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 Forum index » DIY Hardware and Software » The layout factory
4017 Baby Sequencer Stripboard
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Citezyne



Joined: Jan 09, 2015
Posts: 24
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 1:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

im using an RCA lead in fact give me a min and i will take some pics for you.... now that i think of it i didn't know where to connect the input negative lead on Nicolas' design so i left it alone, i'm guessing i need to connect that to the neg on bleepy machine.

but that leaves me with my other issue of random beeps out of the sequencer i will get a recording now for you both with pics and with the bleeper and without give me 2 mins.
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Citezyne



Joined: Jan 09, 2015
Posts: 24
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 2:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

OK so i have included a vid of the sequencer stepping and some pics, and some sounds. let me explain.

So i use an RCA cable to go from the sequencer into the bleepy machine, then i use rca from the bleepy machine into the mixer. in the case of the picture bellow i plugged the RCA directly into the mixer to test with.
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.

Video is now approved and added bellow:


hope the following helps.

this first sound is just the sequncer hooked up to the mixer.


This is the sequencer hooked up to the bleepymachine


this is the static sound when nothing is turned on, and goes away when power is unplugged form the sequencer.


Any help would be grand, i seem to be at my wits end to the issue, or perhaps i am too close to see the issue and some outside eyes might help, sadly non of my friends are any good with electronics let alone be able to tell the difference between a cap and LED.

I'm going to be posting on Nics' board as well to confirm that i have my wiring on that side done correctly.
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elmegil



Joined: Mar 20, 2012
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Citezyne wrote:
I have tried both, minus feeding the sequencer into a mixer directly to see if its giving output for each step and I have also tried to feed this into a VCO/LFO the one that Nicolas designed. in both cases I get allot of static, and a random beep at any given step.



The sequencer itself does not generate sound. Plugging it into the mixer should do nothing, or very little.

The sequencer sends control voltages that should go to the CV in (v/oct, or linear or exponential FM) of a VCO for testing, and then that VCO's output to the mixer; or else you can hook it up to a meter and run the sequencer at a slow rate and measure the voltage output.


Edit: I'm not familiar with the bleepy machine, but the same commentary about using control voltage inputs applies.

Which output of the sequencer are you hooking up? Just to verify the CV out, not the gate out, correct?
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Citezyne



Joined: Jan 09, 2015
Posts: 24
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

understand that there is no output sound when no sound is genarated this is why im confused with my resaults.

the reazon i plugged in the sequencer direct to the mixer was to isolate the static and the phantom beeps. both coming from the sequencer. and i know it shouldent.

will a picture of he strip board front and back help?
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elmegil



Joined: Mar 20, 2012
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Couldn't hurt....
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bamboombaps



Joined: Oct 23, 2015
Posts: 66
Location: Glasgow

PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 7:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I've built the sequencer as per the first post with all the minus mods.

The lights go on in the correct sequence but are suuuuupppppeeerrr slow and the rotary switch doesn't have any effect.

The reset button works but the step button does not.

The main 1m pot doesn't appear to do anything, whereas some of the step pots dim and brighten the LEDs, some not.

I have went over my soldering and fixed an error or two and replaced the IC s but obviously something is still wrong.

Can anyone diagnose?
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elmegil



Joined: Mar 20, 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 8:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

if you can't change the clock speed, I'd start with the area around the 555 timer. It works by charging and discharging the 1uF cap, and using a comparator to decide whether it should be charging or discharging. If you disconnect the link from pin 3 of the 555 to "e", what do you see on pin 3? This will decouple the 555 circuit from the 4017 so you can focus on which part is at fault.


As for the step switch, did you omit the dark green link? You don't mention if the start/stop switch works? My bet is you have the link there and so the switches don't do anything.
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bamboombaps



Joined: Oct 23, 2015
Posts: 66
Location: Glasgow

PostPosted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

God you're good !! I cut the wrong wire :/

Ok so I disconnected the 555 and it appears to function correctly, cycling through each step when the button is pressed if a little flaky at times.

When I connect a crocodile clip to one of the legs of the momentary stepper button and hold the other in my hand it goes super fast through all the steps . The rotary switch appears to do as it is supposed to.

When i reconnect the pin 3 to e connection I can replicate the quick sequence bend but the momentary stepper no longer works. ive replaced the 555 twice in case so unless it's a bad batch I'm not sure what could be wrong. The speed knob still doent work and it's stuck on one step without bending. My reset button works fine and also if relevant when I switch the power off then off again the step moves one step on.

Does this make any sense?

edit- i just realised that the stepper button does work when the 55 connection is back but only for one press then I have to turn it on and off again for the button to work again ...
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elmegil



Joined: Mar 20, 2012
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I'm not really following your description, but I think it may be time to show pictures of both sides of the PCB, fairly high resolution, please Smile


I assume you 1) replaced the incorrectly cut connection and 2) cut the green wire? You didn't explicitly say so....
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elmegil



Joined: Mar 20, 2012
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

bamboombaps wrote:
God you're good !! I cut the wrong wire :/

Ok so I disconnected the 555 and it appears to function correctly, cycling through each step when the button is pressed if a little flaky at times.



This is an odd statement.

If you disconnected the 555, I'm interested in whether the 555 is behaving correctly. Edit: by correctly I mean that the 555 should be cycling continuously, at a rate determined by the pot. It shouldn't just cycle when the button is pressed -- if that's the case the button is not where you think it is.

Further, pressing the button to step the 4017 *might* work occasionally because you could be generating some noise at the clock input of the 4017 by doing so, but if there's no 555 hooked up to go through the button, that's pure chance.
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bamboombaps



Joined: Oct 23, 2015
Posts: 66
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Embarassed i need to look a bit deeper. considering a rebuild... scratch
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bamboombaps



Joined: Oct 23, 2015
Posts: 66
Location: Glasgow

PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

i have rebuilt and the board was fine after all, was still getting the same results.

what i realised is that i must have a bunch of faulty pots. replaced the main speed pot and i have the correct function. however only a couple of the other pots affect the steps . so im assuming faulty pots here as well unless theres anything else that would stop the pots from affecting the steps? only 3 of the 8 do anything currently.

DAMN YOU ALIEXPRESS.COM!
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elmegil



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

That's certainly a possibility.

I would pause the clock, manually step to one of the ones giving trouble, and measure the voltage at the wiper as you change the pot. If that's not changing, or there's no voltage at all, then definitely a bad pot.
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Cfish



Joined: Feb 24, 2016
Posts: 477
Location: Indiana

PostPosted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 10:57 am    Post subject: 4017 Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I have experimented a little with the 4017 as a sequencer. I had tried building a stomp box drum machine but the leading and trailing edge of the signal pulse both cause a triggering affect. Using a leading edge detector on each output made the circuit to large to fit in the Hammond bb size box. Is there any available similar IC that will act as a decade counter with a controllable pulse width.

I'm not in to micro programming at all. It's way beyond me.
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tabbycat



Joined: May 15, 2016
Posts: 4
Location: seaside

PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 11:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

i built minus' vero layout at the top of this thread last summer and tried to implement/integrate what i think are all the necessary basic mods and tweaks (from the ensuing discussion) required in order to get it to work as intended (cap from pin 5 of the 555 to GROUND) but still no joy.
revisited it this afternoon but still can't get it to work.

thanks anyway to elmegil for his troubleshooting mission with this one.

while i could never say i haven't made some idiotic mistake, i have been pretty careful and followed standard vero debugging practice. cutting between tracks, checking grounds, cap orientation, etc. have completed much bigger vero layouts than this without issues.

so has anyone built this according to minus' vero and got it to work, and what did you have to tweak to get it from that layout to functional.

or does anyone have a verified vero layout for the baby 8?

many thanks.
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-minus-



Joined: Oct 26, 2008
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I'm sorry you are having issues with this. It's a fairly simple circuit and looking again at the diagrams I can see no reason why it wouldn't work. Have you soldered all the pots on and LEDs? What are the LEDs doing?

I suggest we start at the clock output, PIN 3 of the 555. Can you hook up a wire from there to a resistor to a LED to GROUND? Is there any oscillation going on? If the clock is confirmed working then the connection between the clock and the 4017 is the next thing to check.

In the meantime, are you sure the components are all soldered in the correct place. If something is wrong, I'd imagine it could be in the connection of the other hardware, the pots, LEDs etc going to the board. The style of artwork doesn't help much either! Rolling Eyes

Check the clock... Just see if a LED is bilking on PIN 3 of the 555...
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kurtflex1



Joined: Jun 24, 2012
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 7:15 am    Post subject: 4017 Baby Sequencer Stripboard
Subject description: Off-board wiring is tedious
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Off board wiring on a separate strip board is essential; its the only way to build a step sequencer sans designing a PCB.

Thanks for this awesome and useful design.
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emiz



Joined: May 16, 2018
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:47 am    Post subject:  Make the circuit 12v compatible
Subject description: on 12v the sequencer won´t work with external clock input
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hello at all , im new to this forum
i build the baby 8 for my eurorack,
i´ve added external clock input i have soldered wire d to the middle leg of the spdt and external clock ( doepfer clock) and onboard 555 clock to the ears.
on battery it works fine, but when i connect it to the 12v of my busboard the sequencer didn´t run on external clock input.
hope that someone could help me.
im new to electronics.
greetz
markus
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wackelpeter



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

This has to do with the treshold of the CMOS chip… it's treshold, means the voltage were the inputs (clk,reset, enable) work are determined by the supply voltage for the IC... don#t have the exact vakues in mind but i think it was either 2/3 or 3/4 of the supply voltage… assuming the latter would be the case and you would power your IC with 10V the Clock Signal should have 7,5V to work properly…

The supply voltage also affects the Output of the IC the Output when run on 15V is higher as on 12V... Output normally reaches value close to supply voltage…

You can resolve this by "shaping" or "pumping up" the Input Signal as done in the Yusynth Clock divider… that's the part left with the 2 trannies and the resistors that is then connected to the clk Input...

http://www.yusynth.net/Modular/Commun/DIVIDER/ClockDivider-sch.gif

and well, welcome to the Forum... Smile

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fabrizio



Joined: Dec 14, 2018
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 21, 2018 7:45 am    Post subject:  Re: 4017 Baby Sequencer Stripboard
Subject description: ayuda donde conecto el cv out
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-minus- wrote:
Sequencers based upon the 4017 IC seem to be a right of passage many DIYers go through. I was recently asked about a stripboard layout for the infamous Baby Sequencer. Here are some diagrams which may be useful as a starting point...

I have tested this on breadboard and it seems to be working OK. Let me know if you find any mistakes and I'll correct the layout. Feel free to add to the circuit and modify it to your own needs.



where the cv out is connected in the atari punk Question Confused Embarassed
thank you very much comarade
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fabrizio



Joined: Dec 14, 2018
Posts: 2
Location: argentina

PostPosted: Fri Dec 21, 2018 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

wackelpeter wrote:
This has to do with the treshold of the CMOS chip… it's treshold, means the voltage were the inputs (clk,reset, enable) work are determined by the supply voltage for the IC... don#t have the exact vakues in mind but i think it was either 2/3 or 3/4 of the supply voltage… assuming the latter would be the case and you would power your IC with 10V the Clock Signal should have 7,5V to work properly…

The supply voltage also affects the Output of the IC the Output when run on 15V is higher as on 12V... Output normally reaches value close to supply voltage…

You can resolve this by "shaping" or "pumping up" the Input Signal as done in the Yusynth Clock divider… that's the part left with the 2 trannies and the resistors that is then connected to the clk Input...

http://www.yusynth.net/Modular/Commun/DIVIDER/ClockDivider-sch.gif

and well, welcome to the Forum... Smile


where the cv out is connected in the atari punk Question
thank you very much comarade
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Rumblepants



Joined: Dec 13, 2019
Posts: 2
Location: Melbourne

PostPosted: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I'm building this sequencer and all is working well. Thank you for posting this up.

I am getting a strange behaviour when switching off the the clock using the SPDT switch in Figure 6. Instead of stopping the lights are cascading really fast. When I hold the momentary switch it reverts to the clock.

any suggestions on how to have the sequencer stop when I flick the switch?

Thanks
Rumble
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PHOBoS



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PostPosted: Tue Apr 07, 2020 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

welcome party!

What you are experiencing is most likely the result of a floating (unconnected) input. One of the 'rules' when using CMOS chips is
to never leave an input unconnected (unless you want it as a feature). What happens is that it is picking up all kinds of
electrostatic/electromagnetic noise and if you have a wire attached to it that will act like an antenna and make it even worse.
The solution is rather simple by adding a resistor between the input and GND (pulldown resistor). This will keep the input at GND
level when the switch is open but won't interfere when the switch is closed. A common value to use for this is 100K but it is not
very crtical (I'd keep it above 1K and below 1M though).

Note that it might not stop exactly where you want it because of switch bounce which is another issue.

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Rumblepants



Joined: Dec 13, 2019
Posts: 2
Location: Melbourne

PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2020 6:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

PHOBoS wrote:
welcome party!

What you are experiencing is most likely the result of a floating (unconnected) input. One of the 'rules' when using CMOS chips is
to never leave an input unconnected (unless you want it as a feature). What happens is that it is picking up all kinds of
electrostatic/electromagnetic noise and if you have a wire attached to it that will act like an antenna and make it even worse.
The solution is rather simple by adding a resistor between the input and GND (pulldown resistor). This will keep the input at GND
level when the switch is open but won't interfere when the switch is closed. A common value to use for this is 100K but it is not
very crtical (I'd keep it above 1K and below 1M though).

Note that it might not stop exactly where you want it because of switch bounce which is another issue.


Thanks heaps for that. I chucked a 100k resistor on the clock input and connected it to ground.

I kind of like the bounce effect when i switch off the clock.

Next task is to connect a reset bus and have the steps switch on to it if that makes sense.
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Bobby Zincone



Joined: Oct 01, 2020
Posts: 3
Location: Budapest

PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 4:45 am    Post subject: Thanks Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Hey there!

Thanks a lot for the layout! I've built the sequencer a few months ago and it works like a charm! The only issue is that when I disconnect the clock for manual steps, sometimes it changes back to auto, even goes full speed crazy in some cases. Weird thing is that when I apply pressure to the panel, it usually works as intended. I'll check it again, maybe some wires got tangled (because initially it worked perfectly).

Anyway, the main reason for my post is to thank you all. This was one of my first builds ever, I've been just getting into electronics this year. And this is such a fun machine!

I'm also thinking about implementing the clock mods (in and/or out) but that would also mean tinkering with the front panel and I'm really bonded with that for the above reason (even if it's only a scratched plate, basically).
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