PS3100 Resonators 2008

[CJ Miller]

If I shave about 1mm off of the corner of the socket, near pin1, I can fit Q6 and - just barely - a 28-pin shrink DIP socket. I bought these for the SN voive, but they didn't fit. Nice to know that I don't need to have all of these fragile pins soldered in, in case of any problems.

[a.b.o.z.]

bummer
I have major problems.

Pots and trimmers do nothing.
CV inputs does not respond.
Filter is working because when I apply LFO signal directly to vactrol or even to anode of LED it modulate.
LEDs are lit all the time except when LFO is applied to LED anode.

I've tried to turn around 550s like zthee but nothing..

btw. zthee where did you buy your 550s? Futurlec maybe?

I will try with new trannies later today and keep you posted. This is confusing. Why is not working? aaaarh

EDIT:

frecking futurshit
new set of trannies everything works like a charm.
futurlec i hate i hate waaaaar


EDIT2:

weeeeell, not so quite as a charm.
third filter has some issues with itself.

i've adjusted trimmers to get 0V on bases of q1, q3 and q5

first two sounds great, but third one...listen to it..here is a sample..first i apply lfo to first, then second and then to ill one third.

help?

where to look i'v oktochecked everything

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[a.b.o.z.]

and to complete todays monologue with fully operating ps3100 rezonator and a sound file.

ps. it was a dead vactrol

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[fonik]

annoying experience: two times faulty parts in one project. but after all it works and it seems you have some fun with it.

lit LEDs are a good indicator for issues with the transistors (faulty, reversed...).

[a.b.o.z.]

thats funny.
i get cv workin normally and filter too but led-s are lit when no cv is applied.
is that normal?

[fonik]

i set the trimmers until the LEDs are low...

[a.b.o.z.]

oh I see.
I've set trimmers to get 0V on base of 550. I've read it somewhere along..
Ok it is all good now.

Thnx M.


Ivan

[fonik]

oh, and was not as precise as i could have been: i turned the initial frequency potentiometers fully counterclockwise and then set the trimmers.

the LEDs just show whats going on inside the vactrols. so as soon as one turnes up the initial freq pot, current starts to flow...

[a.b.o.z.]

ok, thnx for help.

[rjd2]

i have a question about C8, 10, and 12. will the silver mica caps sound better? ive only got ceramic for those values now. much difference?

[fonik]

[sneakthief]

i finally slapped together my resonator - it works great i used some 910pf polystyrene's (aka styroflex) that funkyfarm sent me and they sound great.

to recap, long before fonik made this pcb, i was really interested in recreating the mam resonator's pan pot.

when the pot was fully CCW, resonator 1 would be panned hard left, resonator 2 would be permanently panned in the centre, and resonator 3 panned hard right.

as you panned the pot from CCW to CW, resonators 1 and 3 would reverse their positions in the stereo field. the effect is really fantastic.

i remember bringing this idea up and scott stites mentioned that he had done the same thing with his Triple Wilson SVVCF. so i perfboarded part of his "Balanced Pan" circuit and it works beautifully:

http://mypeoplepc.com/members/scottnoanh/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/triple_svvcf_audio_102.pdf

you know, it would be really tempting to build a dual-vactrol version of this simple circuit as a standalone panning/vca module.

thanks scott for the great circuit!

ps. i still shake my head in wonderment at the insane brilliance of your triple svvcf. what a great idea, especially if the builder can overcome wiring this beast

[fonik]

interesting point, sneakthief. i had some conversation lately with someone interested in a 3rd run of the resonators concerning a stereo version.

a dual gang pot would be a simple and effective solution. and think of applying an inverted LFO signal to one of the BPFs. it would be great to have the panning voltage controlled, though. would be possible with two simple discrete VCAs.

at a certain point it would not be a PS3100 clone then

[sneakthief]

ooh, an inverter on resonator 2 is a super idea! it would be best if you could switch between inverted and non-inverted.

would it be possible to adapt one of the attenuverting channels from your mixer for this job?

yes, i know there's feature-creep happening here, but these two mods would put this project into legendary-module status

in any case, your comments have inspired me to change the lfo wiring on the panel: currently the lfo is connected to the normalized switch on the cv input to resonator 1, then chained to cv2 and cv3.

if you want to apply an inverted or totally different lfo to the centre resonator, then the cv's should be connected as follows:

cv1 -> cv3 -> cv2.

so for anybody who does this panning mod, you can plug in an external lfo to cv2 and not interrupt the internal lfo on cv's 1 and 2.

[American Gladiator]

Just wanted to confirm that this project worked right after building it. A very enjoyable build, and a super good filter. I hope that Mr. Fonik has time to release more PCB designs, especially one for the LPG, as I am no good at the press and peel method. Thanks for the great circuit.

[sneakthief]

I second the vote for a Fonik LPG

[fonik]

[aerogramma]

We've built 2 resonators,
an incredibly good sounding and well thought project... thanks fonik!

we implemented all the mods suggested by fonik and got deep into modding the LFO which now has a multi turn switch to select for different rate ranges (switching through capacitors)

we liked the LFO so much we got an LFO out too to drive other stuff!

here's a picture of the 1st module case being dried in the sun and more importantly a little movie of the module in action

it's from my mobile phone so i hope you can read 3gp format

soon, for your delight, pictures of Resonator n.2



aero

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Resonator Alive.3gp.zip
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[neandrewthal]

[fonik]

the BC transistors are CBE while the 2N transistors are EBC. it's easy to mix it up, especially when you want to substitute them by each other.
there is a little reminder at my site (technical hints):

[neandrewthal]

But, yours worked fine with the BC550's installed according to board legending didn't it? That would mean that zthee and I got backwards ones. I'll have to start being careful and check the pinout of each bag of transistors I buy even when I'm not substituting.

One funny, thing: since I reversed the BC550's the third LED won't light. Before, all of them were staying lit

[neandrewthal]

P.S. I went with Sneakthief's idea of having an inverting switch for resonator 3 and normalling the CV from socket 1 to 3 then 2. Great idea! I didn't have room for the LFO out, so it's normalled into the first input of the CGS cascade mixer, which is sure to provide cool ways to sweep the filters as well.

[sneakthief]

neandrewthal -

what is the invert switch connected to and did you invert cv3 with an opamp?

[neandrewthal]

Yup, I used the circuit funky40 posted in this thread with 1k as the output resistor and 100k for the others. Works like a charm! The switch just selects between the original and inverted signal.

[Luka]

nice job
all fits well and looks great