Hi all...
I've got a couple of cem3396 synth on a chip Ic and would like to have a go at getting one up and running...
This is going to be be my first hardware diy synth project and thought this could be a good way to start off..
I have some rudimentary electronics knowledge and have built noise makers in the past and soldered a few kits etc but this is a little different and I could do with some help getting started as the data sheet is hard for my to understand as I'm not used to reading them..
I think most of the paremeter cv inputs could be done with regular 5v potentiometers and as far as I can tell I need drive the Dco with a digital signal. Could this be done with digital out of an arduino? Or 555 timer?
I'm sure there's a few on here that would of used this chip in some way over the years... If anyone could share some information it would be much appreciated and....
If any one could walk me thru setting it up for basic use I'll return the favour and send you a chip for yourself (another cem3396)
Thanks
Nathan
Got a couple of cem3396
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DigitalResonance DigitalResonance https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=307640
- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 22 posts since 26 Jun, 2013
www.digitalresonance.co.uk Hight quality presets and Samples for Ios Synths and apps.
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- KVRer
- 16 posts since 30 Sep, 2015
Man, I wish I could help you with this. I haven't built a DIY synth before, but I plan on eventually. I'm more in the DIY midi controller space. I tried to do some research on that chip, but surprisingly came up with a minute amount of information.
The datasheet had some decent getting-started information, but it wasn't a whole lot.
The datasheet had some decent getting-started information, but it wasn't a whole lot.
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- KVRAF
- 7540 posts since 7 Aug, 2003 from San Francisco Bay Area
I've had a few 3396's for years but never got around to doing anything with them. Please keep us up to date with your progress. Maybe I'll do one myself one of these days...
Incomplete list of my gear: 1/8" audio input jack.
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- KVRian
- 960 posts since 27 Jun, 2009 from Germany
I also got a couple of them, and would be interested in your progress.
My rough idea how to use them is to control each of them with a PIC16F1579. This PIC has a couple of 16bit counters, which should easily be able to do what the 8253 in the Matrix1000 are doing, namely providing the squarewave inputs for the wave shapers. As these square oscillators are provided by the counters and don't eat up a lot of cycles of the PICS, there should be enough cycles left to run a couple of digital envelopes and per voice LFO's on them as well. I plan to output these to either through a PWM run through a filter, or through a 8bit R-2R DAC and then through a demux chip, similar to the design suggested on the CEM3396 data sheet.
The voice allocator and global LFO's will be on a separate microcontroller (possibly Arduino, or another PIC).
However, I am also tempted by a pure VCO design with analog oscillators driving the CEM's. But I think that would become much more complex, in particular to address the stability of the VCO's.
Anyway, before starting anything serious, I better get my PG8X plugin finished and officially released...
Cheers,
Martin
My rough idea how to use them is to control each of them with a PIC16F1579. This PIC has a couple of 16bit counters, which should easily be able to do what the 8253 in the Matrix1000 are doing, namely providing the squarewave inputs for the wave shapers. As these square oscillators are provided by the counters and don't eat up a lot of cycles of the PICS, there should be enough cycles left to run a couple of digital envelopes and per voice LFO's on them as well. I plan to output these to either through a PWM run through a filter, or through a 8bit R-2R DAC and then through a demux chip, similar to the design suggested on the CEM3396 data sheet.
The voice allocator and global LFO's will be on a separate microcontroller (possibly Arduino, or another PIC).
However, I am also tempted by a pure VCO design with analog oscillators driving the CEM's. But I think that would become much more complex, in particular to address the stability of the VCO's.
Anyway, before starting anything serious, I better get my PG8X plugin finished and officially released...
Cheers,
Martin
