Making Music with an Atari Punk Console

Step 5 Testing the Circuit & Going Further

Use a small screwdriver to rotate the rotors of both R1 and R3 to their midpoints. Connect a fresh 9-volt battery to the connector clip. The speaker will probably emit a tone. If not, try rotating R1's rotor. If no tone is emitted, remove the battery and carefully check your wiring.

When the speaker is emitting a tone, you're ready to experiment.

Going Further

This circuit is easily modified by substituting various kinds of variable resistors for R1 and R3. For serious electronic sound effect applications, consider installing the circuit board in a small enclosure and replacing the two trimmer pots with full size pots equipped with knobs. Or dispense with the pots altogether by soldering a couple of cadmium sulfide photoresistors (Jameco 202454 or similar) across both R1 and R3 to transform the circuit into a light-sensitive tone stepper that you can "play" simply by waving your hands over the photocells to alter the light striking them, hence their resistances.

According to the Atari Punk Console Wikipedia page, some people have installed their version of the circuit in various novelty housings, including an old Atari mouse or joystick.

Have fun and be sure to post your experiences with the Atari Punk Console at one of the sites that describe it.