Are you a modular/semi-modular synth enthusiast? Do you own an Arduino, or are you interested in getting one, but aren’t sure how to make good musical use of it? Maybe you’ve heard that the Arduino UNO “isn’t fast enough for audio.” Well, that’s not entirely true. This workshop explores how to work within the Arduino’s limitations, covering everything you need to start doing real, practical digital signal processing (DSP) and interfacing an AVR based Arduino with a modular synth. You’ll learn how to make the core components of modules like MIDI to CV converters, sequencers, envelope generators, low-frequency oscillators, slew rate limiters, sample and hold, and other (mostly) sub-audio rate modules. You’ll learn about:
- The pitfalls of analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion and how to avoid them
- How to configure the Arduino for synthesizing signals at a constant sample rate
- How to understand and adapt a few C++ examples to make fully-functional synth modules
- Circuits for reconstructing analog signals from digital ones, and scaling your Arduino’s 0 to 5V output to other CV ranges
- Circuits for interfacing a MIDI controller with your Arduino
This workshop assumes some basic familiarity with typical synthesizer modules (oscillators, filters, envelope generators, etc.), and it helps to know some C/C++. However, we assume little to no familiarity with DSP and Arduino. We’ll have a limited number of extra supplies including Arduino Nanos, resistors, potentiometers, capacitors, and a few useful ICs. We suggest you bring your modular or semi modular synth, a MIDI cable, and an Arduino (if you’ve got one).