Electronics: Breadboarding Synths and Drum Machines

In this five-hour workshop, learn how to design basic electronic oscillators to synthesize musical sounds. With a few of these on your breadboard, you’ll make a real instrument that lets you perform synth melodies and sequence drum patterns in real time.

Participants will learn how to design basic electronic oscillators that allow you to synthesize sounds from the ground up. We will focus on two circuit typologies – square wave oscillators for synthesizing pitched instruments and sine wave oscillators for making percussive sounds. After learning how to build these on the breadboard with the help of live instruction and pictographic diagrams, we’ll build out two kinds of interfaces – one a button-based system for playing discrete synth “notes,” and another a circuit for sequencing percussion sounds. By the end of the workshop you’ll be taking home a playable instrument that lets you perform synthesized melodies and sequence drum patterns in real time.

Class outline:

10:00am-11:00am – build out basic square wave oscillator + amplifier

11:00am-11:30am – troubleshooting and Q&A

11:30am-12:30pm – build out basic twin-T sine wave oscillator

12:30pm-1:00pm – lunch/break + troubleshooting

1:00pm-1:30pm – using buttons and switches as an interface

1:30pm-2:30pm – build out sequencer with binary counter + multiplexer

2:30pm-3:00pm – circuit variations and discussion of further possibilities

Materials fee: $20 to be paid to instructor at beginning of class.

Class size: minimum - 5, maximum - 10.

Do attendees need to bring anything to class?

Nothing needed for the builds, bringing lunch for the break in the middle of class would be advisable.

Are there any online materials the attendees need to review before the class?

Not before the class, though an online repository of circuit diagrams and basic electronics information will be made available to students to continue using after the class.

Cancellation policy: You must submit a request for cancellation 72 hours before the start of class.

About the instructor:

Sean Russell Hallowell is a composer and video artist from San Francisco. He synthesizes experimental techniques developed from hand-built circuitry with a cosmic perspective on the origins of music in number and time. Concert works and multimedia installations of his have been showcased at festivals and galleries across the US as well as in Mexico, Chile, South Korea, Japan, the UK, Belgium, Croatia, and Iceland. He holds academic degrees in music from Brown University (AB) and Columbia University (PhD). More online at isorythmics.xyz and @isorhythmics

For more information: Contact the instuctor at [email protected]

Host or Publisher Chimera Arts