Erica Synths EDU DIY Wavefolder: Time for unusual timbres
5,0 / 5,0 | 
The final module in the Erica Synths and Moritz Klein EDU DIY series is here, and it’s a cool little Wavefolder.
Erica Synths EDU DIY
It’s been quite a journey. We first heard about this concept in 2019 when Erica Synths discontinued its range of DIY modules. The plan was to build a new range of DIY modules that would teach you about circuit design. It’s very easy to follow the instructions when soldering together a kit and not actually understand anything about the module you’re building. Erica Synths wanted to do something about that.
So, in collaboration with synth circuit designer and educator Moritz Klein, Erica Synths came up with a complete modular system that would come with detailed manuals on how the circuits worked. The manual would take you step-by-step through the development of the module and show you how to build it out on a breadboard before soldering the kit together. In total, there have been 9 modules and the case and power supply. The Wavefolder is the last one.
Wavefolder
A wave folder is a good way to bring in a bit of spice to your modular. It comes from the school of what we often call West Coast synthesis and can take simple waveforms and fold them into more complex ones.
For this project, it’s a super-simple BJT-based double wavefolder. It has a main input for sine or triangle waves, and it has a secondary input that will convert sawtooth waves into triangle waves in order to take full advantage of the fold. The Intensity knob then dictates how far the folding goes.
The cost of the kit is only €45 ex VAT and so makes for a very affordable, and educational way to get some new timbres into your rack.
I will be building this kit on a live stream in the next week or two. For previous builds, please check out my videos below.
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3 responses to “Erica Synths EDU DIY Wavefolder: Time for unusual timbres”
I like this. I’ve been thinking about getting and building these for a while and I think this is the one I’ll start with.
Robin, excuse my ignorance, but what is a “BJT-based double wavefolder”?
Is it that the transistor is a bipolar junction transistor, or something else entirely?
I have no clue and thought I’d gotten away with it. However, I hope to learn what it might be during the build 😀
It is indeed that the circuit is based around a bipolar junction transistor — well, two of them per stage, one to fold the top of the wave and one to fold the bottom — and the “double” part is that it has two stages, to fold the wave over twice.