Figure 1.
Schematic Diagram for a Punk Console Circuit
This is one
of the coolest tone generating projects around that can be built quickly
and cheaply. This circuit came out of Radio Shack's Engineer's
Mini Notebook on 555 Timer IC circuits, written by Forrest M. Mims III.
Mims named this circuit "Stepped-Tone Generator" in the mini-book.
Unfortunately, this name failed to convey the 'coolness' of what the
circuit can actually do, that is, generate various distortion noises as
the two potentiometers in the circuit are varied.
The circuit
was adopted by Kaustik Machines which, after a few minor modifications,
renamed it to 'Atari Punk Console' or APC. This new name for this
circuit seemed to have stuck, given the high number of websites and web
videos using this name to refer to the stepped-tone generator circuit.
The main
component of the circuit is the 556, which is basically a single IC with
two 555 timers inside. The pins of the first 555 timer are labeled in
blue while those of the second 555 timer are labeled in red. The first
555 timer is configured as a basic
astable multivibrator. The second 555, on the other hand, is
configured as a monostable multivibrator.
This circuit is basically
just an oscillator (555 # 1) driving a pulse generator (555 # 2).
In effect, the circuit produces a sound based on the frequency at which
555 # 1 is triggering 555 # 2, and on the length of the pulse being
generated by 555 # 2.
R1 is used to control the
oscillation frequency of the first 555 while R3 is used to control the
pulse width of the second 555. Decreasing the value of R1 will
increase the frequency of the output of 555 # 1 while decreasing the
value of R3 will decrease the pulse width of the output of 555 # 2.
See Also:
Astable Multivibrator;
Monostable Multivibrator;
Timing/Tone Generation Circuits
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