Vibe LFO with a 555

[wharding]

Has anyone tried using a 555 timer as an LFO for a vibe? I am about to under take my first vibe project and I am considering the 555 approach. I am curious about the results others have had. Will it make the effect sound "digital"?

Thanks for your feedback

[daverdave]

a 555 timer produces a squarewave signal, so the signal it's modulating will go from one state to another with no inbetween rise and fall. You could always include an integrator to turn the signal into a triangle wave.

[soggybag]

You can get a triangle off the timing cap in the 555 astable circuit. I think you would need to buffer this.

[CynicalMan]

555s aren't really good for LFOs. They consume a lot of power, output a square wave, and can introduce ticking into the power supply. A square wave probably wouldn't sound good in a vibe, and if you wanted to, you'd probably be better off doing it with an opamp.

[wharding]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Is there a "Standard Circuit" for modern effect LFO's? Can anyone recommend a schematic? I have looked at the univibe LFO but was hoping to find a simpler approach and keep my challenges focused on the Phase shifter section.

Thanks again 

[daverdave]

If you do a search for opamp trianglewave oscillator on the net you'll come up with a bunch of stuff. Most phasers use an opamp schmitt trigger and integrator configuration. I think frequencycentral posted something about phaser lfo's a while back that had a few diagrams in it.

[smallbearelec]

Has anyone tried using a 555 timer as an LFO for a vibe?

The LFO in my Trem:

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/TremBear/TremBear.html

could be used in a 'vibe, and will drive an incandesant lamp if you tweak the bias.