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Breadboarding Modular Synthesizers Workshop

Breadboarding Modular Synthesizers Workshop

This course has limited capacity, reserve your spot now to secure your place!

In this hands-on DIY Breadboarding Modular Synthesizers Workshop, you’ll learn how to design your own modular synthesizer from scratch. Using basic electronic oscillators, integrated circuits, and discrete components, you’ll explore the fundamental principles of sound synthesis. We’ll create and arrange melodic and rhythmic patterns, building musical sounds from the ground up.

Over the course of two days, we will focus on two circuit typologies: square wave oscillators for synthesizing pitched instruments and sine wave oscillators for emulating percussive sounds. After learning how to build these circuits out on breadboards, we’ll explore two ways of interacting with our circuits – one a button-based system for actuating sounds, and another an automated circuit for sequencing them.

By the end of the workshop, you will have built your own unique, playable instrument capable of generating synth melodies and sequencing drum patterns in real-time.

No previous experience is necessary and all materials are provided for you in this workshop.

Course Logistics

Dates: Saturday, April 26 & Sunday, April 27, 2025

Times: 1–4PM PT

Location: Gray Area / Grand Theater
2665 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Cost: $250

Scholarship: We also offer Diversity Scholarships.
Apply by April 15, 2025.

Experience Level: Beginner

Requirements:
• No additional tools required

Additional Information:
• No refunds or exchanges
• View our FAQ here
• Contact [email protected] with any questions

Workshop Outline

Day 1

  • Build out a basic square wave oscillator + amplifier
  • Troubleshooting and Q&A with an explanation of both circuits
  • Using buttons and switches as an interface

Day 2

  • Build out sequencer with binary counter + multiplexer
  • Troubleshooting and Q&A with explanation of circuit
  • Circuit variations and discussion of further possibilities

 

Accessibility Update:
Please note that this workshop will be held in the upstairs Gray Area classroom, which is not ADA accessible. We apologize for any inconvenience and encourage those impacted to contact us for assistance. Thank you for your understanding.

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Instructor(s)

Sean Russell Hallowell (aka isorhythmics) is an audiovisual artist from the Bay Area. His performances and installations synthesize compositional techniques developed from hand-built electronic circuitry with a cosmic perspective on music's origins in number and time. In his art, visual and auditory phenomena emerge as dual manifestations of what Medieval European musicians called the “arts of number” – i.e. music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. Concert works and multimedia installations of his have been showcased at festivals and galleries across the US as well as in Mexico, Chile, South Korea, the UK, Belgium, Croatia, and Iceland. He holds degrees in music theory from Brown University (AB) and Columbia University (PhD) with a specialization in 15th- and 16th-century Franco-Flemish vocal polyphony.