electro-music.com   Dedicated to experimental electro-acoustic
and electronic music
 
    Front Page  |  Radio
 |  Media  |  Forum  |  Wiki  |  Links
Forum with support of Syndicator RSS
 FAQFAQ   CalendarCalendar   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   LinksLinks
 RegisterRegister   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in  Chat RoomChat Room 
go to the radio page Live at electro-music.com radio 1 Please visit the chat
poster
 Forum index » DIY Hardware and Software
[New Project] vcNOIZ -- a harsh voltage controlled noise gen
Post new topic   Reply to topic Moderators: jksuperstar, Scott Stites, Uncle Krunkus
Page 2 of 2 [37 Posts]
View unread posts
View new posts in the last week
Mark the topic unread :: View previous topic :: View next topic
Goto page: Previous 1, 2
Author Message
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

The assembly house has sent me a photo of the vcNOIZ PCBs before they enter the surface mount production queue!!! Exciting ^__^

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
JovianPyx



Joined: Nov 20, 2007
Posts: 1988
Location: West Red Spot, Jupiter
Audio files: 224

PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

HexInverter wrote:
Aliasing is the "stepping" that occurs when reading (or generating) any analogue signal with a digital device (in this case, a microcontroller). Basically, the ADC (analogue -> digital converter) on a microcontroller is typically 1024 (10 bit) step resolution, so, as you turn the CV knob on a digital device, or input a control voltage, the device actually only has 1024 steps on the control.


In audio, the stepping you refer to is quantization, specificially of the signal's amplitude. This is not aliasing.

Aliasing or production of alias artifacts occurs when a signal contains one or more harmonics which have frequencies above the Nyquist limit. The Nyquist limit is a frequency 1/2 the sample rate. What happens with signals that have such harmonics is that they are "folded" back into the spectrum below Nyquist and will not sound good because they are no longer harmonics, they might be subharmonics, or inharmonic partials. Remember that periodic waveforms have a harmonic series that extends to infiinty. This is why antialiasing filters are used - they remove the harmonics above the Nyquist limit so that the signal sounds as it should without nasty alias artifacts.

An example would be: Assume a sample rate of 10 kHz that is attempting to reproduce a sinewave signal of 11 kHz. When the 11 kHz signal is captured at 10 kHz sample rate, the reproduced signal will be 1 kHz - an "alias" of the original signal which is completely different from the actual input signal. It takes at least 2 samples per cycle of a given waveform to come even close to reproducing the frequency of a sampled signal - and that's only "half ass" accurate. The 2 sample requirement is what gives rise to the Nyquist 1/2 sample rate figure. The more samples per cycle, the more accurate will be the reproduction.

You can read more about aliasing and the Nyquist limit at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliasing

_________________
FPGA, dsPIC and Fatman Synth Stuff

Time flies like a banana.
Fruit flies when you're having fun.
BTW, Do these genes make my ass look fat?
corruptio optimi pessima
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

JovianPyx wrote:
In audio, the stepping you refer to is quantization, specificially of the signal's amplitude. This is not aliasing.

Aliasing or production of alias artifacts occurs when a signal contains one or more harmonics which have frequencies above the Nyquist limit. The Nyquist limit is a frequency 1/2 the sample rate. What happens with signals that have such harmonics is that they are "folded" back into the spectrum below Nyquist and will not sound good because they are no longer harmonics, they might be subharmonics, or inharmonic partials. Remember that periodic waveforms have a harmonic series that extends to infiinty. This is why antialiasing filters are used - they remove the harmonics above the Nyquist limit so that the signal sounds as it should without nasty alias artifacts.

An example would be: Assume a sample rate of 10 kHz that is attempting to reproduce a sinewave signal of 11 kHz. When the 11 kHz signal is captured at 10 kHz sample rate, the reproduced signal will be 1 kHz - an "alias" of the original signal which is completely different from the actual input signal. It takes at least 2 samples per cycle of a given waveform to come even close to reproducing the frequency of a sampled signal - and that's only "half ass" accurate. The 2 sample requirement is what gives rise to the Nyquist 1/2 sample rate figure. The more samples per cycle, the more accurate will be the reproduction.

You can read more about aliasing and the Nyquist limit at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliasing


Yes, I understand the difference Smile Sorry, I did mean stepping. Specifically, on the CV input and the oscillator's response to CV.

I am speaking from a lot of weird backgrounds that use words differently so I get terminology crossed sometimes!

In particular, I think I was thinking about how the word pertains to visual/graphic design in my head (which can also be seen on the image example of the letter "A" at the right of the Wiki page you linked). If you imagine a sloped CV input as a function of time vs. the uP's output frequency, the output frequency would resemble an aliased image.

Thanks for the explanation. I hope I did not confuse anyone too much ^__^

_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
JovianPyx



Joined: Nov 20, 2007
Posts: 1988
Location: West Red Spot, Jupiter
Audio files: 224

PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Yeah, the wikipedia article is more broad than just the consideration of digitally reproduced sampled audio signal alias artifacts (that's a mouthful), which is why I used the word audio to prevent any confusion with the other kinds of alias artifacts that are described there.

I did an experiment with a sawtooth waveform naively generated in an FPGA into a 24 bit DAC. I used a sample rate of 44.1 kHz and the design would sweep the frequency of the sawtooth when a button was pushed. While the sawtooth wave was static at one frequency, the alias artifacts were not noticable, but when the sweep button was pushed, you could hear the sawtooth sweep, but you could also hear the aliased harmonic frequencies sweeping as well, often in the opposite direction of the fundamental tone sweep. If you're ever going to hear aliasing, that's when it will become boldly apparent - when you sweep the waveform's fundamental frequency (as in portamento). There are two ways (that I know of) to deal with that - one is to band limit the sawtooth which can be done (among several ways) by adding up sinewaves up to but less than the sample rate frequency divided by two to build the sawtooth from it's harmonic series. This won't alias, because there is no violation of the Nyquist limit. The other way is a bit sneakier; which is to use a very high sample rate. As you may know, periodic waveforms have harmonics that go to infinity in frequency, but they also are more and more attenutated as the harmonic number is increased. If a very high sample rate is used with a naively generated waveform like sawtooth, there will still be alias artifacts, but the amplitudes of those harmonics above the Nyquist limit are so small that they are imperceptible and you don't hear them.

As for stepping or quantization, it can certainly be a problem especially when fewer bits are used to represent signal values. When an envelope is generated with only a few bits, it will certainly have what is call "the zipper effect" when it slews from one value to the next. This is often handled in circuitry by a simple lowpass filter (resistor and capacitor) to smooth it out.

Nice board, by the way Cool

_________________
FPGA, dsPIC and Fatman Synth Stuff

Time flies like a banana.
Fruit flies when you're having fun.
BTW, Do these genes make my ass look fat?
corruptio optimi pessima
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 1:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

JovianPyx wrote:
Yeah, the wikipedia article is more broad than just the consideration of digitally reproduced sampled audio signal alias artifacts (that's a mouthful), which is why I used the word audio to prevent any confusion with the other kinds of alias artifacts that are described there.

I did an experiment with a sawtooth waveform naively generated in an FPGA into a 24 bit DAC. I used a sample rate of 44.1 kHz and the design would sweep the frequency of the sawtooth when a button was pushed. While the sawtooth wave was static at one frequency, the alias artifacts were not noticable, but when the sweep button was pushed, you could hear the sawtooth sweep, but you could also hear the aliased harmonic frequencies sweeping as well, often in the opposite direction of the fundamental tone sweep. If you're ever going to hear aliasing, that's when it will become boldly apparent - when you sweep the waveform's fundamental frequency (as in portamento). There are two ways (that I know of) to deal with that - one is to band limit the sawtooth which can be done (among several ways) by adding up sinewaves up to but less than the sample rate frequency divided by two to build the sawtooth from it's harmonic series. This won't alias, because there is no violation of the Nyquist limit. The other way is a bit sneakier; which is to use a very high sample rate. As you may know, periodic waveforms have harmonics that go to infinity in frequency, but they also are more and more attenutated as the harmonic number is increased. If a very high sample rate is used with a naively generated waveform like sawtooth, there will still be alias artifacts, but the amplitudes of those harmonics above the Nyquist limit are so small that they are imperceptible and you don't hear them.

As for stepping or quantization, it can certainly be a problem especially when fewer bits are used to represent signal values. When an envelope is generated with only a few bits, it will certainly have what is call "the zipper effect" when it slews from one value to the next. This is often handled in circuitry by a simple lowpass filter (resistor and capacitor) to smooth it out.

Nice board, by the way Cool


Cool read! Thanks for the information Smile

_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Short video demo of FM with Make Noise Pressure Points and Intellijel PLANAR mixing FM sources!

I will make a more formal video demo with some spoken explanation eventually...just gotta finish make a couple more vcNOIZ modules so I can have some chaotic fun with it Very Happy



_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Taylor wrote:
Very cool sounds and lovely PCB design. Very Happy Wish I could afford the Eurorack boards as it looks like fun. Any chance you'd offer the PCBs without the SMT already mounted, for those of us comfortable with SMT soldering?


Sorry! I missed this post until now, somehow.

Unfortunately I only ordered the PCBs with SMT done on them (there are not any extras), so, I won't have any to offer without SMT done, nope!

You can however build a universal PCB set into eurorack no problem! You just have to mount the board like any other DIY module (at a right angle to the panel) and handwire the jacks and pots!

I am doing this myself for a couple of them as we speak, since I don't have any complete SMT boards here yet and need a couple more modules done for video demos!

_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I assembled a couple of vcNOIZ modules today for demo purposes Smile

These are the universal DIY style PCBs which are presently available in my shop!


Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 10:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

In this new vcNOIZ demo video, I blab for awhile and then demonstrate white noise and pitch-modulated percussive elements (hihats)


_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

The euro SMT assembly order arrived today from the manufacturer! As you can see, I still have to hand assemble all of the through hole components. These are the boards that Option #3 and #4 preorders will receive.

I am still waiting on the panel order before I can ship any of these, so, it may be a few weeks still!



Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

vcNOIZ User Manual is now live (scroll down for link) Smile

I will have the assembly manual up shortly as well!


http://cv.hexinverter.net/?projects=vcnoiz-universal-diy-format-pcb

_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HexInverter



Joined: Aug 21, 2010
Posts: 338
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 3:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

The vcNOIZ Assembly Guide is now live Smile Sorry for the wait, guys! :tu:

http://cv.hexinverter.net/?projects=vcnoiz-universal-diy-format-pcb

_________________
hexinverter.net -- Shop DIY projects and modules for modular synthesis

sympleSEQ -- the simple to build analog step-sequencer

seqSQUARED -- the Analogue Pattern Generator
--> Put yourself on the hexinverter.net mailing list to be notified when in stock!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic Moderators: jksuperstar, Scott Stites, Uncle Krunkus
Page 2 of 2 [37 Posts]
View unread posts
View new posts in the last week
Goto page: Previous 1, 2
Mark the topic unread :: View previous topic :: View next topic
 Forum index » DIY Hardware and Software
Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Forum with support of Syndicator RSS
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
Copyright © 2003 through 2009 by electro-music.com - Conditions Of Use