THE THING-A-MA-BOB MP3 SAMPLE ADDED!!! (easy as pie homemade nintendofuzz)

[FUZZZZzzzz]

Hi Guys!

Normally I'm just a spectator at this forum as I'm just beginning to understand electronics and stuff.
But I came up with something nice (in my own opinion ) when breadboarding.

I was looking for some nintendo sounds, like the FX Doctor 8bit and such and came up with something extremely easy and fun to built.

Here's a layout.. its kinda loud so maybe a volume knob would also be nice  
I'll try to record some samples tomorrow (ill play some super mario for you all)

feel free to comment.. coz this is just based on trial and error.

http://img11.imageshack.us/i/thingamabob.jpg/

[sevenisthenumber]

Very cool...
Is it noisy?

[FUZZZZzzzz]

it can be.. i found some different cool things whilst playing with it.

1. if you only connect the output cable.. it makes noise on certain settings of the knob. (a bit atari punk console, if you wish)
but not really extreme.. only some bass and squeaks.

2. when connected.. with the knob set to zero.. youll find heavily gated fuzz.. only noisible when strumming low notes..
(this will also depend on the use of pickups, humbuckers will do more on lower settings)

3. higher settings will increase a broken nintendo like gated fuzz.. the higher notes will become more audible and the sound gets more sustain
when you get higher levels of the knob the sustain will increase and youll find more hiss but also some really nice 'synthetic' gated fuzz sound.

with the knob open 75% and over you can play fuzz chords that sound pretty cool like a cheap transistor radio. theres also a nice 'weird' decay on the higher notes.

the knob is very sensitive and you'll find some very cool sounds by playing with it (did i just say that? )
it was put together before my gf made coffee so its very easy to give it a try.

[FUZZZZzzzz]

i could not possibly let you guys wait for samples 

there it is 128kb format mp3.
recorded straight into Logic (no xtra effect whatsoever)

http://www.mediafire.com/?yjzeqtzndqn

[FUZZZZzzzz]

i just did some demo-ing of the more 'radio friendly sounds'. i did not use the farts and squeals 

[glops]

I like your soundclip.  Really cool for such a tiny board. 

[sevenisthenumber]

gonna build it tomorrow. 

[FUZZZZzzzz]

thanks for the replies, guys! and thanks for viewing my layout (300 and counting)

something that easy is hard to keep for yourself. i would recommend you put a volumepot in there.. if you want to box it.
the recording was done with humbuckers but also got nice stuff on singlecoils.

let me know how you get on with building it. i used a 5.6nf greenie btw..

cheers!

[mnordbye]

Wicked sounding! Imagine putting 3 or 4 in series. 

[defaced]

I want to pair this with a random noise generator.  I think that would make some lovely disgusting sounds. 

[FUZZZZzzzz]

i've tried it on guitar, theremin and drumcomputer so far..

guitar works great!
theremin gives a sounds of 200 dying babybirds.. (only good if you're into that sort of thing)
drumcomputer will be crushed but will sound a bit like a sample rate reducer with a low battery

so.. not everything will work great, but def worth a try

[sevenisthenumber]

is it normal that the pot has some dead area near the end??

[FUZZZZzzzz]

you mean when its almost closed? that depends on the source you use... the signal is heavily gated when its almost closed so not every source will give useful or even sound.
you could play with the resistor to the ground.. add different values, but personally i only had 1k 3.2k and 4.7k to try it with

[FUZZZZzzzz]

does it satisfy your expectations?

[glops]

Man, I want to play around with this.  Reminds me of Tim Escobedo's circuits because of its simplicity.  I currently have a Clari(not) on 1 breadboard and
a weird octave divider thing on another.  I wonder how this would sound as the 386 section in the Clari.  Will try tomorrow.....

[linny1982]

this thing sounds cool. i'll have a pcb layout with volume done tonight but i'm moving on the weekend so wont be able to make it yet.

[Top Top]

Nice. Sounds somewhat like Tim Escobedo's PWM, but even simpler.

This actually seems like it could be a good building block for some other things, like cmos based divider/synth type stuff, because the output is so extremely squared off.

Is C2 an electrolytic? And if so, what's the polarity?

[FUZZZZzzzz]

C1 = 5.6nf (greenie)
C2 = electrolyctic 10uf 25v

the C2 negative goes to the ground (shortest metal thingie)

On bassguitar you get the best result. our bassplayer made us want to go home when plugged in.. very synthetic and bitty.. nice!
mind you its loud!

[1878]

It would be rude NOT to build this. Saturday morning is thing-a-ma-bob building time.

[isildur100]

Wow! so simple. nice!