Beginners' Curriculum

[amptramp]

What worked for me was in Grade 6, we had a book at the front of the room which was one of the "Boys Book of Electronics" or some such thing and I was fascinated by the first project: a crystal radio.  Everything just followed after that.

In addition to analysing existing pieces of electronics, there should be some idea of decision-making.  If you want to design an LFO, do you use a triple R-C linear feedback circuit or a comparator-type device or what?  The way you decide how to build a system should be the final chapter in this.  You have to know how to trade off some things for other things.

Also, something in the way of project management wouldn't be a bad idea.  A basic work breakdown structure taking you through the concept, specification, deisgn, parts selection, ordering, manufacture and test may be an eye-opener for people who start but rarely finish projects.

[Earthscum]

Would you go through that again to learn some other non-trivial skill, such as car-repair, medical tech, or audio-design?

To express my own personality, Yep. I would, I have, and I plan on it til the day I die. I suspect a couple other people here are the same way.

And, you're right. Some came here already knowing something. I have mechanical knowledge, grew up as a welder/machinist, one path of my own choosing led me to art, and that was encouraged by my parents. Interest in art and metals leads to finding out about history about all that I know. It's nice to know how something evolved. That led to trying to figure out how things worked (and a byproduct being making sure they never worked again, in many cases). In order to know how to fix something, you have to know how to break it first. Lifelong philosophy, right there.

Anyways, just figuring out how easy most things are to fix, or even manufacture, led to me being the fix-it guy for all my musician friends, and I finally (after about 18 years) decided to hone that skill and now look what I'm caught up in... a DIY forum full of know-nothing's, know-it-all's, good morals, and even better vibes. I thought I'd mod my DS-1, maybe make a distortion or two, get bored and be off doing the next thing, but NOOOOO.... y'all had to know so much.

[rockhorst]

I REALLY think that some kind of circuit that actually demonstrates the role current plays in biasing transistors.

Good point on teaching something about the role of current in a circuit. We usually stick to voltages. There are some articles on Geo on voltage gain vs. current gain, but it never hit home for me.

Something about maths and Ohm's law. It seems that to a lot of people this is the 'holy grail' of circuit understanding. It's not. I mastered in (quantum) physics and now teach (among other things  ) Ohm's law to high school kids. Nothing really to it. What does help is the extended version of the complex impedance, but it's main application (for stompboxes) is in explaining how a first order filter works: frequency responses. But I think that complex conjugates are a bridge to far for the general public to explain. And it doesn't get you any closer to understanding transistors.

Puguglybonehead mentioned Kirchoff's Laws...Those basically state that 'what flows in, must flow out'...useful concept to put in the curriculum.

[Salvatore]

I'm still waiting for someone to submit a prime sentence which sums up all human science in history.


....

Till then a good summery about the behavior of electrons would be cool,,

(Although I'll probably quickly slap my head for skipping most of math in my horrid school days)

Sooooo,,,,,

First some math, then the origin, history and all other possible electron adventures, and lastly all possible further conditions of this Universe.

Please continue...

[rockhorst]

He's talking bulk electrons

[Mark Hammer]

I regularly refer people to the scanned copies I have posted of DEVICE newsletter over at my site:
http://hammer.ampage.org/?cmd=lt&xid=&fid=&ex=&pg=10
http://hammer.ampage.org/?cmd=lt&xid=&fid=&ex=&pg=11
http://hammer.ampage.org/?cmd=lt&xid=&fid=&ex=&pg=12

This was a newsletter that Craig Anderton co-editted/published during 1979.  In addition to the projects, there are a LOT of very gentle introductions to the basics of the aspects of electronics that matter to us musicians.  Some very good material there.

[lazerphea]

Each year, this forum and others involved with electronics and especially amps and effects gets a pulse of beginners. Their first post generally goes "I'm new to [whatever] but I really want to learn about this. Can you tell me/point me/etc.?"

A lot of what is at Geofex is my ad hoc way of addressing similar issues, but they are, after all, ad hoc. The articles there were aimed at whomever was asking whatever question at the time, or probably more whatever my eccentric interests were at the moment.

Pointing beginners at FAQs helps a little, but does not by any means give them the quick start they need.

It occurred to me after only these few decades of doing this that what is needed is a real intro to electronics, but reformulated so that a beginner who for one reason or another has avoided math and science can be pointed to it and have it meet their needs. The content is pretty straightforward; it's what is in all basic electronics texts. But for one or another reason, the beginners have avoided those. Even when the online texts are pointed out, I can feel their electronic eyes glazing over.

Is it possible to do a better job? The greater community here was mostly non-technical people who have learned by reading and doing.
- what worked for you to learn?
- what stumbling blocks existed and how did you sidestep them?
- what would you advise for a generic beginner curriculum?

I remember I've been involved in stompbox building the first time around 2001 or so: I knew how to read schematics from my high school electronics lessons, so I tried to build some transistor-based distortion. Clearly they didn't turn out right, possibly because I fried the transistors at that time I even didn't know they could be fried. Possibly because the only way I knew to create circuit boards was to etch them... a nightmare. After two or three failed attempts I archived the experience and moved on. Two years ago, I don't know why, I searched the net for some information about stompbox building, and I found this forum whit the mythical "What does that bit there do" thread. I got hooked up again, and I started to understand how to properly approach the stompbox building activity (or at least what works for me): get a breadboard, and get all the materials you need to build two or three stompoxes you like, but be realistic. Don't start with a Dr Boogey or an ADA Flanger! Read everything specific you can find around about what you're going to build: biasing, common mods, and if you're lucky enough you can find also a "The technology of..." article about it! In the meantime try to understand how circuits are made, by subdividing them in big blocks: input stage, distortion stage, tone stack, output stage if it's a distortion. Try to understand where in the circuit cumpression takes place if you're building an Orange Squeezer, which components modify the threshold and so on. In a few words: try to roughly understand how the thing works, don't worry about the math too much in the beginning. If you're a math-head no prob, go for it! But remember you can successfully build and customize your stompboxes by using a breadboard and switching components of different values. Try to replace that 2.2uf input cap at the beginning of the Fuzz face with a cap of lower value: whoa, much better if you've an high output humbucker... a lot less muddier and more similar to the samples you've heard around! You want more flexibilty? Add a tone stack befor the output! And so on and so forth...

Summing it up, for me what worked has been:
- having found this forum, full of great people always willing to help, no matter how stupid you questions are
- having an online electronic parts' store where you can order everything you need BEFORE you start to build
- having a breadboard
- having a simple CAD program to lay out my circuits (Diylc)
- experimenting with parts swapping, and even blocks swapping

[petemoore]

  The basics IMCO, many learners want [need] to understand:
   All the basic stuff, a circuit 'flow'...
  But understanding AC and DC is a stumbler without contemplation [in my case], it took some reading/absorbing and comprehension to understand them...better than I used to.
   I found electronics to be so abstract that my mind 'invented' [found] analogies, the favorite being water storage, flow, direction, pulsing etc. can mimic most of the basic electronics functions.
  A can of water being like a battery...connect a hose to the bottom and the contents of water has pressure [analogous to DC voltage], open the hose-valve and current flows...run the water out to near the bottom and notice the pressure/current drops.
   Diode: Water flows downhill.
  Parallel resistors: two water hoses.
   Series resistors: one water hose
  AC: waveshapes, analogous to water waves.
   Frequency: length between peaks of any types of waves [light/water/audio frequency electronic analogues].
  Capacitor: only lets waves of X length through with no resistance, the longer between the peaks the more the resistance/greater the wave is diminished in strength.
  Running out of typing room here...

[Jaicen_solo]

FWIW Mark, i've read all of those issues of Device at one time or another, (I have a very dull job) and most of it still didn't stick. I think it's about the right information at the right time for me or it just doesn't stick. To be honest, without you and R.G, i'd probably still be looking at the FF mystified.

[.Mike]

It occurred to me after only these few decades of doing this that what is needed is a real intro to electronics, but reformulated so that a beginner who for one reason or another has avoided math and science can be pointed to it and have it meet their needs. The content is pretty straightforward; it's what is in all basic electronics texts. But for one or another reason, the beginners have avoided those. Even when the online texts are pointed out, I can feel their electronic eyes glazing over.

I think that's the most important paragraph of R.G.'s post, and I think many of the responses have totally missed the mark. I think we're forgetting what it is like to be a true beginner.

I think we can all look at our personal development and probably all see a chunk of time where a small gap in our knowledge lead to huge difficulty. Naturally, we want to help beginners to learn from, and hopefully minimize, those experiences. We recognize that certain bits knowledge-- which we eventually take for granted-- are extremely important to success in this hobby, and therefore we consider it important to teach beginners what we wish we would have known.

It's just not that simple. That's the whole reason R.G. did his post, I think. We can put together the best collection of resources imaginable. We can cover every possible question that a beginner might ask. It still neglects the most important aspect of why we gather here: Do It Yourself.

Every person who has ever registered at this forum knows how to learn. They can read. They can write. They are capable of learning. The turning point for many beginners, as I see it, is whether or not they already had the life skills to recognize when they were lacking knowledge, and and the inclination to learn what they do not know.

It seems like we're trying to figure out a way to present the information in such a convincing and comprehensible fashion that it outweighs the essential life skills necessary for any DIY venture.

There's another topic going now about the golden age of DIY, and while it is a lighthearted topic about people from thousands of years ago, I really believe we are in the golden era of DIY effects, and I have meant to start a topic about it. I can sit right here at my desk and order practically any part that I need, from almost any place in the world, and have it delivered right to my door. I can make my own circuit boards with readily available supplies. It is all very inexpensive.

And I can learn anything I want, thanks to the people who have been kind enough to share their knowledge. If I stumble upon something I can't figure out, there are nice folks like you guys ready to help me, for free, provided I reciprocate when I am able to help others who are in a similar situation. The amount of information out there specifically dedicated to building effects, and the amount of engineering information that relates, is unreal.

I can't imagine another time since the advent of the electric guitar when building, and learning to build, your own effects was as accessible as it is right now.

Mike

[stringsthings]

.... The greater community here was mostly non-technical people who have learned by reading and doing....

- what worked for you to learn?
- what stumbling blocks existed and how did you sidestep them?
- what would you advise for a generic beginner curriculum?

1) i got excited about DIY when i read an ad in a guitar magazine about a pedal that i could build myself ... so i took the plunge, bought a soldering iron and went for it ... after i went thru the learning curve of making myself an impressive-fairly-expensive-electronic-component-paperweight together ( as opposed to a functioning circuit  ), i bought a book of guitar-related projects and managed to put together some working circuits

2) when i was starting out, the biggest stumbling block for me was learning how to solder ... the solution? trial and error and lots of repetition .... this led to a wonderful understanding of how to use the continuity function of a multi-meter 

3) generic beginner curriculum?  i'd start someone out with a kit ... something that would give the beginner the best chance for success ... but also have some value to the builder when it's done .... ( examples:  clean boost, treble boost, bass boost, simple fuzz/distortion ) ... i would keep the parts count down, again to guarantee some measure of success ... presenting a little theory doesn't hurt ... after someone has some success, theory miraculously becomes a lot more interesting 

i got very excited about DIY when i was able to build something that worked ... i got somewhat more serious about DIY when i was able to fix something that didn't work

[Skruffyhound]

Breadboard layouts for simple projects.
Breadboard layouts for simple examples of theory that one could sit and measure with a DMM then plug the figures into the maths and see the results verified.
Perhaps it already exists somewhere.

[aron]

It would be nice if the info were presented in the Wiki. That's what it was created for. Most of what got me I put in the beginner project. However, as simple as the math is for analog circuits, I still find myself struggling. Some real-world math solutions would really help I think. Basic, simple things like calculating voltages in a simple circuit etc...

[PRR]

> Some real-world math solutions would really help I think.

But when I post a fully-worked real-world computation like this, it lays like a dead deer.

[CynicalMan]

It would be nice if the info were presented in the Wiki. That's what it was created for. Most of what got me I put in the beginner project. However, as simple as the math is for analog circuits, I still find myself struggling. Some real-world math solutions would really help I think. Basic, simple things like calculating voltages in a simple circuit etc...

Sounds good. How do you register for the wiki?

> Some real-world math solutions would really help I think.

But when I post a fully-worked real-world computation like this, it lays like a dead deer.

That's totally useful. Throw in the capacitor calculations and how to control gain, and you've got a fine guide to designing common emitter stages.

[Quackzed]

circuit sims for me were a real leap forward in my own understanding.
if there was a begginner course, along with simulations of the ideas being discussed in each lesson,that could be a valuable tool.
you could allow the student to see for themselves what changes to resistor values do to voltage and current and have a decent approximation of learning from 'doing'.
:)good post.

[Keppy]

> Some real-world math solutions would really help I think.

But when I post a fully-worked real-world computation like this, it lays like a dead deer.

Not true! I have that thread bookmarked for future reference. I just never posted in it, having nothing constructive to add. 

[soggybag]

> Some real-world math solutions would really help I think.

But when I post a fully-worked real-world computation like this, it lays like a dead deer.

PRR, I hope you don't feel under appreciated. I have often thought of proposing marriage. I pore over your every post. You have a way of reducing every problem to it's simplest form. In short you always sound like you know what heck you're talking about.

I don't want R.G. or Mark Hammer to think I haven't been following their postings for years and years. I know they have no end of suitors, PRR my heart is yours.

[jubal81]

A lot of great ideas here.

If I had to add anything, it would be a warning in the intro about "why are you looking to get into this?"

Someone just looking into this doesn't really realize how much there is to learn, how much money they will have to invest on parts and tools, and just how much of their time it will take (not just building, but sourcing parts, studying, etc.) and that they will have to deal with a lot of failures and frustrations.

Not to try to scare anyone away, but I know when I first looked into it I thought it'd be a good way to play with effects and save a few bucks. Nah. For the money and time I've spent, I could've stocked my board with lots of boxes and been playing all that time. I wouldn't take it back, though. I love learning new things and I'm having fun with it.

I think a good analogy would be about food. Just because you like to eat good food doesn't mean you're going to love learning how to farm. The final meal might be pretty good, but expect to buy a lot of tractors, shovel a lot of manure and spend a lot of days sweating in the field first.

[Quackzed]

so true!!