DIY VCO Part 1: The analog oscillator core anyone can build

[@jspiro]

Forget making a synth, this is a fantastic intro to electronics. You've made me understand concepts that never made sense in the 7years I've been learning.

[@finctank]

100% agreed, thank you so much!

[@juanignaciogonzalez5326]

Es verdad

[@UDoIt2]

HA! I can't recall a better explanation. Excellent work Moritz.

[@theRiver_joan]

No kidding, I remember some of these concepts seeming so counterintuitive to me in my physics classes but this made things quite simple.

[@fshanahan]

Completely agree. Subscribed for that reason.

[@Etrehumain123]

I have no idea what pushes you to make such high quality tutorial, it took you days of work, and months of previous studies and experience to get this level, to simply offer us few hours of tutorial. I have no idea what pushes you to do such thing, but I feel deeply grateful and I would consider Patreon for sure. Thank you so much

[@quantum_ocean]

> I have no idea what pushes you t You could ask!

[@Snuffish]

Interest and burning passion for what he does.

[@flywittzbeats4008]

If anyone feels like they’re attention is drifting, or that the theory is so new that the info doesn’t stick, just keep watching and trust the process. This is the best oscillator tutorial on the internet. Your well on your way to your 40106 addiction 😂

[@urnoob5528]

wat bout 7414

[@seamusjames9390]

This is just a masterpiece of content from a Master.

[@vikenemesh]

@@urnoob5528 I tried a 74LS14 and had problems starting the oscillation, it didn't source enough current for my component values. I tried a 74HC14 and it worked. Grounding leftover inputs is a MUST with the sensitive CMOS inputs in 74HC.

[@the_emmo]

as an electronics engineer I must say this is the best introduction to DIY electronics I've seen so far! congratulations, you just earned a new subscriber.

[@claussoegaard]

The balloon analogy that actually demonstrates how no current flows through the capacitor is awesome. The capacitor = “a battery” analogy has never really worked well for me so this was awesome, thank you!

[@MoritzKlein0]

yeah i had that click for me while making this video actually. it's a really helpful insight!

[@philmaguire_]

@@MoritzKlein0 yep me too! great video

[@naught101]

A battery is a bit like a balloon too, no? Just a different way of actually storing the energy.

[@andreafilippi8524]

Actually in your analogy the quantity of water stored in the capacitor would be the charge, not the capacitance. Your video is very instructive nonetheless!

[@m00ni]

@@naught101 No, I was confused about this corner of electronics for a long time. I visualized batteries as just a big store of electrons that you could use up. If that were the case, then as soon as you hooked up a battery to a circuit, there would be a giant voltage, a huge zap, and everything would get fried as that huge pile of electrons pushed apart from each other and went to ground. Instead, batteries are electron *pumps*. They take in electrons from one terminal and push them "uphill" to go back out of the other terminal. They use chemicals to provide the energy needed to that. The "electro-motive force" describes how "hard" that pump is able to push to drive current and is why you have batteries of different voltages. In a pnuematic analogy, think of batteries as chemically-powered fans.

[@memsus2346]

I have needed something like this for years. have my children.

[@unchayndspersonalaccount7690]

Each component and where it is used: Breadboard - 13:16 40106 Schmitt Trigger Inverter IC - 13:16 1N4148 Signal Diode - 13:25 2.2nF Foil Capacitor - 13:43 100kΩ Resistor #1 - 14:06 9-15V Power Supply #1 - 14:14 9-15V Power Supply #2 - 19:24 TL074 Op-Amp Buffer IC - 19:24 1μF Foil Capacitor - 23:19 100kΩ Resistor #2 - 23:19 100kΩ Resistors #3 and #4 (see note below) - 26:18 Audio Jack - 26:39 Note: In the beginning of the next video, he replaces the resistors used at 26:18 with 10kΩ resistors, so these should actually be 10kΩ resistors.

[@Etrehumain123]

Thank you !

[@treeski3410]

This is probably the best Applied Learning example for basic electronics on the web. Moritz's basic explanation of electrical component function and circuit design are clear and engaging. Even if you are not interested synths or EDM, the stepwise process he describes to generate and shape a waveform by building a circuit all while monitoring progress with an oscilloscope and audio is invaluable. For those who want to go deeper (i.e. how does a schmitt trigger inverter work), I recommend Code by Petzold, but for most I think this will be all you need to get started in electronics.

[@carnilean]

You could also configure an Op-amp as a schmitt trigger to reduce the number of main ICs...adding more resisters but we all have a bunch of those already right! Electronoob has a good schmitt trigger equivalent op-amp example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ml6agKyabdRrnqc&ab_channel=Electronoobs

[@howardgreenwich490]

MORE OF THIS PLEASE. I've been spinning my wheels for months trying to apply electrical theory to practical circuit building (for synths) and found few tutorials that help explain how electricity actually flows through a circuit. Thank you.

[@MoritzKlein0]

exactly the reason why i started doing these videos. glad i can help!

[@michaelparks1632]

yes! there's this assumption that I can just look at a schematic and follow what the electricity is actually going to do... this level of explanation is fantastically useful.

[@lexxxus808]

Super stuff, completely agree! Everything makes a whole more sense!

[@alphanuevo]

Yes. Thanks so much for doing this series!

[@gordonwelcher9598]

Please be careful when using a breadboard. It will create frequencies that will enter your body and cause damage. Wrap either the breadboard or your body in tinfoil to block out the frequencies. You must be careful with frequencies.

[@crankykoala8377]

Great job, this kind of entry-level electronics audio videos are suprisingly scarce, thanks for this!!

[@rayericsson9317]

Congratulations - you’ve just taken me from electronic zero to dangerous in a single video. Extremely educational and entertaining content!

[@Semantic8Satiation]

I always like knowing just enough to dangerous.

[@visnyliss]

I've heard a saying that the better you understand something, the more simply you can explain it. I have no doubt that you possess an incredibly deep understanding of electronics and the concepts involved. This video is so very helpful and easy to grasp.

[@dimiutube]

This is the best introduction into electronics I got yet!!! Thank you very much! While watching, I had to resist putting more and more electronic parts in to the shopping basket and carrying my old oscilloscope (never used before) from the basement🙈

[@charlesd774]

I feel like my brain has just ascended the first step to becoming a Synth God.

[@thunderhorseiron-lung1428]

Same!

[@bonebag5069]

So, Did ya make it? Like, how many steps are there? It's been 2 years now... God. 🤘💀🤘

[@ivanlozano2019]

Sir I think chancellor Charles is a SYNTH LORD

[@emmanueloverrated]

The water model is a very good model to explain the idea behind electrical components. I just want to warn your audience though, when doing audio stuff we must be aware that around wires and every components, there's a electric and magnetic field which have influence on other parts of the circuit and can be influenced by. Because audio signal are by nature like alternative current, sometime this can have impact on the output, like weird hums and hissing. The water model doesn't modelize that without some tweaks... That said, for a beginner, this model is perfect, and sometime better than what some teachers actually do in an physic class. You explained it very well. Good job!

[@neoncyber2001]

Best description of ac coupling ever! You rarely see someone going into what exactly the cap and resistor are doing for the network. This level of abstraction is absolutely ACE for someone like me!

[@lonelycosmonaut9360]

as a third year robotics student who has stayed away from the electronics side because it never made sense to me thank you. Fantastic intro to electrical engineering in general. Better than a £27k university course ever taught me.

[@urnoob5528]

this aint even electrical electrical is mostly high voltage stuff and machines small circuit with small voltage belongs in the electronics engineering domain power grid, generation, electric machines are electrical, if u study electronics engineering, u will barely touch on these subjects, like dippin yo toes in the water

[@thomasedwards8311]

Final year Mechatronic Engineering student here (We take a lot of Electrical modules), and I must say this is a fantastic intro into electronics I found myself getting a great intuitive understanding of a lot of the circuits I've been working with for the last 4 years. And as someone who's also interested in synths this is a gold mine!

[@marioc64]

There are two types of teachers: those who says "look how it's simple" and those who says "look how smart I am". Thank you for showing us how simple it is.

[@zachary963]

This is beautiful. I’m not an electrician, but these analogies and the way you’re teaching is on par with my college physics classes. You should be proud.

[@seven-gn7ef]

THE PRICE OF SYNTHS SHALL HOLD US DOWN NO MORE!!! I can’t tell you how much i want to give you a hug man, thank you so much. I’m going out to buy components tomorrow!!! 😁🙏💕✨

[@seathru1232]

This is pure gold. Thanks a lot, you explained things so nicely and easely that I expect a lot of people - me included - to start building DIY synths from scratch.

[@zvava]

this is a gem, finally something that actually teaches the basics of electronics well

[@christopherscheidel5431]

Bravo! I’ve been a computer scientist and electronics tinkerer for nearly 2 decades. Electrical engineering was my least favorite class. I learned more in these videos than I did in the last two decades. Thank you for putting this together. Now, off to build my VCO!

[@Fran-jg4kp]

In half an hour you just gave me a better idea of how electricity works than an entire semester of college, from the bottom of my heart thank you.

[@t1d100]

I am troubleshooting a Schmitt Trigger Synthesizer that I built from a popular internet design. What you have taught me, here, will really help with finding the bugs in my circuit. So, a very timely video, for me. Thank you!

[@troypeterson6057]

Greatest video on electronics that I've ever seen. I've been tinkering with this stuff for years, yet cannot seem to grasp what is really happening in a circuit. Thank you so much, this is a big, big help!

[@potatospade1217]

I’m just getting back into electronics again after taking a GCSE in it 22 years ago. I want to build my own synth and properly understand what is going on and this video series is perfect! Thank you SO much! Keep up the great work!

[@lucianbetke]

Die beste Erklärung für die Arbeitsweise eines Kondensators, die ich gesehen habe. Der junge Mann hat Talent.

[@anonymous_1245]

Finally somebody is intuitive enough to explain things that appealed complicated to me in way that completely makes sense in my mind. Thank you!

[@Gruftgrabbler]

After studying electrotechnics for years I really enjoy the water analogy. This is a real good Explanation :)

[@doBobro]

Just wow. This the best introduction to electricity/water-pipes analogy. With a real pretty complex examples to build intuition. Pure gold.

[@mattsadventureswithart5764]

Its 24 years since I was taught electronics, and much has been forgotten, but this way of explaining what is going on is far better for the concepts than the way I was taught. Bravo!

[@kipper308]

This has got to be the greatest electronics 101 intro that I've ever watched. Fantastic!

[@juliocosta5818]

This is the best, most comprehensive water pipe analogy I've yet seen. You explain and demonstrate it really well!

[@tonyq2023]

You are a fantastic teacher ... please add more videos

[@mightywombat]

I love these DIY synth videos! I have watched the whole series at least twice and am ordering components now to build my own.

[@derecwilsom4546]

probably one of the best videos i have ever watched on youtube, your explanations, analogies and the diagrams (lofi enough to be cool but relevant enough to be useful ) are outstanding. For the love of god dont stop making good content and finding ways to explain electronics to people.....subscribed

[@jasontwynn7356]

Awesome video,dude you helped me so much. Thank you. I have a reading disability, so I can read about what you did over and over and can't understand it at all. The way you just showed it in this video. Is amazing,I understand it all, everything you talked about. Now I can understand what they was saying in the books I'm reading. At least I know what there saying about the things you showed. Thank you so much 👍👍👍

[@dodecalogue]

Absolute masterful example of presenting material, thank you very much

[@misterretrowolf1464]

Your explanations are absolutely genius. I've seen the water analogies before, but this takes it to the level of actual electrical circuit analysis is so many situations. WOW. Thank you.

[@scriptshow9178]

One can simplify like this way only who himself knows it thoroughly and have an art of teaching. Very nice !

[@screwf4ce1]

LOVE LOVE LOVE this series. You are like the Morgan Freeman of diy synth tutors. I would love to see more vids from you, on just about anything as long as you were teaching.

[@iuries]

This is the best analogy of electricity to water I've ever seen. Great video! Thank you!

[@wildishshambino4176]

Well put together and easy to understand. You make it easy to follow using the pipe examples. Looking forward to more of these👍🏻💪🏻

[@ithaca2076]

2:10 if you're able to accurately simplify any subject in such a way that most people can understand it, thats a sign you're doing really good keep up the good work 👍

[@benbrucato77]

Best tutorial on anything I’ve ever seen. Also, I’m a college professor.

[@FUNKINETIK]

Nicely explained, The frequency of the oscillator at the end matched my tinnitus.

[@rubymars_xyz]

this is awesome! i was just starting the process of researching and getting into electronics for the first time for audio reasons , perfect.....

[@DrHumbertoable]

With hundreds of tutorials about this topic, this is a outstanding one. Very good explanation and brilliant analogies.

[@braedenL29221]

your explanations are very well paced. My biggest issue with youtube videos that are explaining complex topics is that trying to grasp them in realtime with the video, so that I can have said knowledge to build off of later in the video, can be exceptionally hard as some creators just breeze through it without pacing in a way that I can ponder for a second and intuit what is being explained. well done, great video

[@tw3635]

Hands down the best intro to electronics / circuit building I've seen on youTube! Thanks big time! You are a great teacher!

[@roterodamus]

The shortest and best negative voltage explanation I've heard!

[@ActumRadio]

this kind of persons like Moritz make posible the 3third revolution. Now i understand concepts that are not anymore abstracts. I feel so happy to find this. Please keep doing this!!! from argentina

[@Rand0081]

If only my professor explained things like you 23 years ago... Great quality content.

[@radmaster6470]

This is exactly what I needed. I’m a novice and this is very helpful! I’m excited to start my journey into modular! Keep it up man!

[@jimmy_jamesjams_a_lot4171]

The oscillator sounds so good that the daydreaming I’ve been doing over the sound of your oscillator has had me missing out on all the subsequent learning. So I’ll have my Eureka moments at your expense when I watch your video again. It will likely be while I build your oscillator, and consequently I’ll miss out on a lot more next time I watch it too!! THANKS AND CONGRATULATIONS, you’ve found a niche here!!

[@Entropy-Machine]

This is a superb educational tool. A lot more information here than just whipping up an oscillator! You are a great teacher, thank you for putting this together so well.

[@paraworldblue]

This is by far the most intuitive explanation I've seen for these concepts, and watching it is clearing up a LOT of things I've really been struggling with - thank you!

[@LillySchwartz]

This was insanely helpful, thank you! When I was following basic oscillator circuit schematics the last time I got as far as getting a square wave and while trying to turn it into a triangle wave I accidentally fried the Opamp because I got confused and mixed up the 0 and -9V cables 🤦‍♀️ Which of course happened because I didn’t quite understand the circuit. I feel like I’m finally starting to get it now with your balloon analogy. Please continue making these!

[@TheNimasan]

tremedous channel here. absolutely amazing how good the whole thing is explained here. 1000 dank dir und mach weiter, moritz. scahue seit 2 tagen nichts anderes als deine videos!! much love and support from munich

[@benfrost5317]

You are amazing, your explanations using the water analogy constantly throughout made this something that I can finally understand. Please never stop making videos as good as this.

[@gautierreynes9237]

The only real reason I'm taking electrical engineering. Brilliant work

[@jameswyatt1304]

Welcome to The Dark Side, or the center of gEEk. Civil engineers build targets. Mechanical engineers make weapons. Electrical engineers make RADAR and guidance for both. Seriously, EEs learn math and systems theory that applies broadly and pairs well with other degrees you may consider. Enjoy an evolving career.

[@logancoats]

finally got some sound out of my buffer! I was all backwards... then I literally hit space bar trying to stop the high pitch like I'm in a DAW! Thank you for laying it out clearly for the rookies!

[@MoritzKlein0]

ha! damn mind-controlling computer boxes

[@Ratkill]

Subscribed so hard. Its hard to find so much good information in one place, there are so many vids and tutorials that cover little isolated bits, and you really have to prowl around through books and other tutorials to get the same amount of info. I wish I could have seen this 5 years ago when I started!

[@imagiro1]

Your explanations are extremely good! Whenever I have to explain something about electricity to somebody I also use the water analogy, but you do it in such a detail, that's really amazing. Way to go!

[@RijuChatterjee]

This is a very significant video. You've done a great service to the world. Personally I wouldn't take the flow analogies so far, and would try to build intuition in terms of electrons etc. But that's just personal preference. Nonwithstanding that, this is a near flawlessly executed intuitive explanation of electronics, which is a rare thing to find at all, and probably the first to achieve such an explanation in so little time. Bravo.

[@MarkusAudio]

I had subscribed just by seeing a snapshot of this presentation besides DIY Synth VCO. I was just treated with a clear cut explanation in basic electronics. Vielen Danke Moritz, diesen videos sehr wichtig sind!

[@pyrokinetikrlz]

This is one of the best electronics channels out there!

[@johnwilmer2551]

Thank you for this ! I built the Thomas Henry " Clangora". hi hat module years ago from scratch. I t was painting by numbers . I have a much clearer understanding of circuit behavior. Fantastic lesson !

[@oasntet]

This is an excellent explanation of coupling capacitors. I sorta knew intellectually that they removed DC bias, but I didn't really get the how or the why before. Thanks! I'm hoping to learn enough from this series and others to design and build my own analogue synth from parts I've already collected over the years, so every bit of theory is very helpful.

[@joshbasho]

5 minutes in and already 🤯🤯🤯 Helping me understand some electronics concepts I've been struggling with. Excited to work my way through the series.

[@TasuLife]

really helpful explanations on dealing with dual rail power design, DC offset and buffering. I was doing some synth circuits long ago and got stuck on that part. its neat seeing you build this one piece at a time and using the oscilloscope and watch things break or work after each step.

[@demartian4281]

Finally! I've been feeling exactly what you talked about at the beginning of the video. There was no intermediate level of oscillator construction, but now there is! Thank you so much for this!

[@alexhunter672]

You are a genius teacher. There is something ridiculously unfair about the world that someone can be famous for looking like a horse, when you have done this amazing piece of work without anywhere near enough fanfare. But well done!

[@UDoIt2]

As Jono commented, this is an incredible explanation to electronics. Very helpful - thank you!

[@isaacsanchez7317]

You fucking insane, came here to learn how to make a synth and ended up watching the best explanations about basic electronics i've ever heard, props to this man keep it up

[@allanthomson4639]

thank you, perfect for starters like me - I am starting to understand things a lot more, before it all had no meaning - you have added the "mechanics of electronics" which others do not seem to do

[@insanecomicdude]

This is a hell of an explanation, man. Well done. The water analogy would have been super helpful back in electrical engineering school.

[@standudinski]

OP amps, buffers, DC decoupling all explained in a very well defined analogy. good stuff, love the drawings too. great for a beginner or someone who needs to brush up on discrete analog signal path.

[@g3ck031]

So many "OH SHIT I GET IT" moments in this video. Your explanations are so perfectly clear it's insane, thank you ! One question : if i have a power supply with +12 -12v, i can connect the output of the breadboard directly into a eurorack modular without problem right ?

[@MoritzKlein0]

you mean the audio output? sure! but the PSU voltage doesn't matter all that much, as long as you don't go above 15V!

[@elSatasus]

Yes you can. Two things are necessary: 1. one wire carries the the output signal of the breadboard (Tip of the mono audio jack) 2. The second wire connects the ground potential of your breadboard and eurorack (sleeve of the mono audio jack). The ground in your case should be between +12V and -12V (reference ground, 0V). In the end of the video it is the brown white line connecting the power supply to the breadboard, and the black line connecting the breadboard and eurorack. Reasoning for the breadboard ground between the two supply voltages: Lets say the eurorack uses a signal between +5V and -5V for input. If you connect the -12V on the breadboard with the eurorack ground you can only send a signal between 0V and 24 V . (24V is the voltage difference between -12V and +12V) If you use the 0V on the breadboard as ground you can send a signal between -12V and +12V. Limit the output below the allowed maximal input voltage. TLDR: Just watch out that the negative supply voltage is is not the ground you connect to the eurorack.

[@mathiis9212]

Never heard about the water analogy. It's pretty accurate and simple to understand, really nice video :)

[@Phobophobia9093]

I am 8 minutes in and i have already learned so much

[@mowburnt]

You have a fantastic way of explaining things and I had so many "lightbulb" moments watching this! Especially when you explained how the components work individually and then together. Liked and subbed

[@owenott8202]

Thanks for doing this! Been building other people's designs but want make my own now so trying to really understand the basics well. This video is very helpful! Great job

[@Lamster66]

I've worked in electronics for around 40 years. I've never heard it explained in terms of water in pipes. Think its makes far more sense than electron hole pairs

[@andmoreagain]

wish you coulda seen the face i made when the first demo sounds kicked in. awesome video Moritz

[@wiegraf9009]

Looking forward to building one when I get home. My partner and I are doing electronics together as a fun couples activity and it's nice to get a chance to build something that actually does something fun like make sound.

[@tonykorol5899]

Wow thank you! This video perfectly illustrates how basic circuits come together. I've always had to try really hard to understand analog circuits, but you have really opened my mind.

[@jacobeasoundsystem]

This is amazing so well thought out and easy to understand. I've been throwing myself straight into the deep end without properly understanding the basics but you ask the same questions as me and answer them really well. Thank you so much for this series!!

[@staticdeclarations6058]

Thank you, this is the best getting started video for DIY Eurorack ever. Even if you're familiar, this really is an excellent explanation. Well done

[@otisobl]

Gruss vom Hermannplatz! Schön zu sehen, dass einer sich drangibt das zu tun, wovon ich 1984 endlos träumte. Vielleicht kauf ich mir ja doch nochmal einen Lötkolben. ;-)

[@zomb_phil6087]

This guy is incredible. This video is a true gem. Thank you

[@Monkeia]

From 9 min, the waterpump explanation tuned out to be a very good Surrealistic drawing XD But thanks very very much for the usefull informations!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@dizasteraz1691]

Cheers dude, made me want to build my own oscillator, very well done intro to sound electroncs

[@turntheknob]

The water analogy really makes thing easy to understand. Thank you for sharing your knowledge

[@Сирень-ж7р]

god I love you...you just saved my interest in electronics

[@217tws]

This man explained in half an hour what my physics teachers couldn't in five years

[@junksmith_wizard]

I watch this video every week. Absolute master piece Gonna build a symth with these vcos soon

[@dragonstuff1983]

Brilliant video! You are an amazing teacher and are able to get across complex processes in an easy to understand way. Thank you!