Pictures!

[Gila_Crisis]

nice cat!!! did you build it too??? 

[Mark Hammer]

I was originally waiting to have this finished before posting it, but I'm just busting to show people, and I won't have another chance to do so until well after New Year's, so.....

I got tired of spending big bucks on chassis and switches, of trying to find a time when the weather was right for painting them without causing too many fumes to enter the kitchen, and trying to figure out a system of linking them together.  A few years ago I stumbled onto some nice black anodized 2.5 x 4" aluminum faceplates for 25 cents each, so I bought a couple of dozen, and planned to use them for some sort of modular synth.  Eventually, I figured the best use was for a modular effects setup.

First I prepared a chassis out of cheap wood and right-angle aluminum stock I bought at the hardware store.  I drilled the holes in the channeling and lined the inside with copper shim stock I also managed to find really cheap locally.  I made two of these chassis and covered them in some naugahyde-like stuff I got at the local fabric store.

Each chassis accommodates 12 modules that can be easily unscrewed and moved around.  For "finishing" the faceplates, I bought a white paint pen and drew freehand.  Not the greatest penmanship, but it looks nice enough.  Instead of 1/4" phone jacks and pricey 3PDT stompswitches, I went with 1/8" mini phone jacks and simple DPDT toggles for bypass.  The direction of the toggle indicates on/bypass so no need for an LED.  The faceplate, jacks and switch ran me about $3 per module, which starts to add up over a few dozen modules.  Patch cords are made from the stereo mini-phone to dual mono miniphone cables I buy at the dollar store.  I clip off the stereo end and solder on a second 1/8" plug on the free end.  So, for about $1@, I get a nice male-to-male patch cable with a molded plug on one end.

Above, you can see that I have a module containing a splitter/mixer (1-in-2-out and 2-in-1-out) and another containing 2 of the EPFM CMOS switches (well, to be honest...set up for 2 of those to-be-built switches).  Bypass comes in two forms: the toggle switch on each module, and the "yellow" switch modules that each will contain two nondedicated remotely switchable bypasses. These are "nestable", which means I can insert one effectively "inside" the other, and hit one switch to cancel a whole cluster of modules lined up to that specific switch circuit, or hit another remote footswitch and bypass/enable a subset within that larger group.

Though I haven't built it yet, the plan is to have adjacent momentary and latching footswitches. I had an arrangement like this some 20 years ago for a rackmount unit I made for myself (and since sold), and quite like it. The way the swityching modules work is that if you use a momentary switch, the effect (or group) is only engaged as long as you hold your foot down. The second you lift your foot, it bypasses. Alternatively, you can use a parallel latching footswitch and it will stay on even until you step down again. The momentary thing is really useful for "punch-in" effects. A nice textbook example might be the single-phrase use of a ring modulator for the old ZZ Top nugget "Cheap Sunglasses". The momentary switch makes it possible to achieve studio-like effects like that. Another usage I like is to feed the delay-only output of a delay line to one input of the 2-input mixer you'll see on the upper right of one of the chassis. The splitter output goes to a switch module, and to the input of the delay line (but does not return to the switch). This lets me send a feed to the delay line only when I step on the momentary footswitch, and the delay output always gets blended in. So, I can play a riff and have the recirculating delay/echo continue until it fades out, while I move on to other notes that DON'T get delayed.

In the interests of openness and transparency, I have to show you how damn ugly and unfinished it is on the inside.

The red/black wire pair from each module will naturally go to an internal power supply distribution strip.  I'l probably use a screw-terminal arrangement for easy-but-secure connection and disconnection.  One of the chassis is eventually going to have a spring reverb inside it as well.

[foxfire]

well what can i say Mr. Mark Hammer? that it awesome.

[moro]

well what can i say Mr. Mark Hammer? that it awesome.

Yes, it's humbling. I am in awe.

[Hanglow]

Now that is why god invented DIY. 

Is that a ross phaser in the bottom left? Do you like it? I want another phaser, I only have a 4ms phaseur fluer at the moment which is a nice effect but doesn't do the classic phase sound particularly well. So I was either going to go for a phase 90 type or a small stone type, or the ross from tonepad with maybe an extra board that they sell as well.

[Mark Hammer]

The Ross is excellent.  It is a ridiculously trouble-free and inexpensive build.  The one shown has a vibrato switch, variable wet-level for subtler sounds, a bit more regen than normal, and the phase-filter option.  I have others with variable sweep width, variable output level (with a bit of boost if wanted), and 4/8 stage selection.  Because the circuit, and the format I've adopted, are so inexpensive, I have another that is set up for Uni-Vibing only (which it does well).  Honestly, people should be buying this board from Francisco like bags of potato chips.

[Hanglow]

Thanks, I shall purchase it forthwith.  I'm sure I'll do a few of your mods to it as well

[moro]

Where do you get the LM13600 for the Ross? Mouser, Smallbear, and Digikey all don't seem to have it.

[Mark Hammer]

Smallbear has LM13600s.  That's where I get mine.

[moro]

Smallbear has LM13600s.  That's where I get mine.

The closest thing I can find is the NJM13600D. Is that the same thing?

[Hanglow]

I think they are the same, just made by jrc.

[moro]

I think they are the same, just made by jrc.

Cool. Thank you!

[hairyandy]

Mark,

That's badass!!! I can just imagine the looks I'd get if I showed up to rehearsal with that monster!  Happy Holidays from chilly Ohio to cold, and I'm sure snowy, Ottawa.

Andy

[kurtlives]

Is Mark from Ottawa?

[Mark Hammer]

Uh-huh.  But not the one in Kansas ( http://www.ottawakansas.net/ ).  I'm in the one in Ontario....the evil one.

[$uperpuma]

a couple of the latest ones, a wooly mammoth clone, I love this with bass...
and a Big Muff mostly Green Russian specs

[michal_k]

nice wooly mammoth, i'm also building one

[cloudscapes]

just finished my ringmod



it's also my first pcb etch. the led was hacked in at the last minute as I forgot about it as I was planning the pcb and wiring! what's amazing is that theres zero pop (amazing for me)! I took great care with the enclosure as well. handes, washed, and applied self-etching (I think) primer. then a couple coats of white emanel, baked, printed the design on sticker paper, and applied a few coats of big manly truck and SUV clearcoat.

it was hard fitting stuff. next time I'm doing my PCBs narrow and on their side, like when I was using stripboards. even if I have to use more than one.

[kurtlives]

Uh-huh.  But not the one in Kansas ( http://www.ottawakansas.net/ ).  I'm in the one in Ontario....the evil one.

Cool, I'm from Toronto

[Fuzzy-Train]

^^ Awesome job man! The design of the enclosure is really cool and original... much like all the other ones you've made.

Are those knobs these 1/2"diam. ones from SB:

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=547