Chapter 5. The Incredible Op Amp

You may be familiar with operational amplifiers (or op amps) and have perhaps even done some experiments with them. They are one of the most useful circuit elements you’ll encounter, and it’s well worth the effort to become proficient in applying them in your synth-DIY circuit design and experimentation work.

The Noise Toaster design uses several op amps for different purposes; before we dissect the various circuits of the Noise Toaster, it is important to have a good idea how op amps work. I’m not going to cover the chemical formula for cadmium yellow here. Instead, I’m going to show you how to paint things; specifically I’m going to show you how to paint circuits with op amps.

Figure 5-1. Typical op amp IC packages. ...

Get Make: Analog Synthesizers now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial