AS “АLFA RPAR”
Joint Stock Company ALFA AS3394E
Riga, Latvia [Link]; alfa@[Link]
AS3394E µP CONTROLLABLE SYNTHESIZER VOICE
FEATURES AS3394E (PDIP-24 300mil, 2.54)
• Complete synthesizer Voice on a Chip
• Sample & Hold buffers on-chip for easy interface to a µP
• Fully temperature compensated VCO
• Independently selectable VCO waveforms
• Sub-oscillator output
• Separate saw-tooth output
• Separate VCO and filter sections allowing design flexibility AS3394ED (SOIC-24 300mil, 1.27)
• Constant Loudness vs Resonance VCF
• Rich Sounding VCF Design
• Filter FM routing for more Timbres
• Low Noise, Low Feedthrough VCA
DESCRIPTION
The AS3394E is a complete analog music synthesizer voice-on-a-chip intended for software control by
a microprocessor system. Included inside the compact 24 pin package is fully temperature compensated, wide
range, voltage controlled oscillator providing sub-oscillator, triangle, saw-tooth, and pulse waveforms;
a voltage controlled mixer for adjusting the balance between the internally generated VCO waveforms and any
external signal; a dedicated four-pole low-pass voltage controlled filter with voltage controlled resonance; a
modulation amount VCA for modulating the filter frequency by the triangle waveform output of the VCO; and a
final VCA for allowing the output to be enveloped. Envelope control for both the VCF and final VCA may be
provided by either a hardware envelope generator such as the AS3310 or through software.
All eight control inputs are provided with internal very high input impedance, low bias current buffers. Thus
interface to a microprocessor system may be accomplished simply with a single DAC, 4051-type CMOS
multiplexer, and 8 hold capacitors.
Requiring a bare minimum of other external components, the AS3394E is ideal for low cost polyphonic or
polytimbric musical instruments featuring rich, analog sound.
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
B B B B
V+ 11K +
ΔGm ΔGm ΔGm ΔGm
-
+
+ IREF ex
-
AS3394E -
VCA5 S2 - S3 1K
+
1K VCA4
VCA3 VCA2
TC x
GEN e + +
TRNGL. - S1
to saw - -
conv. + -
X TRNGL.
ICO D-Trig 4 LEVEL +
TRANSLATE
-
V- B VCA1
B B B B 1K 1K
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
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2019 v.5
AS “АLFA RPAR”
Joint Stock Company ALFA AS3394E
Riga, Latvia [Link]; alfa@[Link]
Pin Information
Pin Pin
Pin Name Description Pin Name Description
No №
1 Iref Reference Current 13 Mix_Bal Mixer Balance CV
2 VCO_CF VCO Input CF 14 VCA2 VCA2 Input 2
3 -Vee Negative Supply Voltage 15 Filt_Res Filter Resonance CV
4 Ct Timing capacitor 16 C1 Filter capacitor 1
5 D-Trig Out D-Trigger Output 17 C2 Filter capacitor 2
6 Mod_Amt Filter VCA3 modulation control 18 C3 Filter capacitor 3
7 Wave_Sel Wave Select CV Input 19 C4 Filter capacitor 4
8 PWM_CV PWM CV 20 VCF _CV Filter control voltage
9 Sawtooth Out Sawtooth Output 21 Cs Servo-capacitor
10 Wave_Out Wave Output 22 VCA5_CV VCA5 gain CV
11 VCA1 VCA1 Input 1 23 VCA5_Out VCA5 Output
12 GND Ground 24 +Vcc Positive Supply Voltage
Pin No Description Operating Range voltage Maximum Ratings voltage
on control inputs ,*)V on control inputs,*)V
2 VCO Input CF -4 ... +4 -4,5 ... +4,5
6 Mod Amt CV 0 ... +4 -1 ... +5
7 Wave Select CV -2 ... +4 -4 ... +5
8 PWM Input CV 0 ... +2,2 -1 ... +5
13 Mixer Balance CV -2 ... +2 -3 ... +5
15 Filter Resonance CV 0 ... 2,5 -1 ... +5
20 VCF CV -3 ... +4 -4 ... +5
22 Final VCA Gain CV 0 ... +4,3 -1 ... +5
*) voltage on control inputs must never exceed positive supply level.
Electrical Characteristics
PARAMETER MIN TYPICAL MAX UNITS
VCO Specifications
Frequency Range 12Hz - 20KHz
CV Input Range -4.0 - +4.0 Volts
CV Scale Factor -0,65 -0,75 -0,85 V/Octave
Exponential Error (in 5 Octaves) 0,5 %
-special binning (*1) 0,25 %
Temperature Coefficient -500 0 500 ppm
Reference Voltage (pin 1-3) 1,1 1,2 1,3 V
CV Input Current - 0,3 3 nA
Frequency at CVin = 0.0V 330 500 750 Hz
Sub-oscillator output (D-Trigger RL=10kΩ):
Maximum voltage output 1,8 2,0 2,2 V
Minimum voltage output -2,2 -2,0 -1,8 V
Saw-tooth output :
Maximum current output 40 50 60 µA
Minimum current output -40 -50 -60 µA
WAVE OUTPUT
Maximum current output 70 80 90 µA
Minimum current output -70 -80 -90 µA
WAVE SHAPER
Waveform Select Thresholds :
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2019 v.5
AS “АLFA RPAR”
Joint Stock Company ALFA AS3394E
Riga, Latvia [Link]; alfa@[Link]
Continuation of Table
- Pulse -0,6 -1,0 -1,8 V
- Triangle -0,2 -0,35 -0,5 V
- Triangle + Sawtooth 0,9 1,2 1,5 V
- Sawtooth 2,3 3,0 3,9 V
Wave Select Input Current - -50 -300 nA
PWM
PWM Input Current - 0,5 5,0 nA
Pulsewidth CV for 0% Pulse 0 - 0,2 V
Pulsewidth for 100% Pulse 1,9 - 2,2 V
FILTER MODULATOR
Max Modulation Depth 0,01X - 2X Freq.
CV for 0% Modulation -0,3 - 0,1 V
CV for Max Modulation 3 - 4 V
CV Input Current - -0,5 -5 nA
FILTER INPUT MIXER
External Input Level (VCA1, VCA2) - ±40 - mV @ 5%
THD
External Input to Output Gain 3,6 4,5 5,6 mmho
CV Input Current - -0,3 -3 nA
External Input Bias Current - -0,3 -0,7 µA
CV Feedthrough -30 0 30 µA
4-POLE LOW-PASS FILTER
CV Input Range -3 +4 V
CV Scale Factor -0.33 -0.38 -0.43 V/Octave
Frequency @ CV = 0.0V 900 1300 1800 Hz
Frequency CV Input Current - -0,3 -3 nA
Resonance CV : No Resonance 0 - 0,3 V
Resonance CV: Oscillation 2 2,5 3 V
FINAL VCA
Attenuation at CV = 0 80 90 - dB
CV for Maximum Output 3,8 4 4,3 V
CV Scale Factor (20-100dB) 4) - 20 - dB/V
Triangle Wave Output Level 190 250 325 µA pp
Triangle + Sawtooth Output 255 330 430 µA pp
Sawtooth Output Level 150 200 260 µA pp
Square Wave Output Level 120 160 210 µA pp
All Waves On Output Level 300 400 520 µA pp
CV Feedthrough - ±0,3 ±3 µA
CV Input Current - 0,3 3 nA
POWER SUPPLIES
Positive Supply Range +4,75 - +8 V
Negative Supply Range -4,75 - -16 V
Positive Supply Current 13 16 21 mA
Negative Supply Current -13 -16 -21 mA
1. Most of error occurs at frequency extremes. Typical value is at mid-range
2. When switching from the no waveforms condition.
3. Filter frequency C.V. = 0V.
4. This scale holds from max attenuation to approximately 20 dB of attenuation. Thereafter, scale is
approximately linear.
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2019 v.5
AS “АLFA RPAR”
Joint Stock Company ALFA AS3394E
Riga, Latvia [Link]; alfa@[Link]
Diagram of main signals generated by AS3394E
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2019 v.5
AS “АLFA RPAR”
Joint Stock Company ALFA AS3394E
Riga, Latvia [Link]; alfa@[Link]
APPLICATION HINTS
POWER SUPPLY
The AS3394E was designed to operate from +5V and -6.5V supplies. The non-standard negative supply was
necessary not to compromise the VCO frequency resolution, which ranges from -4 to +4 volts, in favor of a -5V
supply (this is because there needs to be 4 diode drops for the current mirrors). Any one of the readily
available 3-terminal regulators may be used to supply the -6.5V negative supply. Since the stability and jitter of
the VCO are directly affected by noise on the positive supply, a supply as stable and clean as possible should
be use (not the +5Vdigital supply) Maximum supply allowable across the device is 25 volts.
VCO
The control scale of the VCO is temperature compensated with an internal +3300ppm tempco generator and
multiplier. Thus, as chip temperature changes, the control voltage applied to the exponential generator
changes proportional to temperature, effectively canceling the -3300ppm tempco of the control scale.
The resistor Rt from Pin 1 to the negative supply sets up an internal reference current for the exponential
voltage-to-current converter. Its value and that of timing capacitor Ct determine the nominal initial frequency of
the VCO at zero CV applied. The equation is:
Fout = (Vref)/(Vcc x Rt x Ct)
where Vref is the voltage across pins 1 and 3, nominally 1,2 volts. The other consideration is the current range
of the V to I converter, which is optimized for a range of 300nA to 80µA. Using 80µA as an upper limit, the
timing capacitor is chosen by:
Ct = (80µA)/(Fmax1 x Vcc)
where Fmax1 is the maximum frequency at the best accuracy (80µA).
In a typical application, suppose the best accuracy is in the range of 32Hz to 8KHz. Thus Fmax1 is 8KHz, and
Ct is calculated to be 2nF. The middle of this range is 500Hz which is set to Fout. Therefore Rt calculates to
240K. Note that since the VCO input range is -4 to +4 volts with a scale factor of 0,75 V/Octave, the VCO will
sweep from 12Hz to 20KHz.
A -5V negative supply can be used if the sweep range is reduced. In this case, Ct = 4nF and Rt = 65K.
Since the VCO was designed to be software adjusted, a simple multiplier was used with slight non-linearity at
its two extremes. Therefore, for best results, it is recommended that the scale factor and scale linearity be
auto-corrected through software means.
Output Saw-tooth Out (pin 9) - saw-tooth signal with an internal VCO frequency span of ± 50 μA. This output
can be loaded on a 1 kΩ resistor and the saw-tooth signal can be fed directly to the Ext In1 or Ext In2 inputs,
as well as used for other purposes. The maximum signal voltage at this output should not exceed ± 200 mV.
Output of a Sub-Oscillator (pin 5) - rectangular pulses with the frequency of the internal oscillator VCO divided
by 2 (square wave one octave below the fundamental frequency). The output voltage swing is ± 2 V; this
output can be loaded onto a resistor with a resistance of at least 10 kΩ. This signal can also be mixed with
other used signals.
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2019 v.5
AS “АLFA RPAR”
Joint Stock Company ALFA AS3394E
Riga, Latvia [Link]; alfa@[Link]
WAVEFORM SELECTION
By applying the control voltage in the range from -2 V to +4 V to the Wave Select CV input (pin 7), you can
select the following waveforms at the Wave Out output: Pulsed (PWM), Triangular, Triangular + Saw-tooth and
Saw-tooth. The specific value of the control voltage for selecting the waveform is given in the table of
parameters.
The pulse width may be turned off simply by setting the Pulse Width control voltage slightly negative to ensure
a pulse width of 0%. A unique circuit on-chip keeps the average DC level of the pulse waveform constant
regardless of duty cycle, so that pulse width may be modulated without annoying control signal feedthrough.
The relative amplitudes of the three waveforms have been set as follows to give approximately equal
loudness: The triangle is 27% larger than the saw-tooth, which is about 27% larger than the pulse wave.
EXTERNAL INPUT
External inputs VCA1 and VCA2 can receive any signals up to ± 40 mV. Normally, a resister divider is required
to attenuated the input signal to this level. The resistance to ground should be 1k to keep the VCA balanced,
and the input signal should be capacitively coupled to minimize control voltage feedthrough. A small
adjustable offset of ±20mV may be applied to this input to further reduce CV feedthrough.
The control voltage range at the Mixer Balance CV pin 13 input is from -2 V to +2 V. The VCA1 and VCA2
amplifiers are controlled in antiphase, at -2 V VCA2 is fully switched on, at +2 V VCA1 is fully switched on.
Signals from VCA1 and VCA2 inputs are nominally in equal balance- each being 6dB down from its maximum,
when the control voltage is at zero volts. The control scale is roughly audio taper: the first 20dB of range is
linear while the remaining 60dB is exponential. This external input is ideal for adding noise, a signal from a
second VCO, or both.
VCF
Able to sweep over a minimum of 14 octaves, the filter is the classical wide range 4-pole low-pass type
designed for musical instruments.
The control scale has twice the sensitivity as that for the VCO: it is 3/8V per octave. The first 3 stages of the
filter are unity gain transconductors while the last stage provides a gain of 57 (and consequently has a
transconductance of 1/57 of the first three). This requires three equal capacitor values, and the fourth is 1/57th
of the other value.
The frequency of the -12dB point on the cut-off slope is given by:
Pzcv = Gm/(2 x pi x Ceq) = (Iref)/(4 x pi x Ceq x VT),
o
where VT = KT/q = 26mV at 20 C. The reference current is set up internally an given a +3300 ppm to
compensate for the VT -3300ppm tempco. Thus this equation can be reduced to:
Pzcv = 4,3 x 10E-5/Ceq
Note that due to internal resistor tolerances, the 4,3E-5 term can vary 40% part-to-part.
Selection of the 4 filter capacitors is again determined by the maximum desired cut-off frequency and optimum
operating range of the OTAs. The range has been optimized for an operating range of 5 umho to 5 mmho.
Thus we can calculate C as follows:
C = 5E-3/(2 x pi x Fmax)
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2019 v.5
AS “АLFA RPAR”
Joint Stock Company ALFA AS3394E
Riga, Latvia [Link]; alfa@[Link]
As an example, assume the highest cut-off frequency is 24KHz. C1-C3 becomes 33nF and C4 is
33nF/57 = 580pF. The frequency at zero control volts is approximately 1300Hz; 24KHz will be reached in
4,2 octaves, or at -1,6V. The filter can be opened up to >40KHz using these values, but CV feedthrough
becomes excessive.
The resonance VCA feedback circuit has been designed so that as the resonance is increased the apparent
loudness remains constant, providing a much richer resonant sound. Note, however, that the peak-to-peak
level of a pule/square wave actually doubles as resonance is increased, due to the ringing on its fast edge
transitions.
VCF MODULATION
The modulation VCA allows the VCO triangle wave to modulate the reference current of the VCF, and hence
the cut-off frequency. The Modulation Amount control voltage (Pin 6) controls the 'depth': at maximum setting
the VCF is swept from a very low value to twice the unmodulated frequency. Since the modulation is linear,
the apparent filter frequency does not shift as modulation is increased.
One application of this control is to set the filter into oscillation for obtaining linear audio FM of one VCO by
another (using the VCF as a VCO). However, an equally interesting application is to audio FM the filter while it
is filtering normally. The result is strong timbral effects, especially with some resonance added.
FINAL VCA
The final VCA is a low noise, low control feedthrough design which substantially reduces fast envelope click
and pop noises without the need for a trimmer. The output of the filter is essentially AC coupled to the VCA
input by means of the bypass capacitor connected to Pin 21. Thus, its value along with the internal 11K
resistor sets the low corner frequency; a value of 4,7µF results in a -3dB point of 3Hz. This pin may also be
used to extract the filter output signal before it is passed through the VCA.
The final VCA control scale is approximately audio taper. The first 20dB of attenuation from a control voltage
of +4V to +2,5V is linear. The next 60 to 80dB of attenuation is from +2,5V to 0V is exponential. This allows
the natural sound of exponential decays to be produced with simple linear envelope control, which is much
simpler to generate in software.
The signal output at Pin 23 is a current with a voltage compliance of Vee+1 to Vcc-1. This allows the outputs
of multiple 3394s to be mixed together by connecting all Pin 23s together. The summed current can then be
converted to a voltage simply by a resistor to ground, or an op-amp with feedback resistor. The major portion
of the 40% tolerance on the maximum output swing (nominally ±210µA) is due to the monolithic diffused
resistors setting the currents. Although the output variations part-to-part are typically much less than this
(about 5-10%, ed.), output levels as well as the filter initial frequency may be more closely matched by
matching the resistance between the Vcc and Vee pins.
INPUT CONTROL VOLTAGE BUFFERS
With the exception of Waveform Select whose control voltage is not critical, the input bias current to all control
inputs is typically less than 1 nA, and have maximum values of 3 and 5 nA. Hold capacitor values can be in
the range of 2 to 20 nF before causing multiplexing problems and DAC output instability. The amount of
droop is given by:
Vdroop = (Ibias – Tupdate) / Chold
With a hold capacitor of 10nF and update time of 10 ms, maximum droop would be 5 mV or between 0,06 and
0,12% of full scale. Typically, the droop is a factor of 10 less than these worst case values.
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2019 v.5
AS “АLFA RPAR”
Joint Stock Company ALFA AS3394E
Riga, Latvia [Link]; alfa@[Link]
AS3394E µP controllable voice block and external connections
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2019 v.5
Device type Package Additional marking
AS3394E PDIP-24 (300mil) ----
AS3394E (*1) PDIP-24 (300mil) white dot
AS3394E D SOICW-24 (300mil) ----
AS3394E D (*1) SOICW-24 (300mil) white dot
24-Lead Plastic Dual In-Line Package (PDIP-24) Narrow Body
Dimensions shown in inches and (millimeters)
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2019 v.5
24-Lead Standard Small Outline Package (SOIC_W)
Wide Body
Dimensions shown in millimeters and (inches)
Revision history
Date Revision Changes
11-Mar-2019 1 Short version 1
03-Apr-2019 2 Added a diagram in the section WAVEFORM SELECTION
15-Jul-2019 3 Added special binning for Exponential Error parameter
19-Jul-2019 4 Added new package PDIP-24
29-Oct-2019 5 Added diagram of main signals
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2019 v.5