2 Boxes & lots of circuits.

[mateusborges]

Heyas,

I had an idea, obviously it's not new, but looking at what I've been building, my needs as a producer (not a musician, nor going into stage), I think it may work!

Every pedal I've been building have the same configs, IN, OUT, 9V, GROUND... Things I've been adding are just "simple" (not that simple for me hehe) switchable cuts/boosts and stuff like that, I like having the flexibity to tweak those mostly 'cause I use my stompboxes in lots of different sources, like guitars, basses, keys, harmonicas, reamping stuff, etc., and of course, there's CLIPPING options, this flexibility really helps me dialing faster and easier the tones I need while dealing with tons of different instruments, pickups, amps, cabs, musicians, etc. Every cirucit I have in my to-do list have at most 2 "places" where clipping stuff goes, when it comes to diode clipping at least, so I was thinking about building a MAIN box, housing the off-board connections, in jack, out jack, battey strap, DC power, true bypass switch, on/off led AND the clipping switches. I could use a 8 pin connector having the IN, OUT, 9V, GROUND, CLIP1IN, CLIP1OUT, CLIP2IN, CLIP2OUT and the pedal box would only house the circuit, a couple of eq switches, the circuit pots and this pinout connector.
Could I also make it ready for positive ground circuits?

Why? Well, this way I won't need tons of switches, bigger boxes, multi redundant components, time spent soldering, drilling, making everything fit, waiting for mail, $$$$, etc, etc.

Suggestions? Critics? Tips?

Cheers!!

[mateusborges]

Maybe I could use something like this...

[zesak]

...maybe a rotary switch would do ? Number of different ones outthere, such as

[idy]

IF those are your favorite kind of cable, or the ones you have in the studio. Quite a variety of pinouts in the photo! If you want to invent as convention for yourself go forward...or don't you guys say "para frente?"

Really you need 5 conductors: common, inA, outA, inB, outB. Sorry but from so many converstions about diode/mosfet clipping on rotaries, I start to assume you are using only passive clippers. So no power...(?)

I would try two stereo 1/4 jacks/cables. each one is send and return for a clipping stage.

If power is needed then I would daisy chain to my pedalboard... But for studio you wouldn't want wall warts?...but you are not (?) using it with a pedalboard? And I live in a cave. What was the power for?
But you are hooking it up to another stomp box yes?, or do you have to use that battery only? 'Cause most of the time I use a stomp box (or 2 or 10) I have a power supply right there that daisy chains.

I see the reasoning for this twist on the project: being able to have studio ready pedals and try the same combo of clippers out on each one. Try TS, Muff, OpAmp OD with different tone stacks, hard and soft clipping OD, Klon, Dist+ what have you.
And a pair of 12 throw rotaries won't fit in all your stomp boxes maybe.

[idy]

I guess if you are dead set on using midi cables, then you could be adding two more in outs, for two eq stages. And then instead of "coffee can", you could have a "lunch box" with rotary switched active and passive hp/lp/bandpass/bandcut, etc.

Just up to you, if you want one really complicated lunchbox, or a couple of coffee cans.

These diode clipper things, I have always just built up on a pair of rotaries. But then flying leads to a breadboard.

[mateusborges]

Heya @idy

Yup!! And the "pra frente" translation is perfect but we don't use these words for this meaning, we would say something like "Toca ficha!" =)

Now take a look at how everything evolved... I built a TS, added all the EQ mod switches I wanted, great, but couldn't fit the rest of the stuff, like the clipping options, battery, had a tough time putting jacks and DC already, it's a small box, a good one, but small. Ok, let's get bigger boxes, they cost quite some more here and there's the shipping... Ok, so I don't want to waste that small one, what did I do? I built another TS with the others options hehe. Then I built a Muff... Same deal. Haven't built a 2nd unit of that one, was about to, but already built another clipping switch, it's the 3rd switch built, lot's of diodes and some expensive switches... Then I built a Rat, again, couldn't fit it all in, another switch, another set of diodes, mosfets, jacks bla bla bla.

Now I'm looking at my "almost done" ones (but tested and working stomps), a Rangemaster, a Fuzz Face, a Chorus (no clipping in this one hehe) and a Octavia, guess what they're waiting? Boxes, jacks, knobs, switches, DC sockets, etc.

Then I had this idea =)

Cheers!

[mateusborges]

Really you need 5 conductors: common, inA, outA, inB, outB. Sorry but from so many converstions about diode/mosfet clipping on rotaries, I start to assume you are using only passive clippers. So no power...(?)

I would try two stereo 1/4 jacks/cables. each one is send and return for a clipping stage.

That would be nice too! The things would still look and work like a stand-alone stompbox (with a default clipper set and a switchable out of board clipper set put in a toggle switch, cool!).

If power is needed then I would daisy chain to my pedalboard... But for studio you wouldn't want wall warts?...but you are not (?) using it with a pedalboard? And I live in a cave. What was the power for?
But you are hooking it up to another stomp box yes?, or do you have to use that battery only? 'Cause most of the time I use a stomp box (or 2 or 10) I have a power supply right there that daisy chains.

Yup, using external power for the negative ground ones and battery for the positive ground ones, couldn't get around building a supply for these yet.

I see the reasoning for this twist on the project: being able to have studio ready pedals and try the same combo of clippers out on each one. Try TS, Muff, OpAmp OD with different tone stacks, hard and soft clipping OD, Klon, Dist+ what have you.
And a pair of 12 throw rotaries won't fit in all your stomp boxes maybe.

Exactly! This way I can build any stompbox I want, with as many switches/pots I'd like for cuts and other eqs, and leave the choices of clipping for a different box in wich I can waste space for all kinds of big clipping switches I'd like.

Cheers!

[bowanderror]

I've run into the same issue, but I feel like running analog signals through a MIDI (an optically isolated digital signal) cable may be asking for interference & impedance problems. You may have better luck with using a header like Eurorack systems have, and keeping a standard setup of switches & pots that route through that.

A similar example in the pro audio world is the DIY Recording Equipment Colour Modules. The setup consists of 2 parts: the Colour Palette module host, and a series of Colour Modules, which are plug & play effects that range from overdrive/saturation, to EQ, to compression. The module host has a single knob per module that controls the amount of signal entering the module, and therefore the amount of effect/clipping/etc. applied.

What you may find interesting is that the Colour Palette & Modules are open source, and most of the schematics are available on their site. Here is a link to the Colour Designer's Toolkit, which gives an overview of IO & power specs a module should have. I've made a perfboard version of the 3-module Colour Palette host, and ~10 different modules. On my version of the Colour Modules, I've added some additional headers for switches & pots so I can adjust more than just the input & output signal level. It's much easier than running long cables, and keeps the signal in a shielded environment.

[PRR]

Don't confuse MIDI for DIN. The round DIN connectors were widely used in analog audio. (Also PC keyboards.) That's why they were on the shelf when MIDI went shopping for plugs.

OTOH, on a modern stage a 5-pin DIN *will* get confused for MIDI. Will your pedal survive? Will your MIDI synth survive? There are other pin-counts to avoid miss-plugging. IIRC there were two type of DIN 5-pin, half-circle and 3/4-circle pin placements? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector