travis

ok so heres the deal i went to the electronics shop and brought a sine / square oscillator kit goes from like 2hz to 20khz i think it outputs from like 0v to 2v (amplitude of wave) cant remeber much else bout it atm. iv nearly finished putting it together the next thing is getting a envelope generator but i dont think they have a kit like that at the shop so i need some places to look for some plans / schematics the problem im having is finding one that suits my needs as i dont know whats what. side note - i need to be able to mesure the freq of the wave to tune it up so it runs properly - can i plug the output of the vco into my computer and use a program to read it? - ie. anyone got a suggestion for a program i could use - eg a ocsilloscope program p.s. i just saw add up top so ill check that out

ok so i still dont get the VCO - VCA method that MP sugested - i think its the way id like to go but i need to understand whats going on better so i can get the components i need together a) i need an VCO - the local electronic shop has a "wave generator" kit the specs are: Freq range 10Hz to 100kHz Both amp. and freq. are voltage controlled On-board voltage regulation ensures good stability is this the sort of thing i want? can u give me some schematics of a simple one that suits my needs b) is the only other thing i need is a VCA - id liek to try and use an envelope generator so if u can again give me some schmeatics to one thats just enought to suit my needs i live in australia so iv never heard of PAIA(i assume there not australian) the last thing is im not 100% on how the two units go together to give me the sound im after can u give me a brief overveiw on it thanks alot for the help sofar travis

ok so iv had a look around on the net and this is my understanding. @ audioguru - your suggestion seems the simplest and as you said works "just like a real drum" Q) does a 'bandpass filter' circuit still need an oscillator or does it do it all itself? u just turn it on and it outputs a slowly decaying wave of a preset or variable freq. @ MP - this method seems more involved but the thing i like about it is i can fully customise the sound output so what i dont understand with this one is how does it make a decaying sound like a drum if the oscillator puts out a signal (like a sine wave i presume) then the envelope generator changes the waveform to make it sound like a drum - that gives you the drum skin moving up and down but how does it decay on monday ill go look at the local electronic store and see what DIY kits they have

ok heres the deal - what i want to do is make a circuit that when a switch is closd will pass a audio signal to a speaker the end goal of this is to make a simulated bass drum by which when the kick pedal activates the switch a bassy 'doof' type sound will be sent to a subwoofer. if anyone can give me a bit more understanding in this topic of how a simple audio signal can be created or point me to somewhere for some info i will be greatly appreciative. cheers travis