Nick recreated the opening music of the 1993 DOOM using only 555 timers. The circuit includes a system clock running at just over 7 Hz, a binary counter, a 15-position decoder and a diode matrix that determines the notes.
The circuit controls another 555 timer with resistor networks to produce six different pitches. Although the music could be played much more easily with a microcontroller, the project serves as an academic study aimed at understanding digital logic and the operating principles of circuits.
Why it matters
This project shows how a seemingly complex sequence of sounds can be built using basic electronic building blocks instead of a ready-made, programmable solution. Handling functions such as clock signaling, counting, decoding and pitch generation with separate circuits makes it tangible that digital logic is not merely an abstract software concept. In this respect, the work provides a practical example for those learning electronics and circuit design, while also demonstrating that the technology of older games can be reinterpreted through different hardware approaches. However, how well the circuit’s structure, limited to six pitches and 15 positions, can reproduce all the musical details of the original piece remains an open technical question.
Background
DOOM is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we published a news article mentioning this name in the past 90 days; that article is dated August 26, 2026. The development here is added alongside those records in our archive; readers can follow previous articles bearing the same name in the archive to see the timeline as a whole.