choosing capacitors for DIY Synths
here are my BEST PRACTICE tipps of
Step-by-step guide
read the capacitor types page at first, to know the difference between polar, bi/unpolar capacitors
read this best practice page
find a reseller for capacitors Shopping Tipps Home
design and build your synth
we have around 50 different capacitor types and each with are different in casetype, footprint, dielectric
i describe here for now only the THT (Thruhole) Versions what we use for Synths, Effects, Drumcomputer, Eurorack and 4U/5U Formats like Serge, MU, MOTM..
Numer | Type | Dielectricum | picture | benefit | use-case | BEST Practice | negative | identify | Footprint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | MLCC (Multilayer Ceramic Disc Capacitor) | C0G or NP0 |
| temperature stable, timing stable longterm capacitor | VCO timing, VCF Core "Clock timer" | for small pcbs/designs, cheaper than | expensive for bigger capactiy values (above 100pf)
| for values less 1nF mostly dark yellow colour, TDK use normally light or dark blue colours for the body
| normally only in RM2, RM2.5 and RM5 avaible |
2 | MLCC | X5R X7R |
| cheap, longterm capacitor | bypass capacitor |
| microphonic effect possible | normally only avaible in yellow colours from 470pF - 2uF | normally only in RM2, RM2.5 and RM5 avaible |
3 | Polypropylene (PP) Filmcap
| (PP) |
| temperature stable, timing stable longterm capacitor | VCO timing, VCF Core "Clock timer" | avaible in 1% tolerance, perfect for high precision application | bis size |
| avaiable in RM2 - RM20 |
4 | Styroflex (Styrene) |
|
| temperature stable, timing stable longterm capacitor | VCO timing, VCF Core "Clock timer" | very popular for VCF /Filtercore the sound is different to C0G or polypropylene avaible in 2% tolerance. ideal for Ladder VCF (moog, arp) | big size |
| avaible in RM2 when mounting upwards |
5 | Silver Mica |
|
| temperature stable, timing stable longterm capacitor |
| 1% tolerance, good for VCF because the values are matched within 1% tolerance, good sound in VCF
| rare, expensive, not avaible in every size, please note there are some country restrictions for import |
| avaible in RM5 - RM ? |
6 | Polyester (PET) (MKP) |
|
| cheap |
|
| 5-20% tolerance |
| avaiable in RM2 - RM20 |
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Lessons learned:
for timing/thermal criticial applications like VCO, VCF, clock use C0G/NP0 or Polypropylene, Styroflex or Silver Mica.
for VCF try polypropylene or styroflex (depends on the footprint)
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