Alpo Can Ring Modulator

By Dave on February 15th, 2009

This is a ‘ring modulator’ similar to the one used in an ARP Odyssey… this version operates by the input of two square waves into a 4011 quad NAND gate. I didn’t have a 4011 available so in this version I use a 4001 quad 2-input NOR with two inputs wired to ground (low) instead of wiring the 4011 with two inputs wired to Vcc. If I did my logic correctly the 4001 works the same when wired this way. I included the logic tables on the schematic.

The two square wave tones passing into the gates are compliments of a simple op-amp square wave generator circuit. Information on how to wire one of these up is widely available on the web. Here’s one good resource. The original schematic and idea was found on simple-answer.com here. A brief reference to the ARP Odyssey and this ring modulator is mentioned on Wiki here.

Obviously this is in an Alpo Can. The circuit board can be viewed on Flickr (see link below) but it was pretty small so it had no trouble squeezing in there. The knobs were found on eBay for dirt cheap. The hardest part about modifying this can was getting the sharp edges off the holes drilled into the can. To get the top off without cracking open the dog food… and to be able to take the top on and off the can you’ll need one of these: Kuhn Rikon Safety Lid Lifter