Dirty sine wave from 901?

System 55 • System 35 • Model 15
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Rezin
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:54 pm

Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by Rezin » Tue Apr 26, 2016 4:42 am

Hey everyone,

I was noticing some artifacts in my 901's sine wave- my scope shows the following.

(1) Is this normal behavior for a 901 and (2) if not, any thoughts on how to rectify (no pun intended :P ) it?

Sound is here:

https://soundcloud.com/m0rg/moog-901-dirty-sine-wave

Best,

~Rezin
Attachments
sine.PNG
++

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noddyspuncture
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Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by noddyspuncture » Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:04 am

That really sounds bad, yeah... it sounds like people talking...!
Are all your 901's putting out Sine waves like that..?

I never heard anything like that before.

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MC
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Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by MC » Tue Apr 26, 2016 9:33 am

Looks like the UJT reset pulse is a bit extreme on that module. It's an anomaly that is known with ramp waveshapes of 901 VCOs. How does the ramp waveshape compare with the others?
Gear list: '04 Saturn Ion, John Deere X300 tractor, ganged set of seven reel mowers for 3 acres of lawn, herd of sheep for backup lawn mowers, two tiger cats for mouse population control Oh you meant MUSIC gear Oops I hit the 255 character limi

Rezin
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Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:54 pm

Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by Rezin » Tue Apr 26, 2016 10:53 am

Just a note (I should have made this more clear in the original post)- the changes in frequency are introduced by me, the oscillator itself is pretty stable. (I did this to show how the oscillator responded at different frequencies.)

I'll see if I can get a ramp sample later on today.

Best regards,

~Rezin
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Stevie Ray
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Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by Stevie Ray » Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:13 pm

Your 901 sounds like a a couple of guys talking about 10 feet from a mic. Cool effect :wink:

Rezin
Posts: 29
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Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by Rezin » Tue Apr 26, 2016 11:08 pm

wait, wrong file I think :P what I get for not listening to what I post online

All the actual waveforms below:

https://soundcloud.com/m0rg/sinesawtripulse

Scope stuff is below; thoughts?

Best,

~Rezin
Attachments
triangle.PNG
ramp.PNG
++

[Jesus loves ya.]

Synth photos: https://www.flickr.com/people/136277463@N07/

Stevie Ray
Posts: 254
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Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by Stevie Ray » Sun May 01, 2016 5:35 pm

On the 901 the sine is derived from the triangle wave which is in turn derived from the sawtooth wave.

The triangle is formed by inverting/mirroring one half of the sawtooth wave cycle.

From your scope trace, the triangle is not quite symmetrical - i.e. the circuit that inverts/mirrors the sawtooth is out of trim and is kicking in a little after the peak of the sawtooth instead of at the exact peak.

Look at the schematic and adjust the trim pot P3 and observe your scope for triangle symmetry. If that doesn't fix it, adjust trim pot P4 (sawtooth offset) also and then go back to adjusting P3. If that doesn't work, check the 1K resistors R8/R9 and replace if necessary to get the recommended 2.45V at Test Point 'A'.

Schematic for reference...

Image

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noddyspuncture
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Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by noddyspuncture » Mon May 02, 2016 5:42 am

Stevie Ray wrote:
Schematic for reference...

Image
I built one of those from scratch - and it works like 'magic'... :D

Rezin
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Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:54 pm

Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by Rezin » Mon May 02, 2016 10:25 am

Thanks! I'll be sure to do that once I get a scope again... :D

Best,

~Rezin
++

[Jesus loves ya.]

Synth photos: https://www.flickr.com/people/136277463@N07/

Stevie Ray
Posts: 254
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Re: Dirty sine wave from 901?

Post by Stevie Ray » Mon May 02, 2016 2:56 pm

noddyspuncture wrote:
I built one of those from scratch - and it works like 'magic'... :D
It's a great design. Simple, economical and yet so effective. Amazing what Bob & co. could manage to achieve with a handful of discrete transistors back in the day.

Did you use the transistors as spec'd or just any general-purpose signal transistors (BC55x etc). I might have a crack at one of these myself.

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