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miniature analog drone synth

I just finished creating a miniature analog synth. Here’s what it sounds like. Click this and read on…

18 minute drone

It’s plugged straight into a Fender Princeton Chorus.

I’ve finally had some time to stay home and build some new hardware. I spent last week messing with a very cool circuit described on the PAiA website. This started out as a drum oscillator. It was going to make cheesy boops and beeps like a synth bongo or your grandma’s Lowrey organ. However, I tweaked it a little and found that this circuit’s alter-ego is a super-nasty resonant filter.

So I designed a super compact synth around it:

• 2 oscillators (triangle / square wave) and blend control
• LFO 1 - variable slope and shape
• LFO 2 - multiplies LFO1 tempo by 2, 4, 8, or 16
• super nasty resonant filter (BPF / LPF), modulation from LFO1 and LFO2
• external audio input to filter
• volume control

You may notice it lacks any VCA or ADSR envelope generator. This isn’t about playing notes, it is about one everlasting resonating drone tone, singing through a rhythmically modulated filter.

I designed it with cheap parts that are all in current production. I intend to fabricate PCBs and design an enclosure… then I want to sell you one.