and flip the output of VCO 2 from before the square wave voicing circuit and after it, so that in the former connectivity the dual sawtooth waveform will get some square shaping, and the latter connection will combine square and sawtooth waves. Also, I have a connection to take VCO 2 directly back to VCF 2 - which is then equivalent to simply mixing two individual monotrons - each being played from the same CV notes.
This should give some really fat tones and harmonics - in fact, with the triggered noise gate output, mixing VCF 2 out put with VCO1, with some LFO and stuff, and lots of resonance, I'm already getting some dark and twisted overtones layering up the single voice. Its pretty awesome.
Conclusions:
So, all I have to do is wire/solder CV 260k pot between monotrons; re-do CV mixer inputs and output; check LM358 op-amp is working - if not: replace it; clean up or fix LFO routing switches; and, drill out one more hole in the front panel to accommodate 260k pot.
In the future I may try to reinstate the ribbon controller, as its quite fun to use, and great for wobbly effects and sweeps, etc. But to do this I need to get hold of a ribbon cable connector - I already have an adequate piece of ribbon cable that I stripped out of a busted DVD player, and it is compatible with the monotron ribbon cable connector. But not sure if I can be bothered just yet...
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