The Saxaphone-izer

[reubster]

OK so what I want to build is a pedal that gives me attack an sustain control like a wind player: ie to  be able to make the sound louder after having plucked the note and have a sustain boost.
I also want to "colour" the sound as it gets louder, in the same way a sax player can distort notes by blowing harder.

I'm thinking of having  buffer, compressor/sustainer and  overdrive circuits all wired in parallel & using a stereo [dual ganged] volume pedal to push signal through the compression and distortion circuits.
The buffered output would be constant, so with the volume pedal at minimun you would have a "normal" sounding signal.
As you increase the volume pedal the signal through the compression and drive circuits will increase.
I envisage having seperate input level controls for the signals that drive the compressor and overdrive circuits and   mixer style controls to  blend  the output signals.


So what do you guys reckon? has anyone tried something along these lines? Is there already such a circuit/product around?

Any advice, tips etc would be appreciated

[joegagan]

i like it.
everything you have described sounds pretty good to me.

to save the trouble of building your own mixer for the back end, you might try running the two effected 'swell' paths run to a small pa mixer from a used music store. you might even be able to get away with a single volume pedal if you put it on the output side of the mixer before your amp channel. set the levels for the compressor channel and distortion channel at the mixer.

if i was to try this, i would run it like this:

guitar> buffer> split-

a>normal signal channel to amp channel a.

b>split again to compressor;distortion, run each to its own mixer channel. mono out of mixer to volume pedal to amp channel b.

pay attention to phasing, there are possible pitfalls with phasing reversals in this scenario.

curious to see what you come up with. cool sonic possibilities!

[reubster]

Thanks JG

Your "mixer channels" idea will actually be very useful in the prototyping stage of this project: I will probably use that.

In the longer run it needs to be a floor pedal, & I was really only thinking of level mixers for the back end, so not too complex.

I'm currently in the process of building up a compressor/sustainer cct and for the OD, a pedal similar to a Timmy [as this has great tweakability for tone and gain].....I'm not really sure whether mild OD or full on fuzz will be required for the "colouring"

I suspect there will be lots of experimenting required until I get this where I want it.
Will keep you posted.

[DDD]

There is one more possible problem: when you mix two signals with the different harmonic contents, the resulting audible level will vary significantly in spite of the "constant" voltage level of the mix. So the frequency-dependent mixer may be necessary.   

[joegagan]

There is one more possible problem: when you mix two signals with the different harmonic contents, the resulting audible level will vary significantly in spite of the "constant" voltage level of the mix. So the frequency-dependent mixer may be necessary.   

good point, but it also could be part of the fun.

more channels, more effects! smooth out the dips!

[R.G.]

We have a guy at work that plays "whale songs" with a Les Paul, a distortion pedal, and a volume pedal.

[joegagan]

that is good, rg.
ask him if whales are in the key of Db flat major. paul winter of paul winter consort had some words in his liner notes one time about how all the animals sing in Db major. something about the 'key of the earth' etc.

[Taylor]

Might be cool to integrate a ring modulator to simulate the growling saxophone technique, where you hum a note that's different from the note the sax is creating - it creates a harmonic modulation much like ring mod with a carrier frequency around 30hz.