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555 Fuzzing into the Khz

A project log for Retrex Audio

Experimentation in AY-3-8910 / AY-3-8912 sound synthesis

xbeauxBeau 01/25/2020 at 00:450 Comments

I started building a second dev breadboard, and have been thinking thru a minimalist pin connection. The core functionality for instance of controlling some tones can be done with 4 instead of 8 data bits, and one of the bus control lines can just be pulled high instead of switched.

I rigged a 555 to experiment with independently generating the clock signal, rather than utilizing a high speed output like most SPI interfaces in a micro controller can do. I also already have this perfectly functional AY-3 chip wired up and blooping a test sequence from an arduino.

What do you suppose happens if I just pull the clock pin out and use the 555 running at a much lower speed instead!? Yup, you get any even bittier grittier jam.

But wait there's more, can you imagine, what if you hook up both the 2Mhz clock and the ~180Khz 555 clock? Yup you get even awesomer FUZZ!

Hot Fuzzy Audio Sample here!

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