Wavetable Synthesizer

Hi again everyone! Now that our Christmas holidays are finally here (which means 30 days of exclusive time for inebriation, soldering and socializing.) I have some time to share one of my ongoing, and finally finished, projects I've been working on during this autumn. A wavetable/waveform synthesizer.

Encased version

Test with protoboard.

It's an idea I had during my summer in Norway, where I had plenty of time to study which projects I wanted to indulge in on my study and I came across the 4017 IC, originally for a 10-stage step sequencer for sending CV to various stuff. But then I thought, if one turned the clock frequency up to the audio range then the scaled voltage from the 4017 counter pins would result in a user defined waveform. Of course, I read the exact same thing in Nic Collins' book some days later. I guess he covers all possible ideas in that book! Amazing.

Anyways, I had some faders from a scrap stereo, through which I sent the outputs from the counter and combined it to one single output. The Big knob on the left is a sketchy unstable frequency pot and the smaller knob on the left is an RC LP filter, where I replaced the R with a variable resistor. It cuts quite a lot of the amplitude when it's turned all the way down but it works well enough. I am quite pleased with the final result.

VIDEO:

I am using DIY Layout Creator for creating comprehensible layouts for soldering the final circuits, for anyone interested here's the blueprints. Have a nice Yule holiday! :)