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Tap Tempo LFO (TAPLFO V2D)

ThissimpleTapTempoLFOisbasedonthePIC16F684.Youcanset
theLFOfrequencybytappingatempoonabuttonconnectedtothe
chip,orbychangingtheTempoCV.Withthischipyoucanbuildtap
tempoeffectsunitsorstompboxes,taptempocontrolleddrum
machinesortaptemposequencerclocks.Allofthesearedescribedin
thedatasheetbelow.
TheLFOcanproduce8waveforms,includingarandom(sample&
hold)wave.Allthewaveformsexcepttherandomwavecanbealtered
bythewavedistortionCV.SeetheVCLFOpageformoredetailsof
waveformdistortion.

Thechipalsoincludesatempomultiplier.Thisiscombinedwiththe
tappedtempotoallowtheLFOfrequencytobesetatamultipleofthe
tappedrate.Theavailablemultipliersare0.5,1,1.5,2,3,and4.This
allowshalfanddoubletime,andtriplettimes.
TheLFOtempo,multiplier,waveformselection,wavedistortion,and
outputlevelareallvoltagecontrolledusing05V.Unwantedfeatures
areeasilydisabledbytyingtherelevantpintoaconstantvoltage
(usually0Vor+5V).

Block Diagram

SynthInterfaces
BandlimitedRamps

ThechipusestheanalogueinputsofthePICforCVs.Thesearefedto
theinternalA/Dconvertor,whichsampleseachinputevery150uSorso
andconvertsthevoltagetoan8bitvalue.Inordertoavoidusingan
externalD/Aconvertorfortheoutput,thechipusesthebuiltinPWM
module.ThePWMoutputneedspassingthroughalowpassfilterto
convertthepulsesbackintoananalogueoutput.
UsinganexternalcrystalwiththePICallowsthechiptorunatits
maximumclockspeedof20MHz,andthismeansthatthePWMmodule
isabletoproducea19.5KHzsamplerateat10bitaccuracy.Although

thisdoesn'tsoundlikemuch,inpracticeitisimpossibletohearany
artifactsinmostsituations.

Pinout Diagram

Possible uses
TheTAPTEMPOinputcanacceptclockpulsesfromotherequipment,
whichallowstheLFOtobesyncronisedtootherdevices.Thechipalso
includesaCLOCKOUTPUTwhichcanbeusedtodriveother
equipment.Thisallowsataptempocontrolledclockforananalogue
sequencerordrummachine,forexample.
ThePWMoutputfromthechipcanbeusedtodrivetheLEDinavactrol
(orsimilarLED/LDRcombination)directly,withoutanysubsequentop
ampfilterstages.Theslowresponseofthevactrolprovidesmorethan
enoughfiltering.Thismakesforanextremelysimplecircuitwithvery
fewcomponents.Thevactrol'sLDRcanbeusedtoreplaceastandard
potentiometertoaddtaptempoLFOcontroltoavarietyofcircuits.
Examplecircuitsareinthedatasheet.

More details
Ifyou'dliketobuildone,orliketoknowhowIbuiltmine,perhapsyou'd
liketolookat:
TapTempoLFOPIC16F684ASMcode
AssembledHEXcodefromabovefile
CircuitDiagramcompletemodularsynthtaptempoLFO
CircuitDiagramtaptempotremolo
CircuitDiagramtaptemposequencerclock
TapTempoLFOdatasheet(includesexamplecircuitdiagrams,
examplewaveforms,andchippinout)

The Tap Tempo LFO elsewhere on the web

There'sataptempotremoloprojectusingmychipoverat
MusicPCB.com.YoucangetaPCBandaprogrammedchipfor$19.
Alternatively,youcangetjustthechipoveratSmallBearElectronics.
Therehasalsobeenalotofdiscussionaboutthisprojectoverat
DIYStompboxes.comwhereIinitiallyputtheideaforward.Igotalotof
support,andnoonegotannoyedatmefortakingaboutninemonthsto
finishitoff!Thanksguys!
RickHoltofFrequencyCentralhasdevelopedaDIYPCBforthis

projectoveratMuffwiggler.com.

Version 2
ChrisSafiaddedtheWaveDistortionfeaturefrommyoriginalVCLFO
intotheTAPLFOcode.Iaddedaphaseresetonthefirsttaptothetap
tempoinput.ThisallowsyoutokeeptheLFOonthebeatwithasingle
tap.Ialsotweakedsomewaveformssotheyallresettothetopofthe
waveform.Finally,Iusedthesparepinfromthefirstversionasadigital
inputtostepthroughthedifferentmultipliers.Thisworkswiththe
MultiplierCVinthesameeither/orwayastheTapTempoinputand
theTempoCV.

Version 2D - a bug fix

ItturnsoutthatasaresultofaddingtheWaveDistortionfeaturein
version2,itbecamepossiblefortheClockoutputonpin7todriftslowly
outofsyncwiththemainLFOoutput.Thisisduetoinaccuraciesinthe
calculationsbuildingup.Thisismuchworseatslowsettings(whenthe
incrementsaresmall,soerrorsareproportionallylarger),andwhen
usingextremewavedistortionsettings(whentheerrorsgeneratedare
greatest).Italsodoesn'thappeniftheunitissync'dtoexternalpulses,
sincethephaseisreseteverytimethepulsesaretimed.
Anyway,you'renotinterestedinthat,right?YoujustwanttoknowI've
fixedit,right?Right!Version2Disthefixedversion.
credits & legal
AlldesignanddevelopmentbyTomWiltshire.AllcodeandcontentcopyrightTomWiltshire20062008forElectricDruid.Contact
tom@electricdruid.net
PleasenotethatwhilstI'vegotnoproblemwithpeopleusingandmodifyingmycodeorcircuitsfortheirownuseoreducation,the
informationonthesepagesiscopyright,andnotforcommercialuse.Ifyou'dliketodiscusscommercialuseofmywork,please
contactme.