My =ultimate= multi-fx pedalboard...W.I.P

[Auke Haarsma]

Today I had the chance to check out the Arnhemse Fijnhouthandel. Really nice and skilled guys over there. I went looking for a nice piece of veneer...and I found some.

They had quite a collection of veneer to choose from:


Piles and piles of veneer:


And after changing my mind quite a few times I stuck with this piece. A really dramatic, colorful piece! These pics don't do it justice at all!


Not sure when I have the chance to experiment with it, but I'm sure this will look stunning!

Not sure if I'll make it before next saturday, apologies Yorick. Though it is tempting to rush to the finish, I'd rather make sure I finish it as best as possible! Hopefully I can show you a working multi-fx, that'd be already a major achievement

[carrejans]

Any updates ?
How was the meeting, guys?

[Valoosj]

The meeting was nice. Where the hell were you? You could have come if you wanted to.

[Auke Haarsma]

The meeting was nice. My car almost died, but he! it is fixed and alive

In the mean I have built both the Neutron and the tonepad FSH1 (since I have been recommended to add a fitler). Neutron didn't do it for me. FSH1 is still being debugged.

BSIAB2 has been built and verified (like it!).

So not very much progress, but we are getting there

[sjaltenb]

keep at it auke. im getting so close... i finally figured out HOW i was going to complete the board as far as power, switching and grounding is concerned (ok i didnt figure it out, someone told me) so now i just gotta do it. i'll be leaving school for 6 weeks for our winter break. cant really take the board home but im gonna build all my PSUs and millenium switches hopefully!

did you ever figure out your millenium problem?

[Auke Haarsma]

6 weeks of time and you cannot take your board with you??? That must be hell!   

My guess for the millenniumbug is static electricity killing the BS170 mosfet. So, my own fault. Once I replace the BS170 and put the switch safely inside the enclosure they won't fail (knock, knock).

[Auke Haarsma]

In my attempt to add a filter to the range I tried both the Neutron and the FSH-1. First the Neutron. Couldn't get it to sound right, so switched to the FSH. Couldn't get a decent sound out of that one at all. After hours of debugging and trying to understand why it sounded like birds chirping (but not like the filter I expected...) I returned to the Neutron. Gave it another shot. And within an hour I get a very decent sounding filter.

But, I couldn't fit the rotary in. And, I noticed that varying "Rx" with a pot gave interesting results. So. I added Rx as a pot. Removed the rotary but replaced it with 2 switches. As you can see on the pic below I have 3 push-pull pots and one ON-ON-switch. 1 pushpull dpdt selects the Range (High, Low), one selects the sweep direction (Up, Down). And the last one selects between Bandpass or [Highpass, Lowpass]. Highpass or Lowpass is finally selected with the ON-ON switch. So in the pic below you actually see 3 pots, 3 DPDT's, 1 ON-On-switch. And... a lot wire ofcourse .

However, it sounds fantastic. Really like it a lot!

So, what's left to do?
I'm considering the A/DA Flanger (with MN3207's) but that PCB is HUGE. really Huge. So if I want to fit it in, I'll have to slice it up into 2 or 3 seperate PCB's. But, as of now, I am really considering giving it a shot. The Flanger takes the last free fx spot.

In the meantime I can continue shortening the wires to the pots for the other fx. And, getting the signal in/outputs to the fx, channel_selectors and footswitches.

When that is done I have to redesign my powersupply. Still quite some work to do. But we are making progress. Yup, we are.

[frequencycentral]

.....so switched to the FSH. Couldn't get a decent sound out of that one at all. After hours of debugging and trying to understand why it sounded like birds chirping (but not like the filter I expected...)

Chirping sounds to me as if it were self oscillating. That type of filter will naturally self oscillate if you remove the resonance pot, or if the resonance is set high. You could try using a lower value for the resonance pot, such as 470K or 1M. 

[Auke Haarsma]

Ah Thanks . It did a bit more than just chirping, but that's the most funny description I could come up with  It also did some very deep low notes and weird arpeggio stuff. But, for me, it was completely incontrolled. And since the Neutron sounds so freaking amazing, I've decided to stick with the Neutron. I still have the FSH board populated, so it my end up as an 'normal' single effect once.

[bdevlin]

If you could, I'd love to hear a clip of you Neutron.  What parts did you use?  LED/LDR???  It looks like you did not use that H11F3.

[Auke Haarsma]

I used two VTL5C3/2's. If I can find the time I may record a clip, but don't count on it. Ofcourse a clip will come once the whole project is functionally finished.

[bdevlin]

I used two VTL5C3/2's.

Ah, that was the option that I never tried.  I shouldn't have  given up on that project.  The LED/LDR worked somewhat decently.  The chip was a failure for me.

[carrejans]

Any update?? 

[Auke Haarsma]

Thanks for asking!
Nope sorry, no updates. I've been busy moving. Hopefully I can get some real updates in the near future.

[sjaltenb]

i may beat you to the finish line if your not careful!!!

I made by input splitter, dual output buffer and delay splitter PCBs last night, and got a 3pdt bypass design over to John Lyons for prototyping.

[Auke Haarsma]

haha, we will see....we will see! I'm pretty much set up now to continue building.... all I need is : time!

[theblueark]

You're welkom.
I'm curious on how all the shielding and grounds will be connected without getting massive ground loops. Perhaps when you reach that point you can share your ideas on this?

I haven't been on the forum in ages but this thread caught my eye

For those who don't recall, I did a cornish style board back in April. I've been using the board for gigs on average once a week ever since with zero failures so far, and it's quiet as ever. http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=67375.0

sjaltenb pmed me around June last year asking about my ground wiring so thought i'd share it here too.

My whole board runs on a single 1Spot. Thus I designed the board with every single effect, as well as the input and output of the entire board, having the ground on a single bus bar. This means my ENTIRE board is star grounded. The only ground loops that exist are those on the individual pcb boards due to circuit design.

If you've ever thought about it: for every 2 effects sharing a daisy chained power connection, using a standard patch cable, you're creating a ground loop. One ground connection via the power ground, one ground connection via the patch cable ground. What some really, really old guys used to do (I read ONCE that a guy did this) was to remove the ground in the patch cables. Thus the only ground for the effects is at the power, effectively removing the loop.

If you have multiple power supplies, you'd probably have to make a more detailed analysis of how to proceed.

Sorry for coming in so late

[Auke Haarsma]

Sorry for coming in so late

Not late, just in time!  :icon_mrgreen:Yesterday night I fired some fx up again for the first time after moving to my new place. I experimented shortly with an old PS-design I had in my bin. It is basically one adapter into several voltage regulators, thus all sharing the same ground.

Thanks for your post: It helps me to decide on how to do my ps. Any chance you have some pics, schematics of your idea worked out?

[theblueark]

I did a quick sketch of the idea



If it's not clear let me know. It looks perfectly logical to me, but that's cos I drew it 

[Auke Haarsma]

Thanks! Makes perfect sense to me.