I Hate Oscillators

[markt]

Sorry to ask such a broad question, (there's too much stuff online for me to meaningfully narrow down my options ) but could anyone recommend a type of oscillator/wave-generator that I could build relatively cheaply. I know how to solder and have a working iron, but I've never worked with anything of this nature before.

I've been listening to "Sine Wave Solo" and "Salon de Sachiko" by Sachiko M a lot recently and would like to be able to play with similar sounds (especially where the latter disc is concerned).

Any push in the right direction would be really appreciated.

[kp*]

i have kludged several using inverter/timer chips like the various 555 chips, and the various schmitt triggers. None of those (bear in mind i am prolly wrong and don't really know what i am doing) ... will give you the kind of clarity you would need for a sine/sinesque, or even quasi triangle wave sounds. For clean sines i just use a computer or a test oscillator. I opened one of my old test oscillators that had a bad jack to repair it. Making a good quality sine osc looks to be a bit non-trivial judging by the guts in that puppy.

Good luck...

[markt]

I was worried about that... All the sound samples of oscillators based on 555 and 556 IC Timer Chips sound like crappy RC planes or something.

Thanks for the help... Maybe I'll look into getting a test oscillator

[Stephen]

There's a chip called ML2036 which claims to be able to do sine wane generation. I figure you still need to use something like a 555 circuit to control the frequency, and making this manually sweepable might be hard. I've attached the datasheet for that chip - oh no not allowed to attach pdfs sorry...

All the other methods I've seen online involve generating a square wave and then smoothing it out with another IC (?) or something like that.

[bryan]

All the other methods I've seen online involve generating a square wave and then smoothing it out with another IC (?) or something like that.

yeah, wave shaping circuits are used to get different waveforms out of one core oscillator.

some nice clean sines can be had using a self-oscillating filter, that's another option.

[danfan]

actually when you're playing at the frequencies sachiko usually does (like 10k-20k) it's pretty much impossible to tell between any waveform be it square, sine, tri, saw/ramp, etc. but at her lower range it definitely would be noticeable.

if you don't care about control voltage, why don't you build some function generators?

i think you can run this one off of battery (not sure though, might wanna check the datasheet), and it will give you most of the common waveforms. you'll get waveforms from 0.01hz to 1mhz, and it's pretty cheap and simple.
here:
http://www.nuxie1.com/guides/function-generator.html" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

[kfw]

if you don't care about control voltage, why don't you build some function generators?

true dat. look into the xr2206 chip ; very nice, clean, & usable in music contexts ...

http://www.exar.com/Common/Content/Prod ... ?ID=XR2206" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

cheap too ; jameco has then for $3.59 ::

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... ctId=34972" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

[joe grimm]

dan and keith: thanks for those links.

[iep]

a self-oscillating filter, that's another option.

yeah, either a self-oscillating RC filter or a 555 square-oscillator with a RC filter behind it (to smooth it out and approximate a sine) would be my quick and dirty solutions. google it and you'll find plenty. cheap, but that xr2206 chip might be even better value. if you want to do it really cleanly and accurately, you'll have to bother with high quality (or even temperature-controlled) parts and it might be easier to just use a computer instead and click a few buttons here and there.

[flies]

more cheap options discussed here: http://www.noiseguide.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=3278" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

[flies]

it might be easier to just use a computer instead and click a few buttons here and there.

or a cheap digital synth. every digital synth has a sine-wave sample.

[markt]

Just a quick bump to share this terribly low quality picture...

Found this signal generator and oscilloscope for ridiculously cheap off craigslist... Both have the original tubes and seem to work fine.

Brought it over to my parents house last night to fiddle with it (my Dad's shop is much better equipped than my kitchen table/workbench). Even just plugged into a crappy practice amp, the variety and range of sounds is incredible. Much deeper than I was expecting.

[bryan]

Found this signal generator and oscilloscope for ridiculously cheap off craigslist... Both have the original tubes and seem to work fine.

awesome. and tube even! that's the way to go because finding that stuff locally saves you the expensive shipping folks would charge if you bought those heavy things on ebay. enjoy.

[dave quam]

if you want to buy a cheap and really small and good oscillator, the rolls oscillators are the way to go. 80 bucks. I just got an old oscillator for free too actually but i dunno what to do with it.

[danfan]

woah the rolls oscillators are voltage controlled too...buy two or three of these and a noise generator (or make one), and a used sherman filter bank and you have a complete synthesizer with two of every basic module for under 700 dollars.

[kangaroo?]

dummy question:
can one get sound directly from those rolls oscillators, or do you have to use them together with another unit (like danfan said) ?

[danfan]

dummy question:
can one get sound directly from those rolls oscillators, or do you have to use them together with another unit (like danfan said) ?

all you have to do is plug it in to your amp and it's good to go. it's only going to give you one tone though. but even if you have no other "synth" gear, why not spice things up with control voltage from something hot? (something boosted by a preamp/amp - radios, ipods, etc)

[kangaroo?]

ok thanks!

[einklavier]

Ok, I know this is old, but I didn't want to make another topic...so I'm thinking of starting a "band" (one man band, although one of my friends who plays flute said he would help), the more I think about it the more I keep stripping down (first I wanted a piano-and-voice thing). Now, I want to start from pure sound--that is, a stable frequency. It's probably been done before multiple times. The Rolls mentioned sounds great--is that and an amp all I would need? I mean unless I get a ring modular (too expensive) I couldn't do much else with it except change the frequency, maybe play piano over it (think a bare-bones version of Stockhausen's "Mantra"?).

Is that really stupid or would it work? Or would I need anything else?

[cheapmachines]

I have a couple of Fostex TT-15 oscillators which kick out very pure sinewaves between 40hz - 15khz in switched stages - 40, 400, 1k, 10k, 15k. They come up on ebay and craigslist fairly frequently pretty cheap ($40 or less). You can do a hamfisted impersonation of Sachiko with them if the mood takes you

They have a regular rca/phono output socket so no problem connecting to an amp or effects etc.

I use them in conjunction with a pitchshifter which lets you keep the pure tones but introduce beat frequencies when you detune.