Stereoping Synth Controller Instruction Manual

Synth Controller
Building instructions V1.6
(for PCB Rev. V1.4)
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

Hello
Hi and thank you for having chosen the 'Stereoping Synth Controller' assembly kit. We
will use 'SSC' as an abbreviation for 'Stereoping Synth Controller' in this building
instructions. If you were looking for the manual you are unfortunately wrong here,
this is the building instructions for getting together the assembly kit. You can find the
manual here: www.stereoping.com > Products > SynthController > Downloads.
If you experience any problems during building this kit, are coming up with a genious
improvement feature, if you wish special photographs or simply are enoyed by
something, even if you just want to write us that you LOVE our product ...
go ahead. We are looking forward to receiving your Mail!
[e-mail]
This building instructions came out quite large because we don't want you to make
mistakes or experience any bad emotions while building this synth controller. The kit
and the instructions were developed very thoroughly and are verified multiple times.
If you follow the instructions carefully, your controller will work perfect right from the
beginning.
Nevertheless we can not be held responsible for any problems or damage caused by
the building or usage of this assembly kit. Nor can we replace or repair PCBs, parts or
complete kits, damaged or destoryed by inappropriate building or usage.
Your PCB (printed circuit board) has got a version printon. The current version is 1.4
suitable to this instruction manual. Some pictures were ta en with the now obsolete V1.1.
please don't worry if the pictures slightly differ from your PCBs loo .
These instructions contain the following parts:
1. Content of the kit
2. Building the kit
3. First time oper tion
4. Technic l d t
5. Imprint
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

1. Content of the kit
Resistors with their values in Ohm and the color codes
3x 220 Red Red Brown Gold
2 x 10 k Brown Black Orange Gold
Editions with 3rd LED in Yellow
3 x 330 Orange Orange Brown Gold
Editions with 3rd LED in Blue
2 x 330 Orange Orange Brown Gold
1 x 4,7 k Yellow Purple Red Gold
16 x pot 10 k linear
Capacitors with their values
2 x 22 p
6 x 100 n
1 x Elko 10 µ
1 x Elko 100 µ
Semiconductors
1 x Atmega8 Processor
2 x 4051 Multiplexer
1 x 6N137 Optocoupler
1 x 7805 Voltage regulator
1 x 4004 protection diode
1 x 4148 diode
1 x Crystal 8MHz
Others
1 x IC Socket 8pin
2 x IC Socket 16pin
1 x IC Socket 28pin
2 x Midi jack
1 x Power jack
1 x T Filter (not shown on pic above)
1 x PCB with preassembled buttons, LEDs and buttoncaps
1 x steelcase with frontlabel
4 x self tapping screw black (upper half to lower half of case)
6 x thread screw M3 / 6 mm (pcb to upper half of case)
16 x knob
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

2. Building the kit
Tools you will need
To build the kit you will need the following tools:
•solder iron or better a solder station
•lead free or leaded solder (works perfect with both)
•a side cutter to cut the wires from the parts after having them soldered onto
the pcb
•a multimeter to check the operation voltage before attaching the ICs
(Intergrated circuits)
•a philips screwdriver mid size for the screws holding the pcb into the upper half
of the case and to screw the two halfs of the case together
Before we st rt ...
Assembly should be finished within an hour. Please take your time, enjoy the process
of building your controller, concentrate on what you are doing. It happens quite fast
to mix up two parts or solder one on the wrong side of the pcb. This manual describes
the whole process very detailed. If you follow it thoroughly, your controller will work
perfect immediately.
If something goes wrong
It should not happen but of course does from time to time: you've put a part into a
wrong position or alignment and have to get it out again. Althoug we cannot teach you
here all about desoldering, you'll get pointed into the right direction if you scan the
web looking for the terms desoldering pump or desoldering braid. If you soldered one
of the IC socekts the wrong way thats no problem. It can of course keep as it is as long
as you put the IC into it as printed on the PCB.
Let's get st rted
After comparing the bill of material with the content of your package we can start with
the assembly. The order is arbitrary. The pcb should be lying in front of you with the
buttons in the upper left corner. This is the relevant pcb orientation when we talk
about something like "diode in the upper right corner of the pcb"
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

IC-soc ets
Let's start with the sockets for the ICs. Each
socket has a small notch on one of it's shorter
sides. This notch must match the printed
outline of the socket on the pcb. See upper
photo to the right.
The notch can also be found on the IC and
tells you, where pin 1 of the IC can be found,
which in fact is important. A wrongly attached
IC gets a wrong power supply which might
destroy the chip! Some ICs have a notch,
others have a small circular indentation on
the top of the body to mark their pin 1.
Attach the sockets according to the printed
outline on the pcb now. Start by just soldering
one leg in a corner. Have a look from all sides
to ensure, the IC is lying perfectly flat on the
pcb and solder the other legs.
Pay attention not to solder two adjacent legs
together like in the middle photo. All legs
should be separate like in the lower pic.
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

Resistors
We continue with the resistors which are
marked with a "R" on the silkscreen. It's value
(e.g. '220' for 220 Ohm) stands right beside. The
resistors are color coded, you find the
appropriate colors in the bill of material at the
beginning of this document.
Resistors have no polarity, the direction you put
them on the pcb does not matter. But try to
keep them lying flat on the pcb to ensure, their
legs will not have electrical contact with the
metalcase later. One leg of the third 220 ohm
resistor has to be bent sharply by 180 degrees
to stand vertical.
After placement you can bend the legs below
the pcb like in the second pic to prevent the
resistors from slipping out of the holes when
turning the pcb for soldering. After soldering,
cut the wires right above the solder.
Now on to the remaining resistors. These 3
resistors near the buttons can vary, according
to the edition you purchased. Your kit should
be armed with the right resistors suiting your
edition. There will not be any parts left over in
the end.
If you cant see the LED colors just take the
transparent caps off the buttons.
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

Most editions use red, green, blue.
Tubbutec editions 1oh1 und Juno66: These use LED colors white, blue, red.
SixTweak edition: Here we got white, white, red.
And these are the suitable resistors to be soldered next to the led color:
Red 330 Ohm (Orange – Orange – Brown Gold)
Yellow 330 Ohm
Green 330 Ohm
Blue 4,7k Ohm (Yellow – Magenta – Red Gold)
White 4,7k Ohm
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

Crystal and diodes
The silver thingy with the label "8.000MHz" is a
crystal. It sits near the main processor and has
to be put near the label "Q1 8MHz". The crystal
has no polarity, just put it in the drilling holes
as you like, bend the legs on the other side to
prevent it from slipping out when turning the
pcb to solder it. In the section "capacitors" you
will find a pic of it in it's final position on the
pcb.
Since PCB version 1.2 there is a small soldering
point between the 22p capacitors. If you are a
perfectionist you can solder the crystal's case
to this point with a short piece of wire. Not too
long, crystals don't like heat. But the controller
will work perfect even if you don't.
Now on to the diodes 1N4148 (the red one)
and 1N4004 (Black). Instead of a 4004 you
might as well find a diode labeled e.g. 4001.
That is not really important for our purposes.
It's task is to protect the electonics from being
damaged by a wrongly polarized power supply
unit.
Diodes have a ring on one of their ends. This
ring can also be found on the silkscreen. Please
insert the diodes in the direction for the rings
on the silkscreen and the diode to match.
Compare your result with the pictures to the
right.
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

Power- and Midi-jac s
C ution! The j cks for power nd midi will
be put on the pcb's b ckside s shown in
the picture to the right.
The silkscreen on the pcb frontside also
features a warning saying "Please put jacks for
Midi and Power onto the OTHER side".
It is important to have all 3 jacks aligned flat on
the pcb like in pics to the right. Otherwize your
midi or power cables plugged in later will sit
crooked. That would not be what you want.
Another detail concerning the midi jacks: they
are nearly touching the backside of the
steelcase later and should therefore not stand
out of the dashed line in the b/w picture to the
right. After putting them in place they can still
move about 1/2 mm. Try to push them a bit in
the direction of the red arrows while soldering
the first pin to ensure they won't stand out of
the PCB.
Solder just one of the midi jack's pins on the
front edge of the pcb and have a thorough
look onto the area where the jack hits the pcb.
There should not be any gap. If there is one,
press the jack onto the pcb with forefinger and
thumb and heat up the solder again, the jack
should jump into the flat position then.
Solder all pins of the jack and do not be stingy
with solder. If you have got a soldering station,
give it another extra heat now (i use 400° C
with leaded solder).
If the pins and pads get enough heat, the
solder will flow onto the other side of the pcb
like shown in the third pic with the power jack.
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018

That's what we want and makes the jacks sit very stable on the pcb which is quite
important due to the mechanical stress the jacks are exposed over the years.
Building instructions 'Stereoping Synth Controller'
V1.6 09.2018
© Stereoping Germany, Meschede 2018