mki x es.EDU BBD (kit)

Before digital advancements simplified sound processing, engineers tackled delays using bulky tape echo machines or natural echoes from reflective surfaces. In the late 1960s, engineers Sangster and Teer innovated with the bucket brigade delay (BBD), a system that splits audio into samples passed through a transistor-capacitor chain. This method mimics how sound travels, delaying the output signal relative to the input. Over the course of building this module, we will reverse engineer the architecture of a classic bucket brigade delay, recreate a bare bones version on the breadboard – and then use a proper BBD chip to implement a simple audio delay effect.

NB! All kits in these series are simple and come with extensive user manuals which can be downloaded separately, therefore we will not provide customer support in case your DIY build fails to function or similar.

Erica Synths and Moritz Klein – have developed a series of educational DIY kits under the brand name mki x es.EDU with one specific goal in mind: to teach people with little-to-no prior experience how to design analog synthesizer circuits from scratch. What you’ll find in the box is not simply meant to be soldered together and then disappear in your rack. Instead, you are wanted to be taken through the circuit design process step by step, explaining every choice they’ve made and how it impacts the finished module.

In total, they have developed 9 kits to build a fully-featured modular monosynth: a sequencer, a VCO, a wavefolder, a noise/S&H module, a mixer, a VCF, an Envelope generator, a dual VCA, and an output stereo mixer with a headphone amplifier. Additionally, an affordable eurorack case with a DIY PSU will also be available. While these kits are easy to build, they did not compromise on design and functionality. They will launch one kit every 4-6 weeks. Each kit comes with an extensive user manual (40+ pages PDF-Download) that will dive deep into not only the electronics behind each circuit but also the fundamental principles of sound synthesis. They hope that the mki x es.EDU project will inspire future engineers and will contribute to the ever-growing diversity of electronic music technology.