Parallel tremolos?

[nosamiam]

Has anybody experimented with two tremolos in parallel with separate clocks in the same box? I'm thinking about trying it, but don't want to reinvent the wheel if it's already been done, especially since I'm horrible at breadboarding. Is it worth trying?

If it is actually worth doing, I can think of some fun mod ideas, although being a newbie, it would be tough for me to pull them off myself:

1) a separate waveshaper for each side. I think something close to a square wave for each with them running at different rates would almost lend a periodic sample & hold kind of sound. It would create 3 separate volume levels (I think): both trems 'on', one one and one off, and both off.

2) an LFO for one side that varies rate so that the trems go in and out of sync with each other rhythmically.

What do you all think?

[digi2t]

I suggest that you look at the 4ms Stereo Panneur.

Should more or less fit your bill.

[Puguglybonehead]

This idea reminds me of an interview I read with Johnny Marr, shortly after The Smiths split up. He talks about how he did the guitar tracks on the song "How Soon Is Now." The rhythm guitar track with the thick tremolo sound was his guitar patched into 6 identical amps at once, (I think they were Fender Twins) arranged in a circle around a couple of mics. The amps all had their tremolo set at the same speed, but he said that they would only stay in synch for about 20 seconds max. So, with this limitation he made a tape loop of a couple of bars of him playing and that is what is heard as the rhythm track in the song. (of course he can't seem to remember even a tiny bit of how he did the awesome slide sound in that song)

Anyways, I wonder if there would be a way to make a tremolo like you've described, that could recreate that sound? (without eventually going completely out of synch)

[bwanasonic]

It's probably a good thing those Twins didn't stay in sync long, because I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to stop playing through them as long as they stayed in sync! I have spent time trying to keep my Supra-Trem and my DOD 201 in sync just via the blinking LEDs ( DIY on the 201). It's a pretty cool effect for as long as it lasts, and your brain is pretty forgiving if they are close enough.

[nosamiam]

I've read interviews with Johnny Marr (maybe not the same one) where he talks about that. Pretty cool. I didn't remember about the loop part, but I do remember him talking about how difficult it was to keep them synced. The effect was worth it though. One of the most memorable guitar sounds out there!

And thanks digi2t! I am familiar with 4ms pedals (built the Tremulus Lune as my first build and the Phaseur Fleur I built is the phaser that I keep on my board) but I had forgotten about the Stereo Panneur. I think I might build it! Gonna try to get it in a 1590BB.

[charmonder]

Interesting, I did not know that about Johnny Marr, Ive always loved that tremolo sound! Kevin Shields said he used two amps with different tremolo speed for some of the sounds on Loveless.

[SISKO]

I think it would sound something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8etAQo9P8zk (5:31 onwards)

This is what the wiki has! http://www.diystompboxes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Wobulator#Project_Files

[midwayfair]

If you ever intend to use this for live applications, I would really consider doing this with the Electric Druid LFO chip instead of just cramming two manual trems in a box and hoping to be able to set them properly on the fly. You could tap in the tempo to sync them and then use the divider knob instead of the tempo knob to change what the second one is doing. For instance, you could set one to do eighth notes and the other to do quarter note triplets or something. They would sync up every other phrase. It would be a huge box, but you could use two of the MusicPCB boards in the same enclosure. It's actually possible that with enough planning you could stack two on top of each other (cutting some knobs, of course) in a tall enough enclosure. I can't think of the Hammond part number for the ones that are 3" tall but the same form factor as a 1590BB.

If you just two two trems in a box, it'll work like any other parallel effect, but you probably want the second to have its own volume control so you can mix them to taste.

The Panneur is dual LFO. I don't think it has a second audio circuit.

[digi2t]

The Panneur is dual LFO. I don't think it has a second audio circuit.

Partially correct. The Panneur is two Lune`s in one box. It has two seperate ins, and two seperate outs. Hence you can run two different audio signals through the unit. You are correct on the LFO`s. The nice thing is that you can either lock the two LFO`s together, or let them run independently of each other, either in a bounce or rolling mode. You also have control over the waveshape.

In my book, it`s the cat`s a$$ of true stereo tremolos.

[[WZ]]

Sorry, resurrection of a dead topic:
Sorry, long post

Hi,
I'm breadboarding and experimenting with a Stereo Panneur, but having problems getting the inverted LFO signal right:
The synced OpAmp of LFO2 works fine in Stereo mode, but not in Pan mode.

STEREO MODE (SYNC=on, PAN=off) -> When using the non-inverting input, the LED is exactly identical to LFO1 LED; nice and bright at peak, dark at other end. Sounds great and clear.
PAN MODE (SYNC=on, PAN=on) -> When using the INverting input, it's doing the opposite of LFO1, but it's way less bright (and seems to take a bit longer to discharge and darken). No sound comes through.

So, I've tried several things:
1) Adjust the gain of the synced OpAmp (the 2x 1M resistors), which increases the brightness, but reduces the smoothess and makes it always go choppy/square.
2) Adjust the 2x 100K resistors of the voltage divider at the non-inverting input, which 'offsets' the middlepoint of the LED brightness.
Kinda works, but once 'brightest' is equal to STEREO mode, 'darkest' isn't dark enough anymore.
3) blending in some V+ directly to the LED. Obvisously doesn't work, as it increases the brightness AND the darkness the same level.


Anyone suggestions?
Anyone who built this (or other inverting stereo LFO thingys) successfully?

If I can't get it to work, I was thinking of adding a seperate inverting OpAmp to fully tweak the signal, then just switch to that for the synced panning function...


Thanks a lot in advance! Beers for the winning tip!