Designing a diode ladder filter from scratch

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Support the channel...
... through Patreon: / moritzklein
... by buying my DIY kits: www.ericasynths.lv/shop/diy-k...
Complete project on falstad: tinyurl.com/y7eftwyz
In this video, I'll walk you through the process of designing a diode ladder VCF from scratch. Since the topic is rather advanced, I don’t go into great detail about most basic components & what they do. If you are just starting out, I recommend you first watch the rest of my series on filter design. You can find previous episodes here:
Analog Filtering Basics: • DIY SYNTH VCF Part 1: ...
Active Filters & Resonance: • DIY SYNTH VCF Part 2: ...
Vactrol-Based Voltage Control: • DIY SYNTH VCF Part 3: ...
Also, if you need a refresher on how the inverting op amp-configuration works, I recommend watching my video on a sawtooth-to-triangle converter, which you can find here: • DIY SYNTH Quick Tip: S...
If you want to follow along - which I strongly recommend -, here's a bill of materials:
Semiconductors
11x 1N4148 diode
Capacitors
2x 1uF foil capacitor
5x 1nF foil capacitor
ICs
2x TL074
Resistors
2x 200k resistor
2x 100k resistor
1x 47k resistor
8x 33k resistor
2x 10k resistor
1x 2k7 resistor
2x 2k resistor
1x 1k resistor
1x 330 resistor
Potentiometers
2x 100k linear mono potentiometer
Misc
3x audio jack socket
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:39 Sound Demo
03:49 Diodes as Resistors?
10:31 Bias Current & Trickery
14:02 Multi-Pole Diode Ladder
17:23 Driving the Ladder
25:22 Output Stage
27:42 CV Processing
30:53 Resonance
34:45 Final Demo & Outro

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Опубликовано:

24 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 333

@codyjohnson5954 3 года назад

I hope you are saving all of your wonderful illustrations. They would make a fantastic book.

@cadikaorade828 3 года назад

Reminds me of Forrest Mims' circuit diagrams

@jacobsteel 3 года назад

@Baylie ϟymms me too!

@infiniteoffset 3 года назад

Honestly I'm not even building diode ladder or anything related to synths, but I love watching your videos, because of how well the videos are made. Good job!

@rockpadstudios Год назад

yeah - very cool vid's

@WibblyWobblyBob 3 года назад

Thank you for making this series. I have learned more from 2 evenings watching your videos than 40 years of fiddling with electronics. Your plumbing analogy is brilliant. I look forward to seeing many more tuturials from you.

@boonedockjourneyman7979 3 года назад

I’m a traditional old fart. I’ve seen waves of creativity go by over 4 decades of professional life. You are going to be a star. The technology, the art, the dynamic art of the lights, and not least of all, the music, will take you far. I can visualize a Rammstein album cover, music video and melody based on your work. You should do some demos. And yes old guys listen to them. Metallica paved a path for us old guys years ago.

@OMNI_INFINITY Год назад

*Wow...ONE BREADBOARD???!!! I wasn't expecting that. Seems somebody is German (or maybe Austrian, but that's not so different). Planning to make that. Thanks!*

@dentakuweb 3 года назад

That was probably the most technical video yet but definitely the most musically useful device you have created yet.

@juppster5694 Год назад

Excellent presentation! I am an electronics engineer, and I love the way you come at your explanations: e.g. the changing resistances of the diodes with current, in the resonator amplifier feedback circuit, and how the stage-gain is reduced at higher amplitudes by 'straightening out the exponential curve'. Very detailed discussion - most (including me!) would have just said 'diode clamp' and not considered the detail! Very helpful for those of us who think we know it all already 😆 Thank you🙏

@scrapeape 3 года назад

Your demo song actually elicited some emotions in me (besides the standard "that sounds cool" excitement). That's an exceedingly rare thing. Great stuff.

@sams_sekai 3 года назад

Waking up to this on my birthday was a very good thing! Awesome explanation as usual!

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

happy birthday!

@warpigs330 3 года назад

These videos are really helping to open the doors of analog electronics. I have been wanting to make a filter, and experiment with weird, maybe counterintuitive topologies, but didn't know where to start. The difference between the positive offset and negative offset, plus the placement of the resonance, there is a lot to tune there. I would be really interested in how to turn this into an all pass filter, I have been wanting to get some of those phaser sounds.

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

yeah that's why i decided to go with this instead of another OTA-based approach. much more room for creative tweaking! (also LM13700s are expensive.) i'll do a follow up on converting this into other filter types. eventually i'd also like to do a PCB layout when i feel the featureset is refined enough.

@warpigs330 3 года назад

@@MoritzKlein0 the fact that this design doesn't use any fancy components means I will likely be able to design a pcb to be assembled by JLCPCB, and have them do most of the components.

@OscarUnderdog 3 года назад

This is crazy cool, THANK you for making high quality detailed videos like this.

@FahlmanCascade 3 года назад

Your explanation of the circuit design is excellent.

@rolandtriton Год назад

Iam a mechanical engineer by major, the way you explained electronics made huge sense, I wish we had this 20 years ago, thanks for the good content

@andrewlecouteurbisson7217 3 года назад

Excellent explanation and I really like the emphasis on the motivation rather than just describing the circuit.

@22222Sandman22222 3 года назад

Wow, I've never seen better explanations for synth electronics. These definitely help me fixing some quirks in my DIY modular! Thank you so much!!

@julian4035 3 года назад

Earlyer I know nothing of this now i know always! You are so good

@PeterWalkerHP16c 3 года назад

We've all been waiting for this! Thanks.

@jakesnell7707 Год назад

You’re my favorite RU-vidr after this!

@mathewthomas3238 3 года назад

I breadboarded this today and it sounds absolutely awesome. I want to build a euro module but I'm afraid your next version is going to be even better!

@OMNI_INFINITY 10 месяцев назад

Any breadboard layout schematics? Been trying to decipher what is in the video onto a breadboard style layout. Thanks in advance, if can post a reliable diagram of that.

@davec8385 3 года назад

These videos are incredible. You do a fantastic job of teaching how these ideas work in a simple to understand way. I hope you have a great rest of your day

@SkunkBunk 3 года назад

This is awesome! Thanks for being so thorough in your analysis.

@wedkarzkosma 3 года назад

Good to see your channel grow up. Great video as allways! Have a nice day mr. Moritz

@johnsaunders6510 3 года назад

A lovely sounding filter.

@kaloyankrastev638 2 года назад

This filter works really well. The other day one opamp on mine apparently failed. It's cool how these analog devices can sound nice even with a major damage. The sound was similar to warm distortion on a guitar. I suspect the reason for the failure Is that I modified the CV input and might be causing it to go way high on voltage on the ladder. Thank you for your work again!

@iamsushi1056 3 года назад

"oscillation salad" what a wonderful term!

@wuukaa9079 3 года назад

So much work in this video! Can't wait for the high pass filter!

@iswimwithsharks 2 года назад

Loving all your videos, really helpful in understanding signal flow and how everything works, appreciate your sharing of knowledge dude!

@rpa231 3 года назад

Just wanted to say your channel is amazing.

@cadra400 3 года назад

You, sir, are a fantastic teacher. Please keep making these videos. I hope you'll one day do a similar breakdown/comparison of other filter types, like the Moog transistor ladder, or late MS-20 OTA type.

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

transistor ladder is next on my list!

@interference7480 3 года назад

Just did my homework and watched this again before the upcoming premier.. this sounds so good, I must have one!

@256byteram 3 года назад

That sounds great! Simple design too. I did one ages ago by taking a state-variable filter and replacing the two cutoff frequency resistors with boring old diode bridges, and basically doing the same positive/negative control voltage you've done across them. Worked really well too, plus you get low/band/high-pass out of it.

@finonomastropiero4261 3 года назад

Schematics pls jojo

@256byteram 3 года назад

@@finonomastropiero4261 Demo and a schematic from when I made it -> ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Z4o3QnJdoys.html

@samcarswell9890 3 года назад

This was a really, really great video and explanation. Thank you for making these!!

@TimSavage-drummer 3 года назад

Less than a minute into your video and I've subscribed. I'm going to enjoy this channel!

@joelkulesha8284 3 года назад

Thank you so much for making these! Such fantastic help!

@josseman 3 года назад

This is the first video I saw of you. Your talent is marvellous! Both good at explaining electronics and making music. Awesome! Greeting from the Netherlands

@37leonardo 6 месяцев назад

I love your presentations and learning unthincable new in my analog knowledge and experience. Thanks!

@akabomb 3 года назад

The best video explaining the diode filter I've seen so far! The style of your videos is very charming and it helped me learn a lot. Thank you! My choice is pretty limited in terms of getting photoresistors too, so this filter would be a nice option.

@neail5466 3 года назад

I was searching for this kind of analogue electronics explanations all over the internet.. you really granted my wish. I hope you will cover more in future. Thank you very much.♥️+1

@makarocket 3 года назад

this is an awesome demo on how a diode filter works!! thank you!!

@fermiLiquidDrinker 3 года назад

I already have a decent amount of experience with VCFs, but I still learned something from this video! Your design is honestly brilliant-it's like a further simplified Steiner-Parker filter; your filter doesn't use a differential ladder, so it'll be much more stable with regards to temperature. I'll probably try my hand at a mathematical analysis of this filter soon.

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

love to read what you come up with! also - amazing channel name!

@fermiLiquidDrinker 3 года назад

@@MoritzKlein0 I'm busy on the Arp 4072 filter as of the moment, so it might be a bit before I getting to your filter. I'll let you know when I start on yours

@davidvallejo9184 3 года назад

I liked the moving representation of the circuit on the simulations page, I always wonder how it flows, now it is clearer to me, you are the best!!

@magiceireann 3 года назад

This is wonderfully explained Moritz, thank you. Subscribed

@why_do_you_care 2 года назад

Being an electronics engineer, I can say that such sound and simple explanations for analog circuit design are tough to find. The logical flow and simple language helps one to be a 'part of the design process'.

@TediumGenius Год назад

I've come late to the game and your series here, but as a fan of ELP, Kraftwerk, and synths, I am absolutely fascinated! Your explanations are PRICELESS!!!!!! I am a hobby musician and have some electronics background, as well as a new scope I want to get to know, and your videos are PERFECT as a companion!! Very very well done, very consistent videos, and wow, I can't say enough good!!!

@agiantalienforce 3 года назад

Great tune. Would love a longer version

@diglet553 3 года назад

Just discovered your channel and I love it! You've reawoken the DIY synth spirit within me 😁 Also, loved the sequence, sounds almost 303 like but not. That's the cool thing about diode ladder filters; they sound rubbery and acidic.

@soulrobotics 3 года назад

For being an excellent musician your are an excellent electronic guy!!. Hats!

@Yinte_Klop_Blunt666 3 года назад

been waiting for this one!

@fruitpowerofeden-2022 3 года назад

yet another excellent tutorial. Thank you.

@knuteri3 3 года назад

This is a great explanation! Thank you!

@BUCKSINSIX69 3 года назад

Moritz, you are my new hero. WOW... just wow

@devjock 3 года назад

I'm fascinated by the fact that so far, there hasn't been a single sighting of expensive transconductance amplifiers. I'm sure they'll be used in the future, but it's nice to know there's a lot of good control possible with bog-standard opamps. Well done man. This series is truly inspiring.

@MoraFermi 3 года назад

1. The "transconductance" op-amps would be needed if the filter's steering element was a BJT. 2. "Transconductance" amps are essentially amps pushing a set amount of current through the load... 3. ... which means you can do it with a "normal" op amp and some fancy feedback loop, if you don't mind part count explosion. 4. Internally they're current mirrors, so replacing them with discrete transistor pairs/trios would probably work too, for that old-school, wobbly sound.

@devjock 3 года назад

@@MoraFermi Oh I'm aware OTA's are usually used in combination with a bjt, just loved the fact that there's a feeling of it being slowly worked towards. Parts explosion is fine in that case, because it facilitates the style of the video. More parts means less multi-function parts, means easier to wrap the mind around. Don't get me wrong, I do be liking the wobblies too, but I have a feeling this series is working towards more accurate modules later-on. Ideal diodes (Jim Patchel) in place of the split "dual"-filter elements would be a nice way to get the filter's "around 0v" area more linear (as well as it being a nice intro to waveshaping/folding). tldr; Yes :D

@jmannUSMC 3 года назад

This will go down as the most approachable German engineering to ever exist 🤘

@crazyirishman121 3 года назад

That Demo was on point.

@tedvanmatje 3 года назад

Awesome presentation and impeccable english! Thanks for posting :)

@skriptico 3 года назад

Yessir!

@desmotsdesfaits5795 3 года назад

once again great great great video!

@hlw8051 3 года назад

Very clear appreciate the content

@scottlarson1548 2 года назад

I had no idea diodes could do so many things. Transistors get all the glory.

@JagerMagic 3 месяца назад

Awesome, my first Synthesizer was a Korg Poly800.

@codehorror8076 Год назад

This sounds like something Burial would make. Good work man, learning so much from your videos.

@dgp1498 3 года назад

lovely filter!

@felixdahlhaus278 3 года назад

There must be snow on your head, caused by your coolnes =) Can`t wait for more, Mr. Klein! Beste Wishes

@LeoMakes 3 года назад

Fantastic video!

@anthonygallagher193 3 года назад

Thank you. Informative and easy to understand .

@stephenyoung8960 Год назад

Keep these videos coming please :)

@DarioMoog Год назад

Thank you! You have great teaching skills. Can you make a video about OTAs and their use in MS-20 filter type?

@DollysplitBand 3 года назад

Jeez man that kick sounds absolutely lush.

@markg1051 3 года назад

Very impressive! Thank you.

@MandelscapeDA 5 месяцев назад

Love your channel... So now I need a comparison of various capacitors in a SEM state variable filter please!!!!!!

3 года назад

wow that sounds good!

@OMNI_INFINITY Год назад

Part of what makes it nice is the synesthesia with that scope. Without the scope visuals in synch I'm thankfully generally over that sound.

@ichadc 3 года назад

Unrelated to the topic, but I like the way you drew all the "S" characters. Great video!

@wesleymays1931 3 года назад

Half S, half lightning bolt I like it

@kevinchubb3125 6 месяцев назад

Fantastic videos!

@elluisito000 3 года назад

Another great video Thanks!

@punman5392 3 года назад

Hey man I think I’m gonna build a pedal for my bass around this using an expression pedal for control. Super neat stuff

@wsc112782 3 года назад

This video is amazing.

@SyncdAlien 3 года назад

Very interesting, thank you.

@moogboy010 3 года назад

Thanks' for posting!Great video! : )

@mikepage7865 3 года назад

excellent video!

@sumynona8429 Год назад

Greeat explanations! Thx so much!

@slick8086 3 года назад

Great Video.... now where is that dang bag of diodes!!

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

50-pole filter, let's go!

@leomartihart 3 года назад

Muy buen proyecto!!!! felicitaciones!!!!

@christophschuermann7920 3 года назад

Hi Moritz, thanks for another great video! First off all: I would buy your drawings in an art gallery if they were signed by you :-). If you plan to build a stable and good "pro-version" in series, please consider the use of diode-arrays in one case. This allows good traking and temperature behavior and some are available in DIL or SIL-cases for easy prototyping. Cheers from Kaulsdorf, Christoph

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

great idea, thanks for the suggestion! i'm planning to do a proper PCB & panel once i've added at least a high-pass (and maybe a band-pass) option, so i'll probably use such an array then!

@soejrd24978 3 года назад

Looking forward to the follow-up

@BITE_MECHANISM Год назад

I need this 😱

@rinner2801 2 года назад

Fantastic!

@-prajna-9545 3 года назад

very good !! 水拉!!!

@treadmillrepair754 3 года назад

Wow amazing.

@Qhotex 3 года назад

Super series, Moritz! But I will suggest making a 0V reference line, so it gets a little more clear, how the waves are behaving.

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

you mean on the offset oscillations diagram?

@Qhotex 3 года назад

@@MoritzKlein0 Yes, and the Odd/Even diagram as well. Thank you for this series. Really motivates me to do electronics, after a long period only programming.

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

@@Qhotex yeah true, in hindsight that would've been clearer.

@nsomer2718 Год назад

I built a nano-amp scale ammeter using a 1N4148 diode. It works great! I use it in high voltage work to measure very small currents

@Asdayasman 2 года назад

4:14 このディオです！ The more polite Dio, after jumping out of the bushes and saying "boo" to surprise Erina on April Fool's.

@K.D.Fischer_HEPHY 3 года назад

Excellent.

@Galova 3 года назад

so cool!

@francoisdastardly4405 3 года назад

You are AMAZING !!!!!!

@tuff_lover 3 года назад

aphex twin would love that one, very clean sound

@modelrogers.19 3 года назад

thank you!

@sgrimm7346 2 года назад

Excuse the language, but this is Fking genius! To the others that also understand engineering, you know what I mean......Carry on please. I just had to drop my 2 cents.

@ciro_costa 3 года назад

i thought you'd end up having some noise problems because of the amplification but it turned out fine! amazing video as always!! if that wasn't the case i'd suggest zener diodes the ones rated to 3.6V would require a lesser reduction of volume (if i got the workings of the circuit right) so you'd have a greater separation between the signal and the noise floor during the amplification stage.

@MoritzKlein0 3 года назад

might be a good idea to try this since the output stage definitely is susceptible to picking up noise. you can keep it to a minimum by using proper decoupling & keeping the big gain op amp as close to the PSU as possible though!