The Roland Juno-106 was one of my favorite analog synths. This article discusses how its digitally-controlled oscillators work. It's quite in-depth getting down to the circuit level with examples...
The Roland Juno-106 was one of my favorite analog synths. This article discusses how its digitally-controlled oscillators work. It's quite in-depth getting down to the circuit level with examples you can control in real time.
This is a really neat article! I currently own a Juno-106, it was a lucky find at auction and is my first and only analog synth so far. When I got it, I could tell it had been sitting in a...
This is a really neat article! I currently own a Juno-106, it was a lucky find at auction and is my first and only analog synth so far. When I got it, I could tell it had been sitting in a basement for 30-ish years, because some of the VCFs were crackly, and one DCO was dead while another would "hang" (remain on while not activated). I wrestled for so long with the idea of learning all about electronics and analog synthesis and doing the repairs myself, but finally caved about two weeks ago and brought it in to a certified repair shop. Reading this article made me simultaneously miss having it here, and look forward to getting it back. :)
I would love to be able to learn more about this type of electronics maintenance for ongoing future stuff like quick chip or capacitor replacements. But starting from zero, I'm anxious to mess up a potentially delicate piece of equipment like a Juno. Plus, I've heard from multiple sources that starting from zero and working on AC powered equipment is a good way to end up dead, and I haven't made enough music for that to be a viable option yet.
Maybe this is a bad place to ask, but does anyone have any recommendations on getting to that level of proficiency? I have a few beginner kits, including breadboards, wires, LEDs, resistors, and capacitors; but no transistors, ICs, or soldering iron, and the multimeter I have seems to give jittery readings. I've been hesitant to pick up yet another kit because I don't know which components will be the most universally-applicable and therefore which kit would be the best value. The best plan I have currently is to forge ahead with what I have and get a relatively cheap soldering iron, because I have a Speak-and-Spell and I'd like to see if I can pull the voice synthesizer chip out of it, and maybe control it using a Pi? One of the kits I have is a Pi 3b kit with the GPIO-to-breadboard wires, but I've no idea how that works yet either. But I figure it will at least get me learning more about the basics. Likely would like to start with a tutorial like the one linked in the article on building a VCO (https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/projects/diy-synth-series-vco/) once I have the components to do something like that. Is that a good way to approach it?
The Roland Juno-106 was one of my favorite analog synths. This article discusses how its digitally-controlled oscillators work. It's quite in-depth getting down to the circuit level with examples you can control in real time.
What a cool article. Thanks for sharing!
This is a really neat article! I currently own a Juno-106, it was a lucky find at auction and is my first and only analog synth so far. When I got it, I could tell it had been sitting in a basement for 30-ish years, because some of the VCFs were crackly, and one DCO was dead while another would "hang" (remain on while not activated). I wrestled for so long with the idea of learning all about electronics and analog synthesis and doing the repairs myself, but finally caved about two weeks ago and brought it in to a certified repair shop. Reading this article made me simultaneously miss having it here, and look forward to getting it back. :)
I would love to be able to learn more about this type of electronics maintenance for ongoing future stuff like quick chip or capacitor replacements. But starting from zero, I'm anxious to mess up a potentially delicate piece of equipment like a Juno. Plus, I've heard from multiple sources that starting from zero and working on AC powered equipment is a good way to end up dead, and I haven't made enough music for that to be a viable option yet.
Maybe this is a bad place to ask, but does anyone have any recommendations on getting to that level of proficiency? I have a few beginner kits, including breadboards, wires, LEDs, resistors, and capacitors; but no transistors, ICs, or soldering iron, and the multimeter I have seems to give jittery readings. I've been hesitant to pick up yet another kit because I don't know which components will be the most universally-applicable and therefore which kit would be the best value. The best plan I have currently is to forge ahead with what I have and get a relatively cheap soldering iron, because I have a Speak-and-Spell and I'd like to see if I can pull the voice synthesizer chip out of it, and maybe control it using a Pi? One of the kits I have is a Pi 3b kit with the GPIO-to-breadboard wires, but I've no idea how that works yet either. But I figure it will at least get me learning more about the basics. Likely would like to start with a tutorial like the one linked in the article on building a VCO (https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/projects/diy-synth-series-vco/) once I have the components to do something like that. Is that a good way to approach it?