instructables

Cigar Box Synth

by lonesoulsurfer

Here’s my latest synth made from a 555 and 556
timer along with a 4017 ic. A few months ago a build
like this would have been way out of my skill level.
Over the last few months however I’ve been putting
together some simple synths to get a better
understanding of schematics and parts.
The circuit design is by a guy called Forrest Mims. I’d
never heard of him before this build but some in the
US might remember the Engineer's Mini-Notebook
which he the author was of. The book was available
in Radio Shack once upon a time.
The synth itself is what is known as a 4 stepped
sequencer and is based on the baby 10 sequencer.
You have a lot of control over the sound produced
from the synth. The 4 potentiometers connected to
the 4017 Ic allows you to control the tone of each as
well as turn them on or off. The other pots allow you
to control speed, pitch and tone, allowing you to make
some really interesting (and surprisingly nice
sounding as well!) sounds.
This project should be tackled by someone who has
some skill in soldering and understanding schematics Hackaday were nice enough to do a review of this
and electronics. If you are a beginner, then I would
suggest to start with my first synth ‘Ibles that I made
using a 555 timer. These can be found below. I would
also suggest you jump on-line and type in 4=555
circuits and make a few of the projects that come up.
This will give you a good grounding to start to tackle a
larger project like this one.
Link to the YouTube clip
Lastly, a note on the ‘ible itself. I find it quite hard to
document builds like this as it isn’t easy to take
photos once the build gets to a certain complexity.
I’ve tried to create a step by step walk-through of
most of the build and if you do get stuck on any
section, then please let me know in the comments
and I will try and help where I can.
Here are my other 555 builds
LIGHT THEREMIN IN A NES CONTROLLER
FIZZLE LOOP SYNTH - 555 TIMER
EXECUTIVE DECISION MAKER
project which can be found here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiWB9nLW_IU&t=52s

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Cigar Box Synth: Page 2
Step 1: Parts - Circuit

Parts: 3. 100K – eBay

Potentiometers IC’s

1. 4 X 100K - eBay 1. 555 – eBay

2. 3 X 500K - eBay 2. 556 – eBay

3. 10K – eBay 3. 4107 - eBay

4. Knobs for the Pots - eBay I brought these ones and Other Parts
these ones
1. 4 X Red LED’s and 1 X white - eBay
Capacitors
2. 4 X 1N4148 Diode – eBay
1. 1uf – eBay
3. Speaker Jack – eBay
2. 10uf - eBay
4. Speaker – eBay
3. 2 X 10nf – eBay
5. Toggle Switches – eBay
Resistors
6. On/off switch - eBay
1. 470R – eBay
6. AA Battery Holder (4 X AA) – eBay
2. 1K – eBay

7. Batteries 11. Computer fan cover - I don't think you can get the
exact one that I used any longer but you can get
8. Thin wire similar

9. Case to store the synth in. I used a cigar box -

eBay

10. Prototyping Board - eBay

Cigar Box Synth: Page 3

Cigar Box Synth: Page 4
Step 2: The Circuit

Before you even start to think about making this, I ground.

strongly suggest that you breadboard the circuit first. I
found the schematic a little confusing at first because Once you breadboard everything up and it’s working,
I couldn’t work out how everything was attached to it’s time then to get cracking on the soldering.
ground. It wasn’t until I started to put it together that I
realised that the designer used black and blue for

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Step 3: Adding the IC's

First thing to do is to solder the IC’s into the
Prototyping board. The board that I used was too
large and I had to cut some off at the end. However,
I’d rather have too much board then not enough…
Steps:
1. Solder on the 4017 IC first. I orientated all of the
IC’s with the notch on the left so make sure you do
the same or the steps will be back to front for you.
2. Next, solder on the 555 IC. Leave yourself a little
room between each IC.
3. Lastly, solder on the 556 IC.

Cigar Box Synth: Page 6

Step 4: Adding the Connectors on the 4017 IC
The following steps will go through how to connect all
of the IC’s together. A leg on an IC I will call pin and I
will start with the 4017 IC. Adding wires to connect
the potentiometers will come after all of the IC and
components have been added to the board. The
jumper wires that I used a solid core wire which I find
a lot easier to use then normal wire.
The images in the ‘ible are in sequential order so you
can use these to help guide you if necessary. Make
sure you have the schematic handy as well.
Steps:
1. First connect pin 8 on the 4017 to pin 1 on the 555.
2. Next connect pins 15 and 10
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3. Pin 13 is to be connected to ground. The
prototyping board I used has a ground and positive
strip around the outside which really makes things
easy when connecting all of the ground and positive
wires.
4. Connect pin 14 on the 4017 to pin 3 on the 555
5. Lastly, connect pin 18 to the positive section on the
prototyping board
6. You will need to add some wires to pins 2, 3, 4 and
7 later which will be connected to the pots. I find that
it’s easier to add these wires later as they just get in
the way.
Cigar Box Synth: Page 8
Step 5: Adding the Parts and Connectors on the 555 IC

Steps: can add the LED wires later

1. Connect the 1 uf capacitor to pin 2 to ground, 3. Connect pins 2 and 6 together

making sure that the positive wire on the capacitor is
connected to the IC. 4. Add a 100k resistor between pins 6 and 7

2. Next you need to add a 1k resistor and an LED to 5. Connect pins 4 and 8 together
pin 3. As the LED will be connected to the board with
wires, I left this off for the time being and connected 6. Lastly, connect pin 8 to positive
just the 1k resistor. The resistor needs to be attached
to pin 2 and ground. Make sure that you leave a 7. Adding the Potentiometer will come later
couple of holes between the pin and resistor so you

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Step 6: Adding the Parts and Connectors on the 556 IC
Steps:
1. Connect pins 1 and 2 together with a 1k resistor
2. Connect pins 2 and 6 together
3. Connect pin 6 to ground with a 10 nf capacitor
4. Connect pin 7 to ground
5. Connect pins 5 and 8 together
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6. Connect pins 14 and 10 together
7. Connect pins 4 and 14 together
8. Connect pin 14 to positive
9. Connect pin 12 to ground using another 10 nf
capacitor.
There is 1 more connection to make in the next step
on the 556
Cigar Box Synth: Page 11
Step 7: Adding More Parts and Connectors on the 556 IC

Steps: 2. That’s it for the IC connections and components.

1. Connect the negative leg of a 10uf capacitor to pin
9. The positive leg should be soldered also to the
board but make sure you solder this to a spot not
connected to anything else. You will be soldering a
wire to this leg to add a volume pot later on.
You next have to start adding wires for all of the
connections that you need to make. These will be
attached to the pots, switches etc that first you need
to attach to the case.

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Step 8: Adding the Wires
As this step is very hard to show in photographs, I will
just go through which pins you need to add wires to
for each IC. Make sure that you use long wires as you
can always trim them later. Also, make sure you use
thin wire. It takes up a surprisingly large amount of
space and can cause issues when adding to your
case. I pulled my wires from a NES controller copy
that I had lying around.
Try and add the same coloured wire for each pot as it
it easier to identify them later when you have to
solder them to the solder points on the pots.
Steps
4017 IC
1. Attach wires to pins 2, 3, 4 and 7
555 IC
1. Attach wires to pin 3 and to the resistor that is also
in line with pin 3. Remember that this is for the LED
which will be attached to the case. Actually, I made a
Cigar Box Synth: Page 13
slight change on this and decided to connect this LED
up to a switch so I could turn it off. It was a little
annoying and I used a white LED which was very
bright. This LED indicates the speed of the synth.
2. Add wires to pins 7 and 8
556 IC
1. Attach wires to the positive leg of the 10uf
capacitor
2. Attach wires to pins 13 and also add one to
positive
3. Attach a wire to pin 1 and also another to positive
You will also need to add another wire to the positive
which will be connected to the switch.
It's time now to put the circuit board aside and start to
work on the case.
Step 9: Adding the Speaker
Now onto the Cigar box which will be the case to
house all the electronics. You could use whatever
you want as long as it has enough room to fit all the
parts. I dig cigar boxes though. They are ready made,
look cool and have plenty of room to add the parts.
Steps:
1. First thing to do is to remove the lid. I find that it’s a
Cigar Box Synth: Page 14
lot easier to work with the lid removed.
2. Next have a think about your design and where
you want to put all of the components. Once you have
a design in mind it’s time to add the speaker
3. Measure and cut a hole out for the speaker. Secure
it to the lid with some small screws.
Step 10: Adding the Pots and On/Off Switch
Next thing to do is to add the potentiometers. As you
can see from my design below, I added the 3 main
pot to the bottom, the 4 tone sequencers around the
speaker.
Steps:
1. Carefully measure and drill out the holes for the 3
main pots.
2. Secure these in place. If you want to use the same
ones as me – then you can find them here
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3. Next do the same for the sequencers.
4. Add the on/off switch and volume pot.
5. Add the red LED's above the sequencer pots. Drill
small holes above each one and super glue into
place. orientate the LED's so the short leg is on the
left. This will help you to know the polarities and also
attached to the pot leg.
6. Lastly, add the white LED above the pot that will be
the speed knob.
Cigar Box Synth: Page 16
Step 11: Wiring the 4 Sequencers
Ok – now it’s time to start to wire-up the sequencers.
If you look at the schematic, you can see that there
are diodes, LED’s and wires from the 4017 IC
attached to the pots. They are also all connected as
well.
Steps:
1. The first thing to do is to connect all of the pots
together. How you attach the legs of the pots will
determine how to tone is controlled. I decided to
connect all of the pot legs on the right together. Add a
small piece of wire between each one and solder to
the right hand side leg of the pot as shown in the
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images.
2. Next you need to solder the positive leg of the LED
(the longest one) to the left hand side leg of the pot.
Do this for each of the sequencers. Make sure that
you connect a 470R resistor to the last LED and also
to the pot.
3. Solder the negative leg of the LED to each other
4. Next you need to add a diode to each of the middle
legs of the pots. Connect the other ends of the diodes
together
Step 12: Final Wiring
Now it’s time to do the final wiring. You will need to
solder all of the wires from the circuit board to the
pots, switches, etc. Take your time when doing this
and try not to get too tangled!
Steps:
1. I started with the main pots first. Carefully solder
each of the wires to the legs of the pots. If you look at
the schematic, it tells you which legs to solder too.
However, it’s easy to get the direction wrong and you
might find that turning the speed up actually turns it
down. If this happens, just de-solder the wire that is
connected to the IC and solder onto the other leg of
the pot.
2. Next solder the wires to the sequencer pots.
3. Attach the wires for the switch and add the battery
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holder
Now it’s time for the big test! Add some batteries and
see if you get any sound out of your synth. If you
don’t, try and turn the volume to full and turn the
sequencer pots to mid-way. Also make sure that the
circuit board isn’t shorting – there are a lot of solder
points and if they touch the back of a pot for example,
they can connect and short.
Usually when I do a build like this I get nothing first
time and have to go over everything. This time
however I managed to get everything right first go!
Amazing considering how impatient I am.
If yours doesn’t work, then you will need to go over
and check your work – sorry…
Cigar Box Synth: Page 19
Step 13: Attaching the Circuity Board and Lid

Steps: and stick down the circuit board

1. In order for the board not to shirt, you will need to
add plastic or something similar underneath the
board.
2. Add some hot glue to the bottoms of the pots and
glue the plastic down. Don’t add too much in case
you need to get to the wires later on.
4. Re-attach the lid to the base of the cigar box.
5. Add a little Velcro to the bottom of the battery
holder and stick into place
6. Test again to make sure everything is working as it
should.

3. Next add a small amount of hot glue to the plastic

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Step 14: Final Touches

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Any idea how to give it more of a bass range?

I made this for a friend who is very into modulators and they love it so much thank you for a great
and fun project.

Awesome! Looks like you got the circuit build down to a pretty compact size

Thanks! I Love your Instructables thanks for giving us such great projects to work on.

Great project,one of the best I have seen.

I am really a raw beginner but learning as I go and your explanation is first class.

Thank you

John
Awesome - glad it made some sense!

My Simple cardboard box. Thanks for share. I’m waiting for new sound projects.

Cigar Box Synth: Page 22

Cool. Any issues with the build?

A lovley device, I want to hear it too. But! ...

Please,... please,... keep in mind that an user of the Instructables Android-App CAN NOT start a
Video ( a link to a you-tube video, etc.) inside this APP ( from a tablett, or a mobil-phone)! Please,
add a physical link (the written one in "blue" colour ,...), instead or additional, oft a picture-link! The
picture remains only as a picture, the embedded link is than missing! Thanks in advance, to see
and hear this old school synthesizer. (I hope that is all correct in English. It's not my native
tounge,..)

73 (best wishes and gold luck) from db9pz ; Markus (my HAM-radio call)
gotcha - thanks for the heads-up. I have added a link into the front page to the Youtube clip

Waiting to see reply to Maurilio. Some of the instructions do not jive with the schematic. I'm going
out on a limb and assuming that the schematic is correct - until otherwise advised.
I made your fizzle synth - the kids love it - made the box and knobs on my 3D printer.
Working on learning KiCad - so using this as an exercise in learning to create a printed circuit
board. fun so far!
Howdy. I've made the corrections in the 'ible as suggested by Maurilio-gm C.C.
If you just follow the schematic you won't have any problems as it's correct. The 'ible should also
be correct now as well.
Are you able to post a photo to the fizzle loop 'ible of your one? I'd love to see what you came up
with.
Hello.
1) I am doing this. My PCB has a negative track on one side and positive on the other side in
length.
2) I always connect brackets to ICs instead of soldering them direct. Great for conferences and
fixings, and avoid spoiling with excess temperatures, etc.
3) In step 5 (assembly of ci 555), item 3 of the steps, you said to connect pins 4 and 6: It is not:
Correct is pins 2 and 6;
4) In item 4 you say to connect pins 7 and 8: It is not: it is pins 4 and 8!
5) In item 5 you say to add a resistor between pins 7 and 8? As? Was not it connected directly?
There it enters is the 500k potentiometer (which by the way should have a limiting resistor of at
least 1k, so as not to short-circuit between these 2 pins.
In the photos on the plate, that's correct.
6) On the connection of pin 7 of ci 4017 to pin 1 of ci 555 there is no earth connection? But it's in
the schematic ...
I have not finished yet: the IC 555 does not oscillate, it is connecting directly the yellow led (I tested
the capacitor (is good) and the IC 555 was defective. Changed, and also does not oscillate..
7) OBS: I had never seen using the ci 556 (2 ci 555 together) as an amplifier ... hoping to see it
working in the real world.

Cigar Box Synth: Page 23

9) The box, I will use a plastic, transparent, not box of cigarettes (it is expensive and difficult to find
one in the most appropriate size. Its made very good.
On eBay I can not buy: almost all products are "do not ship to Brazil", and when shipping, shipping
is poor and time consuming, and without tracking.
I have bought more on AliExpress, freight ePacket (more expensive a bit, but delivery is direct. The
other less expensive freights are stopped about 40 business days at our post offices.
Thanks for the info - I need you to be my proof reader! I have corrected point 3. I have also
corrected points 4 and 5 and made this clearer.
point 6 - I didn't make this connection as it wasn't necessary. However you can connect pin 1 from
the 555 to ground if you want to. It's actually pin 8 from the 4017 to pin 1 on the 555.
The schematic is totally correct so just copy that if in doubt.
Love to see your finished version when you have completed it.
Would it be possible to put the sound of an electric guitar through this synthesizer? Just wondering.

I don't think so. The synth generates tones and outputs them, you would need to input the guitar
somehow and I'm not sure how you would do that
Thank you, thank you, thank you for not building with Arduino!! I am convinced that few people
have the skills to build their own circuits anymore. Great Job!
I reckon anyone who is starting in electronics should start with the basics to get an understanding
of how circuits are put together. Plus it's a lot of fun, especially when you get them to work :)
Interesting circuit. Big fan of Forrest M. Mims III circuits (I had most of his old Radio Shack books)
and a big fan of cigar boxes. Here's a tip: If you put a piece of scrap wood behind your cigar box
lid, you can minimize splintering when drilling it.
Great tip - thanks. I worked this one out in the end but it was a little too late as I already had some
splintering. Luckily it's inside the box!
Love the project and the look. Someone, who has the skills, please design a printed ckt board. Not
that we're not up to the challenge, but it would make this SOOOO much simpler.
Once again, great job. Thanks for posting.
A beautiful printed circuit board kit version of this circuit is already available!
See Star Simpson's Circuit Classics boards, which are fully endorsed by the original circuit
designer, Forrest M. Mims III.
http://circuitclassics.com/
I didn't see the 4 step sequencer available - I think it's only the Atari Punk Console which you can
get. I agree though - these are a beautiful printed board.
Really nice project but I don't see any purpose for the photoresistor that you've mentioned in 'Parts'

Nice spotting! Yeah I was going to use this as an option to control the pitch but decided against it.
I've updated the bill of material
Blahhhhh this is too damn cool!

haha - Cheers!

my friend Scott was making stuff like this in 1977....cept it was in a cardboard cigar box and usually
only had a simple button that he would implore you to push....he quickily moved on to arps and an
avatar

Cigar Box Synth: Page 24

Very cool project looks and sounds good, to bad I have zero electronic engineering skills otherwise
I'd like to try it.
Thanks very much. If you are interested in getting started in electronics then a good place to start
is the 555 timer. There are a heap of projects on line and once you finish your first one you'll want
to keep on going.
Thanks for the tip, looks interesting but I just bought an Arduino board recently and I am planning
on figuring it out...(that is; if I can find the time to get into it) for more traditional electronics I guess
I'll just have to turn to my kid's snap circuits kit ;) lol
I love those dials!

yeah they are pretty cool

Love this project. Do you have an audio of ths finished sounds you can make?

Thanks. The only audio is in the Youtube clip at the start of the 'ible.

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