New Effect: Vanishing Point v2.1

[The Tone God]

Thanks once again to everyone for the compliments. It makes the hours of work worth it.

You're fast becoming the Canadian DIY effects version of Forrest Mims. 

Aww shucks. I love that guy. I'm just making sure the analog folks here know that I haven't left them for that "other" forum.

I'm going to build one for a friend and put one in my Soundlab! 

Cool. The Tone God demands build reports. I can't wait for some build reports to make sure everything works.

...can that optoisolator be one with an NPN transistor instead of an LDR?  And if so, could it be connected to the filter section of a Bass Balls or Dr. Q?

I don't know those circuits. :::scurries off to find the schematics via my friend the function:::

Ah ok. Interesting. Why yes you can replace the optocoupler with a NPN transistor with the appropriate adjustments. I suppose you could also use FETs too. The main reasons for the LDR is pretty much the same reasons why I used one for the random mode in v2.0. They are quick, easy, predictable, and provide isolation. When replacing with an NPN I would be concerned with the last one, isolation. If one is not careful I would suspect that noise could come in.

One of the other nice side effects of the LDR is the slow response reduces the "harshness" of the stage switching a problem that was in v1.0. Some may like that, I believe there was thread recently about doing such a thing, but most probably will not. I suppose you could tack on a cap to ground on the base to slow down the voltage ramping simulating the LDR response.

Another advantage for the LDR which I would suspect could also become an issue with a transistor if not careful is distortion. Once again some minor tweak could probably resolve that.

Oh yeah the other reason for optocoupler is that since I am leaving the audio portion up to the builder I have no way of knowing if what I offer will work for their needs so the optocoupler is the safest "general interface" device I could think of.

Boy it is almost worth playing with if I have the time.

Andrew

[bancika]

Any clips 

[no one ever]

Any clips 

umm google for 'vanishing moon' at kaustic machines. interesting.

[Peter Snowberg]

http://compiler.kaustic.net/machines/vanishing-moon.html