Synthesis Technology E580 User manual
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E580 Resampling Mini-Delay DIY Kit
www.synthtech.com/euro/e580
What is the E580?
The Synthesis Technology E580 is a mono-in, mono-out audio digital delay that uses a unique
‘resampling’ algorithm to mimic analog BBD and tape delays. Analog delays have the property
that when the delay time is changed, the pitch of the output changes. The E580 recreates this
effect. There are 3 modes: clean, BBD and Tape. The BBD mode adds a low-pass filter that is
based on delay time as well as noise. The Tape mode adds non-linear distortion (tape
saturation effect) and “wow & flutter” (motor speed variations). The E580 has 2 outputs: a
main Delay and a Tap. The Tap is a percentage (0-100%) of the main Delay. All 4 panel
controls are also under CV (-5V to +5V range).
Connecting to the power supply
The E580 can use either a MOTM 4-pin, MTA-156 style connector (+-15V) or a 16-pin Euro
style (+-12V) connector. See the photos below. The Euro ribbon cable has a red stripe to
indicate -12V. The supplied Euro power cable is keyed so that when inserted in the E580, the
red stripe is ‘down’ (towards the jacks) and by the white lettering on the pc board.
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What’s in the Kit (Power Cable Included, not Shown)
What you will need to supply
4ea 50K or 100K linear pots (either one will work fine) and 7 jacks. These can be
banana, 3.5mm or 1/4”. The MODE switch is pre-soldered, but you can
remove/replace it if you are careful. The holes on the pc board are in a pattern for
vertical pots from BI, part number P260T-D1BS3CB100K (see www.mouser.com).
However, most people will solder 3 wires into the 3 pot holes and ignore the 2 large
mounting holes.
Here is how to connect to the pc board
Step 1
Decide if you want to keep the toggle switch soldered to the front panel (highly
recommended) or not.
If you decide that you want to remove it (you can reuse it if you are careful),
then use solder wick to remove as much solder as possible, then apply a
vacuum ‘solder sucker’ to remove all the solder. The switches are called
ON_OFF_ON types (SPDT) because they have 3 positions. The center position
is OFF, meaning the common side is not connected to either switched side.
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The switch has 2 mounting nuts. For maximum mounting strength, the ‘bottom
nut’ should be threaded up touching the rear of the front panel before the ‘top
nut’ is tightened.
Also note that when the toggle switch it flipped ‘up’ (say to select the CLEAN
mode) this means the center pin (COMMON) is connected to the bottom
switch lug.
If you remove the switches/use your own, use 24ga tinned stranded wire.
Step 2
For these instructions, please note that the way this pc board is setup, that the
“component side”with all the soldered parts faces away from the front panel.
The switch is facing towards the front panel.
When you solder to the pc board, the wires from the front panel are inserted
from the “switch side”and solder is applied to the “component”or rear side.
Wire up the pots. The wire should be inserted from the front (switch) side, not
from the back. All 4 pots are wired exactly the same. There are 3 horizontal
holes that correspond to the 3 pot lugs when the pot is viewed from the front
and NOT FROM THE BACK SIDE. If you wire the pots up backwards, you will
not damage anything but you will quickly figure it out.
So, using 22ga or 24ga stranded wire, wire the left pot lug (when facing the
FRONT of the shaft) to the left hole, the center lug to the center hole and the
right lug to the right hole.
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Step 3
Wire up the 7 jacks. Refer to the photo below:
Notice that PIN 1 of the jack connectors has a square pad. As before, insert the
wire from the ‘front’side and solder on the back side. The connections to the
jacks are as follows:
TOP ROW BOTTOM ROW
1 –AUDIO input signal 1 –DELAY input signal
2 –do not connect 2 - do not connect
3 –Ground lug 3 –Ground lug
4 –DELAY output 4 –MIX input signal
5 –do not connect 5 - do not connect
6 –Ground lug 6 –Ground Lug
7 –TAP OUT signal 7 –FEEDBACK input signal
8 –do not connect 8 –do not connect
9 –Ground lug 9 –Ground lug
10 –do not connect 10 –OFFSET input signal
11 –do not connect 11 –do not connect
12 –do not connect 12 –Ground lug
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General Info
CV Inputs: -5V to +5V, DC to 8KHz.
Audio Input: -5V to +5V maximum, 18KHz bandwidth (clean mode).
Important Note: in order to have maximum Feedback settings without clipping, the
maximum audio input level is 5V pk-pk (~+4dBm or ‘line level’). Audio input levels
greater than 5V pk-pk will reduce the overall Feedback range until clipping occurs. An
external attenuator on the audio signal may be needed (for example, if you want to
use a VCO signal, you need to attenuate it first).
Power: +12V@105ma, -12V @20ma. For MOTM use: +15V @100ma, -15V@ 20ma.
Max Delay time: 780ms (0.78 seconds)
Min Delay time (1 tap position): 26us
Tap positions: 7680
SNR: 74dB (clean mode)
Jumper options:
1-2 position: feedback is taken from the TAP output.
2-3 position: feedback is taken from the DELAY output (what you are probably used to
hearing).
Be sure to try the 1-2 position. It will sound differently than traditional delays.
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