SunTrem, 555 LFO based Tremolo

[Crontox102098]

SUNTREM

Hey guys! mainly I speak Spanish so I apologize for my writing, it's my first circuit, criticize, comment and be nice for that reason.

Today I present a new project that I have had for a week and for which I killed to get and I finally realized that the solution was simple ... it is a tremolo based on a 555 with a square wave oscillating at no more than 40Hz (I think they are less than 40hz).

This tremolo works with LDR and oscillation circuit based on the 555, and with nothing more to say the circuit.

The version of the 555 should be CMOS.

Tanks for read... comment please.

Bye.

[timd]

Do you have a link?

[Crontox102098]

U can see the image?

[timd]

Now I can - thanks.

[Crontox102098]

I'm building one just as easy but with a sine wave generated TL072

[Muthauzem]

I liked the idea of using the 555 as the LFO. They are quite simple to build and tweak. You could also use a pair of diodes and a pot to create some asymmetry.

2 or 3 years ago I created a sawtooth oscillator with 2 opamps, for a class at college. Basically it was a squarewave generator fed through a integrator stage. That, allied with your sinewave generator could end up in a very complete tremolo pedal, with the 3 kinds of wave.

I would improve is the signal path, though. Probably use the same as the Tremulus Lune, with the 2 inverting stages and the LDR changing the gain of the second stage.

[Mac Walker]

Thanks for sharing, what's the meaning of the "10 lux" label on R4?  I know lux is a measure of illumination, but I have never seen it used to specify vactrols / CDS cells / LDR's....

[Crontox102098]

I liked the idea of using the 555 as the LFO. They are quite simple to build and tweak. You could also use a pair of diodes and a pot to create some asymmetry.

2 or 3 years ago I created a sawtooth oscillator with 2 opamps, for a class at college. Basically it was a squarewave generator fed through a integrator stage. That, allied with your sinewave generator could end up in a very complete tremolo pedal, with the 3 kinds of wave.

I would improve is the signal path, though. Probably use the same as the Tremulus Lune, with the 2 inverting stages and the LDR changing the gain of the second stage.

I thought of that, but so far I have only a square wave generator, and based on a triangular TL072, the sine wave I've failed to run .. and I like the idea of the sawtooth, and if we help each other and make a tremolo of 6 types of wave? Square, triangle, sawtooth, sine, and pulse edge ... not something crazy?

Thanks for sharing, what's the meaning of the "10 lux" label on R4?  I know lux is a measure of illumination, but I have never seen it used to specify vactrols / CDS cells / LDR's....

Actually if a measure of enlightenment, what happened is that I was creating when I took the picture .. and there appeared ..

[smallbearelec]

Hi--

My Spanish is fine for conversation, but not for describing circuits.

Have you actually built and tried what you show in the drawing? I'd be surprised if you got an output free of "ticking" noise from the chip. The bipolar version of the 555 is notorious for this. The CMOS version of the 555 will work well in the LFO of a trem if proper attention is paid to power supply decoupling and wiring, softening the edges of the square wave and layout of your board. I discuss my solutions in this article:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/TremBear/TremBear.html

Regards
SD

[Crontox102098]

Hi--

My Spanish is fine for conversation, but not for describing circuits.

Have you actually built and tried what you show in the drawing? I'd be surprised if you got an output free of "ticking" noise from the chip. The bipolar version of the 555 is notorious for this. The CMOS version of the 555 will work well in the LFO of a trem if proper attention is paid to power supply decoupling and wiring, softening the edges of the square wave and layout of your board. I discuss my solutions in this article:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/TremBear/TremBear.html

Regards
SD

Clearly took over a week experimenting with and looking for ways to keep out as quietly as possible, avoid using an operational amplifier and preferred to use an LDR and I isolated land LFO ... Better explaining what I did was put the LDR, the inlet and outlet on a circuit "Apart" oscillator so to speak, I just re-tested on the breadboard to rectify if you put some noise or some ticking and clearly not I hear absolutely nothing, just the guitar with a tremolo effect of square wave, If you want ... effect should try and see for yourself, and give some of the comments.

By the way, if I use a CMOS 555.

- Carlos

[Muthauzem]

Yo pense en eso, pero hasta ahora solo tengo un generador de onda cuadrada, y triangular a base de un TL072, el de onda sinusoidal no lo he logrado hacer funcionar.. y me gusta la idea de el diente de sierra, y si nos ayudamos mutuamente y hacemos un tremolo de 6 tipos de onda? Cuadrada, triangular, de diente de sierra, sinusoidal, de flanco y de pulso... algo loco no?

I can read just some basic Spanish. Hahaha. The translated version would be something along: "I thought of that. So far I have only a square and triangular generators based on TL072, but I've still didn't managed to make the sinewave generator work.. I like the idea of the sawtooth, and what if we help each other and make a tremolo of 6 types of wave? Square, triangle, sawtooth, sine, (de flanco?) and pulse... not something crazy?"

That would be interesting. Actually, the sawtooth and pulse are basically the square and triangle waves, but asymmetrical. I'll seek through my files here to see if I can find the report I've made for the circuit I had back then. It would cover most of the cases.

Hi--

My Spanish is fine for conversation, but not for describing circuits.

Have you actually built and tried what you show in the drawing? I'd be surprised if you got an output free of "ticking" noise from the chip. The bipolar version of the 555 is notorious for this. The CMOS version of the 555 will work well in the LFO of a trem if proper attention is paid to power supply decoupling and wiring, softening the edges of the square wave and layout of your board. I discuss my solutions in this article:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/TremBear/TremBear.html

Regards
SD

Interesting article. I have never actually built a tremolo pedal, so it didn't occurred to me that it could have a ticking problem. The effects of the ticking from the bipolar 555 are that intense? Like, can't a carefully placed capacitor solve the issue?
And nice trick using the capacitor voltage as a triangular wave, since they are actually a exponential wave. If you think about it, it makes even more sense than a "linear" triangle wave, since we're talking about sound intensity, which we perceive logarithmically. Would be nice to compare them both to see if there's a perceivable difference.
What I haven't figured out is how do you compensate for the fact that the voltage across the capacitor actually swings from 1/3V+ to 2/3V+, versus the 0-V+ of the square wave. Is the "Bias" knob there to solves this?

Regards,
Mauricio

[Crontox102098]

Yo pense en eso, pero hasta ahora solo tengo un generador de onda cuadrada, y triangular a base de un TL072, el de onda sinusoidal no lo he logrado hacer funcionar.. y me gusta la idea de el diente de sierra, y si nos ayudamos mutuamente y hacemos un tremolo de 6 tipos de onda? Cuadrada, triangular, de diente de sierra, sinusoidal, de flanco y de pulso... algo loco no?

I can read just some basic Spanish. Hahaha. The translated version would be something along: "I thought of that. So far I have only a square and triangular generators based on TL072, but I've still didn't managed to make the sinewave generator work.. I like the idea of the sawtooth, and what if we help each other and make a tremolo of 6 types of wave? Square, triangle, sawtooth, sine, (de flanco?) and pulse... not something crazy?"

That would be interesting. Actually, the sawtooth and pulse are basically the square and triangle waves, but asymmetrical. I'll seek through my files here to see if I can find the report I've made for the circuit I had back then. It would cover most of the cases.

Hi--

My Spanish is fine for conversation, but not for describing circuits.

Have you actually built and tried what you show in the drawing? I'd be surprised if you got an output free of "ticking" noise from the chip. The bipolar version of the 555 is notorious for this. The CMOS version of the 555 will work well in the LFO of a trem if proper attention is paid to power supply decoupling and wiring, softening the edges of the square wave and layout of your board. I discuss my solutions in this article:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/TremBear/TremBear.html

Regards
SD

Interesting article. I have never actually built a tremolo pedal, so it didn't occurred to me that it could have a ticking problem. The effects of the ticking from the bipolar 555 are that intense? Like, can't a carefully placed capacitor solve the issue?
And nice trick using the capacitor voltage as a triangular wave, since they are actually a exponential wave. If you think about it, it makes even more sense than a "linear" triangle wave, since we're talking about sound intensity, which we perceive logarithmically. Would be nice to compare them both to see if there's a perceivable difference.
What I haven't figured out is how do you compensate for the fact that the voltage across the capacitor actually swings from 1/3V+ to 2/3V+, versus the 0-V+ of the square wave. Is the "Bias" knob there to solves this?

Regards,
Mauricio

It would be great to look at your files and please sit down with this project would really appreciate it I did not understand the other part of the message but then just recently placed a 0.1uF output potentiometer to earth and decreased slightly PSSSTT in the amplifier but I still do not feel any ticking in amplifier ... GREAT

When the 555 is not CMOS, usually produce a Tic-Tac neither solves a capacitor, even still and I say from personal experience, I had passed many times especially when the swing came out to power any amp, when connected to an operational amplifier did not sound a Tic-Tac if POP-POP intense even stronger than that generated the guitar sound.
However when using a CMOS 555 does not occur

You can explain better the other part of the message? please?

[Jdansti]

Welcome!

You might want to also read this thread:  http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=87322.msg803784#msg803784

[Crontox102098]

Welcome!

You might want to also read this thread:  http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=87322.msg803784#msg803784

Thanks , That has no tremolo frequency limiter, itself, has no LFO, but thanks for the input;)

[smallbearelec]

I...put the LDR, the inlet and outlet on a circuit "Apart" oscillator so to speak...
By the way...I use a CMOS 555.

Yes, those two elements, carefully separating LFO and modulator and using the CMOS chip are basic to making the idea work. The problem I have with your modulator is that there is no buffering of input and output. I think it would likely load down a pedal chain. That's why my design, (and others like the Very popular Tremulus Lune), use op-amps at input and output.

One other suggestion: If the 250K speed pot is linear taper, the control probably gets "tight" at the top end. A reverse audio taper pot will give you better "spread."

[deadastronaut]

try a distortion in front of it...see what happens..

[Jdansti]

Welcome!

You might want to also read this thread:  http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=87322.msg803784#msg803784

Thanks , That has no tremolo frequency limiter, itself, has no LFO, but thanks for the input;)

It's almost the same as yours except pins 4 and 8 are not connected and yours has a fixed resistor in series with the rate pot. The LFO is the 555 output to an LED/LDR pair.  Maybe I'm missing something, but it is essentially the same.

[deadastronaut]

^ yep, it is...

[Jdansti]

So far I have only a square and triangular generators based on TL072, but I've still didn't managed to make the sinewave generator work.. I like the idea of the sawtooth, and what if we help each other and make a tremolo of 6 types of wave? Square, triangle, sawtooth, sine, (de flanco?) and pulse... not something crazy?"

Hey guys- I've stumbled on a simple way to take the square wave from an LFO and incrementally convert it to something approximating a sine wave using passive components. This is part of my "Turkey Day Contest" entry, so I can't post anything on it until I submit my entry in a few weeks. I'll be sure to post some schematics here after I submit my entry.

[Mac Walker]

The earliest circuit I've seen that uses the 555 timer in a tremolo application is a circuit from R.A. Penfold's book,  "Electronic Projects for Guitar" - it used a CMOS 555 timer to drive a JFet in series with a resistor on the input stage (guitar >resistor in series with JFET tied to ground).  The series resistance limits the loading effect on the guitar when the JFET is conducting fully, and there is another single transistor stage coupled to the JFET to boost the signal back up to unity gain or slightly above.  This book came out in 1980, I'm not aware of any commercial circuits or published schematics that came out before this time......