Amp builders iOS reference app - ideas? Collab?

[Gainzilla]

Hi all,

I have a few bookmarked calculators, and use Adafruit's app a lot for resistor/capacitor values, r/c cutoff calc, etc. I design software for a living, and wanted to give iOS development a go. This would be partly a learning opportunity for me, but thought this might be a great opportunity to contribute something useful. Specifically geared towards amp building.

For starters, I would love to find a way to bring Duncan's tone stack calc to iOS. The PSU designer would be great, but that's more of a sim environment and maybe a different project altogether. I would reach out to Duncan and see if he would be willing to contribute.

The ampbooks calculators are great. What other tools would've useful in one place?

- Tone stack calcs
- Resistor code calc (single and multiple parallel/series)
- Capacitor code calc (single and multiple parallel/series)
- Voltage divider calcs
- RC network calcs
- Frequency cutoff calcs
- Tube bias calcs
- Preamp anode/cathode calcs
- Cathode bypass calcs
- General reference like common tube data sheets
- Foundational schematic references (LTPI, cathode follower, tone stacks, common p/p power sections, generic gain stage, coupling stages)
- What else?

It would be great if someone wanted to collaborate but at a minimum of like to crowd source the features so I can build something really useful. I would initially target IOS, but would eventually look to add android and Windows phone. Maybe.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

[sliberty]

It would be very cool to have a nice amp building toolkit in my iPhone. Resistor code apps are available, but many are crap. Capacitor code apps are not as common. Tube bias calculator would be helpful, and so on. Just remember that the iOS platform assumes fairly small apps, and often, any major processing is done on a server back end, so don't undertake anything that would be too processor intensive.

Resistor and capacitor codes -- needs to work both ways. Enter a code and reveal the value. Enter a value and reveal the code. Color codes should be graphically represented too (stripes on a resistor body).

Series and parallel resistor and capacitor calculators would also benefit from working both ways. Enter 3 resistor values, and reveal the resulting value. Enter a resulting value, and reveal 3 resistors to produce that value. (3 was just an example).

Might be good to have a high pass and low pass filter calculator too. Enter a resistor and capacitor values, and reveal the resulting roll of frequency. Or enter a roll off freq with either a resistor or capacitor value, and reveal the value of the other component.

Triode gain factor calculator??? Maybe too elementary, maybe not.

Cathode bypass cap freq response calculation???

[Gainzilla]

Great, thanks for weighing in! I totally agree about entering values both ways. The Adafruit app does most of the stuff you mentioned, but is more general electronics focused. I use that one a lot, but would like to have tube-specific tools together in one place.

Cheers!

[xtian]

I have the Tube Amps App on my iPad. It's a collection of schematics and layouts--1133 pages worth.

[Gainzilla]

Thanks, I'll check that out! Maybe this is overkill and just needs to be a list of must-have apps. Still, a few amp-specific calculators would be nice, and the Tone Stack Calculator would be the cherry on top!

Cheers!

[Firestorm]

The tone stack calculator is only partially functional. I use it a lot, but it's not completey accurate. You wanna fix it?

[Gainzilla]

Yep, I would love to fix it. Also, it should be an open source project. Thats the best way to ensure relevance as time goes on. Power to the people!

Anyway, my thought is that these are just formulas with user assignable variables rendered as a graph. If I could get help with the formulas I think I can handle the rest.