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DIY Effect Makers (club?)

#81
bassk81976 said:
interesting, so could this VCO in a chip function in the same way as a chip like the LM386? Put a wire to the in and out, and the chip does it? It's just conditioning the sine wave signal's voltage to make the ic output the right square wave/triangle wave signal?
Click to expand...

No, sadly. :)

A VCO doesn't do anything with a bass signal. In order to get a pitch-tracking oscillator, you need a pitch-to-voltage circuit (very large and complex) and then you need to connect this voltage to the pitch CV input of an oscillator (and a VCO with CV input is never as simple as a single chip - single-IC oscillators usually do not operate on voltage, but rather a resistance. And pitch-to-resistance is even more complicated!)

This is pretty advanced stuff. It's awesome to be enthusiastic, but I would strongly suggest getting several simpler builds under your belt, and doing lots and lots of reading before delving into pitch detection, etc.
 
#82
Taylor Livingston said:
No, sadly. :)

A VCO doesn't do anything with a bass signal.* In order to get a pitch-tracking oscillator, you need a pitch-to-voltage circuit (very large and complex) and then you need to connect this voltage to the pitch CV input of an oscillator (and a VCO with CV input is never as simple as a single chip - single-IC oscillators usually do not operate on voltage, but rather a resistance. And pitch-to-resistance is even more complicated.
Click to expand...

well, damn. Has this been done before in a pedal?

I had absolutely no intentions to try to build that any time soon, haha. I can barely get a 3 component circuit to work, haha
 
#84
Yeah, VCOs are mostly the basis of analog synths.

Looks like some modding of my pedals might be due soon, mostly bypass stuff.

Gabeja, I have always wondered if it would be possible to use a Morley wah as a platform for a build, would you say it is possible?

Hmm, I seem to remember seeing such a thing as Taylor mentioned, it was on some page about rust or alkyl groups connected by an oxygen? (Yes, I paid attention in Chem.)

About wave shaping, I was thinking if you could get a ramp wave and the rectify it you would get a pseudo triangle with a dip to 0v at the peak. But, I guess it isn't as simple as a few caps or inductors.
 
#85
Taylor Livingston said:
Who knows, maybe someone among is developing just such a thing right now. ;)
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well, if it works out, sign me up. ;)

how long have you been designing pedals? What would be some good simple beginner schematics that you know of? I have a few, like the orange sunshine fuzz, that seem pretty simple, but my lack of soldering skills are making me nervous about making circuits.

how about the "random number generator" fuzz? that seems simple..or am i just too cautious?
 
#86
RNG is a fun pedal. It's tough for me to say because I don't know what you like.

What I can say, however, is that you should build on PCBs rather than perf. Until you get good at soldering, perf is a needless headache. I would also recommend getting Small Bear's prebonded wire. Solid core is more prone to breaking if you nick it while stripping insulation, or if you bend it too much. This is a very common area of failure for beginners. Stranded core is less likely to break, but also kind of a hassle because of the need to tin ends. Prebond is the best of both worlds.

Switching to PCBs and prebond wire, I'm convinced, will make things work way better for you.
 
#87
So I should just man up and buy PCBs/ start etching them myself as opposed to vero? I'm not bad with a soldering iron. (no pics exist of my bazz fuss to make it seem otherwise :ninja:)

Also Taylor could you PM me here whenever you post the OC-2 on diysb? I only go on there like once a week.
 
#88
If your stuff works, no need to change. But since bassk is saying he's having trouble with a 3 component circuit, I was suggesting it for him. FWIW, I'm good at soldering and I have a nice soldering iron, and I would prefer to build on a PCB any day. Professionally made plated boards are the best and the easiest to work with, but they're not available for some more obscure circuits, and of course designing them and having them fabricated isn't simple or cost-effective for the DIYer. That's why I've put together group buys of professional boards many times, so DIYers can enjoy the spoils normally available only to companies. The chopped OC2 will be a professionally made board I'll make available to DIY guys.
 
#89
Taylor Livingston said:
Professionally made plated boards are the best and the easiest to work with, but they're not available for some more obscure circuits, and of course designing them and having them fabricated isn't simple or cost-effective for the DIYer.
Click to expand...

what about a place like guitarPCB that offers custom etches for 10-14 a piece? All the others the has are between 5 to 15, but he has to pre-agree it before he'll do it, obviously.
 
#90
Sweet, I just saw guitarpcb yesterday and that seems like a good deal.

I will definitely get in on that OC-2 pcb buy if it is professional, I think I might stay away from etching for now as I don't have a laser printer anyways.

This brings up a question I have always had, is there a link that will demonstrate or explain good pcb design practices?
 
#91
bassk81976 said:
what about a place like guitarPCB that offers custom etches for 10-14 a piece? All the others the has are between 5 to 15, but he has to pre-agree it before he'll do it, obviously.
Click to expand...

Those are not professionally made plated boards. I mean, I guess they are made by a company so it could be called professional, but they are just home-etched boards with plain copper. These are great and way better than perf IMO, but what I was talking about is PCBs made by a fabrication house, which are double-sided, plated in tin, nickel, etc. for the best solderability, have plated through holes, silk screen legend to make population easy, and soldermask which keeps you from making solder bridges accidentally. All of these conveniences eliminate all the issues you're having with your build. I etch boards, so I haven't bought from guys like that, but I absolutely recommend getting boards from him, Tonepad, General Guitar Gadgets, Madbean, etc. until you're more confident in your soldering ability.

Edit: Good PCB design practices: this is a huge topic, so one link won't help. RG Keen has a good introductory book to the subject, it's at Small Bear. It really only covers the physical placement and routing, but when you get to the point of working with difficult stuff like logic signals and clocks bleeding into audio, you have to have a really good understanding of the circuit itself and where the currents are flowing, etc. to do a good PCB.
 
#92
Taylor Livingston said:
Edit: Good PCB design practices: this is a huge topic, so one link won't help. RG Keen has a good introductory book to the subject, it's at Small Bear. It really only covers the physical placement and routing, but when you get to the point of working with difficult stuff like logic signals and clocks bleeding into audio, you have to have a really good understanding of the circuit itself and where the currents are flowing, etc. to do a good PCB.
Click to expand...

Sweet, that was exactly what I meant, what can be placed or route by what to avoid noise and such. I think I will wait a while and buy a whole bunch of components for different projects as my mom thinks I'm blowing all my money with buying 4 pedals in the past month.

Taylor, thank you for being so extremely helpful and involved, it is awesome.
 
#93
DerHoggz said:
Sweet, that was exactly what I meant, what can be placed or route by what to avoid noise and such. I think I will wait a while and buy a whole bunch of components for different projects as my mom thinks I'm blowing all my money with buying 4 pedals in the past month.
Click to expand...

I might not have written very clearly, so I'll restate. RG's book does not cover any of that. All it tells you is basically how to do a basic PCB layout. It's good for someone who has no idea, but if you want to know how to layout a board so that it functions well, the book does not cover that. I'm not aware of any that do, other than super academic 1000 page tomes for electrical engineers. So what I was saying is that to make layouts for sensitive circuits (like the OC2 for example) requires you to really understand the circuit before you do the layout. For most fuzz pedals and the like, this doesn't matter. The difficult stuff is when you have buzzy logic signals or BBD clocks.
 
#95
Just stumbled onto this thread...
I picked up Craig Anderton's book in the 80's and learned to make PCBs around the same time. I still use the TSF built in '86 on a pedalboard (basically the Red Llama) to this day.

Recently I made a Green Ringer, Red Llama, Klon, Buffered splitter, another buffer, and a power supply. These days I put them into Hammond boxes and paint them some color that appeals to me at the time, but the last few have gotten the Krylon pebble finish.
 
#97
zenrad said:
Just stumbled onto this thread...
I picked up Craig Anderton's book in the 80's and learned to make PCBs around the same time. I still use the TSF built in '86 on a pedalboard (basically the Red Llama) to this day.

Recently I made a Green Ringer, Red Llama, Klon, Buffered splitter, another buffer, and a power supply. These days I put them into Hammond boxes and paint them some color that appeals to me at the time, but the last few have gotten the Krylon pebble finish.
Click to expand...

nice, a diy pedal from '86 still going strong, must have been made pretty well. sounds like you definitely deserve your resister band: red-violet-red (#27).
 

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