Hi! This is Steven Litt, the person who made the website you're looking at.

This website is my attempt at a practical, hands-on online course for artists, musicians, students, people of all ages who are interested in learning the basics of practical analog electronics.

It’s based on the introduction to analog electronics courses which I’ve been teaching to undergrads for over ten years. During the pandemic, I had to figure out how to teach these classes remotely, and my solution was basically a rough draft of this site you’re currently looking at. It worked about as well for the students as an in-person class, and it led me to making this new and improved version.

It requires absolutely no prior knowledge of electronics, physics, or engineering, and no math skills beyond basic arithmetic and “solve for X” algebra.

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The course is divided into chapters, which I'm making available as I finish them. Currently chapters one and two are available, and I'm working on chapter three.

Each one starts with an introduction, a list of parts you'll need, and then consists of lessons which you simply follow along with from top to bottom.

Each was designed such that it can be completed in one long day, as the main event of your day. Though if you're busy and need to spread it out over multiple days, that's obviously okay as well.

Chapter one is designed to introduce you to the most basic foundations of practical analog circuit design - everything you absolutely need to know before you can build anything useful or compelling. If you've never done any of this before and were wondering where to start, I designed this specifically for you.

Once you've completed chapter one and are comfortable with the basics of wiring up, testing, and listening to your circuits, chapter two takes you through building the same stompbox-style distortion circuit at the heart of many popular guitar pedals. In doing so you'll you learn all about op amps - operational amplifiers - and diodes, two of the most significant and most powerful electronic components.

Chapter three (coming Fall 2025) will take you through the basics of filters and tone controls by designing tone sculpting circuits which are extremely similar to those in many stompboxes and other effects units, and which are the building blocks of far more complex circuits like multiband EQs.

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I recently put together a kit of all the parts for this class, which can be borrowed locally by people in and around New York City, and possibly mailed around the country or the world. Feel free to email me at crudlabs@gmail.com if that's of interest to you.

If you'd like more information about this project, or have any questions or comments, email me any time.