NEW PRODUCT: Taptation Tap Tempo controller

[The Tone God]

If I connect two bright LEDs to the circuit, it will start to click. Can I fix it, or i have to use other LEDs?

The click is probably coming from the sudden current draw of the LEDs from the power supply. You can try standard digital / analog power supply isolating techniques to help isolate the digital and analog power supplies. Another is reduce the brightness of the LEDs.

Andrew

[Rockprocess]

Does anybody offer a pcb for the taptation?

[ugly_guitar_guy]

Well, I can't seem to figure out eliminating the clicks in my "Wahsome" wah sequencer pedal which uses a 555 and 4017, and would like to try the Taptation in place of the 555 clock so that I'll obviously have tap-tempo control, along with rotary speed control. It doesn't seem like anyone has given this a go yet, so my question is...

how?? 

Is it as simple as taking the Taptation clock output (pin 3) output to the clock input (pin 14) of the 4017 to make my blinkies blink? And by doing that I will have a silent clock AND tap tempo control of my sequencer wah??

[The Tone God]

The clicking is usually caused by sharp draws in current. There could be two places that is happening in your circuit. The 555 and the changing LED draw from the 4017. The TapTation will only help if the noise is coming from your 555 so I would disconnect and power down the 555 and manually clock the 4017 to see if you hear the clicking. If you don't then quick power on the 555 without connecting to the 4017. If you hear the clicking then I would say the 555 is your problem and then it would be worth replacing the 555 with the TapTation. If the clicking happened with the 4017 then you have to reexamine your wiring of the 4017.

All you have to do to connect the TapTation to the 4017 is just wire the output to the 4017 and your good to go. That simple. Yes it will be quite with no clicks.

Andrew

[ugly_guitar_guy]

The clicking is usually caused by sharp draws in current. There could be two places that is happening in your circuit. The 555 and the changing LED draw from the 4017. The TapTation will only help if the noise is coming from your 555 so I would disconnect and power down the 555 and manually clock the 4017 to see if you hear the clicking. If you don't then quick power on the 555 without connecting to the 4017. If you hear the clicking then I would say the 555 is your problem and then it would be worth replacing the 555 with the TapTation. If the clicking happened with the 4017 then you have to reexamine your wiring of the 4017.

All you have to do to connect the TapTation to the 4017 is just wire the output to the 4017 and your good to go. That simple. Yes it will be quite with no clicks.

Andrew

Well, the clicking happens even when the 4017 is set to inhibit (leaving only the first led on), so it has to be the 555. It's a cheap radioshack 555 which according to searches seem to be notorious for that, but I'd rather have the tap-tempo capability for it anyway.

Awesome, I ordered the TapTation last week so I'll give it a go and report back! Thanks Andrew.

[frequencycentral]

555 is notorious for crowbarring the power supply, you should be able to eliminate the ticking by using a CMOS 7555.

[YouAre]

555 is notorious for crowbarring the power supply, you should be able to eliminate the ticking by using a CMOS 7555.

My apologies, but crowbarring the PS? What's that mean?

[ugly_guitar_guy]

All you have to do to connect the TapTation to the 4017 is just wire the output to the 4017 and your good to go. That simple. Yes it will be quite with no clicks.

Andrew

Well, in creating my current sequencer circuit, this schem is essentially what I based my design on:



Now as you can see, the "output" pin of the 555 obviously goes to the "Clock" pin of the 4017. On the TapTation the "Clock Output" goes to the time control pot, and then to ground. How do I hook up the Output to the 4017 and still have a time control pot? Is this where the need for the MCP41100 comes into play? I'd like to have knob speed AND tap tempo control.

[The Tone God]

To fit in you circuit above you would connect the Tempo Scale Output to the 4017 Clk pin. The MCP41100 and MOSFET portions can be omitted as it is only used to control a PT2399. Everything else is the same as in the PT2399 application sheet.

Andrew

[frequencycentral]

555 is notorious for crowbarring the power supply, you should be able to eliminate the ticking by using a CMOS 7555.

My apologies, but crowbarring the PS? What's that mean?

Google is your friend:

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sugexp=gsis%2Ci18n%3Dtrue&cp=17&gs_id=24&xhr=t&q=ne555+crowbarring&pf=p&sclient=psy&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=ne555+crowbarring&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=8e14261de5dc5d59&biw=1608&bih=795

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sugexp=gsis%2Ci18n%3Dtrue&cp=17&gs_id=24&xhr=t&q=ne555+crowbarring&pf=p&sclient=psy&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=ne555+crowbarring&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=8e14261de5dc5d59&biw=1608&bih=795

[ugly_guitar_guy]

To fit in you circuit above you would connect the Tempo Scale Output to the 4017 Clk pin. The MCP41100 and MOSFET portions can be omitted as it is only used to control a PT2399. Everything else is the same as in the PT2399 application sheet.

Andrew

Awesome. I'm hoping that Aron has shipped my TapTation out already because I'd love to get this bread boarded this weekend. Looks like I'm the first to apply it to a tap-tempo sequencer, so I hope that more will follow!

[The Tone God]

Awesome. I'm hoping that Aron has shipped my TapTation out already because I'd love to get this bread boarded this weekend. Looks like I'm the first to apply it to a tap-tempo sequencer, so I hope that more will follow!

I have tried to it make sure it worked. AFAIK you are the first customer to use the TapTation in this type of application. I thought it was so simple to do that there wasn't a need for a app sheet. Your feedback may help to decide if a dedicated app sheet is required.

Good luck and enjoy!

Andrew

[jkokura]

Does anybody offer a pcb for the taptation?

I have one I'm in the process of verifying. Will post it when it's up.

Jacob

[Barcode80]

Awesome. I'm hoping that Aron has shipped my TapTation out already because I'd love to get this bread boarded this weekend. Looks like I'm the first to apply it to a tap-tempo sequencer, so I hope that more will follow!

I have tried to it make sure it worked. AFAIK you are the first customer to use the TapTation in this type of application. I thought it was so simple to do that there wasn't a need for a app sheet. Your feedback may help to decide if a dedicated app sheet is required.

Good luck and enjoy!

Andrew

In this same fashion, couldn't you use the tempo scale output to drive an LDR for a tap tremolo? I guess the only thing to figure out would be how to enact a depth control.

[The Tone God]

In this same fashion, couldn't you use the tempo scale output to drive an LDR for a tap tremolo? I guess the only thing to figure out would be how to enact a depth control.

Yes you can use the TapTation for an LFO but you wouldn't use the Tempo Scale Output. You would use the Tempo PWM Output and put a filter on it as explained in the datasheet . A depth control can be implemented either by controlling the amount of output, think volume control, or by making a bypass around the LDR. It really depends on the circuit design in question.

Andrew

[Barcode80]

In this same fashion, couldn't you use the tempo scale output to drive an LDR for a tap tremolo? I guess the only thing to figure out would be how to enact a depth control.

Yes you can use the TapTation for an LFO but you wouldn't use the Tempo Scale Output. You would use the Tempo PWM Output and put a filter on it as explained in the datasheet . A depth control can be implemented either by controlling the amount of output, think volume control, or by making a bypass around the LDR. It really depends on the circuit design in question.

Andrew

Nice. So if I understand this correctly, could you in theory also use this (using the PWM) to add tap to a transistor based trem, like the heartthrob?

[The Tone God]

Nice. So if I understand this correctly, could you in theory also use this (using the PWM) to add tap to a transistor based trem, like the heartthrob?

In theory, yes. Even in the PT2399 app note the PWM output is used to switch a MOSFET to ground in between the digital pot and the PT2399 much like a tremolo.

Andrew

[Barcode80]

Nice. So if I understand this correctly, could you in theory also use this (using the PWM) to add tap to a transistor based trem, like the heartthrob?

In theory, yes. Even in the PT2399 app note the PWM output is used to switch a MOSFET to ground in between the digital pot and the PT2399 much like a tremolo.

Andrew

HMMMM.... interesting. I'm trying to picture in my head though, and I'm not able to get my head around it. How would that work?

[The Tone God]

HMMMM.... interesting. I'm trying to picture in my head though, and I'm not able to get my head around it. How would that work?

Well in the case of the PT2399 modulation the MOSFET is basically a switch to ground that is being turned on and off very quickly, faster then the PT2399's clock can respond too so it seems smooth. I would suspect that if you were to try to hook the PWM output directly to a transistor to act as a tremolo the PWM clock would bleed through so it would be better to smooth out the PWM output with a RC network as described in the datasheet. The real trick will be setting the sweep to be within the conductive range of the restive element, in your case I believe a transistor of some sort, will respond to. There really isn't an universal answer to this other then maybe a DC buffer/gain/bias stage of some sort.

The quick easy way to make a tremolo out of the TapTation is to hook the PWM output to an LED in an optocoupler. The LDR probably won't be able to respond quick enough to the switching of the LED and the output swing of the PWM output will easy sweep most LEDs through their brightness range.

Andrew

[Kindly Killer]

Did the timing problem ever get resolved? From this post it sounds like the tap tempo function still doesn't work to a point where it is accurate enough for playing with other musicians.

Put it this way: at this moment with the kits in the store, is there any way to get to within 5ms accuracy? Possibly by sorting through a bunch of digipots? I really love the sound of the two Fab Echo's I modified about a year ago using the Taptation kit, but I was frustrated by not being able to use the tap tempo feature, so they have been collecting dust.

How to calibrate taptation?
If taping temp by the metronome, LED blinking "in the metronome click". But repeats are faster then LED blinking
POT is 50kB
I tried with and without 1k resistor on 6pin.
I tried to connect trimpot to the 6pin of PT2399, but if I calibrate to temp 120
on other temps repeats are lost temp