mid-fi clai(not) schematic!

[bluesdevil]

That's cool! Care to share the lfo circuit, Rick?

[frequencycentral]

That's cool! Care to share the lfo circuit, Rick?

I'll post up the LFO later today, and some soundclips at the weekend.

thats very close to the pitch pirate!

Har Jim Lad!!

One of those rare times one is able to say this in context on an electronics forum.

[doc_drop]

Oh man Rick, I am watching this one like a hawk. You are taking that little Clari to a "whole new level"!!!!

I guess it is a good thing when a guy like you doesn't like the circuit he builds so much.

[Scruffie]

Is Anyone gunna be working on a vero layout for this strange pedal? I know theres a perfectly nice perf but if there was gunna be a vero layout i'd rather use it from a personal preference point of view. I could also do a layout myself if someone would possibly be willing to check it over?

Thanks,
Scruff.

[frequencycentral]

Oh man Rick, I am watching this one like a hawk. You are taking that little Clari to a "whole new level"!!!!

I guess it is a good thing when a guy like you doesn't like the circuit he builds so much.

Thanks Chris, I'm having a lot of fun with it, and have a whole new pedal planned as a result of my tinkering, so I'm a happy camper.

Here's the LFO I added to my Clari:



I had this LFO on the breadboard anyway for another project, I just changed the values to suit the Clari. The LFO goes from pretty slow right up to audio range. There is a limit however to how fast the LDR can react to the LED at really fast speeds, so at the maximum travel of the pot the LFO is actually going too fast for the LDR to percieve any change in brightness.

The mod itself is easy, just remove the 1K Tracking pot and substitute the 100K Speed pot, and attach the LFO output to the LED. Everything else works the same. I had very little space in my Clari build, so I managed to squeeze the LFO onto a 5x7 piece of perf.

My next mod will be to see if I can just use a switch to break the connection between pins 1 and 8 of the LM386 for a fuzz/clean switch. I just have room for a submini toggle in my enclosure (I hope).

I'm really exciited about the pedal I'm planning as a result of my tweaks on the Clari. It will do chorus, vibrato and synth type delayed modulation, where the (heavy) pitch modulation only happens on sustained notes, fading in over a specified time. And it shall be called the "Pitch Bitch" !

[frequencycentral]

Well I just bent pin 1 of the LM386 and resocketed it so that pin 1 wasn't socketed. It does indeed clean up beautifully. The most lush chorus I've ever heard in fact. With humbuckers there's just a touch of grit, which is solved by rolling the guitar volume back to about 8, I may even add a resistor to ground at the input of the 386 to limit this. I just need to fit a switch to select fuzz/clean and I'm good to go. I know my pedal is now not exactly a Clari(not), but it's not so far removed and I'm really lovin it. I really recommend these mods, they enable a broad range of diverse sounds to be got from such a simple circuit. It would be possible to add the LFO and have a switch to select either envelope or LFO control of the LED, thus retaining all the original features of the Clari but adding a bunch more. Massive thanks and respect to Doug for an insporational design and for sharing.

[tiges_ tendres]

I know my pedal is now not exactly a Clari(not), .

So it's a Clari(Not)(Not)? 

[frequencycentral]

I know my pedal is now not exactly a Clari(not), .

So it's a Clari(Not)(Not)? 

No, it was a Clari(not)(not) when I did the LFO mod. Now I've done the fuzz lift switch it's a Clari(not)(not)(not). Or a Clari(not)³.   

[doc_drop]

O.K. I am going to reveal my ignorance here...

Rick,  looking at your LFO circuit, is this an entirely separate section of the circuit? I assumed so, but you said the thing about substituting the speed pot for the tracking pot. But the speed pot is shown in the middle of your circuit, so I am not sure how to do that if it is separate.

Also, you say to attach the LFO output to the LED. Do you mean the anode of the LED side of the LDR? Also, is the output of the LFO the filled in triangle symbol on the right side of your schematic pointing up from the (2) 100K resistors? And lastly what is the purpose of the LED in your circuit, to show the LFO rate maybe?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I am really interested in what you are doing here. I especially love the idea of turning the distortion part of the circuit off and on. And I have been looking for a chorus circuit.

Thanks!
Chris 

[doug deeper]

if you want it cleaner, put a 100K resistor in series with the input. (after removing the pin 1-8 jumper and all that).

[frequencycentral]

Rick,  looking at your LFO circuit, is this an entirely separate section of the circuit? I assumed so, but you said the thing about substituting the speed pot for the tracking pot. But the speed pot is shown in the middle of your circuit, so I am not sure how to do that if it is separate.

Yes the LFO is a completely seperate circuit. I removed my 1K Tracking pot and snipped off the wire (at the board) feeding it from the LM386. I also removed R8. You don't need C14 either, but I left it on the board as it does no harm. That leaves the LED without anything at it's anode, and it's cathode grounded.

The two connections to the Speed pot go to the little board I did with the LFO on it. Another connection goes to the anode of the LED.

Also, you say to attach the LFO output to the LED. Do you mean the anode of the LED side of the LDR?

The output of the LFO is on the right, it goes to the LED via the 100K resistor marked with a red star.

Also, is the output of the LFO the filled in triangle symbol on the right side of your schematic pointing up from the (2) 100K resistors?

No, that indicates the +9 volt power to the circuit. Those two 100K resistors are the vref for the opamp.

And lastly what is the purpose of the LED in your circuit, to show the LFO rate maybe?

The LED blinks on and off varying the resistance of the LDR which in turn varies the PT2399's delay rate. As you will have gathered, it's the same LED that was in my Clari before I modified it, but instead of the envelope affecting it the LFO is instead.

No problem about the questions Chris, it's how we learn, and I ask a lot too!

I know you like your Clari just as it is, so instead of modding it why not just build another like mine - a Clari(not)³!

Here's the little board I did for my LFO if that helps, it's really tight cos I had so little space to play with. I could easily do a complete perf layout for my Clari(not)³ if that helps.

Rick



EDIT: R1 and R3 are mounted under the dual opamp. I used a couple of 4 pin SIL sockets to enable this instead of an 8 pin DIL. Note the grey wire between d1 and e7 (saved a bit of board space!).

[sean k]

Hey Chris, Rick seems to be a busy man so I'll step in and help out. What hes done is similar to the LFO mod on the uglyface which means that instead of having the envelope created by the voltage signal of the 386 driving the LED he has substituted an LFO, low frequency oscillator to drive the LED so when he says to replace the tracking pot with the speed pot its only on the enclosure because you won't be using the envelope signal so won't need the tracking pot (which is sensitivety on the uglyface).

The triangle to the far left goes to +9V and helps to set the bias point for the opamps, the 2 100k's being a voltage divider between ground and +9V to get the 4.5V bias. The LED at the right hand side is the source to drive the LDR so the point just after the last 100k on the right is where you'd join it to your vactrol anode. If you look at this


and to the far right you can see where a switch operates to switch between the output of the 386, pin 5, and the output of an LFO. The sensitivity 1k pot in the diagram has an LED to ground from the centre lug and this is used with an LDR so it's basically the same choice of functions except in this case they are switched whereas Rick has dropped the envelope function and gone straight for an LFO.


Two other replies have come in but I'll still put this in as you may realise you can actually have both clari(not) and clari(not)3 which may make clari(not)+3

[doc_drop]

O.K. Rick. I am getting you now. Since my first Clari is all boxed up and pretty, I was planning on doing this on my breadboard. Too bad I don't have any more prefab vactrols. I guess it is time for me to try and make my own instead of buying one.

Uh, I am sure there would be many people interested in your perf layout if you have the inspiration to make one and post it. But, I would feel guilty if you did it just for little ole me.

Sean, thanks for your clarifications as well. Between the both of you I have learned more today than I would ever have expected.

[frequencycentral]

Uh, I am sure there would be many people interested in your perf layout if you have the inspiration to make one and post it. But, I would feel guilty if you did it just for little ole me.

Sure, I'll do you a layout. But it depends how you want to box it up, therefore what shape you need the board to be. Have a look at the original layout I posted. I always prefer to do a seperate board just for the pots, so I can do you one similar to that, or one thats more like Doug's layout. Up to you.

[doc_drop]

Wow, I owe you several beers!  I wouldn't mind trying one of your modular type designs with the pots on a separate board. It would be something new to try. So, if you want to do one like that for "us" "we" wouldn't complain...

On a side note, I am a synth guy too. You mentioned your modular synth. Is there a web site to check it out? I have built a Paia Fatman, but nothing from scratch, so I am really interested in your synth work.

[bluesdevil]

Thanks Rick, very kind to share! I've already got mine all boxed up with artwork and everything, but I'm gotta rip the circuit out and try your mods. Hopefully I can put the extra mod controls on one of the sides without messing things up. I'll probably just end up building another with all the extras..
     Very cool circuit... I'm pretty excited with the original and all the mods being developed.
   

[frequencycentral]

Wow, I owe you several beers!  I wouldn't mind trying one of your modular type designs with the pots on a separate board. It would be something new to try. So, if you want to do one like that for "us" "we" wouldn't complain...

On a side note, I am a synth guy too. You mentioned your modular synth. Is there a web site to check it out? I have built a Paia Fatman, but nothing from scratch, so I am really interested in your synth work.

Ok, I'll get a layout together over the next week.

My modular synth is all perfed (!!!) from scratch. The VCO's are based on the Oberheim SEM but with Moog temp stability mods. There's a Moog Prodigy transistor ladder filter clone and a Oberheim SEM multimode CA3080 filter clone. Four envelopes which are Roland 100m clones. Three Roland 100m VCA clones (CA3080). Two Roland 100m sample/hold clones. Roland 100m clone ring mod and noise. Four Roland 100m signal gate clones. Four Roland 100m CV/audio mixer clones. Roland gate delay clone. A clock divider I designed around a CD4024. A couple of sequencers based around CD4022's. I built it about ten years ago, it doesn't look nice but works well enough. I'm planning to overhaul it into 19" rack format with nice graphics and more sequencers this year.

I also have a 5 module Roland 100m, Juno 60, ARP Odyssey (whiteface), Rhodes 73 MK1, Wurlitzer EP200a, Hammond XB1, Nord Lead and a Synthia A clone that my brother built. And a baby grand. Gear whore!

This is a good site for synths, PCBs available there too: http://electro-music.com/forum/index.php?f=112

[doc_drop]

That is just too cool about your synth work. Do you have any recordings made with it? Any pics? I'll check out the link you mentioned.

No wonder you know as much as you do. That must have been a great education building that thing!

[frequencycentral]

That is just too cool about your synth work. Do you have any recordings made with it? Any pics? I'll check out the link you mentioned.

No pics, nothing to see really just plain black painted panels. I didn't do decals back then, that's why I want to rehouse it. Here's a couple of 'soundscapes' I did a while ago just using modular synths/analogue sequencers. No keyboard, no drum machine, no overdubs, just loads of wires and knob tweaking.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/967492/Modular%20One.mp3
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/967492/Modular%20Two.mp3

[Scruffie]

Sorry to go all go all science fictiony here but isn't that how they created the doctor who theme? (I studied music tech and hold an interest, im not a sci fi fanatic) no keyboards lots of analogue synth and tape messing.