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Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 5:35 pm
by Glace_Noire
I'm looking for a DIY project to make a lofi delay/reverb pedal in an Echo Degrader fashion (http://www.industrialectric.com/echo-degrader.html) or Death By Audio Ghost Delay
I would like something spacey/ambient but really not a "clinical" sound. I have in mind something that could be use to create dense drones of washy reverb capable of degrading the sound as the trails of the reverb fade. (I do ambient/drone music inspired by Tim Hecker, Yellow Swans, This Will Destroy You "Tunnel Blanket"-era)
I've done a few simple DIY kits like clean boost, fuzz, overdrive without issues and I'm looking to something more complex.

Do you guys know a DIY project that fits my needs?

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:15 pm
by lordgalvar
Maybe try circuit bending a cheapy pedal first so that you can get the hang of how chips work? Synthrotec makes a pt2399 kit as do a few other places (multiplexer delay is one I think). Just try changing values, making feedback loops, adding pots and see what happens. It's essentially the same at that point (both are bends on a design). The Seppuku IC Water is a bend on a Nux delay. Look up the data sheet on whatever chip you use to know what the pins correspond to and for a sample circuit. Jet City makes a cheap analog delay too.

http://store.synthrotek.com/Guitar_Pedals
http://1776effects.com/?product=multiplex-echo-machine

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 5:07 pm
by Gone Fission
Jet City is yet another Pt2399 delay. Almost all the "analog" delays under $100 are. Nothing wrong with that outside of false advertising. For dirt simple lo fi, check out the "Crap Fi" delay project, with a vero layout at tagboardeffects.blogspot.com. You'll see that there isn't much more circuit wise to the other delay projects they have there, all PT2399. Culturejam has done some fun projects manipulating similar circuits, modulating delays or even more extreme tricks; search the byoc forums for some of his best. MidFi and Seppuku have done some noisier games with the same chip, as does the Noise Ensemble project that Anchovie contributed at diystompboxes.com. For more straightforward but deep delay sounds, the 1776 Multiplex and Jr. version of same and the Madbean Dirty Baby get a lot out of pt2399s.

For reverb, most DIY stuff is based on the Belton Brick components, which are basically a bunch of PT2399s tied together with some splitting and mixing and preset for various time constants depending on which Brick version. I'm not aware of any of these projects that specifically goes for noise or chaos. One cool trick EQD does in their Ghost reverb is adding another PT2399 before the Brick for controllable pre-delay.

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:38 pm
by lordgalvar
Ah, I thought the jet city was those cheap cool audio chips or some kind of knock off of that. Sad that they falsely advertised. Either way, it may be a good place to start bending.

Good information man.

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:24 am
by Dandolin
I <3 this thread. I really want a Seppuku Memory Loss but it seems like their cult factor is starting to spike--with new ones disappearing from his site as soon as he puts them on sale and not showing up used like other Seppuku pedals do; but maybe I have too small a sample size. Anyway, in true Seppuku form, it seems like the circuit is paradoxically simple/low parts count while producing complex/deep results.

Anyway, it has inspired me to buy a Synthrotek PT2399 delay kit and see what I can come up with by swapping some resistors for trims/pots and socketing some components, maybe adding a voltage starve, preamp and extra feedback loop if my comprehension/technique allows. My aim is as much discovering how these seemingly miraculous and truly grungy sounds arise as coming up with any re-creation or "improvement" of the Seppuku. Hoping some more cool ideas pop up in here. :joy: :thumb:

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:26 am
by lordgalvar
Yea, I picked up a bunch of PT2399 chips a while ago. May eventually pick up some other chips in a bulk deal. Might mess with some v3205s eventually too.

Awesome Dandolin. Keep notes!

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 2:44 pm
by jrmy
How about a Casper Electronics Echo Bender? He made a short run of these (which I totally missed out on, and am still kicking myself over all these years later), and then released the schematic after deciding he was done with pedals:

http://casperelectronics.com/finished-p ... bender-v2/

I think there are revised schematics and troubleshooting discussions in the comments section.

EDIT: ooooh, and someone did an Instructable on it:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Digital ... /?ALLSTEPS

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 6:19 pm
by Dandolin
Hey! Nice!

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:37 am
by Gone Fission
jrmy wrote:How about a Casper Electronics Echo Bender? He made a short run of these (which I totally missed out on, and am still kicking myself over all these years later), and then released the schematic after deciding he was done with pedals:

http://casperelectronics.com/finished-p ... bender-v2/

I think there are revised schematics and troubleshooting discussions in the comments section.

EDIT: ooooh, and someone did an Instructable on it:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Digital ... /?ALLSTEPS


And a vero layout: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/201 ... ender.html

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:30 am
by Glace_Noire
Thank you guys for all these ideas!
I will dig every possibilities and see which circuit I should use to base my experiments
Will keep an eye on this post to share our ideas

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:24 pm
by Dandolin
Got my Synthrotek kit--good sources for socketz? Mouser? Small Bear?

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:32 pm
by foot
Tayda for the cheap easy to finds stuff, small bear for the high quality rare stuff =)
-foot

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:57 pm
by Dandolin
:joy: :hug: :)* Thanks!

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 5:53 pm
by lordgalvar
Dandolin wrote:Got my Synthrotek kit--good sources for socketz? Mouser? Small Bear?


I got my synthrotek kit today. Compare notes when you get there? I am just going to assemble it leaving long leads and then jumper it to a breadboard with random stuff to see what I can pull off circuit bend style.

Got some other chips to try to wire up to it.

Re: Noisy/Lofi DIY delay/reverb pedal?

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 5:54 pm
by Dandolin
Yeah! Lemme know what happens!