The Please Steal My Idea Thread

[vigilante397]

Random thought of the day:

Where are all the pedals with googly eyes on them?  Should be dozens of them.  I haven't seen any. 

You must be looking in the wrong places.





Not affiliated, unfortunately.

[Ripthorn]

i currently have no breadboard space available, but i have been thinking about a device i call the character box.

it's basically a cascading of a bunch of BJT or Jfet gainstages and resistive dividers. first boosting 3x then reducing 3x and boosting and reducing etc... this would impart nonlinearities of the devices used, without really clipping. it would be an extremely subtle effect and good noiseless devices should be used but i think it can make a clean guitar sound 'warmer' and fuller due to a bunch of added harmonic content.

cheers, Iain

Even with some noise, it could add some vintage mojo. A little noise and warmth and you have vinyl mode.

[iainpunk]

i currently have no breadboard space available, but i have been thinking about a device i call the character box.

it's basically a cascading of a bunch of BJT or Jfet gainstages and resistive dividers. first boosting 3x then reducing 3x and boosting and reducing etc... this would impart nonlinearities of the devices used, without really clipping. it would be an extremely subtle effect and good noiseless devices should be used but i think it can make a clean guitar sound 'warmer' and fuller due to a bunch of added harmonic content.

cheers, Iain

Even with some noise, it could add some vintage mojo. A little noise and warmth and you have vinyl mode.

that sound better, 'vinyl mode' as the name, and some cheap LP cut out on top of the enclosure.
it won't have any gain or loss, so its not going to have any pots or switches.
i have been thinking and i am going to add inverting opamp gain stages to cascade the non linearity the same way, not back and forth.
subtile filtering a-la bbe sonic maximizer, but on the cheap, with some bridge-t filtering clipping to slightly reduce some mids and add sparkle and bottom
(which is what the BBE essentially does, its an expensive, subtle mid-scoop, that's why it works better on bass and fully mixed music than on guitar. using it life will make you fade in to the mix a little bit and stand out less....)

cheers, Iain

[Ripthorn]

i currently have no breadboard space available, but i have been thinking about a device i call the character box.

it's basically a cascading of a bunch of BJT or Jfet gainstages and resistive dividers. first boosting 3x then reducing 3x and boosting and reducing etc... this would impart nonlinearities of the devices used, without really clipping. it would be an extremely subtle effect and good noiseless devices should be used but i think it can make a clean guitar sound 'warmer' and fuller due to a bunch of added harmonic content.

cheers, Iain

Even with some noise, it could add some vintage mojo. A little noise and warmth and you have vinyl mode.

that sound better, 'vinyl mode' as the name, and some cheap LP cut out on top of the enclosure.
it won't have any gain or loss, so its not going to have any pots or switches.
i have been thinking and i am going to add inverting opamp gain stages to cascade the non linearity the same way, not back and forth.
subtile filtering a-la bbe sonic maximizer, but on the cheap, with some bridge-t filtering clipping to slightly reduce some mids and add sparkle and bottom
(which is what the BBE essentially does, its an expensive, subtle mid-scoop, that's why it works better on bass and fully mixed music than on guitar. using it life will make you fade in to the mix a little bit and stand out less....)

cheers, Iain

You could make the enclosure out of an old record that gets heat formed over a 1590B or 1590A or whatever fits the circuit! If you need one pot, it could go through the center hole.

[duck_arse]

Random thought of the day:

Where are all the pedals with googly eyes on them?  Should be dozens of them.  I haven't seen any. 

You must be looking in the wrong places.



Not affiliated, unfortunately.

that's disturbing. iddley.

a Homer after licking the toad would be good.

[iainpunk]

If you need one pot, it could go through the center hole.

that's where the 3pdt goes

cheers

[Ripthorn]

If you need one pot, it could go through the center hole.

that's where the 3pdt goes

cheers

Ooh, yeah, good idea.

[Fancy Lime]

Has anyone tried controlling a BBD flanger or delay via a theremin-like antenna controlled oscillator? I recently monkeyd around with a CD4069 based Schmitt Trigger oscillator and noticed that the frequency changes in some settings when I got my hand near some wires on the breadboard. So I checked and sure enough, there are theremin designs out there that use the exact same kind of oscillator but tuned to kHz instead of Hz. It seems feasible to use that effect fo control a BBD with a copper plate by foot, doesn't it? If I had any time at all, I'd get right to it but I don't. I'm sure I'm not the first to come up with that idea. Is there a commercial pedal that does that? Have you guys tried?

Cheers,
Andy

No one? Or did this just get buried under the googly eyes?

Andy

[garcho]

Would it be different than having the rate controlled via expression pedal with a pot?

[Fancy Lime]

Very different. I don't mean "control the LFO via proximity sensor". I mean "use the proximity controlled HFO directly to control the delay time of the BBD". For a flanger that would mean not having an LFO at all and just controlling the swoosh directly by foot. I'd buy that.

Andy

[iainpunk]

No one? Or did this just get buried under the googly eyes?

Andy

yeah, this got buried by googly eyes, i haven't heard of it, neither have i tried it...
would be fun, but a treadle has a sturdy surface to put your foot on to and a pivot for referencing musscle memory against, but a theremin has no sturdy surface to stand on and nothing to reference muscle memory against, since you are always moving around on stage.
its fun while you're sitting on a chair, but i have gig-jammed with the Zvex Fuzz Probe once, and it wast't fun to use on stage, while moving and rocking out, it doesn't support you like a treadle does, and it doesn't give you a fixed point like a fuzz does...

cheers, Iain

edit:
i think a piezo pressure probe is easier. both in using it and designing a circuit that reliably works for an LFO

[garcho]

For a flanger that would mean not having an LFO at all and just controlling the swoosh directly by foot. I'd buy that.

Ah, yes. I have digital effects that do that. They end up sounding a little like a weird wah pedal or VCF, but like I said, it's just code, not actual delay circuitry. I agree, I'd buy one! If it's not a million bucks.

a sturdy surface to put your foot on to and a pivot for referencing musscle memory

+1. Also where many guitarists pick up the bad habit of propping their right hands up with their pinky

[11-90-an]

Thought about this just before sleeping...

some kind of tilt sensor worn on your head, controlling an expression pedal?

For example, a wah. When you bob your head up and down, the sensor "detects" the angle of your head and sweeps the filter to that certain position...


If what I'm saying is understandable... 

[iainpunk]

Thought about this just before sleeping...

some kind of tilt sensor worn on your head, controlling an expression pedal?

For example, a wah. When you bob your head up and down, the sensor "detects" the angle of your head and sweeps the filter to that certain position...


If what I'm saying is understandable... 

or a chest mounted slider, with a rubber band pulling it down, and then a wire from the knob to your beard, so if you move your head up and down, the slider moves too!!!!

cheers

[EBK]

Those thoughts have given me another idea:
How about a slowly retracting pull string actuator/timer for an effect, like the kind on talking toys?

Bonus points for multiple, pseudo-randomly chosen effects. 

Or, how about an overdrive that is activated by a lawnmower pull string?

Perhaps a really buzzy and loud fuzz circuit would be better.

[moosapotamus]

How about a slowly retracting pull string actuator/timer for an effect, like the kind on talking toys?

Love this idea. Bending down to pull the string might get old. But, a foot switch to trigger it might work. As if the string was already pulled and tapping the switch would be like simply releasing the string.

[iainpunk]

or, a vintage sowing machine style treadle, that makes a heavy disk turn round and round, this disk is then connected to a leslie style drum, to be placed in front on any old single speaker combo amp!!

[iainpunk]

i thought this was an appropriate place for re-posting this idea:

the link to this quote's original thead

if anyone has taken a look at the CA3130, it has a CMOS output stage.
we can use pin 8 (strobe and compensation) as the output pin if we regard the (-) and (+) inputs as having switched places. we can then use the CMOS stage as a stand alone gain stage, without feedback, to utilize its soft-clipping nature, just like CMOS inverters!
of course we bias the ''first half'' of the opamp so the CMOS stage's output is in the correct operating range.



cheers!

EDIT: the CA3130 and 3160 are both eligible for this trick.

am currently experimenting with a bridge tee filter in the feedback loop from pin 8/strobe, to pin 3/non-inv.
it can really do that desert rock sound, especially if the guitar's volume is dialed back and the gain at 8, it really does that pushed mid-range "not quite fuzz, not quite distortion" tone, and a woolly overdrive when the gain knob is dialed back.

cheers

edit: the CA3130 really likes a 20pF to 1nF capacitor in between pin 8 and 1, despite the implemented feedback loop trick also coming off of pin 8.

cheers, Iain

[duck_arse]

Or, how about an overdrive that is activated by a lawnmower pull string?

Perhaps a really buzzy and loud fuzz circuit would be better.

a hard-clipper distortion.

[Fancy Lime]

Thought about this just before sleeping...

some kind of tilt sensor worn on your head, controlling an expression pedal?

For example, a wah. When you bob your head up and down, the sensor "detects" the angle of your head and sweeps the filter to that certain position...


If what I'm saying is understandable... 

Just in time for the impending hair metal revival (according to the 1-generation nostalgia cycle)!

Andy