555 Timer Chip Explorations!

The 555 timer is a generic chip that's now made by various manufacturers; you can read about its history and more on the excellent Wikipedia page.

For the video-inclined, here's my Virtual Workshop with these projects:

UPDATE: 123D Circuits adapted my awful synth into a version you can play in your browser! Check it out here, or just scroll to the bottom of this article to play it!

I also recommend this fantastic resource for learning about the 555; it has a bajillion example circuits, plus all the basic intro material right up top: http://www.555-timer-circuits.com/

In the video, I've built two circuits from Tron Club, before messing around and building a simple, horrible synth. (These and all Tron Club materials are licensed CC-BY-SA.)

"Flashing LED with 555 chip" – Kit 1, Circuit 11

This basic circuit blinks an LED at a certain rate. It's powered by a 9V battery and uses two pretty big capacitors.

"Varying the 555 Timer Pulse" – Kit 2, Circuit 12

This one got me more excited because it's the stepping stone to a chiptunes-tastic square-wave synth! The coolest thing to do after your blinky-LED Hello World. :)

Funnily enough, this is actually a simpler circuit than the previous one. It does require a 4.5V power source; I'm betting that I could get away with a 5V portable USB charger with the leads stripped.

I expect future explorations to take a route through this project:

Atari Punk Bass

This is a version of the Atari Punk Console! I <3 square-wave synths, and like the video shows, I have a whole rail of 555s, so I'd like to build a few weird instruments with these.

I used Jimmie Rodgers' Atari Punk Console kit to build the ATARITAR, but now it's time to get lower-level and add polyphony! Plus, the APC can get a bit... squeaky... but sounds divine on the low pitches.

I'd be combining this with either some conductive material (like PLA) or a linear soft potentiometer... Annnyway, I'm clearly going down a rabbithole, so it's time to wrap up this write-up. :) Tell me what you wanna make!

...maybe I'll throw in a wah-wah...