anyone sell a PCB for sequencer that outputs resistance?

ALAS · Joined: Oct 14, 2013 Posts: 3 Location: Philadelphia

Hi, thanks for reading this post. I have just a simple question for you guys.

Basically all I want to do is to make a step sequencer that outputs resistance values instead of CV. It would just step through a variety of resistances, and the resistance for each step would be controlled by a pot, etc, etc. I have a Casper Electronics DroneLab that I have modified so that different resistances can be patched in in place of the pots that control oscillator pitches and filter parameters, and I thought it would be cool to control it with a sequencer.

I don't want to invest a great deal of time/money in this project, so I was hoping for something quick and cheap.

I found this kit for sale which pretty much does exactly what I want:
Delptronics Bender Sequencer
http://delptronics.com/bendersequencer.php

Although this is pretty much perfect, I was hoping to find a PCB for sale because I am really cheap/broke and don't even want to buy the whole kit for $70. Also, I want to be able to make an enclosure for it and panel-mount the pots and use parts I already have, and this one has PCB-mounted parts.

I was just wondering if you knew of anyone selling anything similar where you could just get the PCB.

If not I might just find a schematic and build it from scratch, but I'm hoping for a solution that perfectly accommodates my specific combination of cheapness and laziness.

Thanks in advance!

Mongo1 · Joined: Aug 11, 2011 Posts: 408 Location: Raleigh NC

I've built the delptronics unit and it's a blast - I don't know if Micky would consider just selling the PCB, but its a really easy build. I've never seen another sequencer that has a resistive output

Gary

ALAS · Joined: Oct 14, 2013 Posts: 3 Location: Philadelphia

hey Gary - thanks for replying. I actually already sent a message to Delptronics asking if there was any way I could just get the PCB and haven't heard back yet.

since you have the Delptronics unit there are actually a couple of questions I would like to ask you about it. Mainly, what are the resistance ranges you can get the sequencer to output?

Do you just set the pots for each step to whatever level, and that becomes the resistance that is output when the step is active?

Is there a way to sync it with other devices? The description mentions "infrared synchronization" to link "multiple sequencers" but other than that is there clock input or do you know of a way to add that ability?

Thanks!
Alison

comrade_zero · Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 1:37 am Post subject:

It would not be as full featured... but have you considered making a baby10 type sequencer to drive an LED/LDR (home-rolled vactrol) pair? (heck, you could use the velleman light chasing kit if you wanted) quick, cheap, dirty...

ALAS · Joined: Oct 14, 2013 Posts: 3 Location: Philadelphia

thanks comrade_zero - actually I just finished making a vactrol-based device to modulate resistance values after I initially modified the DroneLab. I used a simple 555-based circuit to make LEDs fade in and out, then attached them to the LDRs. That way I can input cyclically changing resistance values into basically anything and I put in several LEDS each with a different range LDR attached. It was a fun, quick, cheap way to create a modulation source and I did consider using a similar strategy to make the sequencer, but wanted to try something else.

I just heard back from Delptronics and he said I could actually just buy the PCB for $12 (including shipping!). I'm totally jazzed! I think I'm going to do that and might actually buy 2 and then set them up to be synced.

jackdamery · Joined: Apr 26, 2010 Posts: 68 Location: UK

What about a microcontroller with 8 pots to the input and 8 leds to show which is being triggered then a digipot to achieve your resistance

JingleJoe · Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 12:47 pm Post subject:

This should give you some ideas Smile

I haven't tested it but it should work, you will need to experiment a lot, the 4017 outputs may need pull down resistors and you will need a clock circuit for the 4017 too.

The output is between the two common busses, connecting to all the variable resistor and analogue switch combos, only one of which will be active at any one time.

resistance sequencer.png

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repeat the circuit for more steps

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