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Here’s a list of open-source building blocks for Synth DIY projects. These are tried and tested circuits, so hopefully they will prevent you from having to re-invent the wheel when it comes to commonly used elements.
Most microcontrollers run on either 3.3V or 5V logic, whereas Eurorack gates and triggers are usually between 5-8V.
Thus, if you would like to ‘read’ a digital input such as a gate or external clock source from your microcontroller, you will need some method of conditioning the incoming voltage to prevent it from damaging the chip.
Many digital modules will need at least one CV input, however you have likely noticed that while Eurorack can have ±12V travelling through its patch cables, most microcontrollers will be very unhappy to receive anything outside of the range 0-3.3V. To allow you to ‘read’ the whole 12V CV range, you need to perform something called ‘signal conditioning’. This means that you want to ‘condition’ the potential range of ±12V into 0-3.3V, cutting out any parts you don’t need to read, and scaling the parts that you do to the readable range.
...An optocoupler allows signal transmition between two isolated circuits with two parts: an LED that emits infrared light and a photosensitive device (LDR) which detects light from the LED.
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