first cuckoo in spring - makes you forget the long winter

It is one of our traditions that we regularly publish some sort of sound-effect project, and what better at this time of the year than a cuckoo? It is, of course, not our intention to replace the real cuckoo, because however fascinating electronics may be, it cannot ever take the place of nature! the first cuckoo in spring... elektor april 1985 the first cuckoo in spring . • • With reference to the circuit diagram in figure 1, integrator Al and trigger A2 form a triangular-pulse generator. Diodes DI and D2 chop the apex of the pulses, so that the input to A3 looks like a distorted sine wave. Oscillator A3 produces the voice of the cuckoo which is amplified by T2 and T3. The remainder of the circuit serves to control the frequency and volume of the output. Counter/divider 1C2, with its associated gates, determines the duration of each of the two syllables of "cuckoo", and when oscillator A3 should be switched off. The design is such that even after trip switch S2 has been opene...