I love devices like this, buying a Behringer Neutron completely opened my eyes to the possibilities of patching on a bigger level than just music.
I do have to wonder who would buy this though. Analog computers like this are virtually useless unless you have some particularly applied use-case for them. I'd be interested to hear some user testimony if anyone owns one of these!
> Analog computers like this are virtually useless unless you have some particularly applied use-case for them.
Did you miss the educational part?
Electronics is physical math. Amplifiers are a perfect example, take an input and multiply it. Resistors can be used to subtract or divide. Combining these functions is how an op-amp works. Combining more components now allows you to do integrals, derivation, and other functions.
From there you take these basic building blocks and apply them to real world problems like audio amplification, processing and filtering. Of course a lot of this is replaced by digital stuff but digital has one huge disadvantage: obsolescence. I can repair a 40 year old analog amplifier. I cant repair a 10 year old stereo with a dead ASIC or DSP/SoC.
> Analog computers like this are virtually useless unless you have some particularly applied use-case for them. I'd be interested to hear some user testimony if anyone owns one of these!
You've already highlighted a clear use-case. The Neutron is a semi-modular analogue synth. The whole modular-synth scene is based on this kind of analogue computing, when I look over at my eurorack modules, I have:
* Function generators
* Gates
* AND/ OR / NOR / XOR / NAND / XNOR
* Summing
* Multipliers
* Comparitors (generate a signal based on conditions)
* And more!
That pretty much covers everything in 'The Analog Thing' computer.
Gates are built using transistors that are designed and biased so that they "threshold" themselves. You can just-about rig a gate so that it's output will be uncertain; but in general, gates are not amplifier circuits with some kind of threshold on the output. They are intrinsicaly electronic switches.
Yes. Logic gates are essentially the bridge between the analog and digital world. Your digital computer is ultimately based on analog components that use thresholds and high-low voltages.
The site emphasizes the educational aspect. I think they have a point. Nothing teaches mathematical relationships like hands-on instant feedback from a physical system. Patching your program and turning knobs in a literal sense jives well with the naive mental physics model some of us rely heavily on for reasoning and learning.
I think they missed the mark only having a single lcd panel for output. I think a grid of leds, maybe 10x5, with each column having an input jack and a dial to set the range would allow much better visualization. That is a lot of extra parts though.
The LCD voltmeter is used for precisely setting coefficients, to view the output you need some kind of scope. This is typical of most analog computers.
Because it is an analog computer it is a kind of breadboard though, isn't it? ;-)
No, having all the Op-Amps wired up for me, powered for me, "nulled" for me is a huge improvement over the mess I would have to make on a breadboard to replicate even a part of it.
I only wish it had more than one output (meter) component so I could observe steps along the way.
I do have to wonder who would buy this though. Analog computers like this are virtually useless unless you have some particularly applied use-case for them. I'd be interested to hear some user testimony if anyone owns one of these!