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AM 8015 Module - Utility Module
ARP Sample & Hold, VCC, Switch & Lag

Overview 
This is a replica of the ARP 2600 Sample & Hold(S&H), Voltage Controlled Clock(VCC), Lag and Electronic Switch (ES). The original circuits appeared in the ARP 2600 in 1971.

The AM8015 Module For my FracRac ARP 2600 synthesiaer I wanted to recreate as many of the special ARP modules as possible, as well as the standard VCO, VCF, ADSR, VCA. For these "utility" circuits I designed two PCB's;

  • The S&H with VCC
  • The Op Amp based Lag Proces and Electronic Switch

Voltage Controlled Clock This is a simplified version of the the VCC in the ARP2500, I have retained this older design as it has voltage control of frequency - which the ARP2600 version does not have. Other than that, it is the same design, with both a square wave output and a pulse output for triggering the Sample & Hold and the Electronic Switch. There are two front panel potentiometers; Frequency and FM.

Sample & Hold This S&H provides a stepped volatge by sampling and storing the instaneous voltage level of the signal input each time it receives a trigger pulse. The stored voltage is held until the next trigger is applied. The S&H trigger is hard wired to the VCC but the S&H can be triggered by any sharply rising waveform applied to the S&H Sample jack socket. The S&H signal input is pre-wired to the AM8015 Noise Source signal output. The S&H potentiometer attentuates the input signal before it is sampled. The circuit uases a modern FET Op Amp, so the dual FET transistor can be dispensed with.

Lag Processor The Lag Processor smoothes out sharp rising and falling voltages. This delay can be adjusted from 50us to 500ms by the Lag potentiometer. The Lag Processor is used to filter or round off a low frequency signal. The input and output are available as front panel jacks. The electronic circuit is a simple Op Amp with a filter circuit in front.

Electronic Switch The Electronic Switch is driven by the Voltage Controlled Clock, and it takes a common signal (C) and alterantively switches it between the A and B jack sockets. The circuit is a simple monostable which switches state on the pulse from the VCC. The original uses simple FET's to switch the audio signals, but I have implemented a more modern SSM2401 "clickless" analog switch chip (which is unfortunaletly now obsolete...).

Front Panel The front panel is a 3" wide FracRac with Alpha potentiometers and push fit mixer style knobs. The module has the following front panel controls:

  • S&H: Signal Level for the aignal that is being sampled
  • VCC: Frequency and FM, and a LED to display clock rate
  • LAG: Amount of Lag

There are six 3.5mm jack sockets mounted on the left hand side of the panel, these are:

  • VCC: FM input, Clock Output Square Wave and Pulse
  • S&H: Signal Input, Sample & Hold Input, Signal Output
  • LAG: Lag Input, Lag Output
  • ES : Signal In (C), Signal Out (A), Signal Out (B)

Original ARP 2600

ARP2600SH 

AM8015 Front Panel

 

AM8015 PCB