Modified : april 16th. 2017

Saw Animator

En français
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Description

The Saw Animator module is a very interesting module when you whish to get that FAT sound, usually obtained with two or more sawtooth VCOs, but you are short of VCOs. You can get this typical sound with only one sawtooth VCO, thanks to Bernie Hutchins (JAES, 1981). The Digisound 80 has this wonderful module and Scott Bernardi designed a version of its own. The present module is a somehow simplified but yet efficient version. To get the best of this module, it must be used in conjunction with a mixer. I chose not to integrate a mixer within the module in order to benefit from the dry outputs which are very useful when used with a LFO instead of a VCO. When used with a sawtooth LFO and inputing fixed CVs in the MOD inputs, one can achieve some interesting phase shifted modulators such as quadrature modulation. Well the possibilities are numerous and it's up to your imagination...

Here are a sound samples of the saw-animator using the above patch. These sound clips are 12s long and start with 3s of the raw sawtooth then the ouputs of the module are mixed in.

  •    8' sawtooth, output #1 with slow rate

  •    8' sawtooth,  output #1 with fast rate

  •    8' sawtooth,  output #1 and output 2 both with slow rate

  •    8' sawtooth,  output #1 and output 2 both with fast rate

  •    8' sawtooth,  output #1 with slow rate and output #2 with fast rate

  •    16' sawtooth,  output #1 and output #2 both with slow rate

  •    16' sawtooth,  output #1 and output #2 both with fast rate


Schematic



IMPORTANT NOTE : the circuit has been designed to work with balanced sawtooth signals ranging from -5V to 5V, if you intend to use it with unbalanced sawtooth or different peak to peak voltage you will have to recalculate some resistor values...

Printed Circuit Board and Component Layout

NOTE : the PCB and a component kit for this module are now available at Soundtronics.co.uk 
For this PCB I used a double-layer design but you may etch a single face PCB and add a few straps as explained : solder a wire on the track side between the free pad of R22 and the pad of pin 3 of U4,
solder a wire on the track side between the free pad of R45 and the pad of pin12 of U4.
PCB design


Top tracks


Bottom tracks



Layout




Download the schematic as a PDF file 

WARNING ! The document is formatted to be printed directly on a mylar for photo-etching or a "press & peel" paper. Make sure that when the printed face of mylar is in contact with the copper side of the PCB, the lettering can be read normally.


List of parts and building instructions

reference
value
quantity
U2,U5
TL072
2
U1,U3,U4
TL074
3
Q1,Q2
BC547C
2
D1,D2,D3,D4,D5,D6,D7,D8
1N4148
8
R1,R2
10 ohm 5%
2
R6,R10,R30,R33
1.5k 5% 4
R5,R29
4.7k 5% 2
R7,R11,R31,R34
15k 5%
4
R9,R32
22k 5% 2
R3*,R18,R19,R20,R27*,R41,R42,R43 47k 1%, *5%
8
R12,R13,R14,R15,R16,R17,R35,R36,R37,R38,R39,R40 100k 1%
12
R4,R28 120k 5% 2
R8*,R21,R22,R23,R24,R26,R31*,R44,R45,R46,R47
150K  1%, * 5%
11
C6,C7
100pF
2
C8,C9,C10,C11 100nF 3
C3(a,b),C4(a,b) 2.2µF Wima 63V (or 2x1µF polyester film) 2
C1,C2
22µF/25V electro.
2
T2,T4
100K multi-turn trimmer
2
T1,T3
250K or 220K multi-turn trimmer 2
LD1,LD2
yellow LED
2
P1,P2
1MC rev log potentiometer
2
Jk1,Jk2,Jk3,Jk4,Jk5,Jk6
6,5 mm jack socket
6


Wiring

Front plate
Panel design


Download the silkscreen mask as a PDF file 


Download the silkscreen mask as a  JPEG file 



Trimming


There are four trimmers to be adjusted. Note that the adjustment procedure is the same for T1 and T3 and for T2 and T4.

Setting of T1 (SHAPE trimmer).
  1. ground the MOD IN #1  input
  2. feed a balanced sawtooth (ranging -5V to 5V) to the SAW IN #1 input
  3. connect an oscilloscope to the  OUTPUT #1 output
  4. check the  shape of the output signal, it should look like one or another of the following waveshapes    
  5.  adjust T1 in order to obtain a normal sawtooth waveshape    

Setting of T2 (BALANCE trimmer)
  1. adjust T2 in order that the output signal is balanced and ranges from -5V to +5V

Unground the MOD IN #1, you must see the sawtooth swaying at the rhythm of the internal LFO

Repeat the same settings to adjust T3 and T4.



References

Bernie Hutchins , JAES 1981 "Analog circuit for Sound Animation", and Electronotes #87
Digisound 80 Modular, Waveform multiplier  
Scott Bernadi's, Obesifier Waveform Animator, OG3 synth
Elektor november 1982, (french version only !)

The DIY builders' gallery

Here are the photographs of the yusynth ARP modules built by other synth geeks around the world.
Thank you  guys for sending me these nice photos.


Name : Louis van Dompselar
Pseudo : Etaoin
Modular project : Casia MS01
Location : Utrecht, Netherlands
Website : www.casia.org/modular

Name  : Patrick
Pseudo : Baronrouge
Modular project: JHC live lab
Location:
Toulon, France
Web site : http://myspace.com/patjhc
Name  : Paul Darlow
Pseudo : Krisp1
Modular project: Krisp1
Location
:
Web site :http://www.krisp1.com


Name:  Bill and Will
Pseudo:  'ills
Modular Project:  Dragonfly Alley
Location:  New Jersey, USA
Website: dragonflyalley.com
Name:  David M. Ingebretsen
Pseudo:  digembre
Modular Project
Location:  Salt Lake city, USA
Website: www.xmission.com/~dingebre
Name : Frédéric Monti
Pseudo : zarko
Modular project :
Location : Gardanne, France
Website :



Name : Steven Brenner
Pseudo :
Modular project :
Location : Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Website :


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