My new project in development: KA 567 Chopper tremelo (need some input)

[~arph]

FIRST: Have you filtered the power supply?

Put a 100uF cap over the +9V and GND terminals and then a small resistor in series (100Ohm) from the 9V+  the other end of that resistor is the power supply for your whole circuit.

Also, try  this:

input ---||----x----||---- output

So put a cap after the input.. at x connect the 567 and then another cap before the output.
This way in and out are decoupled.

Another thing to try is to use a series diode to connect to the X.  This is also done in the colorsound octivider for instance.. here:
I am talking about D1 in the left center of the schematic.



Good luck!

Arnoud

[~arph]

BTW, randy's revenge uses an AD IC... I forgot the number.. something with a 6. Not a 567  

EDIT:  found it.. AD633

[FUZZZZzzzz]

Bedankt Arnoud! Thanks Arnoud! will try and report back

[timd]

Wow, thanks for your time! I'll have to try this when I get home!

[Helloimjohn1234]

I'm very interested in this project, I'll try to get it bread boarded as soon as midterms are over 

I've been working on Taylor Livingstons tap tempo Trem for a while but I'm having issues with depth and lots of ticking. Maybe these two projects could help each other out.. Thanks for sharing!!

[~arph]

Oh and try it in a grounded metal box too.. 

[nordine]

having bugged a lot with this little chip in the past, ill tell my story  :

as far as i know,
theres no way to tame the ticking... its like, you live with it, or let it die... its inherent to the chip, and uncontrollable
btw it bleeds into other effects, so shield cables, etc
best cures are already done (100k+big cap on power source)

an alternative cure i found was blending some clean signal to it, then i got a more musical sounding effect, and the ticking diminished

when i accepted the ticking was a "feature" of the chip i tinkered with it w/ diodes... i dont remember the actual configuration of it... but i managed to get an uneven ticking, which suited the music i was doing at that time

PRE EDIT: i looked at the circuit you did and found you didnt use it as i imagined lol
with tinker with it again if i got something for taming the tick, some cool hacks can be used

[FUZZZZzzzz]

I havent triend Arph's solution yet.. The weather is amazing here! as I sit at my desk all day long.. but will try tonight..

[~arph]

Hey, I only posted suggestions.. no sure solutions 

Weather is not bad here in amsterdam either btw. 

[timd]

FUZZZZzzzz - did you happen to get this thing working with the extra noise?

[FUZZZZzzzz]

unfortunately not!

none of the above seemed to cure the ticking.. I'm still using it when I record chords in my homestudio coz it works well when you're not using it for subtle stuff..
for now im leaving it like it is.. so much to build

[timd]

Yeah, I tried all of the above last night, and had no luck - still a cool idea though!

[Bishop Vogue]

Although this is an older topic, I wanted to post a sound clip of my mod for this circuit.  I used a 1 uf cap for the speed pot, and then ran the whole circuit into a 'dead easy dirt' circuit with a fat 47uf cap on the output pin.  In the clip, I let the unit run after I stopped playing so you can hear the severity of the ticking sound.  Unfortunately, this was not made with a CMOS 567, as I could not find any.

Here's the sample:

https://soundcloud.com/bishop-vogue/chopper-mod-demo

[FUZZZZzzzz]

Cool! thanks again for posting! Nice to hear you got it working and glad I could help out! For recordings this chopper has been very helpful to me. The 'dirt' is a really nice addition.

[anotherjim]

A little extra complexity may be called for.

Arnouds suggestion of decoupling the signal path is a start, without that...
When the chip output is high, the 10u cap will charge up (neg plate finding ground down the cable and thru whatevers plugged in). When it switches low the caps neg plate gets pulled to some negative voltage which must now discharge thru whatever. I'm surprised it's only a ticking noise you get rather than a thump!
Also suggest some resistance in series with the chopper cap - try a 10k trimmer and see how low it can go. Otherwise, you are putting a short on the output of whatever is feeding it when the output switches low.

If you can't get a 567, try 1 inverter from a CMOS 40106. Although it's a 14pin, it too makes a simple variable oscillator with just 1 pot and cap.
Cap - pin 1 to 0v
Pot - pin 2 to pin 1 (A 10k resistor in series with this pot would be wise)
Output from pin 1
Unused pins 3,5,13,11 and 9 should be 0v
1meg pot and 22nF should give good tremolo type speed range.

[FUZZZZzzzz]

thank you very much Jim!,  for the interesting in depth info. still much to learn for me before i turn Jedi.

[anotherjim]

thank you very much Jim!,  for the interesting in depth info. still much to learn for me before i turn Jedi.

Ah, but I see your comment about it being useful as it is. Well -  the ticking is at least in time with the chop, so that helps define it in the mix? Perhaps this work out for you in the same way that the key-click of a Hammond organ turns out to be a useful part of the sound, despite actually being a defect.

I've been playing around with a Tremolo design of late. I'm using an LDR and it is never going to respond fast enough for a definite chopper effect. Not a problem for me because I want a smooth traditional trem. I'll still include a square wave option (it's only a switch and bit of wire extra), but it's only "choppish".

[blackieNYC]

I   THINK  I've found the solution to the 567 ticking.  I've had a thing modulator for over a month working like this:
My LED On indicator receives a ground to light it up when the effect is on.  This gives you an available contact on a 3pdt switch that is connected to ground when the effect is off.
Connect a 1k resistor to this lug of your stompswitch.  Connect the other end to pin 6.   When you shut the effect off pin 6 will be basically shorted to ground.  The oscillator is stopped cold.  
Try this and reply. It does not damage my chip at all, it does not seem to draw excess current so I haven't bothered to measure the bypass current. I do have the cmos chip but that alone didn't stop the tick.  See pin 6 on page two of that datasheet.
Seriously, I can't believe I came up with a solution for this - check this out and reply. It's a bold claim and I might be tripping.  Tried many things, including a 7805 regulator to power the chip, but this is the only thing that achieved a complete silencing of the bypassed tick. 

[blackieNYC]

Thing modulator in a can of pomade which does not tick when bypassed.  oscillator is shut off.  I encourage you to try this - from above post and reply.  Pomade doesn't help - empty first.  LIve and learn.

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/diyuser/photo.JPG.html?g2_fromNavId=xc7e185a1