I've been experimenting a lot lately with CMOS ICs and was asked the question by one reader which chips should he buy for his war chest?
This lead me to ask the question "which are the most popular ICs?"
Here is a list of not just CMOS chips, but other chips I commonly reorder & use in my
DIY projects (and for the electronic history buffs, chips that I think changed the world).
You probably won't ever need to buy the old microprocessor chips, but its fun to see how
things develop over the years.
The list will probably change over time.
Let me know if you think I have missed any important chips.
1. 555 Timers. The 556 is a dual 555.
The Signetics NE555 was nvented in 1971 by Hans Camenzind. More than a million are sold every year.
The 555 is a simple IC that can function as a timer or an oscillator.
2. 741 & LM324 op-amps
The 741 was invented in 1968. It requires both positive and negative voltage.
The LM324 was introduced in 1972 & consists of four separate op-amp
circuits
The LM324
doesn’t require a bipolar power supply.
3. Texas Instruments 5400 & 7400 logic family (these have been in production since 1964)
TTL -- transistor transistor logic.74-series logic is such a important part of today's digital world.
4. 78xx / 79xx voltage regulators.
5. The 40XX CMOS family
6. µA723 linear regulator (Bob Widlar, Fairchild, 1967)
7. Fairchild Semiconductor μA741 Op-Amp (1968).
Designer: David Fullagar
8. Intel 4004. (1971)
The world's first microprocessor. This led to the famous 8080 CPU and then
the IBM PC's 8088, 80286, 486 etc.
9. Motorola 6800 (1974). 8-bit microprocessor
Synthesizers using the 6800 & its variants:
The 6800 was used in the Fairlight CMI series II. The IIx used the later 6809.
The Fairlight series III used the 6809 & 68000
Ensoniq EPS-16 (68000),
Oberheim Xpander, Oberheim Matrix, ( 6809)
PPG Wave 2.x , PPG Waverterm A (6809)
Ensoniq SDP-1 , Ensoniq ESQ1, Ensoniq SQ80 (6809)
Quasar M8 (6800)
10. Intel 8080 (1974)
The first "real" microprocessor. This 8-bit CPU ignited the PC revolution
as a part
of the MITS Altair 8800, the first mass-produced
personal-computer kit.
11. MOS Technology 6502 Microprocessor (1975)
It's the main brains of computers like the Apple I & II, the Commodore PET, and game
systems like the Nintendo and Atari.
12. Zilog Z80 microprocessor. This was used in many home computers of the early 1980s
like the Dick Smith System 80 which was my first computer.
The z80 CPU is an 8-bit microprocessor (1976)
It was also common in military applications, musical equipment,
such as synthesizers, and in the computerized coin operated video games of the
late 1970s and early 1980, the arcade machines or video game arcade cabinets.
Synthesizers that used the Z80 include: Roland Jupiter 8,
Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 & 10,
Sequential Circuits Prophet 600, Roland MC4,
E-mu 4060, Roland MSQ700, Oberheim OB-8,
MemoryMoog, Emulator I and II, Akai 2700, E-mu SP-1200, E-mu Drumulator,
Sequential Circuits Drumtraks.
13. Texas Instruments TMC0281 Speech Synthesizer (1978).
The TMC0281 was the world's first single-chip speech synthesizer
14. Intel 8088 Microprocessor (1979).
It's a 16 bit CPU that established what is today known as the x86 architecture.
Almost all the world’s PCs are built around CPUs that can claim the 8088 as an ancestor.
15. Motorola 68000 (1980). 16-bit.
Initially this powered Unix servers and workstations but its
breakthrough application was the Apple Macintosh in 1984.
The processor also saw significant use in the Atari ST and Amiga computer lines.
The Buchla 700 used this processor in 1978.
The Atari ST was used to write the Buchla 700's software (called MIDAS VII).
16. Texas Instruments TMS32010 Digital Signal Processor (1983)
17. Intersil ICL8038 Waveform Generator (circa 1983).
The chip generates sine, square, triangular, sawtooth, and pulse waveforms
It's used in the Moog Synth. It's great for DIY function generators and theremins.
18. Acorn Computers ARM1 Processor (1985)
More than 10 billion ARM cores have been manufactured over the decades.
It's used in all sorts of equipment including one of Apple’s iPhone.
19. Toshiba NAND Flash Memory (1989).
Designer: Masuoka-san.
NAND flash is found everywhere... USB drives, caneras, smartphones, etc etc
20. Microchip Technology PIC 16C84 Microcontroller (1993)
The PIC 16C84, used a new type of memory called EEPROM
(electrically erasable programmable read-only memory).
21. AMD Opteron 240 (2003)
This marked the move from a 32-bit world to 64-bit.
All desktop-PC microprocessors manufactured today use Opteron's x86-64 instruction set.
You will find this type of memory used in lots of drum machines from the 90's
This is by no means a full or comprehensive list of important or useful ICs. There are many more to list.
Saturday, 29 December 2018
Thursday, 27 December 2018
Plumbutter 2 - repairing faulty jacks
Hi, this is a quick reference to a post made back in 2016 by my mate Paul (Cobramatic/Allinaire).
https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=169993
I first experienced Paul's Plumbutter back in 2016. Here is the link:
https://djjondent.blogspot.com/2016/06/new-sound-waves-synth-meet-sunday-26.html
It was a New Sound Waves meeting in Redfern Sydney
Here is a video from that meeting:
The mixer is a zone DB4.
Excellent effects !!!!
As you can see, this is one of the rare dual Plumbutter 2's
I love the Ciat Lonbarde concept... beautiful is somewhat mysterious. But this is part of its beauty.
Back to the repair.
two jacks ... actually many of the jacks wern't working.
Much of the initial prob was that the mysterious nature makes it difficult to know if the prob is technicial or a user error.
this is part of the muffs article:
"Hi All, I’m relatively new to the Plumbutter world but I wanted to share my initial experience with others because the simple repair work I did this weekend has just brought a whole new life to my PB2.
Basically, like everybody else, it takes some time to figure out what is happening when you are patching. I mean the instrument is well known for its unpredictability compared to so called ’traditional’ synths – this is clearly part of its charm and appeal. I totally get that. That’s why you get one!
Tricky thing is – when an instrument is known for its quirkiness then how do you know something is actually working as it is intended to?? I mean, other than reading all the posts and watching some of those amazing videos by many of the Wigglers here, I had no clue to start with. Then as I started to understand I wondered why some things didn’t do what I might have hoped they would...
For example – you would expect those purple FM inputs to give you some type of FM modulation when a jack is plugged in – but because the knob already changes the sound on its own, and differently depending on the direction of turn, I couldn’t be sure I was getting a result. Basically I wasn’t getting a result!"
Rollz – I knew I should be able to mix things up with the browns to effect the rhythms if I connected them together – but for me several of them did nothing when connected. Blue Verso and Inverso jacks – ditto there, some of them seemed to do nothing no matter how hard I tried with them
For a while I thought it was me, then I noticed that some jacks responded if I wiggled them juuuust right, or pushed the nana in part way only. So finally I decided to take things apart and have a look.
It is very easy on the PB2 to unscrew all the front screws and then just pop out the front section and PCB from the base to reveal the board in all its glory. If you look at the picture here you can see that the soldering looks fine on the Jack I'm pointing to - Nope, actually there is no electrical connection. The reality is I had at least 8 (yes EIGHT !!) jacks that were not connecting properly thru to the PCB ring around each hole. Presumably a cold or cracked joint?
I pulled out the multimeter and soldering iron and tested every one and resoldered the faulty jacks – it was easy as pie to do. Put it all back together and it works like a dream come true – suddenly things work like I wanted them too.
Motto of the story – if you are having any of the problems I described, or if any of your in's or out's don't seem to respond - then don’t be afraid to pop it open and fix it yourself. I can’t believe how much more fun I’m having now.
-------------------------------------------
I dont personally own a ciat lonbarde but am considering getting one soon.
The Tetrax looks like a good entry point;
Links
Ciat-Lonbarde
Plumbutter Manual
Plumbutter - C-L
Muffs
mUFFS 2
Ciat Lonbarde - Paper Circuits
Plumbutter test procedure - from the great man himself (Peter B)
https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=169993
I first experienced Paul's Plumbutter back in 2016. Here is the link:
https://djjondent.blogspot.com/2016/06/new-sound-waves-synth-meet-sunday-26.html
It was a New Sound Waves meeting in Redfern Sydney
Here is a video from that meeting:
The mixer is a zone DB4.
Excellent effects !!!!
As you can see, this is one of the rare dual Plumbutter 2's
I love the Ciat Lonbarde concept... beautiful is somewhat mysterious. But this is part of its beauty.
Back to the repair.
two jacks ... actually many of the jacks wern't working.
Much of the initial prob was that the mysterious nature makes it difficult to know if the prob is technicial or a user error.
this is part of the muffs article:
"Hi All, I’m relatively new to the Plumbutter world but I wanted to share my initial experience with others because the simple repair work I did this weekend has just brought a whole new life to my PB2.
Basically, like everybody else, it takes some time to figure out what is happening when you are patching. I mean the instrument is well known for its unpredictability compared to so called ’traditional’ synths – this is clearly part of its charm and appeal. I totally get that. That’s why you get one!
Tricky thing is – when an instrument is known for its quirkiness then how do you know something is actually working as it is intended to?? I mean, other than reading all the posts and watching some of those amazing videos by many of the Wigglers here, I had no clue to start with. Then as I started to understand I wondered why some things didn’t do what I might have hoped they would...
For example – you would expect those purple FM inputs to give you some type of FM modulation when a jack is plugged in – but because the knob already changes the sound on its own, and differently depending on the direction of turn, I couldn’t be sure I was getting a result. Basically I wasn’t getting a result!"
Rollz – I knew I should be able to mix things up with the browns to effect the rhythms if I connected them together – but for me several of them did nothing when connected. Blue Verso and Inverso jacks – ditto there, some of them seemed to do nothing no matter how hard I tried with them
For a while I thought it was me, then I noticed that some jacks responded if I wiggled them juuuust right, or pushed the nana in part way only. So finally I decided to take things apart and have a look.
It is very easy on the PB2 to unscrew all the front screws and then just pop out the front section and PCB from the base to reveal the board in all its glory. If you look at the picture here you can see that the soldering looks fine on the Jack I'm pointing to - Nope, actually there is no electrical connection. The reality is I had at least 8 (yes EIGHT !!) jacks that were not connecting properly thru to the PCB ring around each hole. Presumably a cold or cracked joint?
I pulled out the multimeter and soldering iron and tested every one and resoldered the faulty jacks – it was easy as pie to do. Put it all back together and it works like a dream come true – suddenly things work like I wanted them too.
Motto of the story – if you are having any of the problems I described, or if any of your in's or out's don't seem to respond - then don’t be afraid to pop it open and fix it yourself. I can’t believe how much more fun I’m having now.
-------------------------------------------
I dont personally own a ciat lonbarde but am considering getting one soon.
The Tetrax looks like a good entry point;
----------------------------------------
Links
Ciat-Lonbarde
Plumbutter Manual
Plumbutter - C-L
Muffs
mUFFS 2
Ciat Lonbarde - Paper Circuits
Plumbutter test procedure - from the great man himself (Peter B)
Wednesday, 26 December 2018
Bastl Grandpa sampler module - adding samples
The Grandpa uses a microSD card which can be formatted using a standard windows computer.
I'm using windows 10
The format is Fat 32
From the manual:
"The files on the SD
card need to be in the root directory and have specific
names e.g.: P0.wav -P9.wav, PA.wav -PZ.wav etc. The
first letter of the name has to be a capital P and second
letter 0-9 or A-Z (also capital). "
I used Audacity to make my samples compatable with the Grandpa. It's a free piece of software
Samples have to be 22050hz, 16bit, mono wav files.
(they can also be 44.1khz, but the sample rate will not
allow pitch up then).
"You can remove the card from the device without
powering it off. When you put the card back in hold
the UP and DOWN buttons together for 2 seconds to
reboot." ... from the manual
Monday, 24 December 2018
Expert Sleepers & Korg Nano Control
This is a very old controller.
The first setup Fader 0
The faders are set CC 0 to CC 7
The scene & midi channel is 1
Use "Write Scene Data".
the nano to your PC.
--------------------------------------------------------
Sequencer A i 1-8
Midi channel 15
CCs : 0 to 7
Ive picked scene 2 for this sequencer
The CV output exits from jack 1 of the FH-1
The clock goes into the X input of the FH-1
---------------------------
This is sequencer B i Quantized 1-8
I've picked scene 3 for this.
Midi channel is 16
CCs are 96 to 103
The CV output exits from jack 1 & 5 of the FH-1
Pitch is from the 1st jack.
I suspect gates or triggers are exiting from jack 5
The clock goes into the X input of the FH-1
Tuesday, 18 December 2018
Roland Tr 707 - pattern play
Pattern play is useful for live performance.
It's the simpliest way to play the 707.
The other way is in Track Play , but that is another blog post.
The TR 707 has the ability to store 64 patterns.
These are stored in 4 banks called "pattern groups" A to D.
To enter pattern play mode just press the Pattern Play button.
On pressing the Pattern Play button the display should show this:
To access each bank just press one of the 4 buttons A to D.
To access each of the 16 patterns within a bank press one of the 16 step buttons.
While the drum is running you can cycle through the 64 different patterns by pressing the 16 step and 4 pattern group buttons .
While the patterns are running, you can of course play with the mixer.
If you hold down one pattern button (eg 2) and press another button (eg5), it will play those two
patterns in consecutive order.
Tuesday, 11 December 2018
Castle Patching 001
This is a patch I read about on the LZX community site.
https://community.lzxindustries.net/t/castle-patching-001-digitizing-luma-video-sources/746
The aim is to digitize a video source and create a posterize effect.
It's really simple.
I'm using the visual cortex to input the video. It is a luma source.
It's also supplying a sync signal to to the Cadet I.
If you don't have a Visual Cortex, use a Cadet III for the video input.
"The Gain control on the ADC goes from non-inverted on the left through zero to inverted on the right. Set the gain to around 9 o’clock. Adjust the Bias control on the ADC " (PBalj)
Patch 001a
The Luma input is plugged into the Castle ADC.
The ADC's 3 outputs are plugged into the 3 inputs of the DAC.
And the single Lumin output of the DAC goes into the Cadet II (RGB encoder)
The Cadet II is an output module.
It has 3 inputs ... red , green & blue. Plugging the lumin input into each colour will give the corresponding colour out.
If you plug the lumin into a mult and put each out into the R,G & B input you will get a B/W image.
LZX - Castle
Introduction
00_000 ADC - Analog to digital converter
01_001 DAC - Digital to Analog converter
02_010 Clock VCO
03_011 Shift Register
04_100 Multi Gate
05_101 Quad Gate
06_110 Counter
07_111 Flip flops
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Video Index page
https://community.lzxindustries.net/t/castle-patching-001-digitizing-luma-video-sources/746
The aim is to digitize a video source and create a posterize effect.
It's really simple.
I'm using the visual cortex to input the video. It is a luma source.
It's also supplying a sync signal to to the Cadet I.
If you don't have a Visual Cortex, use a Cadet III for the video input.
"The Gain control on the ADC goes from non-inverted on the left through zero to inverted on the right. Set the gain to around 9 o’clock. Adjust the Bias control on the ADC " (PBalj)
Patch 001a
The Luma input is plugged into the Castle ADC.
The ADC's 3 outputs are plugged into the 3 inputs of the DAC.
And the single Lumin output of the DAC goes into the Cadet II (RGB encoder)
The Cadet II is an output module.
It has 3 inputs ... red , green & blue. Plugging the lumin input into each colour will give the corresponding colour out.
If you plug the lumin into a mult and put each out into the R,G & B input you will get a B/W image.
LZX - Castle
Introduction
00_000 ADC - Analog to digital converter
01_001 DAC - Digital to Analog converter
02_010 Clock VCO
03_011 Shift Register
04_100 Multi Gate
05_101 Quad Gate
06_110 Counter
07_111 Flip flops
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Video Index page
Monday, 10 December 2018
millis() function - basic - 1 LED blink sketch
The millis() function is a time function.
It is similar to the delay function, however it has the advantage that the program's execution doesn't stall until the delay is over. That is, its good at multitasking.
Millis is actually running in the background all the time. It's a clock.
It returns the number of milliseconds that has passed since the current program was started.
It counts for approximately 49 days, till it overflows and goes back to zero.
Then starts all over again.
It is important to remember that it returns values in unsigned long data types.
Thus you can't use data types like "int"
Below is a link to the classic blink sketch that uses delay.
Next, is the same program using the millis function
// Classic Blink Sketch - using the millis function
unsigned long startms =0;
unsigned long previousMS = 0; //time since last change of state
unsigned long interval=1000;
#define LED1 8
int LED1_state=0;
void setup() {
pinMode(LED1, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
startms = millis();
if (startms - previousMS > interval){
previousMS = startms;
if (LED1_state==0) LED1_state=1; else LED1_state=0;
digitalWrite(LED1,LED1_state);
}
}
unsigned long previousMS = 0; //time since last change of state
unsigned long interval=1000;
#define LED1 8
int LED1_state=0;
void setup() {
pinMode(LED1, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
startms = millis();
if (startms - previousMS > interval){
previousMS = startms;
if (LED1_state==0) LED1_state=1; else LED1_state=0;
digitalWrite(LED1,LED1_state);
}
}
//*****************
In order to use Millis for timing, we need to do these things:
1. Record the time (start) when the action started or took place.
2. Record the current time.
3. Choose a period of time to recheck the millis time.
4. check at frequent intervals whether the required period has elapsed.
At the start of the program declare 3 global variables, as follows
Code: [Select]
unsigned long startMillis;
unsigned long currentMillis;
const unsigned long period = 1000; //the value here is a number of milliseconds, ie 1 second
Code: [Select]
unsigned long startMillis;
unsigned long currentMillis;
const unsigned long period = 1000; //the value here is a number of milliseconds, ie 1 second
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