| Author |
Message |
LektroiD
Joined: Aug 23, 2008
Posts: 1019
Location: Scottish Borders
Audio files: 2
G2 patch files: 2
|
 Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 5:21 pm Post subject:
Wobbulator
Subject description: As used in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop |
  |
|
I've read about one of these devices in a few BBC Radiophonic Workshop related articles. I'm wondering if it would be possible to construct something as unique as this to be used in a modular synthesizer?
I can find very little concise technical information regarding these devices, only application info, so it may be a null discussion point. Unless someone here has a more in-depth knowledge of them?
Here's a few articles that mention the wobbulator:
| Quote: | Early on, the Workshop acquired a wobbulator, originally designed for engineering tests but also very useful as a source of raw material. This created a tone whose pitch was continuously varied by a second oscillator, thus providing sweeping waves of sound.
http://whitefiles.org/rws/r02.htm |
| Quote: | The melody notes were also recorded individually, and at half-speed to achieve the desired pitch, while the hiss and windbubble effects were created by carefully filtering white noise through a wobbulator.
http://www.millenniumeffect.co.uk/audio/index2.html |
| Quote: | They also had a couple of high-quality equalisers (again, test equipment - equalisers, or "tone controls", were not that easy to come by at the time) and a few other gadgets including a "wobbulator" (a low frequency oscillator) and a white noise generator.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Mark_ayres/DWTheme.htm |
| Quote: | Wobbulating The World
In the early '60s, synthesizers simply did not exist. Producer Joe Meek was using the monophonic, valve-operated Clavioline but the Radiophonic Workshop, oddly enough, never had one. What they did have, though, was all the test oscillators that they could beg, borrow or steal from other BBC departments. A method was devised for controlling 12 oscillators at a time, triggering them from a tiny home-built keyboard of recycled piano keys. Each oscillator could be independently tuned by means of a range switch and a chunky Bakelite frequency knob.
There was also the versatile 'wobbulator', a sine-wave oscillator that could be frequency modulated. It consisted of a very large metal box, with a few switches and one very large knob in the middle that could sweep the entire frequency range in one revolution. They were used in the BBC for 'calibrating reverb times in studios' apparently. And as far as the Workshop's electronic sound sources went, that was it!
Yet, curiously, it is the work produced in those early years that the Radiophonic Workshop's reputation still hangs on. The Doctor Who theme was first recorded in 1963, and still there are fans who insist that the original is the best of many versions made over the years. What's more, some of the sound effects made for the first series of Doctor Who are still being used! When the newly revamped Doctor Who appeared in 2005, hardcore fans recognised the original effects and wrote to Brian Hodgson: "How nice to hear the old original Dalek Control Room again, after all these years!"
Brian's 'Tardis' sound, dating from 1963, is also still used. "I spent a long time in planning the Tardis sound," says Brian. "I wanted a sound that seemed to be travelling in two directions at once; coming and going at the same time." The sound was actually made from the bare strings of a piano that had been dismantled. Brian scraped along some bass strings with his mum's front-door key, then set about processing the recordings, as he describes it, "with a lot of reverse feedback". (By this, I assume he means that tape echo was added, then the tape reversed so that it played backwards.) Eventually, Brian played the finished results to Dick Mills and Desmond Briscoe; at their insistence he added a slowly rising note, played on the wobbulator.
http://musicandculture.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html |
I think I would like one of these! More info would be great, if anyone has any? |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
 |
blue hell
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 03, 2004
Posts: 24423
Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 297
G2 patch files: 320
|
| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
Wobbulator may sound like magic, and so this may come as a  but a wobbulator is really just a VCO + an LFO to sweep it.
| http://www.answers.com/topic/wobbulator-electronics wrote: | Sci-Tech Dictionary:
wobbulator
(′wäb·yə′lād·ər)
(electronics) A signal generator in which a motor-driven variable capacitor is used to vary the output frequency periodically between two known limits, as required for displaying a frequency-response curve on the screen of a cathode-ray oscilloscope. |
_________________
Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
 |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Sine
Joined: Sep 10, 2007
Posts: 111
Location: Netherlands
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:49 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
The wooden boxy thing in the front of the picture with the round dail is the workshops wobbulator, the plexi thing on thop of that is the crystal palace, something we woud call a scanner these days.
I kew manufacturer of the wobbulator, but I can't seem to remember it right now, it was a two-name company, something like hewlett - packard or endress and hauser.
The wobbulator would probbably be very hard to find today, that thing is something from the 50's and would have cost a fortune back then. |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
blue hell
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 03, 2004
Posts: 24423
Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 297
G2 patch files: 320
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
What do we have ... Allen & Heath, Brüel & Kjær ... Honey & Well 
_________________
Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Sine
Joined: Sep 10, 2007
Posts: 111
Location: Netherlands
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
Bruel & Kjaer !
Careful if you want to buy something like that tough, they made a lot of equipment that looks similar, but does completely different things. Not a few in the HF regions
 |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
fluxmonkey
Joined: Jun 24, 2005
Posts: 708
Location: cleve
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:20 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
hmm...
| Quote: |
>wobbulator is a commonly used German word for Sweep Generator
>
> Years ago, I ran into a sweep/marker generator for TV alignment that had
> a part called a wobbulator in it. It appeared to me to be some kind of
> motor-driven variable capacitor.
>
>Hello-- I recall seeing another wobbulator variant-- a loudspeaker-like device with a variable capacitor plate attached to where the cone would go. And, an electronic version: the Increductor, which used a modulator coil to alter the properties of a tuning inductor. Kaye Elemetrics used these in certain sweep generators. |
my gears are spinning... watch out for smoke
b
_________________
www.fluxmonkey.com |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
etaoin
Joined: Jun 30, 2005
Posts: 761
Location: Utrecht, NL
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:46 am Post subject:
|
|
|
Odd enough Elektor Magazin are doing a DIY wobbulator in their October issue. Probably HF only though, but I haven't read the article yet.
_________________
http://www.casia.org/modular/ |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
LektroiD
Joined: Aug 23, 2008
Posts: 1019
Location: Scottish Borders
Audio files: 2
G2 patch files: 2
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:02 am Post subject:
|
|
|
| Etaoin wrote: | | Odd enough Elektor Magazin are doing a DIY wobbulator in their October issue. Probably HF only though, but I haven't read the article yet. |
I wonder how easily it would be to adapt it to be used as an audio device?
I haven't read Elektor since the early '80s, I didn't even think it was still going |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
yusynth
Joined: Nov 24, 2005
Posts: 1314
Location: France
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:32 am Post subject:
|
|
|
Well you can do exactly the same as a wobbulator using a sawtooth LFO that modulates a VCO through the lin FM input. Nothing really fancy or special about that. Don't waste your time redesigning such a device that you'll realize that you can already do that with basic modules available in your modular...
Back to Elektor, they published an audio Wobulator (lin/log sweep generator+VC-function generator, XR2206 based) back in 1979 or 1980.
_________________
Yves |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
blue hell
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 03, 2004
Posts: 24423
Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 297
G2 patch files: 320
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:43 am Post subject:
|
|
|
| yusson wrote: | | Well you can do exactly the same as a wobbulator using a sawtooth LFO that modulates a VCO through the lin FM input. |
Exactly, and that's what I meant in my earlier post, but this is not the answer people want to read .. or so it seems 
_________________
Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
yusynth
Joined: Nov 24, 2005
Posts: 1314
Location: France
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:29 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
| Blue Hell wrote: |
Exactly, and that's what I meant in my earlier post, but this is not the answer people want to read .. or so it seems |
Yep you're right
_________________
Yves |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
LektroiD
Joined: Aug 23, 2008
Posts: 1019
Location: Scottish Borders
Audio files: 2
G2 patch files: 2
|
| Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 11:21 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
| Etaoin wrote: | | Odd enough Elektor Magazin are doing a DIY wobbulator in their October issue. Probably HF only though, but I haven't read the article yet. |
Did anyone manage to get this article?
_________________
LektroiD |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
etaoin
Joined: Jun 30, 2005
Posts: 761
Location: Utrecht, NL
|
| Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 9:36 am Post subject:
|
|
|
Elektor sell their articles online as PDF, so anyone who wants it should be able to get it. I have the hardcopy. But as was said above, it's just an LFO+VCO. And the Elektor one is HF (to test receivers).
_________________
http://www.casia.org/modular/ |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
crochambeau
Joined: May 18, 2008
Posts: 31
Location: earth.
|
| Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 5:50 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
I own a Wobbulator made by Tel.. something or other (not *etronix). It's vacuum tube, part dated to around 1953 and my assessment of it as directly applicable for audio work is a huge let down. It operates on VHF television frequencies, has a huge knob on the front to select the channel under test.
I'll see what it can do with a ring mod and another VHF signal sometime, but yeah, without some modulation to bring this one down to audio it's a heavy 5 space dud.
/edit/
Here's a front panel shot, it's a Tel-Instrument Co. unit, not a huge name I know...
 |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
mono-poly
Joined: Jul 07, 2004
Posts: 937
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Audio files: 2
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
LektroiD
Joined: Aug 23, 2008
Posts: 1019
Location: Scottish Borders
Audio files: 2
G2 patch files: 2
|
| Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 9:08 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
| mono-poly wrote: | Fun this topic.
I recently bought this one. |
Any chance of an audio example?
_________________
LektroiD |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
mono-poly
Joined: Jul 07, 2004
Posts: 937
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Audio files: 2
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 12:42 am Post subject:
|
|
|
Will do at some point.
Need to look it over with my tech to get the right connectors for this.
It uses kinda weird connectorts on the in and outputs.
Basicly you got an input and output preamp and between a 1/3th or 1 oct bandpass filter sets. |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
v-un-v
Janitor
Joined: May 16, 2005
Posts: 8932
Location: Birmingham, England, UK
Audio files: 11
G2 patch files: 1
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 1:54 am Post subject:
|
|
|
To be honest, you'd be better off just buying a secondhand Nord Micromodular. The MM will make any sound that the Wobbulator could produce, plus much much more! It's small, it has memories to boot, and most importantly, has MIDI! 
_________________
ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN. |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
mono-poly
Joined: Jul 07, 2004
Posts: 937
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Audio files: 2
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 3:16 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
Rohde & Schwarz UBM (Abstimmbarer Anzeigeverstärker)
Been a bit lucky lately finding good stuff. |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
PickNick
Joined: Oct 16, 2009
Posts: 82
Location: BP
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
AnotherHoward
Joined: Dec 30, 2021
Posts: 1
Location: Devon UK
|
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 1:42 pm Post subject:
Wobbulators
Subject description: d-i-y way to wobbulated test tones |
|
|
On a budget, in a hurry, needing to assess room acoustics, I hacked an old home built audio oscillator to add wobble.
Its pitch control is a simple single-gang pot. The guts are a ready made Chinese board, about 8 dollars.
To get wobble, I made a single-transistor phase shift oscillator, about 0.3 Hz, put an LED in the collector and shone its flashing on an ORP12 photoresistor wired to the osc pot, with a depth pot in series.
Any old-school radio amateur, or an electronics student, could assemble that lot with ease. And it is worthwhile, because even with a crude thing like that, testing a room for nodes becomes much quicker and less ambiguous. |
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
Forum index » DIY Hardware and Software
FAQ
Calendar
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
Chat Room
