I demonstrate a board from the test run of my "Pretty Bird CC" circuit design. This circuit is comprised of entirely discrete components (transistors, resistors, capacitors, diodes -- no software or recordings). It is powered by 12 volts DC, from which several interconnected oscillators vibrate. The resulting waveforms sound like a chirping bird through an 8 ohm speaker. The green LEDs enable you to see the low-frequency oscillations (listen to the sound and watch the lights to gain a sense for how electricity is being transformed in the circuit). I show the circuit's light sensitivity, and also a few ways to "hack" the chirp quality by changing resistor values.
It is not necessary to solder these boards with long component leads (as shown), but I like how the electronics have a "forest" aesthetic in which the bird is nestled. The bird is an image drawn on FR4 board in etched copper, which has been electroplated in gold and is surrounded by green solder mask. I designed this circuit and board layout which was then manufactured by PCBWay in Shenzhen, China.
120 of these pretty printed circuit boards will be given away at Creative Capital's 2019 summer retreat in June. Thanks to Creative Capital for funding this development! I intend to create a similar version for sale later this summer.
Note that the silkscreen text on the back of the board (which has some errors I have since corrected) points you to a project page that is still under development. Stay tuned for updates.
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Pretty Bird ver.CC 2019 test run /
My first run of boards came in this week. I am pleased to report that the circuit works as intended (sings an analog electronic song). I’ll post video of that soon, but for now, some photos of the pretty board. I used gold-plated copper and solder mask to achieve a watermark effect, as you can see in some of these pictures. These boards (along with components to solder) will be given to attendees at Creative Capital’s 2019 retreat in June.