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The following project is my first attempt at building a synthesizer, or more specifically an oscillator. There are two fully independent oscillators with the following controls:
- Course frequency
- Fine tune of frequency
- Pulse Width Modulation or PWM
- Rate (to control the speed of the PWM)
The left side of the enclosure houses a few switching options. To turn on the oscillators, you can either use the key turn switch, or use the red pushbuttons provided.
Inside of synthesizer showing the circuit board and hardware
Potentiometers and switches are used to control all aspects of the circuit
Upon completion, I was satisfied with the rich bass drones I was able to achieve. What I was not satisfied with was the limited ways you could play the synth as there is no keyboard. I decided I wanted a way to be able to play the synthesizer while playing guitar in a band setting. What follows was the creation of the second part of this project, the bass pedals.
The bass pedals from an old and used organ were used to build a foot keyboard that can control the oscillators. The oscillators are able to change their pitch with a potentiometer, meaning the synth uses resistance based oscillators. A dedicated trim pot is assigned to each pedal to set the specific pitches of an octave.
The oscillator and the bass pedals are able to interface with a single tip ring sleeve (TRS) cable connecting the two.
Photo showcasing the a full octave bass pedals that can be played with feet
Internal trimpots within the bass pedals, usually covered by the black plexiglass, can be set to any desired pitch
A single cable connects the bass pedals to the oscillator
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