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Hey everyone,

I got a few questions... Just built my first audio circuit yesterday (the simplest oscillator), and there are a couple of things I wanted to know:

1. When you guys build circuits and house them in a metal box, do you use the box itself as ground and solder the wires to the enclosure, or use a ground wire (and in that case the fact the enclosure is made of metal means nothing)?

2. Are there any ways to "modify" the sound of my oscillator? I built a simple one using a 7414 Hex-Inverter, 10^6Ohm potentiometer and a 0.1mF electrolytic capacitor. Could I add any other components that would modify my sound- make it softer for example? If so, any ideas how to do so?

Thanks,
Jonathan

P.S Is it possible to create a "delayed" oscillator? I thought maybe I could somehow split the signal, add a big capacitor before the output which would "delay" the sound- and do so repeatedly... It's just an idea though, have no idea whether it is practical.

Yes, you can use the metal box as a ground. That would always be the best choice, but you have to remember that solder won't stick to aluminum and some other metals so you'll have to find another way of attaching it like crimping the wire to a ground lug and screwing it to the case.

As for getting different sounds out of your oscillator, the best thing to do is just experiment with different values of resistors and capacitors. Just plug in what ever you have laying around. I'm not really sure on how you could make it sound "softer".

Hey Slurry, thx for your answer!

I think that changing the capacitors and the resistors would only affect the rate of the oscillation- i.e the pitch of the output signal... Any other ideas?


Also, another question: People who build multi-oscillator synths, do you simply connect each oscillator output to a diode and then solder all of the outputs together or use some sort of an amp combining them? I think that using diodes might cut out some frequencies, but maybe that explains why when many people use a "beat" oscillator with a high pitch oscillator, it would sometimes sound a lil' siren like - the volume fades with each beat...

Nevermind, fixed everything I needed, hopefully will post my synth tomorrow in the gear forum once I'm done!

another way to experiment is to take a wire strip the ends and solder em to gator clips then you can touch the legs of the chip or other points within the circuit and possible find different sounds that way...then if you like the result simple solder the wire to those points and connect to an SPST switch to turn it on/off.

built an ATARI PUNK CONSOLE and this method had some interesting results........

one more thing run your grounds to the circuit board grounds.. grounding to the enclosure can cause interference sometimes or a short...