05 January 2010

AVRSynth 32 (Part 6)

Today I started testing the AVRSynth 32. And unfortunately it did nothing :) So I started debugging. I started with checking if I had a signal on the midi input. And I did actually had a signal on the input of the opto coupler but nothing came out there. So I started to look at the schematics. I couldn't find anything wrong actually. After that I measured at the DIN connector on the back and saw that I also had signals on the other pins. Now I was confused. To be honest I actually never looked at what pins do what on a Midi connector :) So I started looking for a schematic.

And that is why I love the Internet so much. It took me about 5 seconds to come up with this. And guess what. I had the wrong pins. I never knew that a DIN connector is numbered in this way. Well you are not to old to learn ever I guess. After rewiring the connector I had a signal on the output of the opto coupler right away. So I hooked up audio to the unit and it gave a signal right away while playing on the midi keyboard. So it actually works :) After that I started to check all the functionality.

The first thing I noticed is that some switches worked the wrong way around. Here you see Oscillator A set to Square, well this looked like a Saw to me :) So I checked switch for switch. Strangly enough not all of them were wrong, but I'm pretty sure all the switches are mounted in the same orientation. Ah well. Who cares as long as it all works like it is supposed to. The only thing left to do now is hook up the power switch and attach the power to the power connector on the back panel. And I need to find a 12V adapter for it. I guess it will run on 9V as well btw.

And here is the end result. Looks neat doesn't it? I only need to clean the surface of the front panel. Some little speckles are on there. Well it sounds nice as well. It is a monophonic Virtual Analog synthesizer. As you can see with two Oscillators that can be switched between Square wave or Saw wave and only Oscillator B can be detuned. So oscillator A is always in tune. Makes it a neat tool to tune my modular I guess :) Tomorrow I'm going to show and demonstrate it to my daughter. And try to explain to her how it works. I hopes she likes it. I'm sure I'll do a last post about that.

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