TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

The -12 connects to pins 3 and 16 of the DAC.To get +5 is easy: just take a normal 9V supply and use a simple voltage divider circuit to shunt 4V across a resistor, dropping the remainder to 5. Getting -12 is not quite as easy--you have to either start with 12V or higher, or use a voltage-doubler circuit like a "charge pump" to boost 9V up to 12. Then you have to take the ground line of the +5V and treat that as the "positive" leg of the 12V circuit, with the 12 then appearing to be -12 as far as the circuit is concerned.
Why not use a 12-volt PS, and divide down to the 5?
OP: Suggest you determine and consider the circuit design credentials, if any, of those whose advice you may be considering following. Those are relatively inexpensive ADC and DAC, but there's no sense in burning money.
three +5's and one -12? that equals +3. that's how it works.
sorry...just a little loopy from too much diet cola.
I'm probably not quite correct on the 12V dealio.My thought was that -12 is achieved by treating the ground of the +5 power lines as the "zero" reference.
Ouch, says the person who posted that pic a while back.I didn't design it or ever build it. If it's unclear, the point of that circuit is not to build a nice A/D/A for recording or something, but to build a nasty bit crusher effect.
Now, with that said, that circuit still isn't the best way to go to make a bit crusher, and I'm not even sure the switches would work as drawn, but most DIYers are turned off by the prospect of writing code and doing proper DSP, so messing with those chips on a breadboard is the only way to get a real bit crusher (not a sample rate reducer) without writing code.
What would you suggest instead?![]()
lol! well i know nothing about what i just did, but glad i could help. very interesting discussion, though...i can almost make heads and tails out of it.Great idea!
Lets look at +5 and -12 as a difference of 17V.
That's pretty clever, sfx! I have never seen something like that in effects or modular synth building. I simmed it and it looks like it works pretty well. Cool design.
Actually, I wasn't referring to the circuit itself, but rather to the suggestions (until then) for how to power it.
The "burning money" part pertained to the likelihood of smoking parts if the power supply was inadequately regulated, not to the bill of materials cost being too high.
![]()
Thanks Conical. It is just a starting point but it should work.
I am not sure I invented anything new though. Have a look to "The Art Of Electronics, 2nd ed" page 621![]()
Soooo....I must ask, but if I wanted to go about building this thing, how would I do that exactly?
I see a lot of parts with unmarked values (I also understand that this is your circuit and you may have purposely chosen to withhold some things, which is perfectly fine).
In addition, I see two separate circuits, the obvious main one, and a little one in the upper left hand corner of the image.