Looking for some help/pointers on how to make a variable frequency tone generator anywhere from 500 to 8000k. I'm very new so anything will help, parts list ideas, links to websites with tutorials of similar projects. Thanks in advance for your help!
A bit ambiguous, do you mean from 500hz to 8000hz (8khz)?
What sort of waveform do you want, sine, square, sawtooth, or ?
What are you going to use it for?
If you want to just make a tone through an amplifier/speaker, try something like this:
A simple fixed frequency oscillator using a minimum of components.
If you want something a bit more ambitious, have a look here: **broken link removed**
As a general rule, fixed frequency square wave oscillators are simpler to build than variable frequency sinewave oscillators, at least at audio frequencies.
If you want your audio generator to be used for musical purposes I would avoid using a 555 chip and some of the other simple circuits proposed because although they will generated the frequencies you want they will tend to slowly drift as the components warm up and change temperature.
I had this problem in creating tone generators for my musical projects and the only safe solution if you need a stable frequency is to incorporate a crystal oscillator and then divide the frequency down to an audible level. It involves a more complex circuit but the output will be as reliable as a clock.
Try this link for a straight forward tone generating circuit: