How to start...

sintmint · Post by **sintmint** » Mon May 08, 2017 1:46 pm

Greetings to all.

I have a question that border me because i dont now what to use and how to start

I want to build my hardware synth wit my idea & options.
Please I'm beginner in DIY so all help is welcome.

I have idea for cool synth but not vision-whole picture how to make one.
I dont understand how to create "Oscillator-MIXER-ENV-LFO-FILTERS-OUT etc..."
To real hardware PCB wit CPU or PIC wit pots, display and other components.
Everything i need to know is online in huge amount of information
but where to start to understand? Witch software & hardware i need?

What i need to learn?

I'm working in Jeskola Buzz from 1998 so i know logic what synth need.

For AIO, I know only for Axoloti, Bela, Synth Maker but what are other options?
How to make synth and put all to chip wit other components, that is my pain...

(Something like Audiothingies P6 & Micromonsta, MI Shruthi, PreenFM, SammichSID etc...)

Any advice and help is welcome.
Thank you all.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Mon May 08, 2017 2:12 pm

learn to walk first...

www.arduino.cc

sintmint · Post by **sintmint** » Mon May 08, 2017 2:30 pm

Thanks i know for Arduino. I forgot to write.
I'm a totally lame newbie... (Want to learn!!!)

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Mon May 08, 2017 2:35 pm

http://hackaday.com/2008/05/01/how-to-m ... nthesizer/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D3VEKH2/ ... TF8&btkr=1

A quick Google reveals countless resources though, for beginners and more advanced

sintmint · Post by **sintmint** » Mon May 08, 2017 6:33 pm

Thank you!

Anything else but free.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Tue May 09, 2017 8:32 am

There is a book called Electronic Projects for Musicians by Craig Anderton. It's a great beginners guide for the analog side of things. Lots of info about components and some easy FX projects. You can buy a copy from Amazon but you can also find PDFs online.

For the digital side of things, look for Musical Applications for Microprocessors.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Tue May 09, 2017 10:35 am

sintmint wrote:

Thanks i know for Arduino. I forgot to write.
I'm a totally lame newbie... (Want to learn!!!)

That's my point; the Arduino is a very good platform for learning the basics of programming, hardware interfacing, and getting started in digitally controlled electronic circuits. There are also more than a few synthesisers out there based on Arduinos, and tons of MIDI devices.

sintmint · Post by **sintmint** » Fri May 12, 2017 9:17 am

Thank you all!!!
All help is more than welcome

Now i understand little better, and that is progress to!
What book to use like total newbie, i found this 4 on E-bay.
What do you think? Or is something better?

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Electron ... 1484215842
Digital Electronics for Musicians Paperback – December 25, 2015
by Alexandros Drymonitis

https://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Music-Au ... 1484217209
Arduino Music and Audio Projects Paperback – December 22, 2015
by Mike Cook

https://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Musician ... 0199309329
Arduino for Musicians: A Complete Guide to Arduino and Teensy Microcontrollers 1st Edition
by Brent Edstrom

https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Raspbe ... 1119188687
Exploring Raspberry Pi: Interfacing to the Real World with Embedded Linux 1st Edition
by Derek Molloy

@whyterabbyt
can you give me link-name of those synthesizers?

sintmint · Post by **sintmint** » Fri May 12, 2017 9:21 am

justin3am wrote:There is a book called Electronic Projects for Musicians by Craig Anderton. It's a great beginners guide for the analog side of things. Lots of info about components and some easy FX projects. You can buy a copy from Amazon but you can also find PDFs online.

For the digital side of things, look for Musical Applications for Microprocessors.

Wow those book are awesome! Pure Bible of circuits and examples But i need something new, more digital wit new technology.
Thanks

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sat May 13, 2017 3:24 am

sintmint wrote:Thank you all!!!
All help is more than welcome
Now i understand little better, and that is progress to!
What book to use like total newbie, i found this 4 on E-bay.
What do you think? Or is something better?

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Electron ... 1484215842
Digital Electronics for Musicians Paperback – December 25, 2015
by Alexandros Drymonitis

https://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Music-Au ... 1484217209
Arduino Music and Audio Projects Paperback – December 22, 2015
by Mike Cook

https://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Musician ... 0199309329
Arduino for Musicians: A Complete Guide to Arduino and Teensy Microcontrollers 1st Edition
by Brent Edstrom

https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Raspbe ... 1119188687
Exploring Raspberry Pi: Interfacing to the Real World with Embedded Linux 1st Edition
by Derek Molloy

Interesting; Im not familiar with any of those books, but the first three are particularly interesting, wasnt aware there was anything so specific out there; I guess I should pick a couple of them up at some point and have a look.

@whyterabbyt
can you give me link-name of those synthesizers?

The three arduino-based standalone units Ive got myself are the Meeblip, Bastl Kastle, and MiniAtmegatron, but a simple google for 'arduino synth' will give you a fair few others in DIY, kit and built form.
The Ardutouch looks a bit interesting too...

http://cdm.link/2017/04/ardutouch-one-a ... ng-kit-30/

But there are also a few Eurorack modules like the ArdCore, Cavisynth and Euroduino. If you move up in power a little bit to the Teensy, then Music Thing, Sharkmat and others have DIY modules based around that.

Same for 'arduino midi'; tons of stuff.

Next stop up from the Teensy is embedded ARM chips, but that's much heavier-duty stuff, really. When you get to that point, maybe a Pi or Beaglebone would be a better learning platform, IMO, just for the fact that they have an OS etc.

sintmint · Post by **sintmint** » Thu May 18, 2017 6:40 am

whyterabbyt wrote:
sintmint wrote:Thank you all!!!
All help is more than welcome
Now i understand little better, and that is progress to!
What book to use like total newbie, i found this 4 on E-bay.
What do you think? Or is something better?

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Electron ... 1484215842
Digital Electronics for Musicians Paperback – December 25, 2015
by Alexandros Drymonitis

https://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Music-Au ... 1484217209
Arduino Music and Audio Projects Paperback – December 22, 2015
by Mike Cook

https://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Musician ... 0199309329
Arduino for Musicians: A Complete Guide to Arduino and Teensy Microcontrollers 1st Edition
by Brent Edstrom

https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Raspbe ... 1119188687
Exploring Raspberry Pi: Interfacing to the Real World with Embedded Linux 1st Edition
by Derek Molloy
Interesting; Im not familiar with any of those books, but the first three are particularly interesting, wasnt aware there was anything so specific out there; I guess I should pick a couple of them up at some point and have a look.

Im glad to make some new discovery for you

@whyterabbyt
can you give me link-name of those synthesizers?
The three arduino-based standalone units Ive got myself are the Meeblip, Bastl Kastle, and MiniAtmegatron, but a simple google for 'arduino synth' will give you a fair few others in DIY, kit and built form.
The Ardutouch looks a bit interesting too...

http://cdm.link/2017/04/ardutouch-one-a ... ng-kit-30/

Cool!

But there are also a few Eurorack modules like the ArdCore, Cavisynth and Euroduino. If you move up in power a little bit to the Teensy, then Music Thing, Sharkmat and others have DIY modules based around that.

Same for 'arduino midi'; tons of stuff.

Next stop up from the Teensy is embedded ARM chips, but that's much heavier-duty stuff, really. When you get to that point, maybe a Pi or Beaglebone would be a better learning platform, IMO, just for the fact that they have an OS etc.

That was take my interest (Pi or Beaglebone)
You talking about OS?
I'm still "newbie" but if i got it right, you talking about GUI programing? Like for Axoloti?
If not what is CPU & Memory powerful and and have GUI-nodes approach for creating sound devices?

I dont know how-what to write what i need, so please take that i dont know name of thing i want to use

I need Graphical interface wit "modules" let say "OSC part" "Filter part" etc...
And transfer complete work-project to stand-alone hardware.
Can you help me wit that?
MAIN & most important is legal rihts!
I need something what i can use to create but it must be "free" so i can make commercial product.
BTW.
For Axoloti im not sure... For my idea Axo ARM @ 168Mzh is to slow for my concept-idea need at least 300Mzh and bigger memory!
I really want to learn & understand to create my idea!!! I will give 101% of my time to learn & create!!!

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Thu May 18, 2017 6:55 am

sintmint wrote: That was take my interest (Pi or Beaglebone)
You talking about OS?
I'm still "newbie" but if i got it right, you talking about GUI programing? Like for Axoloti?
If not what is CPU & Memory powerful and and have GUI-nodes approach for creating sound devices?

No, not GUI programming, just that asince a Pi etc is a 'full' computer that can be embedded, rather than an embedded controller, they'd be the next step 'up' in complexity after getting used to what embedded systems can be used for.

I need Graphical interface wit "modules" let say "OSC part" "Filter part" etc...
And transfer complete work-project to stand-alone hardware.
Can you help me wit that?
I really want to learn & understand to create my idea!!! I will give 101% of my time to learn & create!!!

I may be misunderstanding, but yes a Pi or something similar would be able to handle graphics and DSP complexity well enough for that sort of thing. But I really do suggest you start at the Arduino level as a means of getting familiar with programming, electronics, and interfacing hardware controls with software.

sintmint · Post by **sintmint** » Thu May 18, 2017 7:34 am

Thanks dear @whyterabbyt

You now figure out what i need.
By your professional knowledge & experience VS my "0 points" of knowledge it is reasonable to start wit Arduino and then to complexly "devices"

Can you recommend some good book about Arduino for music?
What will be best starting book i found on Amazon.com (or similar?)
I cannot afford all at start i need one to learn basic of Sound & DSP

But; if "Pi" or something else have graphical interface & DSP power to making sound devices. why not start wit that?
Can you write what are my option for this kind project?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Thu May 18, 2017 7:56 am

sintmint wrote:Can you recommend some good book about Arduino for music?
What will be best starting book i found on Amazon.com (or similar?)
I cannot afford all at start i need one to learn basic of Sound & DSP

As I say, I dont know the books you mentioned. But I'd say you can start pretty well just from the tutorial material on the arduino website (arduino.cc) without needing a book.

But; if "Pi" or something else have graphical interface & DSP power to making sound devices. why not start wit that?

Like I say, because I think its a better starting point for learning the stuff you'll need to do. And even if you use a Pi, the arduino stuff and the electronics you'll pick up will still be rather useful for all the rest of the non-graphical hardware.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Thu May 18, 2017 1:15 pm

I agree that it's best to start with Arduino to get some background. I started with Arduino and now I'm moving up to Teensy.
I understand that some PureData patches can be run from Raspberry Pi.
https://puredata.info/docs/raspberry-pi

Maybe that will provide enough of a UI for you to work with, so you don't need to worry much about the coding side. You will still need to work out how you will interface with hardware I/O but it's a place to start.