Way Huge Schematics?

[Mark Hammer]

As a former student of learning theory (wayyyyy back in my rat psychologist days), one of the basic principles of reward/reinforcement was that it induced "response stereotypy".  In other words, whenever you interjected a pleasing outcome into the ongoing behaviour of an animal, its behaviour tended to be less diverse than before.  As reward continued in any sort of systematic manner, behaviour would become narrower and narrower in focus, until the animal could be induced to just do the same damn thing over and over and over.  This would be true whether one was looking at a pigeon pecking, a rat barpressing, a door-to-door salesman, or a teenage boy locked in a bathroom with, uh, "graphic materials".

In one sense, the easy path to success afforded by one use of JD's site is just such an influence.  There is a temptation to simply pursue the quickest path to reward and just make what the layouts show, without ever venturing beyond.  I think that is the gist of JD's concerns.  At the same time, the "easy-bake-oven" approach to pedal-making covers so many bases at the site that making one of everything provides a broader spectrum of effects than one would often encounter at many music stores in smaller outlets/communities.  So, what looks like narrowing horizons for one group is broadening them for another.

Where the site takes a step beyond, however, (and Tonepad takes the same wise approach) is in providing followup and mods from others.  A lot of these mods are somewhat conservative I suppose, compared to what the more creative or coffee-riddled mind might pursue, but they ARE a step beyond the tried and true, and give *permission* to consider even classics as works-in-progress.  As a student of organizational behaviour these days, I cannot emphasize strongly enough how important perceived "permission" is, even just to daydream about possibilities.  Any subtle indicators that such daydreaming and tweaking is permissible can have a powerful effect on people's willingness to do so.

Simply HAVING a well-drawn schematic gives people a leg up on such daydreaming since it provides a point of reference for talking about how things work and WHY they work (and NEVER underestimate the teaching/learning value of a clear and well-drawn schematic that makes the functioning of something transparent).  Once you have a theory under your belt, the sky is the limit for the imagination.  So, in a way, just inundating people with layouts of known things that work, but showing them how the parts are connected, accomplishes so much more than merely handing them easy rewards on a plate.

A huge chunk of what I know comes from staring at unmodified schematics of standard effects whose tone and reputation I know.  Just staring and staring until everything falls into place about what is important and why.

So, in summary, although I suppose there is some "cost" to the community occurring by virtue of handing them the same old on a platter, the benefits far outweigh such costs.  Never regret what you've done JD.

[jrc4558]

Hey Mark!!!
You're a psychology major too?
Nice way bringing mister B. F. Skinner into picture! Behaviourism is all. Blessed is the one who sees it.

[jrc4558]

OK, i drew something up.
It's a derivative of Electra Distortion, that gives a nice clean boost too.

Can be viewed at:

http://public.fotki.com/AC128/schematics/booster-distortion.html

Just don't laugh, ok? :roll:  I'm no Craig Anderton and it is not something genious. just a simple build, that some people may like. See? I can contribute too. :idea:

Which brings me to my point. :arrow:

As I view myself and as I evaluate the knowledge that I have, I see that most of my so called "designs" are just a spit compared to the oceans of knowledge and experience some people have here. I don't want to look foolish with my "one-j-fet-two-diodes" boosters. :oops:  Even if I like them, they are still nothing compared to the complexity of NeoVibe for instance.

So how many people care at all to see one more generic-type schematic with one J-fet in it?

[dominatrix_volleyball]

So how many people care at all to see one more generic-type schematic with one J-fet in it?

Me.!

I'm barely stuffing RLC analysis under my belt... so I really prefer to look at ultra-simple designs for now.  

[jrc4558]

God, its been years...
Take Fetzer Vslve from www.runoffgroove.com and add shunt dioes.