diy electronic musical instrument...

[jamiewoody]

in a 1970-something popular mechanics encyclopedia, there was a musical instrument from a simple circuit. the encyclopedia, to my dismay, is long gone now.
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the circuit completed a musical instrument, consisting of a potentiometer, when rotated, played the musical scale. if  i am not mistaken, the circuit ran on 9 volts.

has anybody heard of this? it seemed that there were few components to it, really.

[Matt the Modulator]

not exactly what for looking for but this is a nice build and produces a stepped scale or sorts and is very simple
http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/DRAGONFLY-LAYOUTS_0/album19/album145/ATARI_PUNK_CONSOLE_VERO_001.gif.html

[jamiewoody]

stupid question alert:

i assume from this illustration, this is a PCB, and the RED stripes are the printed part?

out of curiosity, does anybody POINT TO POINT wire at all anymore? i noticed even some '50s archives showing printed circuits.

[Matt the Modulator]

its strip board or sometimes know as proto board
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=47480

it bascially is a general purpose protoypeing circuit board with strips of conections which you can cut to brake (thats the red squares on the schematic) very usefull for one off productions you can use a drill bit or special cutting tools to cut conections

[jamiewoody]

thanks matt. i'm learning as i go. i really need a basic electronics class...

[jamiewoody]

after more research, i noticed 555 and 556 timer based synths, which look like easy builds...and lend to imagination (more switches, pots, etc). a handful of components, diode, transistor, resistors, capacitors and the timer, and a few other nuts and bolts. looks like a blast! ;-)

i think, perhaps LFO is the actual name for what i was looking for? ;-)

when i finish all of the keyboards i have, the plan is to make another order and get some more components and start building LFOs, atari punk, and hybrids of each.

a part of me thinks i would actually enjoy building something from scratch more than bending something already made!

[noystoise]

a part of me thinks i would actually enjoy building something from scratch more than bending something already made!

that really is the ultimate revelation. speaking from personal experience, i would have to say that learning as much about audio circuits as you can should be your focus as a circuit bender. otherwise you'll end up like me, looking back at the last 5 years asking,"why the hell did it take me this long to get only this far?"

[jamiewoody]

the discovery of things while the box is open is really more exciting than playing the thing when it becomes a new creation. sometimes, i get excited to the point where my hands are shaking, and i have to back away from it and return more focused!