Using adders appears too complicated in my opinion.

What you are doing, sending x number of clock pulses should work in principle.

 

Using adders appears too complicated in my opinion.

What you are doing, sending x number of clock pulses should work in principle.

Yes it does… and would employ far less chips! Thanks for taking your time to answer…

 

They get read, but weren't very clear.
You have finally explained what you want to do, and your previous postings now make sense.

I agree… I should have mentioned what it was for…

 

The problem with using adders is that they are the wrong part for the job. For a variable-modulo counter, you need a multiplier: If the selected modulus is 3, then for one clock pulse you want the counter incremented three times. For modulo 5, one clock pulse is turned into 5 increments; etc. You can achieve this with a high-speed, variable-clock-count burst circuit. A 4017 can do this with additional gating.

Another option is a presettable counter. An encoded keypad outputs BCD 0 through 9, and this is latched into a presettable counter with a high-speed clock. When a "count" signal comes along, the counter counts down to zero and latches off. While it is counting, its high speed clock pulses are fed to the main counter driving the display.

Or something like that; this is messy to describe in text. Either way, the clock to the display counter is multiplied up to the desired modulus.

How many digits in the desired display?

ak

 

The problem with using adders is that they are the wrong part for the job. For a variable-modulo counter, you need a multiplier: If the selected modulus is 3, then for one clock pulse you want the counter incremented three times. For modulo 5, one clock pulse is turned into 5 increments; etc. You can achieve this with a high-speed, variable-clock-count burst circuit. A 4017 can do this with additional gating.

Another option is a presettable counter. An encoded keypad outputs BCD 0 through 9, and this is latched into a presettable counter with a high-speed clock. When a "count" signal comes along, the counter counts down to zero and latches off. While it is counting, its high speed clock pulses are fed to the main counter driving the display.

Or something like that; this is messy to describe in text. Either way, the clock to the display counter is multiplied up to the desired modulus.

How many digits in the desired display?

ak

Thank you for the detailed reply!
Only three digits are required, with a maximum count up to 256. It makes sense to use a multiplier! Unfortunately, my maths skills are embarrassing, but I’ll look into how to calculate modulo again.
From what I gather, it always boils down to sending multiple clock signals to the display though. Am I correct?
In other words, sending a complete binary signal to the display, instead of multiple clocks is impractical because it would require numerous decoding/ encoding .

 

You do not seem to have provided a schematic of how your circuit is wired. You say that you are usding a CD410 (BCD up/dowm counter) but you do not say how you are decoding the 4 bit BCD output into the 7 signals required to dive a seven segment display. You may be using a decoder designed for a common anode display with a common cathode display. (Or vice versa.).
If you provide this information you will get better advice.

Les.

 

You do not seem to have provided a schematic of how your circuit is wired. You say that you are usding a CD410 (BCD up/dowm counter) but you do not say how you are decoding the 4 bit BCD output into the 7 signals required to dive a seven segment display. You may be using a decoder designed for a common anode display with a common cathode display. (Or vice versa.).
If you provide this information you will get better advice.

Les.

I’ve opted for multiple clock pulses as it is a much simpler solution. I will post a snapshot + short video to illustrate that it’s working already as it is (With clock pulses of course) so that I can receive some advice on best practices with digital chips.

 

I’ve posted a pdf version of the interval counter section.
I can’t seem to add the short video.
In the end, I opted for the cd40110 drivers.
The reason for implementing so many switches is that when practicing a musical instrument, you often gradually increment values, but it becomes tedious if you have to interrupt your playing to push one button multiple times. I’ll probably narrow it down to intervals up to 5 and one up to 10.
There are some extra connectors for other stages.
I welcome any suggestions for errors or simplifying and advice for best practices.

 

Hi all… I was hoping someone could make some time to look at the circuit I had posted regarding the interval counter. I’m just curious as to how you would approach something similar.