BOSS OC-2 synth mod with sound clips

Outside of a gate, not entirely. A lot of it gets lessened by turning the bass down on the tone control....not the effect bassists want

 

So, just to be clear: After adding this trim pot, the pedal doesn't make noise between notes any more, and you still get that awesome square wave sound?

If this is the case I am very interested in seeing your instructions!

 

I still would like mine to gate harder - that's why I began designing an external gating circuit, but couldn't fit inside the OC-2. It stays quiet between notes, but there is some fizz on note attack and release i'd like to get rid off.

Hehe I'd love to build one for you John, I'm a big fan of the stuff you play with Nerve, but I guess it isn't that practical, me being from Europe.

(Off topic, do you have any plans to gig in Northern Europe any time soon?)

 

Got a brilliant idea while working on that math assignment! Fixed the negative envelope follower to just below bias voltage. This effectively gates the synth signal about as hard as a woolly mammoth Only problem is that it gates harder the higher you play (note/tone and there is a limit to how open the gate can be. (these things are quite easy to solve, there just isn't space enough in the OC-2)

I'm writing a schematic at the moment, but don't know if I will finish it today.

EDIT1: Oh yeah and there is also an easy mod to solo OCT-1 and more than double the volume!

EDIT2: Sound clips:

 

Sorry for triple posting, but thought a bump with schematics was fitting:

Original from:Boss OC-2 Dual Octave Down Guitar Pedal Schematic Diagram


There are two mods here, my "bleed less"-synthmod and my "hard gate"-mod.

Explanation:
--Break connection between the red wires.
--Connect (1,1) in the first schematic to 1-1 in the second schematic. (1,2) to 1-2; (2,1) to 2-1 and (2,2) to 2-2
--Both switches are shown in "stock position".
--Vb is the bias-voltage, available between R45 and R25.
--This symbol: _|_ means "ground", connect it to the casing, or anywhere with the similar symbol in the b/w schematic.

How it works:
-Bleed less
--The problem with bleeding occurred (to some), because a wire with a very hot signal, with lots of overtones, was passing physically close to the clean octave.
--This mod uses the phase inverter. Instead of "flipping" (phase-inverting) the clean signal around the bias voltage, a fixed voltage is flipped - thus a squarewave is outputted.
--The OCT-1 squarewave is routed through the filter, this would need bypass, if one wants extra face-melting sounds.
--The OCT-2 automatically becomes "synthed", but not with a squarewave.
-Hard gate
--Each peak of the incoming signal is compared to a threshold. If the limit isn't reached, no sound leaves the box.
--The OC-2 tracks pitch on the rising peak. The gater on the falling. This makes it possible to gate instantly.
--There is one drawback: I had to make a little workaround, so unfortunately it gates a bit harder on higher pitches.

Unfortunately I did not take any pictures during the assembly. so can't make a good pic-torial about how to perform the mod.

Any questions are welcome.
Happy modding!

EDIT: (Clips in a decent quality will be recorded this weekend.)

 

Great work man, looking forward to hearing the clips.

 

Tadaa:

Recorded this weekend at my drummers place.

Disregard sloppy playing.

 

That last part sounds awesome. Digging what you are doing Skrogh.

 

Cool. I have one and I really dig the added versatility. Thanks for the clips

 

Ooof! This sounds NASTY (in a good way)...

I want!

 

Thanks guys
Uploaded some more noodeling. This time with a secret weapon on the modulation

 

So is it recommended to buy a second oc-2 for this? (whether it's already been modded or not)

Also do we know if it's possible to mod the pedal so the direct level feeds oct-2? I'd love to be able to use oct-1 factory and oct-1 synth at the same time using just one pedal. I need to take a look at the schematic, but if anyone has any info about this please share!

 

Cool. I wish I wasn't so broke at the moment, I would snatch up your modded oc-2

 

HEY GUYS. I really like my OC-2. I don't really feel I need the synth mod. What I wish I could change however is the volume envelope. I like the natural sustain of my bass, so I can control the ADSR with my hands. Is there a way to keep the tone of of the OC-2 but get rid of the volume envelope circuit, if only just for oct-1? If anyone has done this, or thinks they could do this, please let me know!

 

my woolly mammoth dosn't sound like that

Unfortunately I don't own a OC-2, never the less a really cool mod.

 

I did the synth mod (via instructions from YouTube) on my OC2 (Taiwan) and have a few questions:

When the synth mod is bypassed (normal mode), there is a slight "synth mod sound" that is very quiet in the background. W T F is happening here?

When is synth mode, there is some octave jumping... If I let a note ring it can go up and down an octave (even with only one octave engaged). Any tips?

I play a Stingray or a EBMM Sterling, so both basses are pretty hot.

To come clean, I didn't read the whole tread cover to cover. THANKS!