tiny tremoloOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[deadastronaut]

that is 'unverified'  i never got around to building it....build a your own risk.

try a 22k for wah..

and a 4.7k/5k/10k for speed.

[yurumbel]

Thanks man! I hope it works

[monksanto]

Hi, sorry for stupid question, but I can find the 555 chip everywhere but I'm confused about which ones are cmos & which ones are standard etc? Is there a particular part number I should be looking for, such as "TLC555CP", for instance?

[EDIT: Well, I answered my 1st question, anything with a "7" or a "C" in the name is a CMOS chip!]

Also, would this optocoupler be suitable instead of separate red LED/LDR/heatshrink etc?

Thanks.

[duck_arse]

at 99c it couldn't hurt to try it. it is often referred to as a vactrol and has the internals you need.

[monksanto]

Well I snagged them on special, 50 for $20, I guess I'll soon find out if they work in this circuit! 

[duck_arse]

50 you say? looks like you've got lots and lots of modulation experimentation ahead of you.

[Mario44]

Very good idea.
Just build one for testing and got fried 2 leds on it
edit: didn't mean mods, just stock version

[duck_arse]

@mario - if using the circuit above, put a resistor 220R will do, between each of the D1 and D2 led K and ground. this will then provide some current limit if you wind the trimpot all the way. no more blowing leds.

you must always have a current limit resistor for a led, unless it's as a clipper circuit, where the current will be constrained by other factors.

[Mario44]

Yes, finaly I've put any small resistance there and new LEDs after I burned old ones

[Jdansti]

Sorry-I should have thought of that. I think I made VR2 variable to be able to adjust the brightness of the indicator LED, but it really is overkill.  A fixed 1k-4.7k should be fine for VR2.

I haven't burned out the LEDs (yet), but a small resistor in series with VR3 is a good idea. Just make sure you still have enough light to activate LDR1.

[Mario44]

BTW, what type of LDR do you use? Whats their resistance when max and min light is on it?

[Jdansti]

I just used a generic LDR from Tayda like this:
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=LDR

If I remember correctly, the dark reading was around 1M or more and the lighted reading was around 200R-400R. One reason I used an external pot for VR3 was to allow for a little fudge factor in the LED and LDR specs.

I coupled the LED and LDR with black heat shrink tubing.

[jokersmile32]

exclusive to diystompbox...its nice to give something back!...even if its simple

hi guys....been twiddling with bits again..'oh no not again i hear you all cry'!!!!......
heres a very very simple one knob tiny tremolo?. it works great!..and is only 6 components.....thats it!..
i started off wanting to control the speed of a 555 with led..then i thought well why not use an ldr to break the
sound up...here ya go!.....be nice with a chorus /delay....im quite pleased with it...its my first 555 project ever!.
so be kind...
SOUNDCLIP...
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7464107/tinytrem1.mp3




ive still got it on a tiny breadboard but the above vero will work...going to try a dimming mod too...as well as on and off..
for hard or soft...

i know there are plenty of tremolo's much better than these out there to build ,but i enjoy the pain and pleasure
of creating!!!!i find it much more rewarding than simply copying....thanks for stopping by..

Where is the Vero layout???

[Kipper4]

Maybe this


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/RAwTP0yvI0tqh-zbRALfLBpTIbra9vlMOPD8KxFSbZFRptNNwDGiWXYV6D0UfcLtqCYbFUP-AnL1m-PY9xDjfRq81TkqD5RXaw8wG5JjCL9QMVt2

[discobrennan]

Hello! I don't suppose anyone is still monitoring this?? I am a huge fan of simple effects, and I adore this tremolo (Thanks OP). I breadboarded it and it seemed to work fine so I went ahead and soldered everything up. Unfortunately I have gained quite a ticking somewhere along the way. I followed the schematic besides the resistor and cap values as I just used the closest I had. 555 chip is CMOS. The ticking is not a constant; it's only when a note is playing and even then it is more prominent when the note is louder or bass-ier. Doesn't tick when effect is bypassed either.

I've tried adding bigger caps at various points (without soldering them in) as suggested in various pages in the thread; but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I do have quite a suspicious speed/rate pot which I am going to switch out as I'm not entirely sure it's working correctly; but that's not the source of the ticking as I removed it and put a standard resistor across and the noise was still there.

Any ideas? Would love to get this working! It's only my third project after a little ruby/noisy cricket amp and a bazz fuss pedal. Next stop is a simple LPB volume boost and then that's my entire rig home made

[garcho]

Unfortunately I have gained quite a ticking somewhere along the way

Welcome to Trem World! And...

WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

It's only my third project

Then it would probably do you well to go over this, and make a more complete post for us. It sounds like you did your homework reading the thread, but more info will get your problem solved quicker.

I've tried adding bigger caps at various points (without soldering them in)

That only works on breadboards, if you haven't soldered them in place, it's a moot attempt.

The ticking is not a constant

That's too bad. The less constant the problem, the more squirrelly the fix.

it's only when a note is playing and even then it is more prominent when the note is louder or bass-ier.

Does the ticking change predictably when you adjust the frequency of the LFO?

[discobrennan]

Thanks so much for the reply, and the welcome!

I'll have a read through the post you have linked and report back once I'm a bit better informed. I think I have enough parts to make another breadboarded version of the circuit so that may be next step - I wouldn't want to rebuild, but I know that may be the only fix.

It feels to me like the circuit is picking up something along the sound signal path and repeating it.

When a higher frequency note is played through the circuit, the ticking is less noticeable, or even inaudible. Same when the volume is dramatically reduced. If I play for example the open E (low) string at a good volume, then the ticking is quite loud (and of course in time with the LEDs) and while the played note tails off the tick seems more noticeable in comparison, but does eventually drop off as the note quietens entirely.

I did notice that the LDR and the wires between the input/output jacks are quite sensitive to interference - i.e. if I touch the LDR with my fingers (through the heatshrink casing) then I can hear a slight buzzing through the amp; I wonder if this could have something to do with it - though I've not previously had any issue with e.g. the gauge/type of wire I'm using.

Anyways cheers again - desperate to get this working as I love the effect

[Phend]

Where do we find the circuit drawing  ?

[deadastronaut]

found it in my dropbox.....

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/axherm99f80o2baxbs1ma/tinytremv1.jpg?dl=0&rlkey=chxwjf02vu52qk0i2k3ea5yhn

[Phend]

Thank you Rob.
I did some color inverting so printing is easier on the ink.