Electronic Music Circuit Guidebook

 

Summary: A unique old book on the electronics behind synthesizers
This is one of those old TAB electronic books that cost only eight dollars when it was first published in 1975. This book has detailed circuit diagrams for percussion generators, voltage-controlled oscillators, ring modulators, envelope shapers, and quite a few other peripheral items. Apparently the material in this book was borrowed extensively from PAIA Electronics and the material supplied with their Gnome and 2700 synthesizer kits back in the day. Here is a description of the book from the context of its table of contents:
1. An Introduction to Electronic Sound - Contains a basic treatment of what sound means quantitatively and introduces you to the instruments and devices that are detailed in the rest of this book.
2. Experimenter's Circuits - Develops a large number of sound source and sound treatment circuits that you can build in breadboard form. Detailed circuit diagrams are shown along with theory of operation as well as the waveform you can expect to see emitted from each device.
3. Understanding Audio Synthesis - Goes into detail on more complex devices, including devices within the Gnome synthesizer. It does a good job of joining the electronics of each part with the actual music produced.
4. Operation and Patching Setup - This has to do with the Gnome control panel, what all of the controls do, and what kind of sound you can expect by specific adjustments.
5. Synthesizer Design and Operational Considerations - Discusses the voltage controlled amplifier, the voltage controlled oscillator, filters, function generators, the control oscillator and noise source, power supply, envelope follower/trigger, and the sine converter/pulse width modulator in detail. In the case of each device there is a design analysis, schematic, testing procedure, and how to use each device. All of these discussions are on the transistor level, and yes, there are lots of transistors in these circuits.
6. Electronic Piano - This chapter has complete details on the construction and operation of an electronic piano from basic electronic parts that you can easily find.
7. Sequencers - The final chapter discusses the electronic and operational details of the random-tune sequencer and the programmed-sequence rhythm generator.
The appendix contains details on the old 2720 synthesizer keyboard.

All in all, this is a great and unique little book. You need to already know music and electronics in order to really get anything out of it. Even if you don't intend to build any of the devices mentioned, it gives a great and detailed explanation on the operation of electronic music devices. Highly recommended

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