0.

VCO

Function : The voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is the core of a synthesizer. It is the unit that produces the raw sound that is modied by the rest of the modules, and it outputs waveforms with a frequency range of about 10 Hz to 20 kHz without signicant distortion. It includes exponential control voltage inputs (since musical notes are perceived exponentially, where every note is twice the frequency of the same note an octave below it); linear AC control voltage inputs (for use with the LFO for frequency modulation, or vibrato); and adjustable saw, triangle, square, and sine wave outputs. Schematic :

Figure 1: VCO Full Schematic

Theory of Operation : The voltage controlled oscillator is an exponential current source feeding into a current controlled oscillator to produce a ramp wave. This then feeds into a triangle waveshaper, which is then fed into both the square and the sine waveshaper. This design was inspired by several circuits, including the ASM VCO-1 by Gene Stopp and Thomas Henrys VCO-1, both of which are heavily inuenced by Electronotes designs. Pieces from all the designs were combined with other circuits to form a sort of franken-circuit. Dierent pieces are thrown together with some heavy modication, creating a stable and full-featured VCO with several output waveform choices. Exponential Current Source :

Figure 2: Exponential Current Source Schematic

This is a dierential pair current source. Since the collector current is exponentially related to the base-emitter voltage, and linearly related to the voltage at the collector, it has both exponential and linear controls. A dierential pair reduces Is dependence. 2

IC1 =

15 vlinear RC Rlin
VBE VT

IC = IS e

VBE = ln vin = VBE 1 vin = VT ln

IC IS VBE 2 IC1 IC2

IC1 = e kT 15 vlinear Vvin IC2 = e T RC Rlin Therefore, there is a linear dependence on vlinear and an exponential dependence on vin , 15 15 as was required. With no input voltage, IC2 = R = 150 = 0.1mA. k C Sawtooth oscillator : This is an integrator with a reset switch attached. The output of the integrator is fed into a comparator. When this output goes above 5V , the comparator will pull its output down to -15V, which turns on the JFET. The capacitor then discharges through the Rd s(on) of the JFET, which is 250 for this particular transistor, resetting the waveform. This discharge must be maintained for long enough to drop the wave back to 0V . Thus, after a time constant determined by the 47 pF capacitor and the 15k resistor, the JFET turns o. This means that the output waveform is a slow ramp up (the integration of the steady current), followed by a quick drop (the discharge through the JFET). This is a sawtooth wave. This is expressed mathematically below. 1 Iin dt C4 Since this goes up to 5V before resetting, and since Iin is a constant DC current, Vcapacitor = 5V = 1 Iin tperiod C4

qvin

5V C4 Iin Iin f requency = 5V 2.2nF With no input voltage (CV is at ground), Iin = 0.1mA. tperiod = fo = 0.1mA = 9090Hz 5V 2.2nF 3

Figure 3: Sawtooth Oscillator

The time constant at the comparator is set to be about 1 of the reset time through the 4 JFET. treset = C4 RDS = 2.2nF 250 = 0.55s tcomparator = R38 C5 = 47pF 3.3k = 0.14s Triangle waveshaper : This piece is a simple absolute value circuit, or a full-wave rectier. A rectied sawtooth is a triangle wave with an oset. The resistor values have to be exact for a perfect glitch-free waveform, so trimming pots were included. This waveform is then passed through a capacitor to remove the DC bias. This wave is then passed into a buer to isolate the load-sensitive rectier, then an inverting amplier so that the amplitude can be easily controlled.

Figure 4: Triangle Waveshaper

Figure 5: Triangle Waveshaper Method

As shown above, the rectier circuit rst inverts and recties part of the waveform, resulting in a positive wave where the original waveform was negative. The rectied input is scaled by two, then added to the original input by the second op-amp, which is a summing amplier. The scaled rectied pieces add to the original negative pieces to result in an unscaled positive piece. Thus, the original waveform has been rectied completely, resulting in a triangle wave with an oset. Square waveshaper :

Figure 6: Square Waveshaper

The square waveshaper is extremely straightforward. It passes the output of the triangle wave buer into a comparator. When the triangle wave is above zero, the square wave is high, and it is low when the triangle wave is negative. This wave is then passed into an inverting amplier, so the amplitude can be easily controlled. Q1 and Q2 are a matched pair. Sine waveshaper :

Figure 7: Sine Waveshaper

The idea for this circuit came from an IEEE paper regarding triangle to sine waveshaping. It reports an ideal total harmonic distortion of 0.2%, which is remarkably good. This waveshaper does not really produce a pure sine wave. It uses a cheat, instead, to produce a wave that approximates a sine wave remarkably well. A single input dierential amplier attempts to amplify an input triangle wave. However, at the extremes of the triangle, it drops out of the forward active region into saturation. Thus, this amplier has non-linear gain. Near zero, it follows the triangle wave (slope of 1) as a sine wave does. At higher levels, it smooths out, and attens the top of the triangle wave. As the oscilloscope output shows, the resultant waveform looks quite like a sine wave. Two potentiometers adjust the look of the nal waveform. P1 determines how the amplitude of the input waveform, and therefore how overdriven the dierential pair is. At one extreme, the input levels keep the dierential pair in its active region, so the output is still a triangle wave. At the other, the transistor is extremely overdriven, and begins to resemble a square wave. The second pot adjusts the symmetry of the waveform by controlling the current through each transistor. Moving the pot in one direction rounds out the top more than the bottom, and the other direction rounds out the bottom more. The potentiometer and R41 are idealised as two current sources as shown in the schematic below.

Figure 8: Sine Waveshaper Schematic for Analysis

Kircho Loop: vin = VBE1 + iR3 VBE2 Q1 and Q2 are a matched pair, so IS is the same for both transistors: VBE1 = VT ln and VBE2 = VT ln So, vin = iR + VT ln Let I1 = (I + 1) and I2 = (I 1). i vin = VT I 1+ IR + ln VT 1 8
i I i I

IC1 IS IC2 IS IC1 IC2

Expanding this out by use of a power series (as explained in the IEEE paper):

1 vin 1 i i 2 = + IR IR I 3 VT + 2 I + 2 VT VT

1 i 2 + IR 5 VT + 2 I
1

+ ...

This is of the form i = Ki sin(K2 vin ), where K1 = 1, and K2 = Results : Some captured waveforms:

IR +2 VT

1 VT

Saw :

Figure 9: Sawtooth Wave

Triangle :

Figure 10: Triangle Wave

Square :

Figure 11: Square Wave

10

Sine :

Figure 12: Sine Wave

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Figure 13: VCO Control Voltage vs. Frequency

The numerical results are on the next page.

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Voltage In (V) -7 -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -4 -3.5 -3 -2.8 -2.6 -2.4 -2.2 -2 -1.8 -1.6 -1.4 -1.2 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0

Frequency 10.9 15.3 21.3 29.9 42 58.3 81.6 113.9 159.7 182 208 237.5 271 309 354 404 462 526 599 680 780 883 1000 1144

Voltage In (V) 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7

Frequency 1300 1475 1672 1890 2135 2405 2700 3050 3400 3800 4250 4730 5250 5800 6400 8100 10000 12340 15170 18700 22790 27100 30990

Error Analysis/Discussion The triangle wave has an inaudible glitch in it, due to the process of rectication. This glitch is carried over to both the square and the sine waves, since they both are derived from the triangle wave. As seen above, the frequency tracks the voltage exponentially well at lower frequencies. However, at higher frequencies, the error becomes larger. This is because the capacitor has a nite discharge time. Since this particular JFET has a fairly high RDS of 250 (for contrast, the JFET usually used for synthersizers, a 2N4856, has an RDS of 25), the reset time through the JFET is comparable to the period of the waveform itself. This is partially compensated for by the resistor placed in series with the capacitor in the sawtooth oscillator, since it sets the voltage just before integration at a value of Isource R36 . This is intended to account for the lost time of integration when the JFET is resetting. To improve the tracking, a 1k potentiometer can be placed instead of the current 680 resistor, and this pot can be trimmed to improve the voltage tracking of the VCO.

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Bibliography
Meyer, R.G.; Sansen, W.M.C.; Peeters, S.; , The dierential pair as a triangle-sine wave converter, Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of , vol.11, no.3, pp. 418- 420, Jun 1976 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.1976.1050748 URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1050748&isnumber=22548

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