Circuitmess Synthia User manual

Introduction
The beginning
Welcome to CircuitMess Synthia build guide!
By following this build guide, you'll learn how to assemble your digital musical
sampler. With Synthia, you'll learn how microcomputers and other electronic
components are used for sound production; you will be able to create unique
music by playing with the pre-loaded sounds samples or recording your own
sound samples with the built-in microphone, and much more.
Age group
Like it says on the box, Synthia is designed for anyone who's at least 11 years old.
You should approach some of the assembly steps carefully, so make sure to have
an adult jump in if you need some help with soldering or tightening the bolts later
Synthia Build Guide

in the process. It's okay to ask for help.
Don't worry, though! We'll go through the assembly step by step and provide some
useful tips along the way. We'll give you a heads-up if there's something important
to keep in mind while assembling.
Assembly time
It should take you approximately2 hoursto fully assemble your Synthia.
Of course, the assembly time depends on your previous knowledge and
experience. If you don't have any experience yet, don't worry! It just might take you
a little longer to get into the groove and overcome the challenges in the beginning.
Skills
You don't need to have any specific skills before getting your hands dirty with this
DIY project.
The main objective here is to have fun and learn something new.
So hold on tight, read all the instructions, and get ready to have fun! This is a great
opportunity and your first step in your big engineering career.
Learning with Synthia
As previously mentioned, Synthia will teach you a few useful things in the following
few hours.
Here's what you'll learn:
How to solder and assemble your very own electronic device
Which electronic components are needed for digital sound production
About Digital-to-Analog signal conversion
What sound waves are, and how to synthesize them with electronic circuitry
How to code custom light shows for the built-in LED grid
How digital sound samplers work
How to record and edit sound recordings
What's in the box?
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Let's meet all the components that arrived in
the box!
Open your Synthia box and check if you have all the components. Make sure to lay
it all on a clean surface where you'll inspect if everything is there according to the
photo and the list below.
In case something is missing, please contact us at[email protected].
Send us a photo of everything that came in the box, and we'll get back to you as
soon as possible to resolve the issue.
Here's the list of components:
1. Acrylic casings
2. Circuit board
3. Plastic caps for sliders
4. Button caps
5. Encoder caps
6. Connector for the speaker
7. Speaker
8. Adhesive rubber feet
9. Screw roundhead M3x12mm
10. Brass standoffs
11. Screw roundhead M3x5mm
12. USB-C cable
13. Sliders
14. Rotary encoders
15. Pushbuttons
16. Headphone jack

Meet the tools
Mandatory tools
In this chapter, we'll explain what tools you'll need to assemble your Synthia.
If you have yourCircuitMess Tools packin front of you, you should be all set!
In case you got the Synthia kit without the Tools pack, this is a good time to borrow
some of the tools or purchase them.
The tools required are essential whenever you assemble, fix, or modify electronic
devices and are the tools of the trade for every maker/hardware
hacker/modder/electrician.
1.Soldering iron
2. Desoldering vacuum tool (solder sucker)
3. Soldering iron stand
4. A small reel of rosin-cored solder
5. Cleaning sponge

6. Phillps screwdriver
7. Needle-nose pliers
Soldering iron
This is the most important tool in a maker’s arsenal.
For Synthia's assembly, any entry-level soldering iron will suffice.
If you plan to dive into the world of DIY projects, you should consider getting a more
expensive one with more features. Many soldering irons with interchangeable tips
can be particularly useful when working with much smaller components.
In the next chapter, you'll find the instructions on how to properly solder and take
care of your soldering iron.
Soldering sponge
This small piece doesn't seem like much until you soak it in some water. It then
turns into a super solder-cleaning sponge! Use it after soldering a couple of joints
to remove the excess solder from the tip of your iron. Make sure that the sponge
isn't dripping wet or bone dry - it should be damp.
Diagonal cutter pliers

With pliers like these, you’ll be able to trim the legs of soldered components and cut
wires!
We prefer this type shown in the picture (Plato, model 170), but any other type will
do.
Needle-nose pliers
You’re going to need pliers like these when assembling the casing or when
plugging in some tricky connectors!
They’re generally helpful when doing some fine mechanical work.

Standard cross screwdriver
You’ll need this cross (Phillips) screwdriver to assemble the casing.
A standard 2.0mm cross screwdriver should do the trick.
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Desoldering vacuum tool (solder sucker)
This tool is useful when cleaning up soldering mistakes, but it isn’t necessary for
assembly.
If you plan on doing some hacking, modding, or hardware repairs in the future,
having this is always a good idea.
Additional useful tools
Helping third hand with magnifier
This could make your soldering experience a little more enjoyable, especially when
doing some more complicated projects.
Multimeter
A multimeter can be used for many things: testing tricky connections, measuring
battery voltage, testing resistors & capacitors, measuring the current consumption,
and more.

It’s a useful tool when you’re trying to figure out what went wrong with any
electronics kit.
Solder wick
You can use solder wick along with the desoldering vacuum tool to clean up any
soldering mistakes. Just put it on the wrongly soldered joint and press on it with a
hot soldering iron, then it will soak up the excess solder like a sponge!
Useful for fixing solder joints when they cannot be easily reached with a solder
sucker.
Assembly
Soldering introduction
The first thing that you'll do as a part of the Synthia assembly process is
soldering!
Have you ever done that before? If your answer is no, we suggest you look at the
following few links, where you'll find useful tutorials and blogs about soldering. It will
only take you 10 minutes to get into the zone and understand how it's done. Here
are the links:
1. Adafruit’s video tutorial featuring Collin Cunningham- A tutorial featuring
Collin Cunningham, a super charismatic electronics guru.
2. Adafruit’s standard soldering tutorial- A great and thorough video tutorial. An
absolute must-read, even if you know how to solder. Make sure to check the
“common soldering mistakes” section at the end.
3. Sparkfun’s video soldering tutorial- Another well-made how-to-solder video
tutorial.
4. Sparkfun’s standard soldering tutorial- A detailed tutorial made by Sparkfun.

There are several rules of soldering that everybody,
regardless of their skill level, should follow at all times.
Never inhale the dust and the fumes that can be produced by the soldering
iron! These can be hazardous, so please don't inhale them.
Never touch the tip of the soldering iron! Even if the soldering iron is turned off
or completely disconnected from the power source, there is still a possibility
that it’s very hot and, therefore, can cause very uncomfortable pain if
touched.Always keep it facing away from your hands. If you’re finished with
the soldering iron, unplug it from the power source and leave it to cool off for
at least five minutes before putting it back in the box.
Clean the soldering iron! The sponge is your best friend while soldering. Make
sure to use it often and clean your soldering iron if you wish to have an easy
and simple soldering experience.Carefully hold one part of the sponge with
one hand and wipe the tip of the soldering iron on the other part of the
sponge to remove the extra solder. Repeat the process until the tip of the iron
is nice and clean from the old solder.
Check your solder joints twice (at least)! Most of the malfunctions in the
world of electronics are due to bad solder joints, so regardless if this is your
first or 100th soldering project, always make sure to inspect your joints multiple
times before proceeding to the next step.

Keep the soldering iron on the stand when you’re not using it.
Know how much solder is needed! Make sure to put just enough solder, not
too much, and not too little, since both can cause the device to malfunction.
Don’t leave any residual solder on the board! The solder should only be on
the parts where the pins connect to the board. Everything else should be
clean. Little pieces of solder all over the board are a big no-no!
Now go over these rules a couple of times so you don't forget them!
Use this photo to get an idea about good and bad solder joints (Thank you Adafruit
for this great photo!):
If you follow these rules, your soldering experience should be easy peasy.
Using the soldering iron
The soldering iron is very easy to use but only when used properly.
If you have purchased the CircuitMess tools pack with your Synthia kit, you have
gotten a white soldering iron with a temperature regulator.
Remember the rules mentioned previously? Good! Let's go over the instructions on
how to use the soldering iron now...
If you're using your soldering iron for the first time or need help with cleaning its tip,
check our video tutorial.
Soldering iron instructions

Step 1
Set up your soldering iron so it stands on the stand - as shown in the photo. After
that, plug it into a power outlet.
Step 2

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Set the temperature to350° by turning the regulator. There is a small black arrow
next to the regulator wheel, so make sure that it points to the right temperature, like
in the photo.
Your soldering iron is now ready to use, but give it a minute or two, so it can heat
up. The safest way to let it heat up is to leave it on the stand while you wait!
Step 3
Once you're done with soldering (don't worry, we'll let you know when that time
comes), you'll unplug the iron from the power outlet to turn it off.
Please use the soldering iron stand every time you are not using the soldering iron
to make sure you don't burn the surface or the circuit board!
Make sure to not touch the soldering iron tip for at least five minutes after you
have turned it off.

Chapter One - Soldering the
components
Now you know how to solder, let's put it to the test. Ready?
Part one -The headphone jack
Before soldering, please check ourvideo tutorialagain to ensure you're doing
everything right.
The first components we'll use are PCB and headphone jack.

The headphone jack will be placed at the upper left part of the PCB. You can help
yourself by finding the little square.
Or, you can simply check the photo below:
Make sure that the round part of the headphone jack is facing up. That way, you'll
be able to connect your headphone jack to your headphones.
While placing it on the board, check if everything is well-adjusted before soldering.
Your Synthia should look like this by now:

Now is the time to take your soldering iron and get down to business.
Turn the PCB around, find the pins that belong to the headphone jack, and solder
them.
Solder all of the pins from the headphone jack and that this component is vertical
to the board.

Great job! You successfully soldered your first component! We have many more
things to solder ahead of us, so we better hop to the next component.
Part two - the speaker connector
The next thing we'll solder is the speaker connector. That is the little white thingy
you got in one of the plastic bags.
You need to put the speaker connector here:
Take your soldering iron, turn over the PCB and start soldering.
Beware not to solder the chip near the pins on the front side.
Part three - pushbuttons
Now is the time to solder thepushbuttons!
Buttons are the most commonly used input, and there are a total of 5 of them.
The buttons consist of two parts -the mechanical button parts and the button
caps. Buttons can work even without the caps, but pressing them with the caps on
feels way nicer, and they look a lot cooler.

However, we'll leave the caps aside for now and focus on soldering the mechanical
button parts.
The five buttons will go on five white-marked squares at the bottom of the PCB.
You can check the exact place to put them on the photo below:

The first thing you'll have to do is place every single one of the pushbuttons onto
the board. They should be placed vertically on the board.
Before soldering the pushbuttons, make sure they are perpendicular (vertical) to
the board.This is very important as you'll have trouble putting the protective
casing on the device if the buttons are tilted.
After placing the components in the right place (pins through the tiny holes), put
the main board on the surface in front of you and pick up the soldering iron.
Solder all five pushbuttons, and make sure they are vertical to the board.
Also, now is a good time to check if there is any solder bridging.
After you finish soldering those five pushbuttons, this is what the back of the PCB
should look like.
And the front:
Part four - encoders
The next thing we'll solder is two encoders.
Those are similar to pushbuttons, but they are round and a bit bigger.
Here are the components that you'll need for this step. Got everything? Cool, let's
start!
Start with inserting the first encoder. As you can see in the photo, each rotary
encoder goes where the white square is shown on the board - it's hard to miss it.
Also, keep in mind that all pins must be inserted into the holes to solder the
encoder to the board later. In case any of the pins bend when inserting, simply
straighten them out with your fingers and try again.
There are seven pins on each encoder arranged so that there is only one way to
insert it. After inserting the first rotary encoder, repeat this step six more times.
Make sure encoders are vertical to the board before soldering.

If everything seems alright, start soldering!
Part five - sliders
It's time to solder the sliding potentiometers. They are crucial components that will
later be used for playing with sounds.
There are two sliders, and each slider has three pins that need to be soldered to the
board. One pin is on one end of the slider and two on the other, so you don't have
to worry about aligning them the wrong way.
They should be located above the encoders.