There are many reasons to embark on the DIY module journey. It could be a simple case of saving some money, or maybe you want to understand the components that go into your favourite modules. Maybe you have an idea to develop modules of your own but don’t know where to start. Over the next few pages we’ll be discussing the basics of this weird science, showing you some key techniques and highlighting some of the tools and components that are needed to get started. Grab a cuppa and a magnifying glass and let’s get started…
It’s all in the mixer
>Designing a module is outside the scope of this article but it’s worth exploring how circuits work in the context of a synth. We’ll focus on a simple mixer module, from Erica Synth’s DIY range. What’s interesting with this very simple circuit is the addition of diodes, used to add some distortion to the output. Or, as is the case here, a separate output for the clipping circuit, which makes this a more versatile module than it might otherwise have been.
So what’s a mixer? The idea here is to take two or more incoming voltages and mix them together, to create one new voltage. The problem here is that
