Joystick delay/ibanez de7

[aholidayatthesea]

So I have an idea and I feel like you all are the best to help me with it.

I messed with the Janus a few weeks ago, and while I love the idea of a joystick to control a pedal, I would have loved to see it done with delay, as it's one of the best knob-turning effects.

Unable to find something like that, I decided I'd just do it myself. So after some research it seemed like the de7 was the best delay to do this with since everyone loves to turn it's knobs but hates that the knobs tend to break.

Well, I got the delay and it didn't disappoint. The problem is that now I like the delay too much to break it open and experiment on it. Plus, unfortunately, most of my diy projects tend to fail. I just have bad luck with them. I'd hate to ruin a perfectly good pedal.

So, I need your wisdom/advice. Has anyone taken apart a de7 before? Is it worth it or would it be a hassle? Should I just try it with an even cheaper delay? Also, how easy are joysticks to connect? Do I just solder the lugs from two pots to it? Has anyone made a joystick delay and was it fun or stupid? Can someone just steal my idea so I can know if it's possible/practical?

I just want a delay pedal video game, guys.

[sonidero]

I love my 2 DE-7s... The joysticks are just an x/y of two pots so theoretically you could just pick two knobs and sold them to the stick... Bottom left should be both knobs at minimum and top right should be both at maximum, or you could reverse one... Time and Feedback would be your best bet and I'd do the time left to right and the feedback up and down... I'm sure someone here can give you better building advice but it's prolly be easiet to just leave the DE-7 board as is and rehouse it in something large enough to accommodate the joystick; which isn't that big...

I wanna see this happen...

[aholidayatthesea]

Yeah that's what I was thinking too - time and feedback. I hadn't thought about direction yet but I think you've got the best idea as far as making bottom left the min and top right the max.

It sounds almost too easy.

Should I try it with the de7 or is there another inexpensive delay that this would work with? It'd be cool to have a modulated delay where another joystick controls the depth and amount of modulation. But now I'm getting ahead of myself I think...

[lordgalvar]

From what I have heard about the joysticks is that they don't have the full range a normal pot would. Might want to think about putting trimmers or something in there to dial in the range (and set it correctly). But I would consult somebody that has experiecne with the joysticks.

Try it with one of those cheap joyo ones or something first so that you don't ruin a delay that you like?

[aholidayatthesea]

I'd hate to get a cheap pedal only to find out it doesn't oscillate. There's a $20 Johnson echo on eBay that could be promising.

[ancientbones]

Man I would love this. I love my DE7 but yeah the knobs are shit.

[oldangelmidnight]

If the joystick pots aren't the same values as the pedal's original pots, that could be trouble. Most delays will oscillate if you put in a feedback loop. If you're going to rehouse anyway, you might consider that.

You should not expect this to work correctly the first time you try.

[ChannelingHemingway]

So I know I'm late to the conversation and you may have already started, but I'm working on a DE7 rehouse (bb sized) w/ mods. No pictures because I'm traveling for work.

The pedal has a motherboard and four daughterboards: one each for the in/out jacks (one jumper each to the mb), one that has the on/off switch and the selector switches (three jumpers to the mb), and one for the pots (plugs directly into the mb). The layout is super tight, and trying to make any changes to the layout is an assache because the jumpers may be too long or too short or both.

Using a deeper enclosure would have made things a lot easier, and I'm also replacing the jacks/pots/footswitch/selectors with better but also larger parts so things are even tighter. If anyone asks you to work on a DE7 throw acid on them and run.

But, if you're alreading putting it into a larger box to accomodate the joystick, and you aren't replacing a bunch of stuff, you won't be half as frustrated/angry/drunk as I've been. It sounds like a really cool project.

I kinda want to do it to my TR-2 for the depth and rate knobs. And to make it footswitchable...