Maplins voice changer into DIY stompbox

[Cubes_Mahone]

Yo. First post!
It's going to be long and possibly meandering as I'm a complete noob to this stuff so sorry in advance!

I've been wanting to build a guitar pedal for a while now but I can really read circuit diagrams. I thought about modding some kind of toy (I have some circuit bending experience) that has an input but I just never got round to it. Then I was looking in Maplins and I saw this little voice changer circuit (http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/voice-changer-kit-n40fl) based on the HT8950A chip, with the big plans to turn it into some kind of fuzz/noisey guitar pedal thing. Anyway I bought it without researching and now I've mostly built it and had a search around, I can see I'm definitely not the first person to think of this. So I was wondering if anybody here has had any luck with this circuit?

Also, should I just put my jack connectors straight into where the speaker and mic go?

I have to say, the videos and samples I found sound pretty messed up (not always in a good way). I was thinking of making a blend knob so I can mix it with a clean or maybe distorted guitar sound and see what happens, I've found a circuit for the BBlender/minimal BBlender (http://seanm.ca/stomp/minblend.html) but I can't seem to make sense of it.
Is there a quick way to learn how to read circuit diagrams (or a good site for learning this stuff) or could somebody help me to read it?

I salvaged some circuit boards with resisters and caps from some old electronics and I think I have a FET Transistor on one but all I'm going off is pictures(it looks exactly like one of the google image search pics  ), I have no idea if it is one or not.

Thanks for any help, I'm stressed now!

[Mark Hammer]

The Death by Audio Robot pedal uses an 8950 chip.  It is not especially "kind" to the guitar signal (or indeed any signal), but then I guess that was the point, right?

[Cubes_Mahone]

Yeah I don't mind it being a bit noisy but some of the things I saw on YouTube were close to being insane. It's not really what I was hoping for. I just wanted some kind of electronic sounding crunchy fuzziness. That's why I thought a blender might be useful so I can have a bit of the nonsense mixed with my guitar signal. But then I'd definitely want a way to turn it off as well

[deadastronaut]

IIRC petey twofinger  did the maplin type voice changer stuff too...he might pop by....

i think he put a buffer in front of it...and messed about...sounded quite sick if i recall...

[Kipper4]

This maybe of use to you too

http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/SchematicToReality/

I pm'd Petey for you.
Welcome to the Forum
Rich

[Tony Forestiere]

Doesn't TopTop mess with stuff like this?

[Cubes_Mahone]

Thanks for the welcome and help guys.

I've done some more thinking and maybe I wont wire the blend into this pedal, but make a separate blending loop pedal. Seems much more useful that way.

So I don't have to worry about that, for now... Just getting this working as a pedal now.

[deadastronaut]

Doesn't TopTop mess with stuff like this?

ahhh yes i think your right..

[Cubes_Mahone]

Is TopTop a member here?

[deadastronaut]

yes, haven't seen him post for a while though...

here ya go ask this dude..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iVVsXS5XMo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTuniDblpd0

[deadastronaut]

oh heres peteys one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTuniDblpd0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVAIJji0Z1E


pretty sick...

[noisette]

Maybe it´s close to the velleman kit, there´s a project on this site (called robotvoice)
http://www.groenewoudnet.nl/?page_id=15

Don´t expect too much from that chip...

[petey twofinger]

to the op , i would strongly advise not engaging in this particular endeavor as a first project .

there is an entire section here called the beginner project .

i was blindly hacking , building kits , modding , circuit bending , repairing stuff for my entire life . in 2011 when it came time for me to "get serious' with this stuff i went to that section , i built that project and a few similar circuits . i really didn't technically NEED to  do this , but i am glad i did . i have been thru the routine of offering assistance to about a dozen new folks over the years ,via pm . horses to water . i have spent quite a bit of time doing these activity's including a lengthy 4 video series .  most if not all f these folks did not stick around long enough to accomplish much . leads me to think i am not the right guy for the job .

sometimes i post in the lounge now , but ...

my voice changer experience is limited , i use one ( a stock toy ) for recording sometimes , and i built a dba robot w/ mods .

the synth ( saxxy synth kazoo ) is going in a "modular" box-o-noise" i am half done with , but that is sitting while i am sidetracked with more practical time wasters . it worked very well , but , i have synths here so ... it will ultimately be a better fit in the other project .

there are videos on youtube , including mine about getting started . this hobby requires patience , loads and loads of patience .

bevis audio is a good place to start learning a bit .

i cant stress the knowing the basics before you get in over your head concept strongly enough .... and i use flux .

sorry i couldn't be of more help .

timd might be able to shed more light on this voice changer concept . i am betting he $$$old a few of these on his ebay to some eastern euro noise ensamble .  

toptop does mess with this sort of stuff and way beyond , his music and aesthetic is absolutely outstanding , if you havent checked out his blog yet , dysaf ...

*hides*

[italianguy63]

.... and i use flux .