03 March 2010

Oakley Ring Modulator Module

I finished another Oakley module last week. This time it is a Ring Modulator module. It basicly multiplies two audio or CV signals with each other. It has an X and Y input both in AC (for audio) and DC (for CV signals) versions. And then it has one output where the multiplied signal comes out. As you can see in the picture there is not much wiring to be done. I made another MOTM style power cable for it. I'm getting better at creating those every time, so I plan to make much more of them. After the initial power test it was time to test it more and calibrate it.

And here is a picture of the finished module from the front. You can see it has 3 pot meters. The first two control the X and Y input level and the second one controls the Y inputs DC off set. On the PCB there are three trim pot meters. Calibration is quite easy. It is a matter of adjusting some offsets and finally there is a gain trimmer that makes sure the output level matches the input level. After this I played around a bit with it and it is good fun. You can make some freaky sounds with a ring modulator for quite common input signals.