Reverselandfill Noise Technical manual

Noise Oscillator Build Document. V6 Eurorack
The Noise! Synthesizer is a CMOS IC based instrument.
The synth has 4 squarewave oscillators that modulate each other and o throu ht a clock divider.
After that, the separate divider outputs are mixed and shaped to ether.
Start with the Resistors:
The one 10R resistor has the color code: 'brown-black-black- old-brown'.
It is used at the power input as a fuse.
Bend the le s of the resistor 90 de rees and place the 10R resistor at the R1 location on the PCB.
Solder the resistor and cut off the le s with a sidecutter.
The three 1K resistors have the color code: 'brown-black-red'.
These parts act as output protectors.
Place the resistors at R2, R3 and R
Solder and cut the le s.
R5 to R8 are the four small reenish 1M resistors. A ain; solder them in place!
Starve is a modification option.
Look at the end of this document for more info!
Connect the middle and ri ht hole of Starve to ether to bypass this option.
Use a snipped-off le of a resistor. Bend the le in a U shape and solder.
If you skip this step, the module will receive no power!!
Diodes:
d1 to d are 9.1v zener diodes. The white mark on the pcb must correspond with the black mark on the diodes.
IC sockets:
Take the tube or foam with the two IC sockets and the IC's. There is one with 16 pins and one with 14 pins!
These IC-sockets are to make the placement (and possible removal) of the IC's easier.
Take out the two IC-sockets. Attention! These sockets have a direction. See the semi-circle ap?

On the PCB you can see this markin as well. Place the 16-pin IC socket in IC2.
Flip over the PCB and solder two le s, on in the upper row, one in the lower row, dia onally from each other.
Flip the PCB back to the other side to check if the IC-socket is flat to the PCB.
If not, push the socket li htly to the PCB and reheat the two solderd le s. It should click to the PCB.
Place the 14 pin IC socket in IC1 and use the same method as before to solder it in.
Solder all remainin le s.
Transistors:
Q1 to Q4 are the 2n3904 transistors. They act as cv input buffers. Carefully bend the le s in the ri ht shape
solder them in.
Capacitors!
There are a lot of capacitors in the kit.
They determine the frequency ran e of the oscillators and stabilise the power and outputs.
We start with the three oran e disk-shaped capacitors.
C1, C2, C are 100nF (104)
The 100pF oes in C3. This is a sli htly smaller oran e disk with the code "101".
C5 = 1uF . This part is a blue blob with lon le s.
Now for the bigger capacitors:
These parts have a polarity. The lon le is the PLUS, The short le is MINUS.
The value of these components is printed on the side as well.
Start with the one lar er 7uF.
(take care to et the ri ht one, there are also four .7uF capacitors!)
Place the one 7uF capacitors in C7. Lon le oes into the PLUS!!
Now we do the four .7uF. These o in C6, C8, C9 and C10.
E pansion header:
For this expansion bay I've included a 16pin shrouded header.
There are 12 " reen" outputs that can be patched into the 3 "yellow" inputs.
The hole with the cross over it is a GND connection, so don't patch there!
This patch will define the sound of OUTPUT3. Use the female pin cable to make a connection.
I'm desi nin a expansion module that will allow for flexible automated switchin of these patchpoints.
This module will be connected to this expansion bay with a ribbon cable.
The Potentiometers:
These parts are variable resistors. With these you can adjust the frequency of the oscillators.
You have four of these.
P1 = B100K
P2 = B100K
P3 = B100K
P = B100K
Solder one le , check if the potmeters are strai ht in.Reheat to ali ned them correctly, then solder the rest.

IC's:
Take the small piece of foam with the two IC's.
CD 0 0 (clock divider) en CD 093 (quad NAND)
The IC's are the heart of the noise synthesizer.
IC2: CD 0 0 divides the pitch of the oscillators
IC3: CD 093 makes the four oscillators
CD 0 0 has 16 le s, CD 093 has 14 le s.
Bend the le s so that they are 90 de rees downward. (use your fin ers or a flat surface to bend them all at once)
Take care that the semi-circle ap corresponds with the markin on the PCB. (and the sockets)
Fit the IC's carefully in the IC holders.
Push them in carefully but firmly.
Power:
Take the 10pin shrouded header and solder first one pin. Check is the header is flat to the pcb.
Reheat if necessary. Then solder all pins.
Front panel:
Attach the PCB to the frontpanel with the potmeters. Use the rin s + nuts. Fasten the nuts.
Also attach all seven jack sockets.
Now the OUTPUTS:
Cut 7 wires of about 10 cm and strip the ends.
Connect OUT1 to the TIP of the jack socket, connect the GND to the GROUND of the socket.
Connect the TIP of the second jack socket to OUT2 , and the TIP of the third jack to OUT3.
Now connect CV1 to CV4 to the four CV input jacks (the first jack at the top of the panel is CV1)
Use smaller wires or cut off pins of the resistors to interconnect the GROUNDS of the jack sockets.
Knobs:
Turn the four potmeters all the way to the left (CCW) and fit the knobs on.
Push them firmly in, while supportin the back of the potmeter.
Now you can test if it works!
First test OUTPUT1. Do you hear Noise? Great!!
Now test OUTPUT2. This output is more "bleepy"; it bypasses the clock divider.

To hear noise at OUT3, you have to take some extra steps:
The EXPANSION has 12 outputs.
Patch the included female pin wire from the ri ht side of the white stripe, marked " reen",
to one of the 3 inputs, marked "yellow".
Listen to OUT3 to hear the effect.
You can make all kinds of interestin sounds with different combinations in the patchbays!
The 12 outputs come from the clock divider, they divide the audio by 2, 4, 8, 16 and so on.
Troubleshooting:
If the synth does not work, DON'T PANIC!
Check all solder connections, reflow if neccesary. Check the orientation of the capacitors and IC's.
Did you brid e the Starve holes? (else the module ets no power!!)
Modifications:
Patchbay Panel:
To make the patchbays accessable , you can make a 'patchbay panel'.
Use the pincables or any other cool way (such as banana plu s, touch points, switches) to connect the 12
outputs to the 3 inputs.
S1 = Starve connection.
Connect the three holes with a 10k potentiometer.
Now you can adjust the amount of volta e flowin in the circuit.
This has an interestin effect on the audio!
Capacitor values = noise ranges.
Experiment with other capacitor values for C3,C4, C5 and C6 for other noise ran es / timbres.
For C3, try 10pf to 1nF, for C4 & C5, try 100nf to 1uF. For C6, try 1uF to 10 uF.
Have fun with your Noise! Synthesizer!!! :)
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