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Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims III is a good one for a gentle introduction. But the standard bible, which is also a great source for beginners,

Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims III is a good one for a gentle introduction. But the standard bible, which is also a great source for beginners, is the Art of Electronics by Horowitz & Hill (just came out with 3rd edition). There's an associated Lab Manual which I also recommend. AoE stems from a set of lecture notes the authors used in their Physics 123 class at Harvard, which is electronics for experimentalists. I took this class in 1999, AoE was the textbook, and it was amazing. You had people across the spectrum, like psychology and music students, who in about 13 weeks learned from scratch most concepts and components of both analog and digital electronics. The pinnacle of the analog half was one lab where we designed and built a system to take an input audio signal, PWM modulate it as pulses of IR light and flash it across the room to a circuit that received, demodulated, and amplified back to audio. The second half of the class was digital electronics where we started with glue logic and ended by building a breadboard 68000 computer. We programmed it in machine code (they had available external assemblers end EEPROM burners for those of us that wanted to go further). Some students went to amazing depths beyond. Eg, in the Lab Manual they showed some student projects where they took two computer-controlled DAC's and fed them into an oscilloscope in XY mode and made games like PacMan and Asteroids. Not bad for a one-semester class of students who came in with minimal understanding of electronics.

kyzyl 11y ago
If my opinion on the matter is welcome here, I would recommend against AoE. It is, indeed, the 'bible' of electronics, but it's also huge, expensive, and not terribly helpful for someone who isn't in school for electronics. Great once you know a little more, though.
- jeffwass 11y ago
  Of course your opinion is welcome :-D As a counterpoint, I knew many hobbyists who were not in school for electronics use it to great effect. Eg, in the Boston artist scene. One girl designed and built a whole bunch of home-brew analog synthesisers. Another guy made a performance art kinetic sculpture that would move and bang on drums and other percussives. Like I mentioned in my comment, the book by Forrest Mims is a more gentle introduction that can get you started. But if you are hungry for more, AoE is the place to go.
  - BFay 11y ago
    Alright, you've piqued my interest! I've had a couple of electronics projects in mind, mostly audio-related, like building MIDI controllers, experimenting with modular synthesizers, setting up a MIDI-controlled Gameboy synthesizer. AoE looks pretty good. Some of then intro material I've looked at before doesn't go into much technical detail, and I feel like I'm missing the fundamentals. But if I want to actually start experimenting with my own circuits, what should I buy? Should I order components one-by-one off of Digi-key when I think I need them? Or is there a nice starter kit of components that would get me started?
    - kyzyl 11y ago
      If what you're interested in doing is analog/digital synth stuff, the AoE has the information you need. It leaves some gaps and presents it in a way that I am not fond of, but that's just me and I'm far from your typical learner. That said, be prepared for a long, dark rabbit hole ;-) Depending on the level of "off the shelf" you're looking to deal with, a MIDI controller can be as simple as a USB controlled MIDI chip hooked up to some switches, or as complicated as a manually implemented digital synthesizer that talks to a USB bridge (don't try to implement a USB controller as your first, or tenth project). Regarding kit/components, the key is trying to strike a balance between knowing what you want before you buy anything, and not waiting too long to start experimenting with real components. You can save yourself a lot of time by simulating the basic circuits in your project using a software like LTSpice[0] or TINATI[1]. They're both free and easy to use. However, simulations are never good enough, and often you don't have a model to simulate some important piece of your circuit, so the picture isn't complete. A good approach is to sketch out the circuits you want, do a quick sim or two to see if the basics like your power supply or oscillator or digital logic are going to basically do what you think, then order all the components you need from digikey. Shipping under $200 costs $8 from digikey, so it pays not to make too many orders. The bonus is that they are extremely timely with their orders (in US and Canada anyhow). Sometimes unbelievably so. A note when ordering things from Digikey: First, make sure all the parts a in stock (check "in stock" in the search params). Back ordered parts take a long time, and for almost any part you can imagine there is a comparable replacement in stock. Second, when you want low volume stuff you'll be wanting the "cut tape", "bulk", "tube", or "tray" packaging options. "Tape and reel" or "Digi-reel" are for big rolls of one component and this the minimum order is 1000+ units. Almost everything is available in one of the low-volume options. Regarding kits, take a look at sparkfun[2] for a wide range of boards, kits, etc. They have some good stuff and are targetted at hobbyists. A lot of their products come with not only a datasheet, but also a simplified "hookup diagram" that tells you how to wire everything up for a typical application. You can get some kits of basic components like resistors and caps, but they tend to get pricey and I always found that I would use one or two of the components up and never touch the rest, i.e. use all of the 10k resistors and the 1uF caps and nothing else. If there's a kit specifically for the project you want go for it though. [0] http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/#LTspice http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/#LTspice [1] http://www.ti.com/tool/tina-ti http://www.ti.com/tool/tina-ti [2] https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/157 https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/157

kyzyl 11y ago

If my opinion on the matter is welcome here, I would recommend against AoE. It is, indeed, the 'bible' of electronics, but it's also huge, expensive, and not terribly helpful for someone who isn't in school for electronics. Great once you know a little more, though.

jeffwass 11y ago
Of course your opinion is welcome :-D As a counterpoint, I knew many hobbyists who were not in school for electronics use it to great effect. Eg, in the Boston artist scene. One girl designed and built a whole bunch of home-brew analog synthesisers. Another guy made a performance art kinetic sculpture that would move and bang on drums and other percussives. Like I mentioned in my comment, the book by Forrest Mims is a more gentle introduction that can get you started. But if you are hungry for more, AoE is the place to go.
- BFay 11y ago
  Alright, you've piqued my interest! I've had a couple of electronics projects in mind, mostly audio-related, like building MIDI controllers, experimenting with modular synthesizers, setting up a MIDI-controlled Gameboy synthesizer. AoE looks pretty good. Some of then intro material I've looked at before doesn't go into much technical detail, and I feel like I'm missing the fundamentals. But if I want to actually start experimenting with my own circuits, what should I buy? Should I order components one-by-one off of Digi-key when I think I need them? Or is there a nice starter kit of components that would get me started?
  - kyzyl 11y ago
    If what you're interested in doing is analog/digital synth stuff, the AoE has the information you need. It leaves some gaps and presents it in a way that I am not fond of, but that's just me and I'm far from your typical learner. That said, be prepared for a long, dark rabbit hole ;-) Depending on the level of "off the shelf" you're looking to deal with, a MIDI controller can be as simple as a USB controlled MIDI chip hooked up to some switches, or as complicated as a manually implemented digital synthesizer that talks to a USB bridge (don't try to implement a USB controller as your first, or tenth project). Regarding kit/components, the key is trying to strike a balance between knowing what you want before you buy anything, and not waiting too long to start experimenting with real components. You can save yourself a lot of time by simulating the basic circuits in your project using a software like LTSpice[0] or TINATI[1]. They're both free and easy to use. However, simulations are never good enough, and often you don't have a model to simulate some important piece of your circuit, so the picture isn't complete. A good approach is to sketch out the circuits you want, do a quick sim or two to see if the basics like your power supply or oscillator or digital logic are going to basically do what you think, then order all the components you need from digikey. Shipping under $200 costs $8 from digikey, so it pays not to make too many orders. The bonus is that they are extremely timely with their orders (in US and Canada anyhow). Sometimes unbelievably so. A note when ordering things from Digikey: First, make sure all the parts a in stock (check "in stock" in the search params). Back ordered parts take a long time, and for almost any part you can imagine there is a comparable replacement in stock. Second, when you want low volume stuff you'll be wanting the "cut tape", "bulk", "tube", or "tray" packaging options. "Tape and reel" or "Digi-reel" are for big rolls of one component and this the minimum order is 1000+ units. Almost everything is available in one of the low-volume options. Regarding kits, take a look at sparkfun[2] for a wide range of boards, kits, etc. They have some good stuff and are targetted at hobbyists. A lot of their products come with not only a datasheet, but also a simplified "hookup diagram" that tells you how to wire everything up for a typical application. You can get some kits of basic components like resistors and caps, but they tend to get pricey and I always found that I would use one or two of the components up and never touch the rest, i.e. use all of the 10k resistors and the 1uF caps and nothing else. If there's a kit specifically for the project you want go for it though. [0] http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/#LTspice http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/#LTspice [1] http://www.ti.com/tool/tina-ti http://www.ti.com/tool/tina-ti [2] https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/157 https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/157