January 11, 2014

Random Voltage Generator

With the birth of my daughter Leni in September. I began to shift my focus in music from rock and roll and guitars to experimentation and modular synthesizers. This random voltage generator is a product of this shift in focus.

The prototype I built uses a Teensy 2.0. However, you can use most any Arduino or Arduino compatible microcontroller.

Below I’ve included an audio clip, the fully commented source code and a Fritzing sketch of the circuit. The source code can also be found on Github here.

Audio Clip

Here’s a short clip of the random voltage generator in action. I’m running the output into the 1V/Octave Control Input of VCO A of a Make Noise DPO. From there, I’m running the Sine Waveform out into a Make Noise Optomix. The recording was done on a Tascam DP-006 then ran through Logic to bring the gain up around 0 dB.

Source Code

/* Random Voltage Generator
 * ------------------------
 * This sketch reads the values of two (ideally 10K linear) potentiometers
 * Next, the values are run through the map function to scale the range
 * and invert the rate.  The values are then passed to the random function
 * that generate values for the analogWrite and delay functions.
 *
 * A Fritzing Sketch of this circuit can be found here:
 * http://jp1971.com/random-voltage-generator/
 */
 
/*  Copyright 2014 JP1971 (jameson@jp1971.com)
 
    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
    (at your option) any later version.
 
    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.
 
    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
*/
 
// Define these values as necessary
int cvPin = 10;
int rangePin = 21;
int ratePin = 20;
// Leave these values alone
int range = 0;
int rate = 0;
 
void setup() {
  pinMode( cvPin, OUTPUT );
  Serial.begin(9600);
}
 
void loop() {
  // Read range potentiometer
  range = analogRead( rangePin );
  // Map value to scale appropriate for analogWrite
  range = map( range, 0, 1023, 0, 255 );
  Serial.print( "range: " );
  Serial.println( range );
  // Read range potentiometer
  rate = analogRead( ratePin );
  // If rate is less than 100, set it to 100.
  if( rate < 100 ) {
    rate = 100;
  }
  // Use map to invert value
  rate = map( rate, 100, 1023, 1023, 100 );
  Serial.print( "rate: " );
  Serial.println( rate );
  // Write CV
  analogWrite( cvPin, random( 0, range ) );
  // Wait
  delay( random( 100, ( rate + 100 ) ) );
}

Fritzing Sketch

This sketch assumes that you have a +5V power supply connected to the power and ground rails of the breadboard. The wires running off of the board should connect to the tip (green) and sleeve (blue) of a 3.5mm female jack.

random_voltage_generator_bb

Next Steps

When I get back to working on this project, I’d like to explore modifying the circuit to provide a coltage range of +/- 5V as opposed to 0 to 5V. I’d also like to add jacks to allow for voltage control of the range and rate.

Posted in: Arduino | Eurorack Modular

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