Why Phase Locked Loops Are Cool

Published on Oct 23, 2017 Illumination Station

"Phased Lock loops are a process in which one oscillator is able to control the pitch of another via a feedback loop. It can produce wild and unexpected results and is a lot to experiment with. The basis for a PLL is to feed both oscillators into a phase detector. This compares the two phases creating a voltage as the result, by filtering to smooth this voltage and patching it back into one of the oscilaltors. The creates a system with feedback which finds equilibrium when both oscillators are in phase with each other and thus also at the same frequency. If the frequency of the primary oscillator strays to far the lock will be broken resulting in chaos. in the opening of the video you hear just the oscillator that is being lock. when I adjust the rosie you can hear both oscillators together, hearing them break apart and come back together."