Casper Electronics DIY synth building. Part 1: Oscillators

[@emildegerth]

The lfo with the led and light sensitive resistor was a really nice visual. Helped me understand it

[@gforsythe1]

This. This is the video I've been hunting for ages as a DIYer. Visual, auditory, intuitive but detailed. Perfect bridge between understanding the guts and just populating a board.

[@bubagoo]

+Glenn Forsythe . Awesome. Thanks. Video 2 coming soon(ish) ;)

[@simoncardie9371]

How have I missed this? I've been looking up DIY VCO's for ages, yet this never popped up??? It's brilliant, but I'm also 8 years late. Never mind. The technique's the same, but this is so brilliantly explained. Thank you!!!

[@paul2734]

Just the right amount of show and tell, refreshingly instructional and entertaining, thank you.

[@bubagoo]

Thanks!

[@AntonBurnsRed]

This could be some of the most educational content on electronics I've ever seen! Love the format, love the depth of knowledge, love the show and tell.

[@sameeruddinads]

Probably the best entry point tutorial for all synth DIY noobs !! thank you for this . :)

[@bubagoo]

thanks so much. good to hear

[@Zer0Spinn]

4 years later this comment still stands.

[@sound.workshop]

Thank you for making this video. The oscillator sync trick to make the subharmonic series is great. I’m going to use that in this duduk inspired synth im working on

[@James-zj7zm]

Don't you dare ever stop making these videos. This is amazing.

[@makeitgreat5542]

dude wtf .... ive been waiting for someone creative enough to help me understand electronics at a waveform sound level. i never connected the dots. been wanting to build my own guitar pedals. ans now i want to build a synth sampler with some who knows weirdness..... thanks keep it up

[@shaheemvocals]

I really respect the passion you have...Even I wanted to make something just like this but I dont have proper knowledge...

[@bordongates221]

This is awesome! I built this, and the sequencer is next- I have all the parts! I am a high school physics teacher, and my students are going to make Atari Punks consoles, then maybe this.

[@bubagoo]

huzzah! thats super cool. I wish i was building weird sound circuits in high school :D Feel free to drop me a line if you have questions or suggestions

[@bordongates221]

@@bubagoo Cool, you replied!!!! Most youtube folks seem to ignore the comments, that's cool that you acknowledged my comment, thanks! I actually found a cool kit and bought 24 of them for my students, at around $4 each. Tech Will Save Us DIY Synth kit, which has everything except the battery- even the speaker! It uses a 556, and one of the circuits is basically the Atari Punk. Ive been building variations of the 40106 synth that you show in your video. There are so many little variations I can do with LDRs and pots, I still have not made it past that. One day I will get to the sequencer and sampler- I have all the parts, but I am still really engaged by building the 40106 oscillator over and over again.

[@willynebula6193]

It's 3:30 in the morning and i find your channel now! Why KZbin why!!!

[@saulocisneros]

Two Forty A M here!

[@rbaleksandar]

I giggled every time you said "Ok, let me bring my keyboard" and you slapped that piece of paper with pencil drawn keys on screen. :D Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@ecarrasco2635]

you reminded me why I love electronics so much, thanks for exploring these musical systems with all of us in such a great way!

[@lukecurran5572]

Best explanation of oscillator sync I’ve heard. Super helpful. Im trying to build my own synth it’s been a dream of mine for a while. You are going to help me make it happen!

[@phoenixdk]

This made my day! Incredibly useful, comprehensive enough, and still very simple to follow. Thanks for explaining in some detail how the hex schmitt circuit works, it's amazing!

[@OmBotCult]

Just got my OMSynth Mini lab version 3.2. I'm in love! So super cool! Thanks Pete!

[@bubagoo]

OmBotCult woohoo! Have fun ;)

[@hrnekbezucha]

Can't wait for following parts. Yesterday I finished my first oscilator from 4093 and I'm really excited about the whole DIY analog synth thing. Thank you for explaining everything this well, I've learnt so much from this video.

[@coulrophobia7018]

the best laymen explanation about how an oscillator works...i finnally managed to actually get what the components are doeing...tnx :)

[@hulqen]

Great tutorial! Don't miss the crazy melon-synth-sequencer mayhem at the end!

[@SpeccyMan]

It's a melon-atron ;-)

[@kuro758]

hands down one of the best videos I've ever seen

[@RaccoonEatingCacti]

Thank you, These videos really kept me going when I was having a hard time getting things to work. These tutorials helped me understand the logic chips necessary to build a 16 step voltage sequencer; something I thought would always remain unobtainable! Most recently I've been having fun modelling hihats using the CD40106. Four closely tuned Square waves at a relatively high frequency does a good job. Drum machine here I come!

[@bubagoo]

Raccoon Eating Cacti awesome. Glad to hear these videos have helped you keep going with electronics :D

[@felixcat4346]

I'm definitely going to part 2 now. Jimmy Hendrix and Walter/Wendy Carlos would love this, not to mention Yorgy Legetti. Thanks.

[@lalanotlistening]

+Joseph Nicholas It's just Wendy. Don't be a jerk.

[@bubagoo]

Hey all. The OMSynth is now for sale with kits for all of the videos! Woohoo! noise.kitchen/product-category/bastl/omsynth/

[@pesto12601]

PRICEY!

[@danjeans2024]

Hi Casper, thank you for the detailed and inspiring tutorials. One question, since the om synth seems to be no longer available. Is it possible to carry out these tutorials without it and could you give me some advice on what I might need? Many thanks, Dan

[@nickygrillet786]

I'm very late to the party, but thank you so much for that! This is immensely interesting and instructive!

[@Valhallaaaa]

You are our signal man! BIG thank you from Slovakia. I have no words.. This tutorial is perfect! I am new to electronics and i was like i could never do something as this. I was allways afride of " bugs " electronic parts that have more than 2 legs :D But thanks to info from you ill get how it works. Looking up for new videos and wish you all best!!!

[@SourceRE]

25 Years in synthesis and I think today I finally understand HOW the VCO is oscillating and WHY that produces sound. Theres always something more to learn underneath. Thanks Peter!

[@teazer999999]

Great demo and explanations. The step oscillator you describe at 17:00 was first described (as far as I know) as "Sound Synthesizer" in Engineer's Notebook: Integrated Circuit Applications (1980) by Forrest Mims III, implemented with a 556 (a dual 555). I like your design with a hex inverter better because you can make 3 with one chip and less discretes (caps and resistors).

[@Kajahzao]

very simple, intuitive and sounds mind blowing kkkk... very hard to find nice beginners material on diy synths, thank you!, im anxious waiting for more !

[@bubagoo]

+Kajahzao thanks!

[@robthomas8680]

Absolutely BEST online DIY synth experiments!! great explanation, details with extensive materials lists and resources! You and Look-Mum . . . . ;) Rock!!

[@Zxios]

I have been looking for exactly this type of video for a month or so now. I have wanted to build my own analog synths that take MIDI input and send audio back to my DAW and this is a perfect start. Thanks!

[@Otm_Shank]

This guy is a friggin genius.

[@ineffable_potentiality_01]

I am so excited, my woman just bought me a mini lab!

[@markwieland4299]

this is the best rescourse I have found on synth building so far! great mix of theory and practical. thanks for the info!

[@KiR_3d]

Hi! I've folowed this video for about 7:30 then I've started to experimenting (already did seen this all but not sure I remember all) It was a surprise: - if I change a resistance of one Schmitt trigger (1-2) then 2nd (3-4) is kind of syncing to the 1st. I've made a simple mixer with one resistor (from pin 2) then it meets the triangle wave from pin 3 and these are mixing with a cool "notchy" wave. - if pin 3 goes to the "meeting point" through a resistor then the wave is completely other! It makes FM on the square wave. Very interesting sound also! I've replaced the R for 2nd schm.osc. to a LDR - it's gives cool performance :) It sounds like RM! One important detail: I have a powerful bycicle headlight for this and... the character of the modulation also depends on it's force! I don't know why... maybe because this headlight gives a "blinking light" (controlled by PWM?), not constant.

[@nicinish]

Great video, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. I think I might be your 15,000th subscriber. Watched the video, saw that you had 14.9K, Subscribed, reloaded, 15K. Congrats!

[@carmencru510]

Super, continuez ! Explications simples avec un petit schéma pour bien comprendre... S'il n'y avait que des tutoriels comme le votre, KZbin serait un paradis (Ça fait des jours que je cherche et les bons contenus sont noyés aux milieu des divertissements Bull shit populaires)

[@bubagoo]

Merci ;)

[@hakonsoreide]

Brilliant tutorial on synth DIY. I don't know much about electronics, but the tiny bit I do know was enough to follow this quite easily, and I do feel inspired to try making my own synth one day as the basic workings of one is so easy.

[@JadanDuffin127]

really wish I could get this DIY kit, it looks so fun! Please bring it back!

[@HenryGomez]

Hey Casper! I loved your videos so much that I went out and bought the OM Synth for myself to try this! This may be a dumb question - on the right hand side of your bread board, there are red and black wires going from the PCB to the bread board... I'm a little fuzzy about their connection in the middle of the bread boards. Do you have a diagram for this please? Cheers, Henry

[@alessandrocasol9499]

black one is the ground and red the voltage. pur the red one in the red lane and the black in the blue one. basically he’s sharing the same voltage and ground to all the section of the breadboards

[@MetaMicroLabs]

Dude. It's like you broke into my lab while I was sleeping and shot the video I was putting together. Great job. I'm using a 74HC14 hex-schmitt since I have several on hand for building MIDI-Out and MIDI-Thu circuits. I'll go back to making my lowpass filter build video and met up with you on the flip side. Cheers!

[@bubagoo]

+Meta Micro Ha! looking forward to seeing your video! Everyones got a different approach and there's always more to learn :) Would LOVE to see a simple LPF vid. Filters are almost obligatory for these square wave oscillators.

[@tstikeman]

Thank you for taking the time to share these series! please keep them coming !!! super helpful for newbies getting into circuitry. Love the format as well

[@bauhnguefyische667]

Play that funky watermelon white boy! Play that watermelon right! Great Vid, helped make a lot of sense of what you were doing. The erasable pen! Love that, gets the point across much better than some over animated cartoon. What have I got myself into now?

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

Strobe lights with light sensors are cool.

[@SABRENOSE]

Man I wish this happened when you were still in Troy! You've really streamlined your modules in the last few years.

[@mtyas]

Great work, I suddenly understand so much more. Thanks a lot

[@trevortjes]

Since I didn't have the amplifier u have in your video (or another amp at all), i tried to do it without. First of all there came no sound whatsoever out of the speaker i plugged directly from the output to ground. Found out that a capacitor between the output and the speaker fixes this. Is that what they call a decoupling capacitor?

[@bubagoo]

Yes that's a decoupling cap ;)

[@roccorossi9969]

+casperelectronics synthesizers what s the capacitor value?

[@SpeccyMan]

Actually that is a DC blocking capacitor. A decoupling capacitor always connects to ground at one end, hence it decouples (usually noise on the power supply rails) to ground. It could technically be called a coupling capacitor (since it couples the output of the oscillator to the input of the amplifier/speaker) but definitely not a decoupling capacitor. A capacitor connected between pins 14 and 7 of your 40106 would be a decoupling capacitor (though not actually necessary here.)

[@bubagoo]

+Nick B ah! Yes! Nick is correct

[@joelroberts1581]

trevortjes which size capacitor did you use or recommend? Thanks

[@dealerbinq]

great instructional video! perfect balance between theory and demonstrations. looking forward to part two

[@CircuitSideshow]

Love this series, please keep it up! Can't wait for the next episode. Just started looking for simple approach to building something like a Baby 10.

[@mrfeenix1]

wow ... Blown away so glad i found you been looking for this basic explanation. Really looking forward to more of these .Hope you plan to do more fantastic stuff .. Thanks!!

[@Mr.M1STER]

The OMSynth is very expensive. It would be an interesting little project for people to make their own amplifier and speaker circuit. Get a few pots too in order to build and test these oscillators. Great video though, very clear and easy to follow.

[@websurfer5772]

~ 4:00 - I got thrown off because it sounds like you're saying "microfarads" (μF) but you're writing (nF) which are nanofarads. I really appreciate you making this video for us. Thank you.

[@rofilmmedia2]

Great stuff!! Exactly what I was looking for. Looking forward to the next part. Wonderful work. Thank you! Rolf

[@EarJuice]

I'm building this atm but without any oscillator for a voltage only Cv to control other modular stuff. So I'm cutting out the oscillator IC. Would I just keep the clock in for the first 4051 chip to get a clock externally? Also I'm not really sure how to modify the sequences. I know where looking at the schematic with the 3 wires going up from the 4051 IC to the 100k resistors. Would I put switches in between the 3 wires or something?

[@Quimeracromaticosa]

Crystal clear man!! Thank you for your generosity and your effort 🙏

[@CBMnebulah]

Cheers! That's a very nice video. Really looking forward to see the upcoming parts!

[@adityasaxena7374]

Loved this one please make more of this kind of informational videos would really appreciate it :D

[@BradsGuitarGarage]

Hey mate, very informative! What's the model of that little scope? I always scoffed at those little things, but seeing one in action, they're actually not too bad for visual cues.

[@SurfDetector]

It is a DSO 138 from JYE Tech Cheers

[@Ugfromumantman]

So I keep getting dead spots and what sounds like just little taps. No actual wave length. I hear a little bit of ocillation at the high end of my 100k pot. Wish i had an Oscope to see what my waveform looked like. I can get a few audible frequencies to come through but not much between just dead air and these little tapping noises. Any idea how to remedy this? Im running the signal through an 9v LM386/741 amp circuit i got from Forest Mims' book.

[@kurtcircuit]

hi thks 4 you r contibution, help a lot when i started with diy synth!!

[@guillediaz1776]

Hey, I just found your videos and they are amazing, I know it might be a little bit late but do you still have this OMSynth still available? I would really love to start experimenting with my own oscillators and ideas. I went to the web you linked on the description but it is no longer available

[@musictreeproductions5994]

This is exactly what I've been looking for! Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏

[@Loundre3]

Thanks for showing how to properly use an schmitt trigger oscillator. Beside the CD40106, you could try also using an CD74HC14.

[@TijsHam]

This is perfect! Will share through STEIM accounts next week!

[@brandonrote2485]

hey man do you sell the black board with the speaker and power supply? Im new to Electrical engineering and have no idea how to make one. please and thank you!

[@vivalanovus]

Awesome video. Just bought m'self a nova drone. Casper rules!

[@novadrone8885]

Woo woooo. Enjoy the drone ;)

[@rubbaclaymo2822]

i started liking this channel at the cost of liking pulse waves

[@bubagoo]

rubba claymo pulse waves are so easy to make. And just add a passive filter and you’ve got smoother waves. ;)

[@magnanimousrecords1630]

Been following your work for a while now - our dronelabs get a lot of use to this day. keep it up!

[@dunktasmic2854]

I recently decided to attempt to make something like this, except without the OMSynth. The circuit is set up right, but I get no oscillation from it, only a low click every time I plug and unplug it. Any advice?

[@lukejackman3802]

Thank you for all of these tutorials I'm learning so much.

[@Jay-q3o4w]

Damn, this is just the best guide I found. I have a question, how can you be so cool?

[@KiR_3d]

Very nice for beginners! Where this oscilloscope can be bought? Is it a common part? Is it hard to build saw, sine and noise generators? How to build filters? Can such designs be taken seriously to create own blocks to make a modular system? (I mean when you've done, it will be re-made on a small strip board and soldered) Is it hard to build analog filters? Can it be done with not too much components? Is it possible to connect this scheme to a MIDI keyboard (using Arduino or something other or a different way)? I mean "is it possible without a big pain?" Sorry for so much questions! Not necessary to answer quickly because I'm just interesting now. It's for the future... maybe I'll go and buy necessary parts and devices to make such a synth... Thanks, you're doing great videos! I hope children will choose this over Minecraft and other not very educative stuff :)

[@jonstorey3985]

hi there. where can I get that device that you have plugged into your breadboard. thanks jon

[@ArthurKonze]

It's called omsynth and can be bought on his website. But it cost about 90 bucks, which is alot money. I recommend buying some pots with knobs (3 lin, 2 log, all 100k for 5$), a small loudspeaker (3$) and an LM386 (1$) and you get all you need for you first experiments for under 10 bucks.

[@tonigialanze8880]

Thanks for the info Arthur. After reading your comment I am now assuming that I am not hearing any sound (connected to my sound card into Ableton) because I connected everything just to a 9V battery without the LM386 component. I apologise for my noobness, but started following some videos from Look Mum No Computer, and i managed to build and oscillator without any amplifications, thats why I got stuck here. So for the above kind of oscillator an, Amplification of some sort needs to happen so it generates sound?

[@headtripconception]

That was very informative. Thanks so much. Just a couple of quick questions. RC = TIME (s) and 1/TIME = FREQUENCY (Hz.) Would that be the formula to determine the kind of range you want? Also, is it possible to use a Schmitt Trigger to make a Sawtooth Oscillator? Thanks again.

[@KiR_3d]

My 1st experience to make some analog osc. was LM555. This thing is great and can be hot :D Guys'n'girls, are op.amps ideal to build a multiwave osc. with a CV control? I've made some... experimental (not my schem. of course) with TL074. It gives a loud square output but a very low tri/saw output. I can't hear it on my Accord 6AS dynamic (6 ohm) and other (9 ohm) also. P.S. also people mention that it's easier to deal with a bipolar PSU than to fix every DC offset in a circuit. _____ P.P.S. the behavior did changed eventually and it sounds normally now :) no clues

[@VintageMusicGearTV]

Awesome have made some of your circuits they are great!

[@lewisgregory6282]

this is a fantistic resource very accessable too keep it up sir!

[@Colgatelicious]

hey, let's say i have an exponential converter circuit to control the pitch by a keyboard. would i just connect the output of the expo converter to where you connect the pot?

[@At-M]

I'm trying to start with Eurorack and searched for a lot of easy "first oscillator" builds, after weeks of searching, I finally found this video and this is the one that's explaining it the best.Love it! Although I've got a question: Does it make a difference if you use electrolytic capacitors instead of ceramic ones?

[@bubagoo]

cool. glad the info is helpful. Short answer to your question...no. Longer (but still short and a "no") answer, they are different but this super simple raw circuit doesn't care about those subtle differences that do matter in more sophisticated oscillator circuits. The only factor of importance here is the value.

[@benja14xd]

Thanks for the tutorial, but i hace a question. it is possible to do an electric keyboard with only 555 and passive components? i want to build a 3 octaves keytar with 12 555 (1 each 3 notes) and 1 more for manual control

[@nelsoncolereis4058]

Hi Peter, thanks for all the information you share with us. Really inspiring stuff. Lots of fun to try stuff out and come up with cool ideas to make crazy sounds. I definitely got the bug now. :) One question: I made a triangle LFO out of the 40106 buffered by the LM358 (worked better then the 4069 for some reason). My question is, how can I have this LFO sync to a clock? I tried to send in another osc (square) with a cap/resistor/diode in between, but it doesn't work. The square take over completely. Any ideas? Thanks!

[@bubagoo]

Nelson Cole Reis hey Nelson. Glad this has helped you get going. Unfortunately syncing triangle waves while retaining the triangle-ness is tough stuff :/ doing it the way you have said will give you audible syncing effects but you will be changing the wave form

[@maybury78]

Great videos thanks. I bought a load of CD40106BD ic's and only seem to get sound out of pin 4 when pin 1&2 are hooked up with a cap' and pot', weird, any ideas? are there variations with these chips? Thanks, Duncan

[@TheQuinis]

I've just finished building one of the DIY kits for this, however I only get a static or feedback noise from the speaker regardless of what I change. Are there any common issues or mistakes I may have made when putting the board all together? Any kind of troubleshooting advice would be amazing! Thanks!

[@edwardfletcher7790]

This sort of video is incredibly helpful !

[@ninhingazanan]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Appreciated.

[@philippalexandermoser6481]

Very nice video! Thank you so much! I have been wondering if I could use the output as an LFO for other devices (Microbrute, for example) or if this means that I would have to to adjust the output voltage in order to make it work? I guess i could then change the IC for a 8038 one and have access to different waveshapes, or?

[@ThaDrones]

Awesome content, very instructionnal and still entertaining though... Great performance at the end! :D

[@catinahat6231]

Thank you so much for your videos! They are a major inspiration and a guiding light to me, I really can't thank you enough. I was wondering, how does the Schmidt Trigger compare in sound quality to a 555 or 556 oscillator design? Also, I would be very grateful and happy if you could point me in the direction of a video with the same clarity as yours, but explaining how to build voltage controlled filters and amplifiers. Regardless, I want to thank you for your videos, they're all clear, concise and easy to understand.

[@marianovera7675]

Very nice and awesome, is the buffer/amplifier on the digaram on your website an lm386 or tl072? And which values are the resistors? Regards.

[@bubagoo]

Mariano Vera tl072. I think the resistors are 10k

[@YanickFM]

This is the exact kind of thing I've been looking for

[@rhampton1914]

I just purchased a Soundmachines Experimental Kit breadboard..it's a complete Kit with components...My question to you is..how do you know where to plug your components in. Do you just choose anywhere?

[@bubagoo]

rhampton1914 I’m pretty sure their kit comes with instructions and example circuits. The bread board is a super great interface for playing with electronics but it’s not especially intuitive at first. There’s countless “how to breadboard” tutorials out there and once you get the basics it’s fast and easy work. Good luck

[@dusanvukasovic2525]

It's great to make DIY synth as a standalone device. It's not a product or a brand or a price tag anymore, cool. But if I try imagine the simplest way to get a sound of an analogue oscillator and filter, I end up with an idea of a device with just four CV inputs: pitch, amp, filter cutoff and resonance amt. So I set a DAW to send those values to some, say Arduino, usb interface, that will work as 4 midi cc-to-voltage converters, and that's all. All kinds of LFO -ing, ADSRs, keytracking, velocity scaling, etc. I do from within DAW.

[@KiR_3d]

Is it possible to make a "master pot" that will be controlling other resistors? Without parallel connection.

[@alvarobyrne]

Please would you mind telling me/us what is the difference between a current controlled oscillator and a VCO? You don't address VCOs? That statement is confusing for me because I thought those were all VCOs. Isn't it the case that when you replace a fixed resistance by a potentiometer the oscillator becomes a VCO, that is, the voltage that comes out from the potentiometer is the voltage that controls the oscillator. Thanks in advance for your help.

[@alvarobyrne]

Ah! It´s the current that comes out form the potentiometer the thing that drives the oscillator(?)

[@bubagoo]

+alvaro obyrne yes it's the current. The potentiometer in this circuit is used to control how much current goes from the output of the Schmitt trigger back into the input. In this case the pot is only limiting the signal so you would call it an attenuator. You can make this a VCO by basically replacing the pot with a voltage controlled attenuator. This can be done with a vactrol, a VCA (like the V2164) or with some circuit zazzz and transistors like the 2N3904.

[@alvarobyrne]

Got it. You´re so kind. I'm so greatful for your answer. Thanks indeed.

[@alvarobyrne]

Ah! You do set a basic vactrol here. Yes at t=1378.

[@philmaguire_]

Could you explain how running one oscillator through a capacitor into another syncs it? I'm not understanding what's happening in the circuit.

[@Skamanda]

I was looking at Mouser to try and find the CD40106 to make one of these myself, and it turns out there is an entire line of them, many of which say they do different things, and several of which are Schmitt triggers. Is there a specific one on there you can link to that would be the right one for this?

[@bubagoo]

the cheapest one :) But make sure its DIP format not SMD (surface mount)

[@Kajahzao]

Hay, i wanna to do a project with Arduino and this oscillator, but Arduino just supplies 5V. Is there any turnaround that i may take in order to make the oscillator work ? (like put a extra voltage supplier of 9V )

[@bubagoo]

+KajahzaoNo need to change anything. you can run this oscillator on 5 volts.

[@DECIMA1]

Very well done video. Informative and entertaining 👌

[@longcat]

quick question, if driving another circuit from an LFO like this, what kind of resistors should you use in the buffer circuit? (with an opamp)

[@bubagoo]

...with an opamp? You mean using the op amp as a voltage follower of the LFO? Well anyway... that is what you should do, connect the lfo to the noninverting terminal of an op amp. I think you can connect directly. If it makes problems then connect through SOME resistance...10k, 47k 100k... shouldn't make a difference. and then connect the inverting terminal to the output. The output will then be a buffered copy of your LFO.

[@longcat]

thanks for the swift reply x great video

[@bubagoo]

no prob. Lemme know if that doesn't make sense or doesn't work.