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Conductor main

bmurauer·cynthia·05_midi_to_cv/conductor/conductor_main/conductor_main.kicad_pcb

Conductor main PCB layout, top view — open source RP2040/RP2350 board by bmurauer

About the Conductor main PCB

Conductor main is an open source RP2040/RP2350 PCB design by bmurauer, published on GitHub. It is a 2-layer board measuring 26 × 100 mm, with 14 components from 11 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the RaspberryPi_Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family. Other key parts include the SN74HCT125 and NCP1117-5.0_SOT223. By type, the board carries 5 capacitors, 3 connectors, 2 ICs, 2 diodes and 1 module.

It belongs with the audio designs in this gallery.

From the project

Plans for my modular synthesizer

This is a multi-board MIDI-to-CV system: one conductor module reads MIDI from several TRS inputs and broadcasts it to a chain of players, each of which is an independent module that turns the messages it cares about into CV/gate signals. The number and type of players is flexible, so the system can be grown or reconfigured after the initial build.

The guiding principle is that the conductor is deliberately dumb. It does not know what players exist, does not track which one handles what, and holds no state about them. It parses MIDI and passes it on; every player decides for itself whether a…

Main components on the Conductor main

SN74HCT125NCP1117-5.0_SOT223RaspberryPi_Pico

Conductor main bill of materials (BOM)

14 components, 11 distinct parts.

QtyPartRefs
1
SN74HCT125
U1
1
NCP1117-5.0_SOT223
U2
1
RaspberryPi_Pico
A1
1
ui_top
J1
1
1-0802FBV0T
Midi Fast Bus
TAD
J2
1
ui top
J3
1
Eurorack 10 pin header
H1
2
1N5819HW-7-F
D1, D2
2
10μF
C1, C3
1
100nF
C2
2
22uF
C4, C5

Conductor main design files

The KiCad project lives in the bmurauer/cynthia repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

Conductor main: common questions

What microcontroller does the Conductor main use?

The Conductor main is built around the RaspberryPi_Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family.

How big is the Conductor main PCB?

The Conductor main measures 26 × 100 mm, has 2 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.

How many components are on the Conductor main?

14 components, from 11 distinct parts. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the Conductor main design files?

From the bmurauer/cynthia repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout and the schematic; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the Conductor main design in my own project?

The repository has no license, so all rights stay with bmurauer. Use it as a reference, and ask the author before reusing the design.

Can I test firmware for the Conductor main without the hardware?

Yes. HardLabs builds a simulation of the board from its netlist and BOM, so you can run and debug RP2040/RP2350 firmware against it before you order a PCB.

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