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Circuitbenders Forum => Circuitbending discussion => BENDING TIPS => Topic started by: Circuitbenders on January 04, 2011, 07:42:41 PM

Title: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Circuitbenders on January 04, 2011, 07:42:41 PM
As i'm going to be offering LTC1799's mounted on a 6 pin DIL adapter from the circuitbenders site very soon, i've just put together a very simple tutorial on building an LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard that can add pitch control to any number of machines.

You can find it here: http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forsale/LTC/LTCguide1.html (http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forsale/LTC/LTCguide1.html)

Is it 'building A LTC1799' or 'building AN LTC1799'. You'd say AN, but is A grammatically correct?  :-\

Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Nixot on January 04, 2011, 10:11:59 PM
Only if you're one of those people who'd say "lutcer" instead of LTC.

That's an awesome guide you have there - maybe it's time to add one into my little sa-2!
Thanks for writing it!
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Circuitbenders on January 04, 2011, 11:22:27 PM
Anyone who says 'lutcer' probably deserves a savage beating don't they?   ;)
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Gordonjcp on January 04, 2011, 11:23:09 PM
lutefisk controlled oscillator
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: noiseybeast on January 05, 2011, 05:36:32 AM
I love this tutorial, but I offer a few ideas.

I use a resistor substitution box instead of measuring the resistance of the pot.  I like doing that because it's really quick to know a usable range for a pitch mod.

BTW, I like your stripboard technique QUITE a bit better than my usual point to point for these.

The "other guy" has custom PCBs with the capacitor already in place, but the DIV is permanently set.  I think I like your trade off.

I'd be up for buying a package that has the stripboard+capacitor as well.

Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Circuitbenders on January 05, 2011, 12:09:53 PM
I use a resistor substitution box instead of measuring the resistance of the pot.  I like doing that because it's really quick to know a usable range for a pitch mod.

To be honest so do i a lot of the time but in that this is a pretty basic guide, i'm guessing that a resistance substitution box isn't something most people who need to follow it will actually own. I'd imagine that far more people will own a basic multimeter of some sort.

As far as i can tell the cap isn't actually strictly necessary if you have a decently smooth and regulated 5v supply. Its mainly there to keep the LTC stable when the 5v supply is a bit wobbly or dirty.

I wasn't really plannng on offering stripboard kits as such, as i don't really want to be stepping on Getlofi's toes too much, but if theres some demand i'll look into it. The main reason i decided to look into selling the LTC's mounted on adapters in the first place was because theres been a fair few occassions i've wanted to use an LTC, but perhaps not in the exact format of a Getlofi module and there didn't seem to be a whole lot of alternatives, especially not if you are using any kind of design that isn't surface mount.
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: noiseybeast on January 05, 2011, 07:25:38 PM

I wasn't really plannng on offering stripboard kits as such, as i don't really want to be stepping on Getlofi's toes too much, but if theres some demand i'll look into it. The main reason i decided to look into selling the LTC's mounted on adapters in the first place was because theres been a fair few occassions i've wanted to use an LTC, but perhaps not in the exact format of a Getlofi module and there didn't seem to be a whole lot of alternatives, especially not if you are using any kind of design that isn't surface mount.

I've noticed the LTC1799 isn't as stable without the capacitor for the few that I bought on ebay.   

STEP ON THEIR TOES!!!  They charge an AWFUL lot compared to what you're talking about.  $15 for the chip and a pot?  I love them but a bit of friendly competition is always good.

It's a bitch for me to find stripboard, so if you included a bit of it for a little more, I'd definitely take it.
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Circuitbenders on January 08, 2011, 02:45:16 PM
LTC1799's are now available here http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forsale/LTC/LTC.html (http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forsale/LTC/LTC.html)
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: alienized on June 18, 2011, 06:14:28 PM
Hi everyone,

I'm having a hard time with LTC1799...
I built modules using GetLoFi and Sailormouth schematics but I can't make them work with my PT-88 and SA-5 keyboards. Those use crystals with 3 legs.
What I did :
Connected pin 2 to Ground
Connected pin 1 to a stable +5v (+6.4v on the PT-88 lowered to +4.8v using a resistor)
I have a 100nf  cap ("104") between pins 1 and 2
I have a 500k pot between pins 1 and 3, with a 10k resistor to avoid possible crash
Pin 5 is connected to a switch to switch between ground and +5v

I tried to connect pin to all three legs of the crystal, with or without the leg still on the board.
I tried with two LTC modules to be shure I did not damage the first chip as I mixed up pins 1 and 3 on my first attempt (not that I thing this is a real issue) : none of them work.

So : how do I make it work ?...

Thanks in advance for your help as I spent a very frustrating afternoon...
(Hopefully I'm going to see Lee Ranaldo at a gig tonight so this will save the day  ;) )

EDIT : pin 4 is for pin 5 and vice versa... I did it right on my layout.
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Circuitbenders on June 18, 2011, 08:04:14 PM
pin 5 is the output, pin 4 is the range selector that you should wire your switch too, although i'm guessing connecting it to +5v is going to produce an output thats too low frequency to run anything.
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: alienized on June 18, 2011, 11:07:49 PM
I just mixed up pins 4 and 5 in my post but I did it right on the board... Sorry. Any clue ? What should I connect pin 4 to ?
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Circuitbenders on June 19, 2011, 12:41:25 AM
i'd wire pin 4 to ground for this. You might be able to hear the squarewave at pin 5 if its set below 20khz and wired to an mixer or amp.

This is where an oscilloscope really comes in handy, so you at least see if its actually outputting anything.

The three pin crystal/ceramic resonator is usually the same as a two pin one, but with the pair of small caps you'll always find near a two pin one actually built into the component. I take it that the moddle pin is connected to ground?
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: alienized on June 19, 2011, 02:01:02 PM
Hi,
I tried the LTC1799 module on my bent SK-1 following GetLoFi 's guide and it works great ! So my circuitry is correct... I'm going to try it again, maybe I did something wrong...
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: alienized on June 19, 2011, 02:29:02 PM
Well I think I spoke a little to quickly...
My SK-1 is now dead.
I made better solder points and when I turned the power back on it produced no sound at all.
Now the power stays on even with switched to "off" when power cord or batteries in place.
I unsoldered the LTC module and made a bridge to reconnect crystal as it was initially but nothing worked.
It's a bit hard to look at a dead SK1, especially when there has been a 2 days work on it...  :(

EDIT : I think I have a killer LTC module : it just broke my PT-88... No sound, or a big ugly noise if volume up. No way to get anything straight.

Here is a picture of my LTC module in case there is something obvious...
There is a 100nf cap (ref. 104, rather big one) between pins 1 and 2.

(http://lostchild.free.fr/img/KILLERLTC.JPG)


Thanks in advance for ANY help
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Bogus Noise on June 19, 2011, 06:44:15 PM
For the SA, I think the pot is too high a value. This flummoxed me for *ages* while trying to get it to work with an SA over here! Best value I've found is a 22k, hardly any "dead spots" with that. That also translates to 5% of the range of a 500k pot, so you'd only get the keyboard to start up in that tiny little window!

I was going to do a Casio SA LTC tutorial Christmas last year but haven't had time yet  ::)

Sucks about the SK btw, hope you can get that one going again soon!
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: Bogus Noise on June 19, 2011, 06:51:27 PM
Actually, on the SK1, I think on mine I've had the power switch not switching off thing when it's crashed... I think it wants a more solid reset. I expect you've tried this already, but have you taken the batteries out and put them back in again?

Also, if you don't have the 22k pot for the SA, a 47k will still have a good range.


Paul - you still got plenty of the LTCs in? My stash will be running out soon so looking to buy a bunch from you in the next couple of months :)
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: alienized on June 19, 2011, 10:54:37 PM
Hi,
I changed the crystal (taking one from a working SA-5) but the PT-88 (which uses the same crystal)  did not come back to life. And its crystal works perfectly on the SA-5.
I checked voltages coming out of the LTC module to see if it could fry something but it never goes above 3V (at least that's what my voltmeter reads, but it has no peak function).
I noticed that some of the caps have a greeny sticky thing that holds some of them together but I don't think this is leakage as they are not swollen or anything.
I'm going to open a new subject as I may have more luck this way...
Title: Re: Building a LTC1799 oscillator on stripboard - simple tutorial
Post by: wax+wire on July 13, 2013, 07:12:31 AM
After playing around today I had some success on bending my SK5 Casio with this.

I didn't remove the original coil, just found a point which affected the pitch on the coil.

  I used a 0.4uF cap and resistance above 6K seemed to get some nice effects - but at no point did i get a musical octave style bend.  at most a few pitches and then into noise territory

also, it needed to be disconnected before turning on the SK5 else you'd get no sound.

will keep playing around