Nandhopper 1-Bit Noise Synth

Make a cute + expressive 1-bit noise synthesizer with a logic gate and a few other spare parts.

Watch a demo video to get a better idea of what I mean, or listen to some improvisations: 3 2 1.

Step 1: Materials

Here are things you'll to do it exactly the same way I did. Some things, like capacitor size, will vary. Other things could be totally different (you might try a different logic chip, for example).

Tools

• Soldering iron + solder
• Hot glue gun + glue
• Knife/razor
• Wire Cutter
• Breadboard

Materials

• 4093 (Quad, 2-input Schmitt trigger NAND gate)
• 1/8" stereo miniplug connector
• 9 V battery connector
• Small capacitors (I used 220 pF monolothic capacitors)
• Single sided copper clad
• Conductive foam (comes with microcontrollers and DIP chips)
• Wire

Extra

• Oscilloscope
• Power supply (for watching current draw)
• Multimeter
• Sound system or headphones

Comments

[janw]

I love the 'dead bug' style of soldering everything together.

[blinkyblinky]

Is there a way I can avoid the 4093? I don't seem to have that ic...

[axeman911]

what exactly does this do?

[uberklok]

kyle, this is awesome ... this thread is now old, and I see you're on to some truly amazing 3d scanning stuff.. but I'm still curious about this 'megaheterodyne capacitive' sensor you use to drive the LEDs... can you offer a schematic or even just a little more detailed discription of what that circuit is about?

[kylemcdonald]

Hey uberklok -- yes, this is old, but I'd like to come back to it at some point :)

The "megaheterodyne" capacitive sensor is basically this:

http://www.thereminworld.com/pics/schematics/simple.jpg

Running in the MHz range rather than KHz (KHz is the standard range for heterodyne sensing, a la the classic theremin design).

[mskogly]

I just love to look of this thing, and the tiny size! great intructable. But I need to find a better source for buying parts, Norway is so horribly expensive!

[Jodex]

The foam where my ICs was, is not conductive. I bought couple of 555s and they were on that black foam, and I tried does it have any conductance and it didn't..... Why yours was but not mine=0 : D

[eugenpaul]

thank you.

[Dysphoria]

Is there a way to wire a pot, so that I can change the pitch with that?

[kylemcdonald]

The four FSRs control different aspects of the pitch. Instead of using FSRs, you can use the center tap and one end of a pot, yes.

[Dysphoria]

Cool. I was planning on doing a project with about 8 of these.

[Unit042]

You used a 4093? I have a handfull of 4011's. They are the more widespread type, methinks. I suppose it will still work with a different NAND?

[kylemcdonald]

I've only worked with Schmitt-triggered gates, so I can't say whether it will work. Give it a shot!

[Unit042]

I looked up the datasheet on them. My particular flavor of 4011 has schmitt-trigger inputs, so I guess it would work. The next problem is why there are two near identical chips in the 4000 series!

[Unit042]

Triple modulated feedback loop?

[thepelton]

I wonder if you could put a NAND device in between two microphones and an amplifier to get a weird mix of two sounds?

[kylemcdonald]

Totally, you'd just need to amplify them a bit before doing the logic (otherwise only the loudest sounds would mix). Audio is generally +/- 1V but logic runs at 5V or 9V, with cutoffs for HIGH and LOW at 1/3 and 2/3 the voltage (in the case of schmitt trigger inputs). I'm not sure what it would sound like...

[Unit042]

It might sound like reverse audio clipping, but, not being an audio engineer, I don't know.
A more do-able way may be to have an opamp act as an analog NAND.
Lemme try an ascii-art schematic:

R1
in1>--^vv^v---\
| R3
R2 L_o----^vv^{v-------------------- |}
in2>---^vv^{v--/ | |}
| |
\ |
L---(- in) |
(opamp) (out )>------*------------> circuit outputs
| ------(+ in)
|
|
V
(GND)

[Unit042]

Crap, it didn't work.

[Unit042]

But that did!

[amplex]

very cool, i recently made one of these type of nandsynths, combined with an 8 step sequencer based off the baby10, added a few features like lm386 high gain amp, int/ext clock, CV out, clock out, clock in, individual pulse outs, all on a bolt style patch bay, and called it the NB8.. http://www.jnabeats.com/circuitbending/NB8.htm

[kylemcdonald]

Awesome! Post some pictures of the internals, too! I really like the "wetness" of the raw sound you're getting, and the overall aesthetic of the device. You should also add some capacitive bends -- pairs of wires you can touch that "break" the circuit in weird ways. Long live nandsynths :)

[amplex]

i have to say, the LM386 is one of the nicest sounding, most organic gainy opamps, really contributes to overall liquidity of the tones you get when you push a lot of gain through the circuit! the TL072 is much more 'dry' & clinical when compared. The only other one I've messed with is LM741 and its signature sound is somewhat in between the two, IMO. Yes.. should have included guts-shots.. but I have a nasty unprotected quad RC filter circuit just hanging out up top I need to tape up/shrinktube (when I 1st did, it grounded out).. should have put it on the board but ran out of room =[

[kylemcdonald]

I haven't used the TL072, but I'd agree with your LM386 and LM741 assessments :) Best with the heatshrinking; messy or not, I'd still like to see some guts :)

[ReCreate]

conductive foam...very weird whats next sinking wood ,floating metal ,conductive glass,non flammable gasoline?

[Father Christmas]

hahaha try lighting gasoline after it has been sitting on the pavement for 5 minutes. i tried and it didnt work :(

floating metal = boat/ship (already invented)

sinking wood = ebony (already, well, not invented but...)

and as for conductive glass; ------

http://www.teralab.co.uk/Experiments/Conductive_Glass/Conductive_Glass_Page1.htm

yeah, i know, im a smartass, but im bored and it is not even .5hours into 2009 lol

[ReCreate]

conductive gas?

[anoniemouse]

Neon and fluorescent lights, not to mention mercury vapor.

[ReCreate]

Well i am fresh out of ideas...

[thepelton]

Old radio tubes and television tubes are filled with gas. Electricity would jump through the gas from one metal part (Anode) to the other (Cathode).

[Unit042]

I thought they had a vacuum in them, thus, the name: vacuum tubes.

[Father Christmas]

Though I hate using wikipedia as a source "...an electrical signal by controlling the movement of electrons in a low-pressure space. Some special function vacuum tubes are filled with low-pressure gas." Vacuum tubes are generally a partial vacuum, whereas the existing gas inside is conductive.

[Father Christmas]

neon lights?

[ReCreate]

now what...umm....underwater computer?

[Father Christmas]

Submarines!!!!! um, those underwater-treasure-hunting-robot-things.

oh!! and this

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4658358.html

[dombeef]

LOL!

[SpadeLad]

It'd be cool if you hooked this up in a guitar signal chain and ran the guitar output through it and out the amp. There'd be some interesting sounds I'm sure

[sad]

I've been messing around with this; I used on/off switches and pots instead of force sensing resistors. I like the way it sounds with random effects added:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMhaM8cBsF4

[kylemcdonald]

Nice! Which layout did you use? It doesn't sound like they're all independent oscillators, but sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between other schematics.

[tudgeanator]

My chip is the same chip as yours (same name, works the same) but loads smaller, and therfore is too small to fit on the breadboard. How can i get it on my breadboard? Help!