DIY VCO Part 1: The analog oscillator core anyone can build
Рет қаралды 420,405
Күн бұрынSupport the channel...
... through Patreon: / moritzklein
... by buying my DIY kits: www.ericasynths.lv/shop/diy-k...
In this series, I'm taking a detailed look at how to build an analog VCO from scratch, using just a handful of cheap components. It's the basis for any synthesizer. To keep it as beginner-friendly as possible, I'm explaining what all the components do in detail.
This first part deals with the oscillator core, op amp-buffers, AC coupling and voltage dividers. If you want to follow along, here's a bill of materials:
1x Breadboard
2x 9V battery plus clip OR 1x dual 9-15V power supply
1x 40106 IC
1x TL074 IC (you can also use a TL072, we won't be needing more than one op amp)
1x 1N4148 diode
1x 1 uF foil capacitor
1x 2.2 nF foil capacitor
4x 100k resistor
1x 3.5mm OR 6.35mm jack socket
lots of jumper wires
Chapters:
00:00 Intro & Sound Demo
01:18 Electricity & Oscillation Basics
12:13 Materials Overview & Build
16:20 Buffers & Negative Voltage
19:37 Offsets & AC Coupling
23:45 Voltage Dividers
26:39 Listening & Outro
@Etrehumain123 2 ай бұрын
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 10 күн бұрын
> I have no idea what pushes you t You could ask!
@jspiro 3 жыл бұрын
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 2 жыл бұрын
100% agreed, thank you so much!
@juanignaciogonzalez5326 2 жыл бұрын
Es verdad
@UDoIt2 2 жыл бұрын
HA! I can't recall a better explanation. Excellent work Moritz.
@theRiver_joan 2 жыл бұрын
No kidding, I remember some of these concepts seeming so counterintuitive to me in my physics classes but this made things quite simple.
@fshanahan 2 жыл бұрын
Completely agree. Subscribed for that reason.
@flywittzbeats4008 9 ай бұрын
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 2 ай бұрын
wat bout 7414
@seamusjames9390 2 ай бұрын
This is just a masterpiece of content from a Master.
@vikenemesh Ай бұрын
@@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 10 ай бұрын
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.
@memsus2346 4 жыл бұрын
I have needed something like this for years. have my children.
@dimiutube 2 ай бұрын
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🙈
@marioc64 10 ай бұрын
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.
@unchayndspersonalaccount7690 2 жыл бұрын
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 2 ай бұрын
Thank you !
@claussoegaard 4 жыл бұрын
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 4 жыл бұрын
yeah i had that click for me while making this video actually. it's a really helpful insight!
@philmaguire_ 4 жыл бұрын
@@MoritzKlein0 yep me too! great video
@naught101 4 жыл бұрын
A battery is a bit like a balloon too, no? Just a different way of actually storing the energy.
@andreafilippi8524 4 жыл бұрын
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 4 жыл бұрын
@@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.
@treeski3410 2 жыл бұрын
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 Жыл бұрын
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: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mpNngtyVndWcmHk.html&ab_channel=Electronoobs
@crankykoala8377 4 жыл бұрын
Great job, this kind of entry-level electronics audio videos are suprisingly scarce, thanks for this!!
@charlesd774 3 жыл бұрын
I feel like my brain has just ascended the first step to becoming a Synth God.
@thunderhorseiron-lung1428 2 жыл бұрын
Same!
@bonebag5069 Жыл бұрын
So, Did ya make it? Like, how many steps are there? It's been 2 years now... God. 🤘💀🤘
@ivanlozano2019 Жыл бұрын
Sir I think chancellor Charles is a SYNTH LORD
@visnyliss Жыл бұрын
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.
@lonelycosmonaut9360 3 ай бұрын
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 2 ай бұрын
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
@Fran-jg4kp 3 жыл бұрын
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.
@seven-gn7ef 3 жыл бұрын
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!!! 😁🙏💕✨
@howardgreenwich490 4 жыл бұрын
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 4 жыл бұрын
exactly the reason why i started doing these videos. glad i can help!
@michaelparks1632 4 жыл бұрын
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 3 жыл бұрын
Super stuff, completely agree! Everything makes a whole more sense!
@alphanuevo 3 жыл бұрын
Yes. Thanks so much for doing this series!
@gordonwelcher9598 7 ай бұрын
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.
@rayericsson9317 4 жыл бұрын
Congratulations - you’ve just taken me from electronic zero to dangerous in a single video. Extremely educational and entertaining content!
@Semantic8Satiation 2 жыл бұрын
I always like knowing just enough to dangerous.
@tonyq2023 4 жыл бұрын
You are a fantastic teacher ... please add more videos
@neoncyber2001 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@wildishshambino4176 4 жыл бұрын
Well put together and easy to understand. You make it easy to follow using the pipe examples. Looking forward to more of these👍🏻💪🏻
@t1d100 2 жыл бұрын
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!
@zvava 3 жыл бұрын
this is a gem, finally something that actually teaches the basics of electronics well
@seathru1232 3 жыл бұрын
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.
@jacobeasoundsystem 4 жыл бұрын
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!!
@doBobro 2 жыл бұрын
Just wow. This the best introduction to electricity/water-pipes analogy. With a real pretty complex examples to build intuition. Pure gold.
@scriptshow9178 2 ай бұрын
One can simplify like this way only who himself knows it thoroughly and have an art of teaching. Very nice !
@misterretrowolf1464 2 жыл бұрын
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.
@paraworldblue 2 жыл бұрын
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!
@zachary963 3 жыл бұрын
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.
@benfrost5317 3 жыл бұрын
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.
@juliocosta5818 10 ай бұрын
This is the best, most comprehensive water pipe analogy I've yet seen. You explain and demonstrate it really well!
@kipper308 2 жыл бұрын
This has got to be the greatest electronics 101 intro that I've ever watched. Fantastic!
@potatospade1217 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@rubymars_xyz 4 жыл бұрын
this is awesome! i was just starting the process of researching and getting into electronics for the first time for audio reasons , perfect.....
@derecwilsom4546 3 жыл бұрын
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
@demartian4281 Жыл бұрын
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!
@DrHumbertoable 3 жыл бұрын
With hundreds of tutorials about this topic, this is a outstanding one. Very good explanation and brilliant analogies.
@mightywombat Жыл бұрын
I love these DIY synth videos! I have watched the whole series at least twice and am ordering components now to build my own.
@imagiro1 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@troypeterson6057 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@benbrucato77 Жыл бұрын
Best tutorial on anything I’ve ever seen. Also, I’m a college professor.
@anonymous_1245 2 жыл бұрын
Finally somebody is intuitive enough to explain things that appealed complicated to me in way that completely makes sense in my mind. Thank you!
@Entropy-Machine 4 жыл бұрын
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.
@owenott8202 4 жыл бұрын
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
@Gruftgrabbler 3 жыл бұрын
After studying electrotechnics for years I really enjoy the water analogy. This is a real good Explanation :)
@tonykorol5899 3 жыл бұрын
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.
@radmaster6470 4 жыл бұрын
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!
@thomasedwards8311 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@johnwilmer2551 2 жыл бұрын
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 !
@joshbasho 3 жыл бұрын
5 minutes in and already 🤯🤯🤯 Helping me understand some electronics concepts I've been struggling with. Excited to work my way through the series.
@roterodamus 3 жыл бұрын
The shortest and best negative voltage explanation I've heard!
@standudinski 3 жыл бұрын
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.
@screwf4ce1 3 жыл бұрын
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.
@christopherscheidel5431 2 жыл бұрын
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!
@tw3635 3 жыл бұрын
Hands down the best intro to electronics / circuit building I've seen on youTube! Thanks big time! You are a great teacher!
@UDoIt2 2 жыл бұрын
As Jono commented, this is an incredible explanation to electronics. Very helpful - thank you!
@TasuLife 3 жыл бұрын
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.
@jasontwynn7356 2 жыл бұрын
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 👍👍👍
@emmanueloverrated 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@braeden29221 3 ай бұрын
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
3 жыл бұрын
Amazing explanation! I've already seen this analogy using water, but you explained it much more clear. Many thanks.
@thomas.j.s 3 жыл бұрын
mate, god bless you. i have been looking for a good synthesis tutorial for months, & you have more than delivered! tysm
@grantoverend1 4 жыл бұрын
Wow! Excellent video. I already knew quite a bit of this and have built quite a few electronic projects but your explanation of each part of the circuit is excellent. The best I've seen. Loved the balloon / capacitor analogy! Much better than the bucket analogy I was introduced to.
@ithaca2076 2 жыл бұрын
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 👍
@agentmirv 3 жыл бұрын
Thanks for this! This is so great. I'm trying to get into guitar pedal effects, and the component explanations here really help me visualize the circuit!
@FUNKINETIK 2 жыл бұрын
Nicely explained, The frequency of the oscillator at the end matched my tinnitus.
@iuries Жыл бұрын
This is the best analogy of electricity to water I've ever seen. Great video! Thank you!
@mikalojussmulskis7635 4 жыл бұрын
Great drawings!!! Definitely will wait for second part!!
@casthebass 3 жыл бұрын
I really want to thank you for the time and effort you put into this presentation.
@oasntet 2 жыл бұрын
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.
@shokdj1 3 жыл бұрын
This really helped me understand vco’s and how to run them
@gerardzul 4 жыл бұрын
Great video! Really useful and brilliantly explained! I am currently working on a 40106 project and this made my day: now I have a slight idea of what I am doing. Subscribed. Thanks!
@mowburnt Жыл бұрын
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
@ActumRadio 2 жыл бұрын
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
@staticdeclarations6058 3 жыл бұрын
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
@mirkocaserta 4 жыл бұрын
Very well done. You have a real talent for explaining electronics. Looking forward for part 2.
@turntheknob 3 жыл бұрын
The water analogy really makes thing easy to understand. Thank you for sharing your knowledge
@MarkusAudio 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@LillySchwartz 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@DigitalStains 4 жыл бұрын
Very informative and well presented. Great job! Can't wait to see more of this.
@woulg 3 жыл бұрын
Wow! Really great job on this. I am blown away by your explanations. I'm going to recommend this to everyone hahaha I love it! Really looking forward to watching the whole series. Thank you for making this.
@TheNimasan 3 жыл бұрын
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
@dragonstuff1983 3 жыл бұрын
Brilliant video! You are an amazing teacher and are able to get across complex processes in an easy to understand way. Thank you!
@Rand0081 3 жыл бұрын
If only my professor explained things like you 23 years ago... Great quality content.
@bluestone2001 4 жыл бұрын
Really cool. Increased my understanding loads. Looking forward to next instalment.
@JohnZahorian 4 жыл бұрын
excellent video. excited for more. love your illustration style and handwriting. and of course the clear explanations.
@jimtroeltsch5998 3 жыл бұрын
This was exactly the sort of information I wanted. Feels kind of nice to almost instantly find it after reading a bit about VCO's. Either way, that k you for putting this together. Fantastically informative. Very rad job, homie.
@Lamster66 Жыл бұрын
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
@pyrokinetikrlz 2 жыл бұрын
This is one of the best electronics channels out there!
@Ratkill 3 жыл бұрын
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!
@renzobond 3 жыл бұрын
i am studying circuits analysis in my engineering degree right now so i already understood the electronics concepts you explained yet you explained them really well congrats! i loved this video and all of your videos, my goal after finishing the degree is to work designing music production gear and i love this type of content! keep it up!
@fullracecam1 4 жыл бұрын
This is really good man. Keep doing what you're doing.
@daithibailey 3 жыл бұрын
Great presentation, clearly explained and no unnecessary waffle 👍.
@jimk4874 10 ай бұрын
You are superb at explaining/analogizing electrical engineering concepts.
@InvertedPopesMusic 3 жыл бұрын
Been looking to build a synth for ages but as you say either to simple or to complex for beginner. This is really handy and I will be starting afresh on my project.
@negrofonico 9 ай бұрын
Such an amazing video. You're very good at explaining. Thank you for making the time to do this!
@isaacsanchez7317 Жыл бұрын
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
@samlongman1831 3 жыл бұрын
Your videos are so good. Amazingly accessible and enjoyable presentation. Thank you.
@loganeer 3 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much for making this video. It's likely the single most useful video I've seen on the subject (for me).
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