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ModSynth

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What tools/components do you need?

Software

For Software-development:

  • Windows 10 with WSL (Debian).
  • Clion of C-development. You can in principle use anything.
  • Visual Studio for some of the weird debugging (not needed here).
  • STM32CubeMX.

For electronics:

  • KiCAD
  • ngspice

For Audio / MIDI-control:

  • Studio One 4

Equipment

Electronics:

  • Leader 3060D scope (60Mhz analog / 40MIPS digital)
  • Korad KA3305P power supply (but any two-channel bench supply will do; even a computer PSU albeit somewhat noisy)
  • Some cheap multimeters
  • Some cables (test leads, audio cables etc)

Music:

  • Behringer U-Phoria UMC2 Audio interface (please don’t use your computer)
  • AKAI MPK249 keyboard (any MIDI-device will do though)

Components

Passives:

  • A set of E12 metal film resistors (1$\Omega$ - 10M$\Omega$)
  • A set of E6 ceramic capacitors (10pF - 10$\mu$F)
  • A set of electrolytic capacitors
  • A set of inductors
  • A set of WS2182-style potentiometers for knobs
  • A set of 3296w-style trimmers
  • A set of LDRs
  • A set of NTC resistors.

Actives:

  • Some BJTs (BC547 / BC557 and friends)
  • Some MOSFETs (BS170) and JFETs (2N5457)
  • Some Diodes (1N4001, 1N4148)
  • Some Zener Diodes (a set, 2v2 to 30v)
  • Some LEDS

ICs:

  • 7805 and friends
  • 74HCT and 74LS series, specifically
    • Basic gates (And/Not/Or/Nand/Nor)
    • Schmitt inverters
    • JK-flipflops
    • RS-flipflops

OpAmps / Comperators:

  • LM386, TL06x, TL07x and TL08x series as general purpose opamps
  • LM311 as comperator
  • OP27G and UA741

Micro / dev boards:

  • Nucleo144: STM32F767

Why these tools?

I am quite familiar with the STM32 series ARM processor, and with their extremely affordable development boards it seems like the best option by far. I passionately hate the Arduino (or actually, the AVR), so I try to stay away from it. Furthermore, it’s development tools are quite neat and integrate with the IDE I use anyway.

My electronics equipment I generally have anyway, and the components (specifically the opamps) are mostly ordered from AliExpress, which means that roughly all the components needed to build the modules should total around €250. Given how also not much equipment is needed, this should be quite acceptable as a beginner project.