Wygonium GB01 Synth

Info

• 6 oscillators each with 10 waveforms (from pristine classics to lo-fi vintage digital synths)
  • 2 primary oscillators with independent adjustment ±12 semitones
  • 4 “subharmonic” oscillators with selectable divisions (1-24) of the played pitch
  • Global detune for huge sounds
• Noise generator
• 4 independent parallel resonant bandpass filters with LFO modulation
• Adjustable LFO with 6 waveforms and touch restart
• Effects:
  • Drive, from subtle warmth to harsh overtones
  • Atmospheric stereo plate reverb
  • Lush stereo chorus
  • Looping digital delay with in/out for overdubs
• Flexible mixing stages
• Selectable velocity curves
• Pitch quantization
• Latched sustain
• One-shot or looping envelope
• Preset storage
• Pitch input quantization to musical scales, with root note setting

Demo Video

Details

Hardware

• Teensy 4.1
• Teensy Audio Board
• 2.42” OLED display (SSD1309, SPI)
• 4x Bourns rotary encoders
• 1x 10k audio taper potentiometer
• 8x NKK 12mm tactile buttons
• Jacks:
  • 2x 1/4” audio
  • 1x 1/8” headphones
  • 1x 2.1mm DC power
  • 1x RJ45 Ethernet
• 1x Power switch
• Custom circuit boards
• 2x CD4051 (for encoders)
• 1x 74HC165 (for buttons)
• 6x 3D-printed knobs
• Miscellaneous passives

Software

• The usual, standard Teensy/Arduino libraries
• Additional Teensy audio libraries (most slightly modified to get specific parameters):
  • Ensemble by Alexander Davis/Vince R. Pearson (ElectroTechnique)
  • Plate Reverb by Piotr Zapart (hexefx)
  • Delay10Tap from Teensy forum user HOUTSON
• Custom Teensy audio libraries
  • Analysis to Variable to track LFO
  • Added restart() method to Waveform class to retrigger when used as LFO
• 12AX7 Tube response curve from Teensy forum user HOUTSON
• Three waveforms used from Adventure Kid Waveforms (AKWF)

Other Stuff

“Wygonium” is obviously(?) a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Trautonium this synth is modelled after, that having been named after the creator’s last name of Trautwein.

“GB” are the initials of the friend that I built the synth for.

A sample of the Quick Start guide I made (click to enlarge)

The overall architecture diagram I made to explain how things fit together. It looks nice, but isn’t terribly useful IMO. (click to enlarge)

Here’s the very first GB01 I made, but thought the shape was too much like existing devices (e.g.: Blofeld, Elektron machines, et al)

I really wanted the GB01 to be in a vertical orientation, but ergonomically and functionally it was not a good option. Sadly.

What’s inside a GB01? At least the non-cool tactile button GB01. 😉 (Note, the ridiculously long cables are for testing only; the final devices have used much, much shorter cables.)

Early version (1.2) of the main PCBs in the GB01. (Final PCBs are version 1.5)

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Wygonium Intro

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