Check out the analog synth I built!

[adventurepants_]

Hey guys, long time since I started a thread. Anyways, I just finished building this synth, its a soundlab minisynth by ray wilson.

It took some time, but it was well worth it in the end! Its extremely useful and makes alot of cool sounds! If anyone here has built the x0xb0x, I recommend this synth, its probably the best monosynth i have right now!!

anyway, check this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfXXtKp17Zc

heres some pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... e416ab566f

This link will allow you access to my photoalbum even if you dont have a facebook!

Thanks!

Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

and how long did it take you to build it? Im assuming youre pretty advanced in terms of electronic know how. Ive just started doing some soldering, and managed to rewire an old guitar after a few goes as my first project. Should a rank amateur even attempt something like this?

[adhmzaiusz]

and how long did it take you to build it? Im assuming youre pretty advanced in terms of electronic know how. Ive just started doing some soldering, and managed to rewire an old guitar after a few goes as my first project. Should a rank amateur even attempt something like this?

Me, ive been a tenured solderer for years with cables and stuff(although I'm still not the best at it), but what I did prior to attempting this project was familiarize myself more with the functions of components to understand more about what is going on.

I purchased this first:

and did the first 10 or so projects. Just scratching the surface of this electronics lab was very enlightening and gave me the confidence to buy the soundlab and tackle the troubleshooting and everything. My soundlab didnt work at first when I gave it the initial juice, or the second time, but this didn't discourage me because all I had to do was just go throughout the diagrams and check-off what was done and what wasnt. Provided nothing was missing and it looked just like Ray's diagrams, I had confidence that it must work if I just went over the instructions again. And lo and behold I didnt connect a ground wire. Fixed that, turned it on, worked fine after that. At least I think it works fine i have nothing to compare it to!

As I said before though regarding how long it took, about 8 hours or so when you are doing it right. The circuit board was the easy part with the right tools like a solder sucker(for when you make mistakes and get the solder stuck in the holes, its really hard to solder a component with 3 leads when this happens) you may need a 'helping hands' tool, and make damn sure you don't use solid core wire! That was my first mistake (which I don't count as time to build because it was a learning lesson and didn't contribute to finishing the project). The whole time it took to get all the parts was about a month, because I'd build it as I got the parts. The only advice I'd say is that you don't have to solder one-by-one each component, just stick a bunch into the pcb and bend them so they don't move and once you have a crapload of parts on the mother board just go in and solder like crazy then clip-off the extra leads. Its really fast this way.

After this project was done it gave me the confidence to go into my OB-8 to investigate a dying voice, and I switched components like mad on the dead voice with a more skilled and confident approach. But alas its still not working I'll need more time with this one buts thats a whole other story

[adventurepants_]

awesome, youre getting me all psyched up. I actually bought a solder sucker and a helping hands with a magnifier last night! i was getting a lot of noise after i rebuilt a guitar circuit, so i decided to completely rebuild it step by step and it was quiet as a mouse afterwards. I had about a ton of solder on one of the pots that cant have helped. there is something incredibly satisfying to me about making something with your hands rather than on a screen! i cant help but think this is all just a distraction from actual music making, but im having an enormous amount of fun.

[longjohns]

can you explain the solid core wire issue?

[Tone Deft]

when solid core wire is bent too much like any metal it breaks. this can cause intermittent signal losses. so multi-core or braided wire is preferred. when braided wire breaks there are plenty of other strands to continue the contact.

[adhmzaiusz]

when solid core wire is bent too much like any metal it breaks. this can cause intermittent signal losses. so multi-core or braided wire is preferred. when braided wire breaks there are plenty of other strands to continue the contact.

Affirmative.

One other thing, certain passive components have polarities that can't be ignored, but Ray's PCB shows polarities for ic's, caps and transisters.

[adventurepants_]

when solid core wire is bent too much like any metal it breaks. this can cause intermittent signal losses. so multi-core or braided wire is preferred. when braided wire breaks there are plenty of other strands to continue the contact.

that reminds me of something i was pondering last night. how many strands do you need for a connection? ie I was soldering a guitar pot, and due to my clumsy handling, the wired unbraided and only 2 or 3 strands were actually soldered. it worked ok and i redid it properly, but i wondered if this increased noise or signal loss or something.

[adhmzaiusz]

when solid core wire is bent too much like any metal it breaks. this can cause intermittent signal losses. so multi-core or braided wire is preferred. when braided wire breaks there are plenty of other strands to continue the contact.

that reminds me of something i was pondering last night. how many strands do you need for a connection? ie I was soldering a guitar pot, and due to my clumsy handling, the wired unbraided and only 2 or 3 strands were actually soldered. it worked ok and i redid it properly, but i wondered if this increased noise or signal loss or something.

If anything it would probably be like adding a certain amount of resistance from bottlenecking electrons, thats my guess anyway

[Tone Deft]

it depends on the wire gauge, wonky cable length and usage.
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm
on that page you can see the current limits and ohms/distance for different wire gauges.

for the most part the tiniest of wire is fine. I'm talking the basic electronics we use everyday, DVD players, cell phones, music toys without amplifiers, stuff like that, the OP's synth 5V 20mA type stuff. for amps and power stuff, the thin wire would melt/fry/evaporate and fail straight up.


re: guitars...
one thing about them is that cable capacitance etc matter, so it could affect the sound. keep the connections fat and healthy. when soldering, treat it like wax flowing around and through a candlestick wick. think heat transfer, like glue you want both surfaces to flow and be involved in the bond.