DIY

Synth
Kit -
Manual
STUTTER SYNTH
Welcome to the
DIY Synth
- Manual

This is a step-by-step guide to making We hope you enjoy this creative

your own electronic Synth. task, learn some new technological
All you will need is your hands and your skills and apply them to your life in
DIY Synth kit which includes everything useful ways.
you’ll need to put it together.
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Getting Started

Top Tips

Keep an eye out for the top

tips. They are highlighted in
a orange box like this!

Making Time
The kit takes about a fun filled hour to complete,
depending on how creative you get with the
construction of your Synth box.

Useful Appendix
Further information on all the components in
this kit can be found in the Appendix at the back
of the manual. Learn about their use within the
circuit you are building.

Further Resources
Information on how the circuit works alongside
different ways to extend your Synth can be found
on our resource page: twsu.co

DIY Synth - Manual 3

Making your DIY
Synth

Parts:

You will not need all the components to make your stutter synth.

1) Selection of Jumper Wires (Colour coded and cut to size)

2) 1x 2.2K Logarithmic Potentiometer (Volume Control)(Previously 4.7K)
3) 2x 470K Linear Potentiometer (Frequency and Pitch Control)
4) 1x 8 Ohm Speaker
5) 1x Breadboard
6) 2x 10nf Ceramic Capacitor
7) 1x 10uf Electrolytic Capacitor
8) 1x 100uf Electrolytic Capacitor
9) 1x Push Button
10) 1x 1k Ohm Resistor
11) 1x 4.7k Ohm Resistor
12) 1x 10k Ohm Resistor
13) 1x NE556 Timer IC (Integrated Circuit)
14) 1x 9v Battery Clip

Check your components to make sure you have all the parts to build
your DIY Synth!

4 DIY Synth - Manual Components

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2
5

14

4
6 7 8 9
10

13 11

12

Top Tip
Some components may
look slightly different to
the ones above, don’t be
alarmed, this is normal!

DIY Synth - Manual 5

1
The Breadboard

Take a look at the

breadboard. The horizontal
rows at the top and bottom
of this image (marked in
red and blue) are used as
“power rails”. They provide
a convenient way to supply
components with
electricity. The power rails
are connected all the way
along the edges of the
breadboard.

However the inside rails on

the breadboard run
perpendicular to those
on the outside. These are
marked in black.

6 DIY Synth - Manual Step 1

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Connect the power and

ground rails on each side
of the breadboard together
using two jumper wires,
its a good idea to use red
wire for the positive voltage
supply and black for the
ground. Top red rail
connects to the bottom red
rail and the top black rail to
the bottom black.

Top Tip

For this kit we have colour

coded the wires for you. But
as a general rule, red wires
are positive and black are
negative. Sticking to this will
help you when building your
own creations.

Step 1 DIY Synth - Manual 7

2
556 Timer IC
(Integrated Circuit)

+4.5 to 15

discharge

threshold

control B

trigger B
output B
reset B
Find the 556 timer IC. The
IC has 14 pins, starting at
the end of the chip with the
notch in it the left pin is (1)
and finishing on the other 14 13 12 11 10 9 8
side of the notch at pin (14)

Timer
Dual
1 2 556 3 4 5 6 7
discharge A

threshold A

control A

reset A

output A

trigger A

0V
Place the IC over the
gutter of the breadboard
with the notch facing
towards number 1. Placing
the IC near the centre gives
you room to space out the
other components around
the board.

8 DIY Synth - Manual Step 2

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Now connect the IC to the

power rails using the
following wires. Use the
small red wire to connect
pin 14 of the IC to the red
power rail.

Top Tip

Refer back to step 2.0 for the

numbering of the IC Chip
pins.

Use the small black wire to

connect Pin 7 of the IC to the
blue ground rail.

Step 2 DIY Synth - Manual 9

3
Connecting the pins

Take your three yellow

jumper wires.

Use the two shorter wires to

connect the following pins;

12 to 8
2 to 6

Now use the longer yellow

jumper wire to connect pin
5 of the IC to pin 10.

10 DIY Synth - Manual Step 3

4
The Resistors

Take your 1K resistor

(brown, black, red, gold)
and 4.7k resistor (yellow,
purple, red, gold).

Top Tip

Resistors can be plugged in

any way around. Their legs
are the same length - which
is a way to tell that it can be
plugged in both ways. Also,
if you look at the body of
the resistor, you’ll see that
there are different coloured
stripes. These stripes tell us
what value the resistor is.
Brown, Black, Red = 1K Ohm.

Use your 1k resistor to

connect pin 1 of your IC to
the positive red rail.

Then use your 4.7k resistor

to connect pin 13 of the IC
to the positive red rail of the
breadboard.

Step 4 DIY Synth - Manual 11

5
Capacitor

Take your ceramic

capacitors.

Top Tip

There are two types of

capacitors. Those that do
care which way they are
plugged in, and those that
don’t. The easy way to tell
them apart is to check to see
if their legs are the same
length. If they are, then just
like the resistor, they can be
plugged in any way around.
If not: Then the long leg
always must be plugged
into the voltage ( + ) and the
short leg must be plugged
into the ground ( - ). This
kind of capacitor is called
electrolytic or polarized.

Attach the ceramic

capacitor as follows:

From the top blue ground

rail to pin 12 of the IC.

12 DIY Synth - Manual Step 5

6
Electrolytic capacitors

Take your Electrolytic

Capacitor shown in the
image to the right. The
white strip down one side
indicates the negative leg
of the component. This is
also indicated by the length
of the component legs. The
shorter one is negative and
the longer is positive.

The capacitors values are

marked down the length of
the component. You should
have one capacitor that is
shorter and wider than the
other. This is your 100uF
capacitor and the other is
10uF.

Take your 100uF capacitor

and place the longer posi-
tive leg of the component in
line with pin 6 of the IC and
the shorter negative leg to
the blue ground rail of the
breadboard.

Then take the positive leg

of the 10uF capacitor and
connect it to pin 9 of the IC
then place the negative leg
a few rows along the
breadboard.

Step 6 DIY Synth - Manual 13

7
470K Potentiometer

Take one of your 470K

potentiometers. You can
tell it is the correct one of
the three by the resistance
which is marked on the back
of its casing. A
potentiometer is a variable
resistor. As you rotate the
knob or shaft, the resulting
resistance changes. These
are often used to control
volume - increase the
resistance, decreases the
volume!

Before attaching the

potentiometer we first need
to add some jumper wires
to connect it to the IC.

Take a blue and grey jumper

wire.

Use the grey jumper wire to

connect pin two of the IC to
row 5 of the breadboard.

Then use the blue jumper to

connect pin 1 to row 3 of the
breadboard.

14 DIY Synth - Manual Step 7

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Now take your first 470K

potentiometer and place
it on the breadboard with
the shaft facing outwards.
Making sure the right and
middle legs of the
potentiometer align with the
blue and grey jumper wires
you just added.

Step 7 DIY Synth - Manual 15

8
470K Potentiometer

Now take your other 470k

potentiometer. Check it is
the correct one by looking
at the back of the casing. It
should read 470KA.

Take a blue and brown

jumper wire.

Connect the blue jumper

wire from pin 12 of the IC to
row 5 of the breadboard.

Then use the brown to

connect pin 13 of the IC to
row 3 of the breadboard.

16 DIY Synth - Manual Step 8

Finally take your 470k
potentiometer and place it
with the shaft again facing
outwards making sure the
middle and right pins align
with the two jumper wires
you just added.

Step 8 DIY Synth - Manual 17

9
Button

Now you will need your

button which you will use
to turn your stutter synth on
and off. You will notice that
it has four small legs.

Place the button on your

breadboard over the central
gap. With two of the legs on
row 20 and the other two on
row 22 of the breadboard.
Make sure that all of the 4
legs are securely in a hole.

18 DIY Synth - Manual Step 9

10
Speaker

Take your Speaker which is

pictured on the right.
Noticing that it has two grey
wires attached to it.

Take the two grey wires and

place one on the blue
negative rail of the
breadboard. The other
should be attached in line
with the top right button
connection on row 22 of the
breadboard.

Step 10 DIY Synth - Manual 19

11
Battery clip

Take your Battery Clip which

is pictured on the right.
Noticing that it has a black
and a red wire connected
to it.

Connect the black wire

of the battery clip to the
ground rail and red wire to
the positive rail. Add your
battery and your done!
Now your ready to create
some musical madness!

20 DIY Synth - Manual Step 11

 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Circuit Check

16
17
18

Circuit Check
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

DIY Synth - Manual

29
30

21
12
Synth Casing (Optional)

You can use the included

plastic casing and your DIY
Synth box to create a
housing for your synth.

First remove your speaker

wires and battery clip wires
from your breadboard.

Remove your plastic casing

from your box.

22 DIY Synth - Manual Step 12

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Place the speaker and batter

clip on the top of the plastic
casing. Then thread the
speaker and battery clip
wires up through the small
hole in the plastic.

Put the plastic to one side

and stick the two pieces of
double sided tape on each
end of the cardboard tray.
Once stuck remove the
second piece of film from
the tape.

Step 12 DIY Synth - Manual 23

13
Synth Casing (Optional)

Place your plastic casing on

to your double sided tape
and press to make sure it is
secure.

Take your breadboard and

remove the film backing.

24 DIY Synth - Manual Step 13

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Place your synth on to your

plastic casing in the space
provided and press down so
that it is stuck securely.

Then reattach your

speaker and battery clip
wires to your breadboard. If
you need help remembering
where the wires go into the
breadboard refer to step 9
and 10.

Connect your battery clip to

your 9v battery and place
it into the slot in the acrylic
casing.

Step 13 DIY Synth - Manual 25

Congratulations!

You have finished making your DIY For those of you who want to test your
Synth Kit. Now make it your own! skills and learn more check out:
Create and customize the casing of your twsu.co
kit using whatever you want. You could
use a cardboard box, that old tin that’s You will find many more creations and
sat on your windowsill or design your hacks to expand your technological
own personal housing for your synth. orchestra.
Then customise with stickers, Sharpies
or paint. When you are happy with your
creation all that is left to do is create
sweet sweet music.

26 DIY Synth - Manual

Customising your Synth

By this stage you’ll have a fully You need to be able to get at the battery
functioning Synth but we thoroughly to change it.
recommend you keep the creativity The speaker works best on a hard
flowing by creating some sort of housing surface and you’ll have to drill a hole
for it. This will not only make it your through this to mount it.
own but also help protect the circuit The casing needs to have a few holes
and MAKE IT LOUDER if done well. for your controls (potentiometers) so
you can actually play it!
The example below is made from laser
cut acrylic. But you could make it out of Aside from that, go wild! We want to
almost anything... see some crazy creations! Share them
with us on our websites community
Whatever you make your casing out of, page at: twsu.co/community
a few things to keep in mind are;

DIY Synth - Manual 27

Component Appendix

Electrolytic Capacitor - Resistors -

Electrolytic Capacitors are used Resistors are used in a circuit to

for storing big charges. These are restrict the flow of electrical
polarized, with the longer leg current and stop things from
being positive and the shorter blowing up! The resistors in
white striped side being negative. measured in Ohms.

Speaker - Integrated Circuit (IC) -

This is a loud speaker, this is An Integrated Circuit also know

where the signals are turned into as an IC is a whole circuit itself
audio through the movement of but very very small and made of
the surface. Silicon. The chip in this circuit is
a 556 timer chip one of the most
commonly used chips in the world
made up of 25 transistors,
2 diodes and 15 resistors.

28 DIY Synth - Manual Components

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Battery Clip - Capacitors -

The battery clip allows a 9 volt A capacitor is like a big bucket, it

battery to power the circuit. The stores up charge, waits until its
battery can only connect in one full and then releases it all in one
direction with the red wire being go. How much charge depends on
positive and the black wire the size of the capacitor,
negative. measured in farads.

Breadboard - Potentiometer -

No soldering required! A A potentiometer is a resistor that

breadboard allows you to build you can control! Turning the knob
circuits without having to solder on the potentiometer increases
due to its rows and columns each and decreases the amount of
with contacts that allow current to resistance bit like a tap and the
flow through a regimented grid. flow of water.
This makes it perfect for playing
and prototyping your projects.

Components DIY Synth - Manual 29

Thank You!

Technology Will Save Us exists to educate and

inspire people to make, tinker and experiment
creatively with technology as a way of unleashing
new possibilities.

Devices, gadgets and computers are all a part of

our everyday life and yet most people know so little
about what these things are made of, let alone how
to fix them or create new uses for them. We believe
that the opportunity for technology to play a richer,
more creative role in our lives has yet to be explored.

30 DIY Synth - Manual

Contact

Interested in more classes? Have an idea for

a workshop we should teach? Do you want to
teach a class yourself? We’d love to hear from
you. Contact us by email or find out more on
our website.

[email protected]

www.techwillsaveus.com

@techwillsaveus
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