Build Log · My First Dead-Bug Build

Dead Bug Screamer

NE556 · Point-to-Point Worked first try

The classic Atari Punk Console - a two-oscillator stepped-tone generator built around a single NE556 dual timer - wired the hard, honest way: dead-bug, point-to-point, no breadboard and no PCB, chip flipped legs-up with every part soldered straight to its pins. The whole thing lives in a translucent Carat card box (the kind playingcarddecks.com throws in with every order), so you can watch the guts while it screams. My first dead-bug build - and, somehow, it fired up on the first try.

TypeAtari Punk Console (stepped-tone generator)
HeartNE556 dual 555 timer IC
BuildDead-bug / point-to-point - no breadboard, no PCB
ControlsPitch (1M) · Shape (500K) · Volume (10K) · on/off
OutputSpeaker salvaged from a toy - onboard, no amp
PowerRechargeable pack salvaged from dead disposable vapes
HousingRepurposed Carat playing-card box
MilestoneFirst dead-bug build
StatusWorking - finished July 2026

What it is

The Atari Punk Console (originally Forrest Mims' “Stepped Tone Generator,” later christened the APC) is one of the great first noise-box circuits. The NE556 is just two 555 timers in one chip: the first runs free as an oscillator, and its output triggers the second, which fires a one-shot pulse for each cycle. Because a fast oscillator keeps re-triggering a slower one-shot, you don't get a clean tone - you get that gnarly, gated, stepped square-wave squawk the circuit is famous for.

There's no board in here. The chip is glued dead-bug - belly-up, legs in the air - and every resistor, cap, and wire is soldered directly leg-to-leg, the way point-to-point builds were done before anyone etched a PCB. It's fiddly, it looks like a spider fell in a solder pot, and when it works on the first power-up it feels like getting away with something.

Fitting for a trash-to-treasure circuit, it doesn't run on a store-bought battery either - it's powered by a rechargeable pack I salvaged from two dead disposable vapes, the same lithium-scavenging trick I wrote up in Do You Want to Survive the Vapocalypse?

Controls & play

Pitch (1M): Tunes the first timer's oscillator - the raw frequency, from low burbles up to a piercing whine.
Shape (500K): Sets the one-shot's pulse width - the “stepping” and timbre. Sweep it and the character shifts from thick and chunky to thin and stuttery, dropping out entirely at the extremes (normal - that's the one-shot running out of room).
Volume (10K): Straight output level into the onboard speaker.
On / Off: Toggle on the supply. No standby, no fade - it's either quiet or it isn't.

Under the hood

Core	NE556 dual timer - timer A as an astable oscillator, timer B as a monostable one-shot
Pitch	B1M pot setting timer A's frequency
Shape	B500K pot setting timer B's pulse width (a narrower range than the usual 1M - punchier, less dead travel)
Volume	B10K output divider
Timing caps	0.01 µF ceramics on both timers
Output	Speaker pulled from a random toy, fed through an electrolytic coupling cap
Power	Rechargeable lithium pack salvaged from two dead disposable vapes, on/off toggle - see the how-to
Construction	Dead-bug - chip legs-up, components soldered pin-to-pin, zero circuit board
Housing	Translucent Carat deck box from playingcarddecks.com, pots and switch panel-mounted through the lid

Mods on deck

It works, so naturally it's time to poke at it. Next up, in order of bang-for-buck:

Next Reactive LED. Tapped off the output so it strobes with the low notes and tracks the Shape knob's brightness - extra fun glowing through a clear box.
Cap-switch on the toggle. Switch a second timing cap in parallel for a low / high range flip.
Body contacts. Two bolts wired to a timing node so a fingertip bends the pitch.
Output jack. A 1/4" out in place of (or alongside) the speaker, to run it into a pedal or amp.

A closer look

The card box open like a clamshell. Three gold W.L. potentiometers and a red toggle switch are mounted through the lid, with the NE556 soldered dead-bug in the middle of them - legs up, orange ceramic capacitors and a colour-banded resistor wired straight to its pins, and yellow, green, orange, blue, white and black hookup wire running out to each control. The lower half of the box holds the red-taped battery pack and the salvaged toy speaker. — Open like a clamshell — controls in the lid, chip suspended between them, battery and speaker in the base.

The closed box seen from the back, with PLAYINGCARDDECKS.COM embossed across the clear plastic. The whole circuit shows through it: the black speaker magnet at left, the gold pot bodies, the red toggle, the red-taped battery pack, and the nest of coloured wire behind them. — Closed up, back view — the deck-box branding still embossed across the guts.

Want to build one? It's a genuinely great first solder project - one chip and a handful of parts. Core recipe: an NE556, two 1M pots (or 1M pitch + 500K shape, like this one), two 0.01 µF timing caps, a couple of 1k series resistors, a 10 µF output cap, a small speaker, and at least two vape cells in series or a 9V battery. I wrote up the full point-to-point walkthrough - pinout, a pin-by-pin netlist, and how to add CV and a line out - over in the DIY section: Dead-Bug Screamer »

Designed, wired, and boxed by Onion Madder - a one-off dead-bug build. The Atari Punk Console derives from Forrest M. Mims III's “Stepped Tone Generator”; the popular APC name and layout come from the DIY synth community. Card box courtesy of playingcarddecks.com, repurposed with zero permission and no regrets.