G2T: Single-channel gate to trigger module (2HP)

It's another one of those depressingly boring, yet surprisingly useful, modules that does exactly what it says on the tin - it will take a gate signal as the input and produce a trigger (ie. much shorter pulse) at the output.

The principle is pretty simple - the gate charges a relatively small capacitor (1nF for pre-built modules) and discharges it through a Schmitt trigger and a variable resistance leaving you with a nice, clean pulse which will generally be a lot shorter than the signal which created it. It'll also have an amplitude of 5V (I use SN74-series Schmitt triggers which generally get a bit unhappy if you power them with more than 5.5V)

There is, however, a catch - the potentiometer only gives you a certain amount of control over the length of the trigger. Basically from 'short' to 'not quite as short'. If you're after something that will generate a trigger of exactly n milliseconds in length then I'm afraid this isn't the droid you're looking for. However, if you want to take a long signal and make a shorter one to, say, feed into an envelope generator or sequencer, then it'll do you just fine.

If you're up for a bit of technical vivisection then you can always replace the 1nF film capacitor with one of a different size - larger values will yield longer triggers, but don't go crazy; anything more than 10nF is probably overkill. Resistor R2 (470k) controls the minimum length of the pulse ie. when the length pot is fully counterclockwise - a higher value, such as 1M, would result in a longer 'default' pulse. R2 is an 0603-sized device which is relatively straightforward to hand-solder.

2HP wide, with Euro-to-JST power adapter included.