The [IL]Logical Noise Generator

Inspiration

Unorthodox Synthesizers and also Hackaday.

What it does

The 4046 Phase-locked loop chip receives a voltage between 0 and 5 volts. The input voltage is modulated by two hex schmitt-trigger inverters in a loop with 100K potentiometers. One loop controls the voltage of the oscillator, while the other controls switching frequencies, which is implemented by a bilateral switch.

How I built it

We implemented the circuit on a breadboard and 3D printed a stand to hold the two potentiometers. The circuit is powered by a 3.3v wire from a PC PSU.

Challenges I ran into

Our original plan going into the hackathon was sadly thwarted by bad chips and unfamiliar software. We decided to start from the ground up and learn how to build a design for a noise generator that was featured on Hackaday. The largest challenge for the second half was building circuits on breadboards at three AM on Sunday morning.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Having a finished product to show despite spending half of the weekend on a synthesizer that didn't pan out.

What I learned

I went into the weekend planning on using my embedded systems knowledge to write C for a microcontroller. After the original plan failed and our electrical circuits team member left. Ryan and I had to quickly get familiar with circuits to build and finish something for Sunday. This weekend was a great start towards a journey into the world of synthesizer circuit design.

What's next for The [IL]Logical Noise Generator

We would like to implement some sort of control to tune the noise into note values. Adding some sort of keyboard input would also be ideal. We also plan to design and print our own circuit boards to mount the components onto.