{"id":106,"date":"2018-04-04T14:39:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T14:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5722.temp.domains\/~audioor1\/can-you-make-a-synth-with-an-arduino\/"},"modified":"2018-04-04T14:39:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T14:39:00","slug":"can-you-make-synth-with-arduino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/audioordeal.co.uk\/can-you-make-synth-with-arduino\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Make a Synth with an Arduino?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Arduino<\/a> \"\"is an open source hardware project based on single board microprocessors. It is cheap and easily found online, this means that it is a favourite of DIYers and home inventors for projects ranging from simple motion sensors, all the way up to drones and robotics. A question, which I’ve been investigating for the past few months, has been whether the Arduino can be used to build your own synthesiser. The short answer is that it can, but my investigation continued when I discovered that it can be quite hard, and inaccessible to a complete novice, this feature is my best attempt at providing answers to people wanting to get started with Arduino and build a synth for themselves.<\/p>\n
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A word of warning here, a lot of what is to come is still fairly complicated, and so I recommend you familiarise yourself with how synths work, and some audio basics before you dive in. As such, many of the resources which I link to, are chosen because they give a lot of background understanding, I recommend you read through all of the links to get a working grasp of the projects, and use this article as a guide on where to look, as much as a tutorial in itself.<\/p>\n

1. DAC<\/span><\/h3>\n
The very first thing you’ll need to consider is that the Arduino doesn’t have a headphone jack. This means that it cannot send audio straight away. What we need is a DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter<\/i>) I have found two methods of outputting audio from an Arduino: PWM, and an R2R resistor ladder. Both of these require a knowledge of soldering and basic electronics. A third option, not in the spirit of the project, yet still available, would be to use an Audio Shield for Arduino<\/a>\"\", a device which you place on the pins to do it for you.<\/div>\n
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The simpler method is to use one of the Arduino’s PWM output pins fed into a low pass filter. This is by far the simplest method, yet it only outputs 1-Bit audio, and so is perhaps not the best for sound quality.<\/div>\n
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The better method which I have found is to use a Resistor Ladder (R2R) as a voltage divider to make a much better sounding 8-Bit DAC.<\/p>\n
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Image from Hackaday<\/a>.<\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Amanda Ghassaei<\/a>‘s Instructable on building an R2R Arduino DAC is an extremely valuable guide here, but to sum up:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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