Circuitbenders Forum
Circuitbenders Forum => Circuitbending discussion => Synths & Samplers => Topic started by: djsynchro on February 16, 2008, 10:03:22 PM
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I thought one of these would produce good sampling material, and be nice and easy to build.
It only uses a 556 IC, 3 resistors, 3 capacitors, 2 pots and a switch.
If you want an LED you'll need another 1K resistor.
Well maybe it's me but vero board is nasty! It did work though.
Need to start researching making PCBs. Too many cool schematics out there!
YouTube video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAFLYKXSdJw
It's pretty amazing what a wide range of sounds you get with just 2 knobs, I think it's especially good for recording it and then editing the audio further. Next step will be to build another one and pimp it out with LDRs, vactrols and maybe body contacts. I will need to get a breadboard.
The Veroboard layout is here:
http://aronnelson.com/gallery/v/DRAGONFLY-LAYOUTS_0/album19/album145/ATARI_PUNK_CONSOLE_VERO_001.gif.html
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hehe, funny little punkmachine
i don't get the meaning of the little red squares inthe diagram ?
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hehe, funny little punkmachine
i don't get the meaning of the little red squares inthe diagram ?
You have to cut the foil in those spots.
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Yeah, I did it with a drill, then after brush it with an old toothbrush to get the little bits of copper of and use a multimeter to see if it's not still making contact. Pain in the ass!
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Etching a PC board makes this build a 30 minute project (not counting the time you spent on the board).
The 556 chip is built like a tank, so you can feel safe experimenting with it. There are a couple of places that you can get body contacts from, and some places that you can add switches to increase the tones possible. Also, if you add in some extra caps there's more options. Try adding a 10uf cap between pins 2 and 5 (if my memory serves). That's a mod from squarewave parade's Blast Fed Disaster, which grew out of APC.
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cool, I have to implement that in my PICsynth project as software.
I found some additional information how the APC works.
http://www.robthefiddler.com/electronics-audio-diy/circuit-experiments/atari-punk-console/
and see
http://www.robthefiddler.com/electronics-audio-diy/circuit-experiments/
for more interesting stuff
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I'm pretty happy with myself. just built one from a couple of 555 IC I had lying around and some scavanged bits from a few of teh dead toys i've got lying around.
Just need to find a cool case for it now
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Just need to find a cool case for it now
I'm totally hung up on vintage cameras and books. Everything I've made in the last six months has been housed in those. Cans of food would look pretty cool, too (ACCC- Atari Creamed Corn Console), or bell jars for a steam punk look, or everything done with super small parts and jammed inside an inhaler.
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I was going to stick it in the shell of a toy gun, but i had issues getting everything in, ended up for the ultimate diy look and finished off by cutting up a cardboard poster tube. the way i've mounted the pots and switches makes it look like a horny dalek.
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Better than a horny cyberman.
Note to ladies: Dr Who jokes are in effect. Please leave the room to be around cool guys.
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(http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8096/556oscyk1.jpg)
VHS box with sticker I'm thinking of making 4 of these, one as a present, one for me, 2 to try and sell to my producer friends cuz I'm S.K.I.N.T. :P
1 glitch body contact, the switch is an on-off-on double throw, one side on is classic 2 knob action, other side adds an LDR in series to one of the pots. The VHS case is transparent so the LDR will be inside the case to the left of the bug.
If you build this try 44 uF for the electrolytic cap, slightly more bass. (Still really thin sounding because it's all narrow pulse waves but hey that's the design)
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Nice looking work! What did you use to make that sticker?
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Sweet. I'll have to get a decent picture of mine.
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Nice looking work! What did you use to make that sticker?
Designed it in Photoshop (something like Illustrator would be better but don't have it at the moment)
Printed it on large sticky inkjet labels (A5)
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me and my friend just stayed up all night and designed an apc from perfboard and put it into a plastic orange juice container from the recylin' bin.
He took it to work so i dont have picts, buts its super nitty gritty and sounded great. we added an LDR to and put it through the cap.
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that is way cool. Im also an Ableton fan and plan to use my apc in the same way once I figure out how to make it! Im kind of an electronics dummy, Ive mostly only bent speak and spells and casiotones but Im ready to try a project like the apc. My stupid questionis are .... 1) I have found several diagrams for the apc like the one at the link you posted using stripbaord. I found some stripboard like thing at Rat Shack, but it doesnt have solid long copper strips, more like each whole surrounded by a copper ring. 2) Im not sure how things actually have to be wired (or if) together once on the the back of the board...) Hard to tell from the youtube vid, but it looks like your tupperware apc is on a breadboard? Any advice for the newbie would be appriciated. thanks!!
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It's better to get strip board (strips of copper wire) otherwise you'll have to make connections with wire. when you drill to break the tracks go over it with an old toothbrush and check with a multimeter that the track is really broken (also diagonal, etc.) It's REALLY easy to have a tiny piece of copper shorting it.
Strip board is a pain, but this is such a tiny project and i reckon it's good practice before you do something "real" with a PCB. If you can bend a Speak & Spell you can build an APC.
:)
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mine!
http://haha-fresh.blogspot.com/2007/04/here-is-my-version-of-wonderful-atari.html
and a schematic
but now i love hex
http://haha-fresh.blogspot.com/2007/11/bastardo-and-acitest.html
:#
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Regarding the veroboard version of the APC; I dot the components and the veroboard. The only thing I dont understand is there the wire going from the 9V battery crosses and seems to connect(?) with the wire coming from the 500k pot. Does that mean that both wires are supposed to connect on the same place on the veroboard? Just call me newbie.
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Yep it's connected if you look at the cross it has a circle on it, meaning connected wires, so connected to the pot yeah yeah.
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Don't know if anyone here can help me with this? I've built two different APC circuits this weekend. One with a 556 IC and another with dual 555 ICs. They both work but they both have the exact same problem, the volume is very very low. Bypassing the 10k resistor before the output makes it very loud so I could swap this out for a lower value resistor to make it work. However, that won't help me understand what's gone wrong. I've checked both circuits for shorts and bad wires etc. Can't see anything wrong. I've also triple checked all my resistors and caps are the correct values. Is there any chance that the IC chips might behave differently due to manufacturers making them slightly differently? I'm a bit stumped to say the least.
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This is a related/piggyback question: :P I'm planning on building a few of these into some old home stereo speakers (unpowered) but I can't seem to find any info on what size speaker they can drive without additional amping. All the articles say "small 8 ohm speaker." 8 ohm speakers are everywhere in every size and I know nothing about impedance etc.
Maybe the speaker size has something to do with your volume problem?
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I have tried a few different speakers and also have had it running out to a jack socket and hooked up to a mixer - no different. A friend of mine is having the exact same problem with low output volume. Turns out we are both using ST branded NE556N ICs so we're wondering if this is the cause of our combined woes. I'm gonna try and get some different chips and have another go. We've both built about 3 APC's each with the ST chips this weekend, all with the same problem!
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Problem solved - remove the 10k resistor before the line out, make sure of a 9v power supply and my APC's now work perfectly.
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The 10k resistor is for a line out otherwise the signal would be too hot.
The original schematic was meant to drive a small speaker probably without the resistor.
But you already got that!
Get the "Handmade Electronics" book, there's a whole section about cobbliing Schmitt trigger IC's together for similar pulse wave mayhem but more complex modulation. Haven't tried it yet but it sounds like fun & really simple too.
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Not only is the stuff in the Nicholas Collins book very accessible and fun, it's also a fantastic way to learn some basics of what actually does what. After a couple of weekends breadboarding some of the projects in that book and experimenting with different components I learned more about how a sound circuit goes together than months of reading on the internet.
Highly recommended.
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:) i built one of these the other day - the great thing abou that vero layout is that its so small you can almost fit it in a matchbox :)
- + battery line to pin 4 of the 556 chip seems to solve a lot of problems people have when putting together this project btw...
ne7