VTL5C3 to Silonex equivalency

[Strategy]

I have been using vactrols to modify/kludge control voltage inputs to various controls on pedals and other devices in my studio. The VTL5C3s, though still available, have gone up in price a bit. I've heard various rumors about their future which I won't get into here.

Anyways for my purposes there only needs to be approximate similarity as the CV responses are pretty non-linear, with a lot of slew. I picked up a few different Silonex parts and still need to try them out but does anyone have experience with which Silonex part will be relatively close in terms of response/behavior/specs? Again, I'm not looking for an exact match

Certainly rolling my own optos will be fun to try as well but I think that will involve even more experimentation with combinations of LED/LDR values and I'm short on time lately, so any "out of the box" optocoupling part that does the trick is welcome...

Strategy

[Xavier]

yep, HUGE price increase, from 8 to 30 euro at Banzai !!!!!!!!! They sell the Silonex NSL32, but I have no idea how good will it work..........let us know how it works for you.

i also see there's quite a few "4 pin IC looking" optos which sell for next to nothing which I haven't seen in any pedal build............don't know why

[Strategy]

30 Euros is too much! Around $10 US.

First I heard they were going away because of RoHS. Then I heard that they are not going away but the manufacturer has been bought out, they will be kept in production but at a higher cost.

I will try NSL-32 first in control of a typical pot value like 50k, 100K. And see how it sounds!

Strategy

[midwayfair]

After the prices at Smallbear doubled, I used NSL-32s in place of VTL5C3s is three pedals that called for the Vactecs: two tremolos (a Lune and a tremolo based on the Lune) and a madbean Afterlife (Flatline comp). It worked just like expected in all of them. The Trem Lune gets every bit as choppy as the one I've built with a VTLC5C1. I think they're more than adequately similar in all but the most extreme circumstances.

[Strategy]

I am here with my Silonex and wondering if the dot indicates LED +???

P.

[bhill]

On Solinex parts, the dot is the LED - .

[smallbearelec]

After the prices at Smallbear doubled, I used NSL-32s in place of VTL5C3s

That's what I suggest people do when possible. I did Not like having to hike the retail and kill bulk sales, and it was the only way to avoid having all my inventory bought up. I am fairly close to being able to offer an alternate line and will post ASAP.

Regards
SD

[Strategy]

Fortunately I have a finite number of projects that "must" have VTL5C3, or other Vactec parts. and they are mostly synth projects with a couple of exceptions.

I think for my "CV input mods" the behavior is so non linear that any old opto will do! I really wish I had more time to give the "roll your own" option more exploration. I did notice that SBE has been gradually stocking more LDR types!

Paul

After the prices at Smallbear doubled, I used NSL-32s in place of VTL5C3s

That's what I suggest people do when possible. I did Not like having to hike the retail and kill bulk sales, and it was the only way to avoid having all my inventory bought up. I am fairly close to being able to offer an alternate line and will post ASAP.

Regards
SD

[midwayfair]

On Solinex parts, the dot is the LED - .

No, the dot is the + side.

With the legs of the LED side of an NSL-32 facing you, the number "32" will be face up when the + side is on the left. I'm almost positive that this puts the dot on the + side. Note that on most boards they'll be upside down (with "37" facing up).

After the prices at Smallbear doubled, I used NSL-32s in place of VTL5C3s

I am fairly close to being able to offer an alternate line and will post ASAP.

Regards
SD

This is good news ... I have yet to come across a project where I couldn't make the substitution. I would think that the Silonexes would make pedal builders happy, though -- they're so much smaller.

[Taylor]

On Solinex parts, the dot is the LED - .

No, the dot is the + side.

Let us check the datasheet!

http://www.silonex.com/datasheets/specs/images/pdf/103708.pdf

[Strategy]

Woh, I am actually having a lot of trouble understanding their diagram in the upper right

On Solinex parts, the dot is the LED - .

No, the dot is the + side.

Let us check the datasheet!

http://www.silonex.com/datasheets/specs/images/pdf/103708.pdf

[bhill]

Datasheet shows the dot on the negative lead. Only reason I already was familiar with them is I got a bag of 60 of them last year untested, and tested them all looking for specific resistance ranges for a couple of projects. Only had 6 duds.

[midwayfair]

Datasheet shows the dot on the negative lead. Only reason I already was familiar with them is I got a bag of 60 of them last year untested, and tested them all looking for specific resistance ranges for a couple of projects. Only had 6 duds.

I'm not saying I don't believe you guys or that I'm not frequently wrong, but I have two working builds, a compressor and a tremolo, that I just opened up to look inside and the dot is definitely on the square hole side. Not the best gut shots, but they are good enough to see the negative side of the coupler:


I also know that I very definitely put one in backward when I was going off the datasheet that appears to show the dot being on the negative side.

So I'm not sure what to say.

[phil]

After the prices at Smallbear doubled, I used NSL-32s in place of VTL5C3s is three pedals that called for the Vactecs: two tremolos (a Lune and a tremolo based on the Lune) and a madbean Afterlife (Flatline comp). It worked just like expected in all of them. The Trem Lune gets every bit as choppy as the one I've built with a VTLC5C1. I think they're more than adequately similar in all but the most extreme circumstances.

I don't know if the VTL5C1 will work the same, but ApexJr has a lot of those for sale at $2 ea: http://www.apexjr.com/new.htm

[chicago_mike]

Time to buy those stupid ART Pro VLA's and gut them for parts!

[Xavier]

Well, must not be that important after all..........I needed the VTL5C3 for a certain boutique compressor, and just saw a guts pic from it, where they are using s photoresistor and an LED (and they are not even shrink tubed !!), which makes me think this SIlonex will be a suitable sub...........