good site for simple kits to help understand circuits?

[Confuzzled]

Hi all,

Looking for a site that sells inexpensive kits for simple delay circuits or oscillator/synths. Any suggestion?

[eatyourguitar]

two of the harder things to understand how they work are synthesizers and the other one is delay. you can pick something else to learn electronics or you can get a kit to build a delay or an oscillator. I don't think you will achieve both your goals simultaneously. it has been my experience that learning how a delay actually works is only going to help you with doing repairs or mods and only for the specific type of delay that you are familiar with. there are digital delays, analog delays, IC delays, tape delays. writing software for spin won't help you on arm. learning the PT will allow you to build something that has been done before. at some point we can just acknowledge that we want to build a cheap delay to keep or sell but that is probably a waste of time if you are selling it. if we want to build something we really don't need to know how it works. there would be no return on investment for your time.

cheap oscillators are cheap. you will be limited. eventually you get bored with it or you go the other way and buy good oscillators in eurorack. there are plenty of schematics on the internet for an oscillator circuit. they range from cheap and easy to understand to expensive, big, hard to build, and near impossible to understand.

[Fuzzy Lumpkins]

How "simple" do you mean?

There's super-basic stuff like https://hackaday.com/2015/02/04/logic-n ... or-sounds/

And what exactly do you want to understand? Or to put it another way, what's your end goal? e.g. To build a fully-functional 49 key analog polyphonic synth? Circuit-bend a Speak & Spell? Or just make some noise on a breadboard?

[eatyourguitar]

How "simple" do you mean?

There's super-basic stuff like https://hackaday.com/2015/02/04/logic-n ... or-sounds/

And what exactly do you want to understand? Or to put it another way, what's your end goal? e.g. To build a fully-functional 49 key analog polyphonic synth? Circuit-bend a Speak & Spell? Or just make some noise on a breadboard?

the problem with this example is that there is no voltage control, output is square waves only unless you buffer the cap with a TL072 to tap the triangle out. the range is set by the cap so maybe not as good as an octave switch on a nice eurorack VCO. the good thing is that it is cheap. the bad thing is that you will build it and build another. then another. you can get sucked into 10 of these $20 builds with maybe some new noise boxes but not actually hitting the goal of a VCO and a sequencer. I looked around, there is no VCO kit cheaper than $80 that I would actually suggest someone buy.

[Fuzzy Lumpkins]

the problem with this example is that there is no voltage control, output is square waves only unless you buffer the cap with a TL072 to tap the triangle out. the range is set by the cap so maybe not as good as an octave switch on a nice eurorack VCO. the good thing is that it is cheap. the bad thing is that you will build it and build another. then another. you can get sucked into 10 of these $20 builds with maybe some new noise boxes but not actually hitting the goal of a VCO and a sequencer. I looked around, there is no VCO kit cheaper than $80 that I would actually suggest someone buy.

OP asked for "good site for simple kits to help understand circuits".

You got any?

[crochambeau]

I think the book "Musical Applications of Microprocessors", in the analog synthesis examples, was where I first completed my glean of how CV guides the cycle rate of an oscillator.

This was decades into the hobby for me.

If root understanding is at hand, I highly recommend leaving CV out, unless it's implicitly asked for.

Wien Bridge oscillator is a good non-CV starting point.

[eatyourguitar]

OP's question gets asked a lot in DIY forums everywhere. people post links to 555 or atari punk console without even considering if this is the best advice we can give someone starting out. I think it is more difficult for me to play favorites suggesting synth kits because I would need to disclose what projects or retailers I have worked with. I can definitely suggest some sites with free information.

http://electronotes.netfirms.com/
http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/
http://www.sdiy.org/
http://www.experimentalistsanonymous.com/
http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/

[crochambeau]

OP's question gets asked a lot in DIY forums everywhere. people post links to 555 or atari punk console without even considering if this is the best advice we can give someone starting out.

I'm not a fan of 555 based builds for a multitude of reasons; THAT SAID, I have a hard time pulling another part number out of my neurons that can illustrate what impact resistors and capacitors can have on a circuit in a way that a completely new person can't help but notice. Getting someone's attention on the power of the little stuff is like the worm on the hook for some. For that reason alone I celebrate the 555.

Not saying it's the best path in. Mine was tubes, only graduating to discrete solid state topologies after a long while (well over a decade). I wouldn't recommend anyone follow my path, but I'm really happy with the way my journey has unfolded. Anyway, I guess the real advice I can give is READ and DIGEST information and keep at it. Live it. Eat, drink, and shit it. Sometimes the solution to an insurmountable puzzle reveals itself along unrelated channels.

Have fun.