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I have a couple of side businesses that require power supplies. As a result, I have boxes and boxes of power supplies filling up weekly. Have you ever wondered what’s inside? Ever noticed a hum in your audio circuits? Want to see what ‘Made in China’ actually means? We’re going to crack a couple of these open and identify what’s actually going on inside. WARNING: Don’t do this at home, at least not without understanding the risks and making sure to take proper electrical safety precautions. Electric shocks are no joke - actually, they can be lethal. Take a look at the pictures and live to see another day :-). ...

****In this tutorial, we’ll be making our own S-Trig cables, which are useful for interfacing with older synthesizers made by Moog, Yamaha, and other manufacturers. These cables are not only useful for synthesizers; many older electronics use this style of connector and you may find that you want to interface your modern gear with the older equipment (such as wire recorders). Tools You’ll need a couple of tools to complete this project. ...

Build a step sequencer for your digital synths! In this tutorial, you will learn the basics of step sequencers, why they are useful, and how to build your own 8-10 step sequencer for your next synthesizer project. Introduction Building synthesizer circuits is fun & easy! With a couple of parts you can get for less than $5, you can make a simple circuit that will make some sweet synth sounds. The most famous example of this is the Atari Punk Console (also known as the APC or Stepped Tone Generator), a beginner-friendly synthesizer circuit that utilizes a 556 dual timer chip (conveniently available at your local Radioshack, of all places) to generate a glitchy lo-fi noise. While it is a great circuit that will bring a smile and encouragement to any audio electronics beginner, the novelty wears off fairly quick. You’ll find some sweet spots and maybe be able to get a cool tone every once in a while, but the output will be static and boring. To get any good sounds, you’ll find yourself tweaking the knobs for some dynamic output. If only there was a way to make this circuit hands-free, dynamic, and capable of playing on its own, something musical… ...