I studied electronics way back in the day and to be honest it was a complete waste of time, sooooooo I thought why not give it another go 10 years on. Working over 12 years in the electrical installation industry my understanding and knowledge is far greater than what it was back in the day.

I have been recently been looking towards purchasing a synthesiser and as I was looking I came across DIY synths and to get me started I found the simple oscillator.

The design and inspiration was from LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER , after getting cheap components I purchased what I needed and started to make my own oscillator via electronic components.

This excited me massively, how I can search for information I needed and, from having no idea what to do, to making a oscillator from that recording the oscillator and making a sampled instrument where I could potentially make a track from.

There is something about real synthesis that you can't really get from a plugin, It sounds more full and you can see this via the waveform's.

The main thing about the Transistor is to CUT off its middle leg!.
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Below shows the design and below.

The circuit diagram above is shown on strip board below, give it a go!

* Copied from but own design from Look Mum No Computer

I made 3 of these up for starters, the yellow LED had a 20k pot instead of a 10k and had a 2n2222 transistor, with the capacitor 10uF and the resistors staying all the same I got all the leads connected up, then recorded it into the computer where I tuned the samples and made a instrument out of it. 

Audio examples below show the recorded signals from the oscillators, before exporting this audio I tuned it to C this was only by 32 cent and 1 full tone, you have C1, C2, C3 and with all of them put together.

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So yeah, the internet is a great tool and there isn't a better time to start doing what you love,
the world is your oyster.


DL