uses for 555timer in astable mode?

[gregisclassy]

i have a couple of the kits from synthrotek
and have no idea what to do with them, any ideas?
I have a mt-520, and a monotron delay, and a ds-8 clone I guess I could use it as a trigger for, but that's boring

[Gordonjcp]

Wire them up as an astable and you've got a crappy squarewave oscillator.  You can pick off a crappy sawtooth somewhere, too.

Add in a couple of diodes and a pot in the discharge resistor lead and you've got variable pulse width, which is kind of fun.