[Miceuz] just finished his first surface mount electronics project. It’s a pink noise generator that is used for testing audio equipment (scroll down that link for the English version of his writeup).

Pink noise is somewhere in between red noise and white noise. Didn’t realize there were more colors than just white when it comes to noise? The benefit of testing with pink noise is that it the power of the audio signal is stable through each octave of sound – white noise increases in power with each additional octave which can damage the tweeters in a sound system.

The goal in this design was to build a noise generator that fit into an XLR connector. [Miceuz] started with an existing design, and altered it to suit his needs. Much like a condenser microphone, the pink noise generator uses phantom power instead of a standalone power source. For instance, the design he based this on required two 9v batteries. The size, the choice of case, and the absence of a battery all spell WIN for this project.