When I was in my late teens I started hearing Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygène and having developed a fascination for electronics by then was intrigued by how these synthesisers worked. In one of the electronics magazines I bought at the time, Maplin were advertsising their new 3800 and 5600 series of synthesisers; I bought the construction book (see link in references below) but never was able to go beyond the dream.
Since retirement I have aspired to build some synthesiser modules, not because I want to make music particularly, as I will probably just end up making “pops” and “squeaks”, but to at least do something towards that teenage dream. Today many synthesisers are fully digital, indeed you can run a whole synthesiser on your home computer, see VCV Rack below. My aspiration here is to do a bit of analogue modules, and some modules where the audio is digitally produced. This will allow me to combine electronics with microcontroller programming. And I can use a bit of woodwork for the case, too! The other cool thing has been buying a digital oscilloscope to look at all the “wigglies” my modules will generate.
This section documents what I am doing in this area.
VCV Rack
VCV Rack is an amazing free open-source virtual modular synthesiser run entirely within software. It utilises a number of EuroRack style modules to build a rack of “equipment” comprising VCOs, LFOs, mixers, and other standard synthesiser modules. Many of these modules are based on their “real-life” hardware modules, but create sounds entirely in software. There are also a multitude of additional paid-for modules available.
VCV Rack source code is available on GitHub and shows off some very clever programming. Each synthesiser module is created as a plugin with the more complex functionality handled in the core program. The VCV manual gives plenty of information on installation, building the source and plugin development.
References / Resources
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VCV rack download, source on GitHub, documentation
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Files on Titan:
/Archive_Jekyll/files/electronics/synthesiser/…- Several books, including:
- Make: Analog Synthesizers - Ray Wilson (2013) [PDF]
- An Analog Synthesizer for the 21st century - Thomas Henry (2006) [PDF]
- Electronic Music Circuits - The Reprints Vol.1 - Thomas Henry (1997) [PDF]
- Maplin 3800 & 5600 Synthesizers (1979) [PDF]
- VCV Rack (2.3.0) executable and source code
- Several books, including: