Digital Wavetable Oscillator

The tabulaRasa is a digital wave table oscillator, and features control of frequency, wave table selection, and interpolation. The device is split up into 2 parts. One is a pcb with a healthy amount of resistors, 3 potentiometers, ST TL074 JFET op amp, atmega328 and a SD socket.

The second part is software for your computer that allows you to edit or create your own waveforms. There are 3 different modes of control. Breakpoints, which allows you to set the waveform points and allows up to sixteen. Harmonic allows amplitude control over 16 harmonically-related sine waves, finally, the third mode lets you load in short sound clips.

Once you’re happy, save to a SD card and pop it into the board, and you’re ready to make some noise. The project page states at the end “tabulaRasa is in the last stages of development, and will be available soon.” so you cant get your hands on one just yet, but if you’re interested [Greg] has a kickstarter page setup where you can find out details on pricing.



9 thoughts on “Digital Wavetable Oscillator

  1. The project seems to be a powerful tool.

    I think that it would have been better if the waveforms were stored in RAM and the device would connect directly to the computer.
    Even sound clips could be played back directly on a fast (close to 0.5Mbps) serial.

  2. 24 resistors are not allot of resistors …. the creator just desided to make them overly largely spaced for 1/8 watts

    @Ekaj it works the same it takes half the time and its easier to debug and fix if you make a mistake
    just because we CAN do SMD does not always mean its best

  3. @biozz:

    Even though I find Ekaj comment completely useless pedantic and stupid, I still find that making SMD is simpler and faster. I find SMD parts easier to solder and you don’t waste time making the holes (which is not a so easy part). The only drawback I can think of is that the parts are harder to find.

  4. @Faelenor
    well holes are made by the PCB etcher in his case and like i said its far easier to debug your prototype when allt he pins are nice and spaced out

    and i have done miniature production line SMD and threw hole boards and the threw hole boards are the easiest and quickest if you dont have a reflow oven as you just stick all the components in and flip it over and solder it all at once in all the same basic movement
    with SMD you have to take the time to align everything than check everything than deal with many more problems

    dont get me wrong i love SMD soldering its fun and it produces a nice and small final result but its not always best expecally for a prototype

Leave a Reply to EkajCancel reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.