Today I spent some time working on one of my neglected projects. I think I’ve had this circuit board on my work desk for over a year now but I am determined to finish it before the summer is over. When I’m finished with it, I will have completed my first DIY synthesizer.
I was introduced to Radio Shack as a young lad. Considering the fact that my father spent his days working as an electrician, it’s no surprise that his interests rubbed off on me. I did all of the typical projects that a kid might have done back then. I built a crystal radio, some simple buzzer circuits and various other do-dads. When I started getting more into computers, though, I didn’t seem to have much of an interest in building things anymore.
A handful of years ago, I started finding information on the net about different analog synthesizers people were building. Many of them were fairly simple and the parts weren’t that expensive. So, I eventually picked a project from the website Music From Outer Space. MFOS has a lot of great projects designed by Ray Wilson and I would recommend it as a great place to start building your own noise making gadgets. You can find everything from a simple noise maker like the Weird Sound Generator to full blown modular synths.
Ray’s Mini Synth is a bit of an ambitious project to take on for my fist synth build but I wanted to put something together that I would really use. When all is said and done, my finished synth will actually hold 3 different projects. The main synth itself, a power supply and a MIDI to CV converter. Technically, though, I’m not really building the MIDI to CV converter and I will be using a product available at MIDIimplant.com.
For those that don’t know, your typical analog synthesizer needs a control voltage source so that it knows what notes to play and when to play them. Commercial CV keyboards are kind of expensive since there aren’t too many companies that manufacture them. There are places that sell modules that convert MIDI to CV but those are kind of expensive too. I looked into building one myself but most of those projects required more electronics know how than my brain can contain. So, when I found this tiny little converter sold by MIDI Implants, I figured that it would be perfect for my project. This way I can control it with one of my MIDI keyboards or I can connect it to my computer and run it with a sequencer program.
What will the Sound Lab Mini sound like when I’m finished with it? Well, I hope that it sounds like the one in the video below. I’ve spent a lot of time double checking my worth and I’m hoping that I didn’t make any major mistakes. I’m nearly finished soldering all the parts on to the circuit board. After that, I’ll need to put together the panel and cross my fingers.
