LooneyBoard 1--general purpose CMOS oscillator PCB

[fluxmonkey]

I'm working on a series of CMOS/Lunetta-ish building block PCBs, which i'm hoping to offer for sale shortly. here's a preview of the first one: 6 oscillators based on a 40106; 4 more gated oscillators on a 4093; a digital ringmod on a 4011, and an LM386 audio amp... plus some utility mixer arrays and a prototyping area.

anyone interested?

b

---

loony1.3.gif
Description:	screenshot
Filesize:	22.72 KB
Viewed:	438 Time(s)
This image has been reduced to fit the page. Click on it to enlarge.

---

[General Elektrick]

Hey, I may take one or two depending on the price and shipping costs to germany.

[Danno Gee Ray]

I too could be interested.

[synthmonger]

Have you tried using a 4070 or 4030 instead of the 4011 for "ring modulation"? I tend to like the sound of those chips more.

[DGTom]

& with 10 Osc.s it would make alot more sense (to me at least) to use a Quad XOR chip... 4 "ring mods" hell yes!!

The only other thing that occurs to me is the Amp / Proto section; the proto area is a little small, it would only just fit another 14/16 pin DIP right?

I think it would be neat to make the 386 amp a seperate board & expand the proto section into a nice big space for adding 1 or even 2 more ICs.

That way the amp board could have some extra bells & whistles as well, maybe a 385 for an active mixer; with summing node(s) to link into the mix sections.

Either way, its a cool idea & I'd grab a few; would make putting together little noise makers for friends alot easier, everytime I show off my lunetta / weevil I always get a request or 2.

[sizone]

I'm not really all that keen on the lm386 myself. Seems like every time I try to use on my regulators start getting really hot. It also just does not sound good, not very useful unless you absolutely need to drive a small speaker.

[fluxmonkey]

[fluxmonkey]

[ezekiel]

Cool board for a starter lunetta synth!

As for what else...

I imagine a world of sounds not based on complex, scientifically accurate circuits.

I imagine a synth exploration process that isn't solely about schematics but more about combining circuits and making music. By "music", I personally mean noise.

I imagine there could be a series of smaller boards (less than 2x2 inches) for circuits like the ones discussed throughout the lunetta forum. Here are what has caught my attention lately (some on my breadboard). This stuff takes multiple ICs and lots of wires or components (but still less complex than DIY modular synth boards). Also, a lot of these have technical details that are a little over my head:
- analog CMOS stuff using 4007, 4049, 4007
- pseudo FM and pseudo PWM
- pseudo-random digital noise generator
- clocked shift register with XOR feedback loop (4015 + 4077)
- walsh generator (perhaps with outputs for sine, triangle, saw, ramp)
- ring oscillators (multiple rings or varying lengths)
- Nu and Nv neurons (bicores)
- output filters (THIS WOULD BE REAL COOL)
- distortion, fuzz, clip effects
- envelope / VCA
- intermediate-stage mixers
- output mixer and interface to 1/4" standard, RCA line-level standard, 1/8" modular synth, headphones
- R2R networks
- routing/switching matrix?
- controller input processor (for a bunch of switches, buttons, touchpoints)?
- Wolfram's cellular automata (like Rule 30 for chaos or Rule 90 easier) using 40174 + 4070
- exploit "metastability" (see wikipedia) of these ICs
- multiple 4046 PLL / VCO

Actually, I'd be excited to see *any* PC boards for easy-to-build circuits using standard CMOS parts. Harder than just chip-to-faceplate but easier than DIY modular with its rare components and gazillion parts.

Maybe there is a way to start a set of standards with Inventor's eChuck boards and stuff others have done. With 9 volts single supply. Standard input and output impedences. Standard protection for front-panel patching. I'm talking big but that is because these are the things that I have trouble understanding and getting correct.

Further, I think it would be even cooler if someone were to have built as SMT a ton of these circuits onto one big PC board with lots of places for wiring it to a personalized panel.

Thanks for making this. Sorry for getting carried away! What you have shown is great.

[glacial23]

I'd be down for one of these. It would almost provide me with enough inputs for the 40181 ALU IC that I keep thinking about using in a Lunetta-ish context.

[Inventor]

ezikiel, I have more of those little eChucK Lunetta breakout boards if you want to get started with those. The thing is, the value price point for any of these little boards is like $200 or more each. So if we made these designs it would take thousands and thousands of dollars to do it and we'd have to have 50 customers to make any money.

In contrast, a general purpose board can be used for anything. That's why I was so excited about the eChucK Lunetta breakout boards - it's just one design so you can build what you want.

I'm thinking of making the next batch of boards a little bit bigger to accommodate more potential designs. I'm open to suggestions there.

For the Lunetta board described here, how is the interconnect done between the different modules? Is it hard wired or configurable?

I think there is room in the Lunetta world for some Lunetta noisemakers like this board as well as the little breakout boards. They serve different purposes. I'd be interested in developing a simple noisemaker board if anyone wants me to do such a thing. What would you like me to put on it?

Les

[fluxmonkey]

[Inventor]

bbob, cool man. On future boards, you may wish to look into the screw terminals that we are using on the eChucK Lunetta breakout boards. All you have to do is put your I/O in rows and make the holes big enough. There are different style s of screw terminals available. They are a hint pricey but you don't need too many of them.

This way you can do your interconnect in a non-permanent fashion, fully configurable. If someone wants to make a more permanent arrangement (and save money on screw terminals), then s/he can just solder wires in place of the screw terminals.

Les

[knittingram]

[aerogramma]

[electri-fire]

[aerogramma]

I see

Personally I like a lot the idea of having a pcb already designed to be filled with all those elements you tend to do over and over (like 40106 oscillators).

takes a lot time out from repetition and gets you a lot of time back to experiment with the ... bigger picture

i'll always pay for time...

plus some of the blocks suggested here are really cool!

aero

[fluxmonkey]

Boards are on their way... some additional info here: http://www.fluxmonkey.com/electronoize/looney1.htm

b

[aerogramma]

great stuff!

aero

[droffset]

I'm in for a couple as well.

[RF]

Neat project bbob!
Way to go.

bruce

[chutneyfarmer]

Are there any of these boards still available? Really interested in taking one or two off you! What's the cost incl. shipping to Ireland?

[fluxmonkey]

[Tim Servo]

Hey BBob,

Looks like a fun circuit. I might offer a few suggestions for the PCB:
1) Try to move the designators (silkscreen legends with things like R10, C4, etc.) so that they are still visible when the component is in place. It takes a little extra room, but it makes assembly and troubleshooting a lot easier.
2) Maybe outline the separate sections of the board with a line on the silkscreen layer. This is just a graphical aid to show people where the separate sections are.

Neither of these is critical, but they might be nice graphical aids for your users. Just a thought.


Tim (has the occasional thought) Servo

[Inventor]

Hey bbob, would you like me to feature your board on my radio show "Inventor's Inventions"? The next show is January 5th. I am covering various inventions ie circuit boards that people at electro-music create. Just let me know...

Les