Vintage HP Function Generators: HP 3300A, HP 3310A and HP 3312A

Рет қаралды 31,857

Күн бұрын

We have fun with HP 3300-series function generators, starting with the original 3300A in 1965, the cute and practical 3310A from 1970, and the full-featured 3312A from 1975. A decade of solid-state analog awesomeness, if you ask me. And many thanks to Keysight for providing the modern-day (and very digital) EDU33212, the current heir of the series.
Companion video of the HP 3300A repair: • HP 3300A Vintage Funct...
Companion vidoe of the HP 3310A calibration: • HP 3300A Vintage Funct...
Intro music by Hainbach: • Making Music With Test...
Ken Shirriff DX7 chip reverse engineering: www.righto.com/2021/11/revers...
Chapters:
00:00 Intro, 3 HP analog generators
00:47 HP 3300A origins
02:37 HP 3300A demo
05:06 HP 3310A demo
08:17 Burst gating and single cycle
11:04 PLL (phase locking)
14:22 VCO operation and FM synthesis sounds
18:42 Hainbach test instrument music
19:24 HP 3312A demo
23:43 Crazy sounds with 3 interconnected generators
24:48 Modern Keysight EDU33212
26:09 Outtro, Hainbach performing
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Support the team on Patreon: / curiousmarc
Buy our merch on Teespring: teespring.com/stores/curiousm...
Get more info on the companion site: www.curiousmarc.com
Contact info: kzfaq.infoa...

Пікірлер: 219

@RC534 2 жыл бұрын

And I was thinking while watching the first part of the video: is he going to open it to find the cause of the slight asymetry...? Ah, there's going to be an entire companion video on it! Just on of the reasons why I love this channel! 😄

@CuriousMarc 2 жыл бұрын

At the editing stage as we speak. We can't let a good repair of wayward vintage electronics go unpunished...

@CuriousMarc 2 жыл бұрын

And the HP 3300A repair video is out: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p9ahgrFyq9zcgH0.html

@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135 4 ай бұрын

ngl dude no cap I would use KB output of my moog grandmother synth and plug it in the input of the VCO HP 3310A and use the HP 3310A as a synth as a 3 vco @@CuriousMarc

@tcfween 2 жыл бұрын

It's so easy to imagine a young Robert Moog in a lab one day getting ideas.

@deadlinkofficialartst5592 Жыл бұрын

well this is where synth where start it

@SuperEbbandflow 2 жыл бұрын

I absolutely love the harmonious sounds they make when they're all spooled up! Glorious humming! An especially nice touch to see the wave forms while hearing them. Much thanks!

@Lunchpacked180 2 жыл бұрын

"Hello, I'm CuriousMarc, it's good to have you back"

@Hainbach 2 жыл бұрын

Lovely video. Also frightening to see how my setup looks now compared to then!

@Sonmz 2 жыл бұрын

😀))) P.S. Thanx for your videos, relly inspiring stuff!

@TonyBarr99 2 жыл бұрын

I have a 3310A on my bench and would love to see a calibration video!

@X-OR_ 2 жыл бұрын

Me too...

@hoofie2002 2 жыл бұрын

@@X-OR_ ditto

@willgilligan7605 2 жыл бұрын

and another...

@hightensionlabs 2 жыл бұрын

Me too 👍

@georgestephens2593 2 жыл бұрын

Please!

@EsotericArctos 6 ай бұрын

Making music with test equipment has been the core of electronic music for a lot of the early electronic music era. The original Doctor Who Theme is another example of test equipment making music. The ingenuity of some people and thinking outside the square can really make for amazing breakthroughs. Thanks for another trip down memory lane while giving this equipment a new lease on life.

@iNerdier 2 жыл бұрын

Hainbach would love this. *edit* he’s in the video I knew I should have waited until the end!

@lundsweden 2 жыл бұрын

Just imagine how much of this stuff that went in the bin in the 90s!

@OscillatorCollective 2 жыл бұрын

I own the 3310A, and it’s my primary instrument in my musical outings. It’s one hell of an oscillator…put it through some effects…and it can sound like pretty much anything you like. I bought it on a goof, about 20 years ago, and will never get rid of it.

@kaitlyn__L Жыл бұрын

I bet! Even today getting a clean sine wave is pretty rare in synths. The whole video I was wondering how some of these would sound patched into a VCF and VCA and with enveloping…

@Electronics-Rocks 2 жыл бұрын

Today's video just reminded me of old sci-fi especially Dr who and the BBC radiophonic workshop with Delia Derbyshire.

@jg374 2 жыл бұрын

Definitely sounds of old Dr Who in there. The funny thing was though that the sounds around 18:30 sound fairly like a hydraulic pump to me. Would be interesting to find an audio sample of a real one and compare it.

@Kae6502 2 жыл бұрын

Wonderful! I love analog synths and this was amazing. I was in high school in the mid 70's when synthesizers started to appear in popular music and I HAD to have one! The only way for me to afford one was to build one. Enter a company called PAiA. They sold synthesizer kits and not only did I get my first synth, but I learned how to solder and build electronic kits. Something I continue enjoy to this day. I still have my original Arp2600 that I bought used for $1200 in 1980.

@va3dxv 2 жыл бұрын

I picked a bad night to fall asleep while watching KZfaq with auto play on lol

@thiesenf 2 жыл бұрын

You just created an analog synth... Bob Moog would have been proud... :-)

@Orbis92 2 жыл бұрын

I didn't expect Hainbach to pop up in this episode, but I had to think of him since the very first second of this video :D

@RensePosthumus 5 ай бұрын

Today my HP 3312A arrived, I now have the 3 oscillators of this video.

@digitalrailroader 2 жыл бұрын

I wonder how many of these function generators were a part of a Hollywood sound studio; generating various futuristic science fiction sounds for both TV shows and movies.

@CuriousMarc 2 жыл бұрын

The ground braking soundtrack to Forbidden Planet by Louis and Bebe Barron deserves a special mention ( kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l9ipe7CBrZ2vk5c.html ) . And also the BBC. They were an early creator of electronic music for their TV series.

@InssiAjaton 2 жыл бұрын

My recollection is that Disney's original order was 50 units.

@marshad82 2 жыл бұрын

@@CuriousMarc Somehow related are this documentaries about Delia Derbyshire ("She carried out pioneering work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, including her electronic arrangement of the theme music to the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who" - Wikipedia): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pL6eoLaYxsurcX0.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jZZ_esh2zN2vfqc.html

@DiverCTH 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, but can his interociter handle 1.21GW?

@LMacNeill 2 жыл бұрын

When I was a freshman Electrical Engineering student in 1988-89, I can remember messing around with one of those Model 3312 units in one of the labs. Obviously it was a hand-me-down from days past -- I'm sure they'd bought it new in 1975, and as time went on, they passed it down to lower level labs that weren't doing important research.

@luthmhor 2 жыл бұрын

I've got that large HP function generator as well. When you open it up, the inside is a masterpiece of quality.

@electr0maker436 2 жыл бұрын

I love HP's old schematic style, the service manual for my 1727A CRO looks the same as the clips you showed, nice!

@probohaha 2 жыл бұрын

Yes. Please do show the adjustment procedure for the 3310A! Love your videos Mark.

@eumoria 2 жыл бұрын

Also leaving a comment to see the 3310 adjustment procedure. Would very much like that LOL

@TechGorilla1987 2 жыл бұрын

Several times during the course of this video, every dog in my neighborhood erupted in barking. Strange, that...

@deviljelly3 2 жыл бұрын

DJ Marc is in da house!

@meiqurorez8677 2 жыл бұрын

I've decided that you are my spirit animal. Congratulations I suppose!

@zeeclone 2 жыл бұрын

Starting Saturday morning off right with the three C's: Coffee, cereal and CuriousMarc :)

@masonedwards7920 2 жыл бұрын

Marc we would love to see any and all content about the insides and calibration of these old machines! Great video as always.

@InssiAjaton 2 жыл бұрын

About the phase lock with adjustable phase -- Before the availability of modern Bode analyzers, I participated one whole week end doing Lissajous patterns. We (my boss and I) analyzed a tube and thyratron based speed control system performance, or actually lack of it. We had two rented instruments, a scope with slow decay yellow trace and a two-output phase shift oscillator. The process involved sending one channel signal through the control loop. The process output was on the scope Y-axis. The phase shifted second channel went to the scope X-axis. The Y axis indicated the loop gain and by adjusting the phase shift to match, i.e. to minimize the Lissajous loop, we could read the controller phase shift from the dial. The measurements at various frequencies produced our Bode diagram. I plotted the data on a log-log chart. That was tedious, but still workable way. And it was the first time I had even heard about the workings of the Bode diagram. But we got the necessary information for considerably improving our (purchased) controller stability. It also served us to a few months later replace the original system with our own design, a new SCR control.

@karlpron 2 жыл бұрын

I was about to write Hainbach! and then you showed him:D

@GregChabala 2 жыл бұрын

This is like watching people play with their eurorack synths, except we can actually see what's happening to the waveforms on the oscilloscope

@kaitlyn__L Жыл бұрын

Some (the best) Eurorack setups have tiny oscillators on the board :D

@williammanganaro9070 2 жыл бұрын

A fun tour of these fantastic generators. I love your demonstration of the musical qualities of these lab instruments. Considering that dedicated keyboard and modular instruments were not available many years ago to create electronic music, early experimenters used lab gear to make their music :-) Fun stuff, thank you for so many hours of enjoyment watching your videos.

@SynaMax 2 жыл бұрын

This is reminds me so much of the 1960s rock band, Silver Apples. They used a bunch of really similar oscillators for their trippy music.

@prema9878 Жыл бұрын

Curious Marc sharing Hainbach is really so cool (also peak geakery on both sides)

@kaitlyn__L Жыл бұрын

That Hainbach clip was pretty good, but honestly I bet you could do some music if you get a sequencer with control voltage output for your VCO input, some filters to mess around with on the output stage, and just a little bit of introductory music theory to let you pick chords to arpeggiate on the sequencer. You can just let them loop while you play with the sound, but you’ll at least get different tones rather than just one. Though I know a lot of people don’t want to take the time to trial and error like that. But I do say this because while talent is a factor, most of it can be learned. And you clearly have a good ear and you understand harmonics and stuff already - that’s a big head start honestly. It wouldn’t take much to focus that into musicality. A lot of historical musicians didn’t even start until they retired, after all! I loved the FM part especially - another layer or two of those complex overtones and that would be a wonderful FM pad to make chords and run through a chorus and reverb! So much depth and movement. I love FM.

@ijunkie 2 жыл бұрын

Nice demo of emergency sirens

@wattmeter 2 жыл бұрын

I have a 3310. An adjustment procedure video would be nice! Thanks!

@edgeeffect 2 жыл бұрын

Hainbach and Curious Marc with function generators.... it's my dream come true!

@EricLikness 2 жыл бұрын

Did I hear the words, "wild goose chase"? Oh, that brings back memories of the big HP9825 repair saga. I'm just starting to play this back, and will watch all the way to the end.

@ebb2421 2 жыл бұрын

I got a 3312A from a place I worked. It didn't function, turned out the freq pot had a broken solder joint. I changed it to a 10T pot and a vernier dial, a good machine.

@soniclab-cnc 2 жыл бұрын

Still have my HP 205AG on the test bench. Its very useful even today.

@alpcns 2 жыл бұрын

Love this HP equipment. Just gorgeous.

@steve_case 2 жыл бұрын

I have a 3311A that I used to use in a science class for 4th and 5th graders. They loved spinning the dial and making sci-fi sounds.

@simonkormendy849 2 жыл бұрын

I think every electronics lab, whether hobbyist, or professional, should have at least one or two analog function generators, power supplies, and oscilloscopes, very handy pieces of test-equipment, my old Dick Smith 20Mhz Dual-Trace Oscilloscope has an X/Y function that's handy for phase-measurements and testing of circuits.

@g.manitley5679 2 жыл бұрын

In the US, the emergency vehicle siren sounds are called "wail" for the low speed modulated tones, "yelp" for the medium speed and "hyper-yelp" for the high speed modulated tones. We also hear the two-tone sirens occasionally, similar to those heard outside the US.

@marcelhh2101 2 жыл бұрын

yes yes yes bonus video!

@Mues_Lee 2 жыл бұрын

Reminds me of early 1960s / 1970s Science-Fiction :D Love this Video :D

@ericpaul4575 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah background sounds galore.

@weirdmindofesh 2 жыл бұрын

Someone should let Hainbach know that your playing with old test equipment to make music.

@eumoria 2 жыл бұрын

What a beauty that is! Old school HP always lights my dials :)

@ReneKnuvers74rk 2 жыл бұрын

Great video, again. It is nice to see the evolution from what we call in Dutch a “toonfiets” (litterally signal/tone bicycle) to an arbitrary waveformgenerator. It’s important to remember where we came from.

@qzorn4440 2 жыл бұрын

when you buy a pricey $$ and cool vintage function generator and it does not work... it really "hertz" 🤣 i love these interesting videos 🥳 reminds me of 60s vo-tec TV repair 👌☕🥧

@winstonsmith478 2 жыл бұрын

Great sci-fi background audio.

@geoffbarton5917 2 жыл бұрын

In the late 70s, I programmed an HP automated test rack controlling the instruments with HPIB. That HP3312 looks very familiar. In my off times I programed the two signal generators to play music (sort of).

@network_king Жыл бұрын

I found this looking for stuff on the 3312A. I was working on trying to test a stepper motor driver, asked a friend at the college i work at for some help. Loaned me a 3312A, tried didn't work he helped me said i was right, grabed another worked but was had touchy knobs. He grabbed some newer one tried got my thing going. Finished he said take those two HPs maybe you can make one work fro mthe two, then came back with a 3rd i guess he figured was also junk but worked, fixed the scratchy one, junked the DOA one for some donor parts for the one i repaired. I had to mess with positioning the potentometer for the frequency though once repaired. I got it fairly acurate, but low (1-100HZ) frequencies are off.

@CuriousMarc Жыл бұрын

What killed my 3312 was just the pushbutton switches. Put some Deoxit over them and it rejuvenated it. These pushbuttons are notorious for oxidizing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them had the problem by now. Each range has its own calibration I think, you have to look at the service manual and find the right one to tweak.

@ditlevpetersen2254 2 жыл бұрын

That was mesmerising!

@joswhite7923 2 жыл бұрын

Shades of Forbidden Planet. I would love to see a 3312A tuneup video as I have to troubleshoot one.

@Electronics-Rocks 2 жыл бұрын

Modern function generators are not as much fun as the old kit. I can remember hours of fun playing with them. Now you just punch in what you want and put pops out what you need.

@gerryjamesedwards1227 2 жыл бұрын

Heinbach would approve.

@gerryjamesedwards1227 2 жыл бұрын

I posted that a minute before the man himself appeared. LOL

@adrianschneider4441 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, I like to see the adjustment procedure, as I happen to have two of these 3310.

@BITRATE_MODE 2 жыл бұрын

I have a couple of 202A function gens and I adore them dearly...

@arenaengineering8070 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the video. It was very interesting to see such magnificent equipment.🤩

@timothyp8947 2 жыл бұрын

Some very 'Forbidden Planet' sounds in there 😊

@artursmihelsons415 2 жыл бұрын

Cool retro gear! 👍 These modulated sounds reminds me old days when I listening low frequency FM radio sounds and experimentation with multiple logic gate frequency oscillators.. 😊 Nice to hear it again - nostalgic.. 😂

@MarcelHuguenin 2 жыл бұрын

This was a great fun episode! I love these old generators. And just about as I wanted to say it is much more fun having the dials and buttons with this old equipment than with the new stuff, the new stuff shows up! Can't wait to see your next video!

@eugenioarpayoglou 2 жыл бұрын

I'd say you & every one on your team is indeed very gifted.

@greliusz 2 жыл бұрын

Wow! My uncle had the same device as I was about 9-10 years old in 80 years, I remember that squeaking, for me it was a sweet sound, very joyful for deaf people - yes, without a hearing aid it was audible xD

@TheDiveO 2 жыл бұрын

If you thought unboxing videos would be top notch nerdy, think twice: Marc's calibration video nerdness around the corner!

@campbellmorrison8540 2 жыл бұрын

OMG I remember the 3310, it was standard in the lab I worked in. So easy to use, everything was obvious what it did. Im thinking you have created a Moog synthesizer :)

@beefchicken 2 жыл бұрын

Calibration video: yes please

@AllElectronicsChannel 2 жыл бұрын

Beautiful!

@hobbified 2 жыл бұрын

Of course I want to see stuff get calibrated and aligned.

@cheapasstech 2 жыл бұрын

Probably have mr fancy pants right there when the Apollo mw magic happens!

@jakubkluba 2 жыл бұрын

I would love to see your lab live :D There are so many instruments I have absolutely no idea what they are used for or how they work, but I love listening to you talking about them :)

@Bianchi77 2 жыл бұрын

Nice info, thanks for sharing :)

@EdwinSteiner 2 жыл бұрын

CuriousMarc: "... and I repaired it..." Me: yeaa! CuriousMarc: "... OFF CAMERA ..." Me: NOOOOOO!

@radblue99 2 жыл бұрын

Best channel on youtube

@andrewbarnard3229 2 жыл бұрын

yes we want the bonus video xD

@danielepatane3841 2 жыл бұрын

Congrats for the really nice video. You make me love HP instruments even more! now I need to buy a 3310A at least 🙂I would love a video with the calibration steps...

@auronoxe 2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like the „music“ of the famous movie „Forbidden Planet“ 🛸

@rpavlik1 2 жыл бұрын

Of course we want to see the repair videos!

@jurjenbos228 2 жыл бұрын

Show the phase lock on the scope using x-y. That would be interesting, I guess: if you lock on an harmonic, you get a Lissajous picture.

@MichaelOfRohan 2 жыл бұрын

Its always a wierd day when marc uploads Im not saying im mad, its just... Relevant...

@dreamcat4 2 жыл бұрын

about halfway thru this video he starts messing about randomly playing with the connections and mentions VCO and i think to myself... where have i heard that before??? well in my DAW its still used as a construction element for modern synths even today. Then i realize he has now become one of those crazy synth people (but OG version). And sure enough! Very shortly after we are hearing some genuine and authentically generated 1960s scifi soundtrack. Well done! Actually i recently watched a relevant documentary about a famous early scifi film. Apparently they used a similar set of techniques? And it was one of the first ever instances of that? The Movie was called 'Forbidden Planet'. And we can find that documentary listed as 'Forbidden Planet Documentary' here on youtube. With those specific movie SFX part under discussion... that is located at +15 minutes timestamp onwards. If you want to skip directly to see that little piece of connected history.

@JerryBiehler 2 жыл бұрын

I picked up a 3312A a few months ago from a university that was clearing house. Had a bad tantalum cap on one of the rail and the mode switches were not too happy but works fine now.

@zaprodk 2 жыл бұрын

Marc! - You used the wrong scopes in this video! - We need old green CRT goodness :)

@HfLuo 2 жыл бұрын

I have the HP 3310A at my bench and I definitely love it. It looks beautiful, has a wide frequency range and has most functions needed for daily use. I also have the 3312A but the output amplifier is blown and I still haven't repaired it yet. Your video shall give me some motivation for repairing this little machine. BTW calibrating the 3310A was quite easy in most cases. Just loose the screws of the large frequency dial, re-align the scale with a frequency counter, and it's done. The nonlinearity and frequency gain error of my unit is neglectable.

@tehlaser 2 жыл бұрын

Ah yes, fun generators. Memories.

@LaurentLaborde 2 жыл бұрын

Modular music by HP :D

@kleinesfilmroellchen 2 жыл бұрын

These are both technical and musical instruments

@joopworst 2 жыл бұрын

Yes I would like to see the adjustment

@graemedavidson499 2 жыл бұрын

Now we know how NASA was going to communicate with the clangers on the moon!

@temporoboto Жыл бұрын

💙very cool

@andymouse 2 жыл бұрын

I was wondering what sort of noise specifications these guy's had, just a ballpark figure, great video...cheers.

@PapasDino 2 жыл бұрын

Hmm, for a second there I thought the Outer Limits was going to cut into the picture! ;-)

@deadlinkofficialartst5592 Жыл бұрын

im going to make music with the HP 3300A, as a synth

@rkirke1 2 жыл бұрын

Nobody tell Hainbach about this or all the analog synthesizer buffs will buy up all the vintage HP gear!😆

@rkirke1 2 жыл бұрын

HAHAHAH. Obviously I made this comment only half way through the video!

@ijunkie 2 жыл бұрын

I like the crystal goblet

@624Dudley 2 жыл бұрын

I hear the original Dr. Who theme in that sine wave…

@materialsguy2002 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Marc. I would certainly like to see the alignment of the 3310.

@I967 2 жыл бұрын

Perfect! I was lucky enough to buy a 3310B about 10 months ago, as I am in Czech Republic and such vintage HP instruments are very rare here. It needs to be serviced/calibrated or both, the frequencies are off. If you could do a calibration video of the 3310, that would be great.