DIYstompboxes.com

I've been working on a new DIY project the last few weeks and finally got my build finished and verified today. It feels so good to have this thing done and running smoothly. Anyways, here's my stab at the whole thing:

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/Magnus_Modulus_Project_Description.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/Magnus_Modulus_Schematic.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/Magnus_Modulus_Schematic_Component_.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/Magnus_Modulus_Parts_List_2.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/Magnus_Modulus_Layout-1.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/Magnus_Modulus_Board_Diagram-1.jpg)

The PCBs will be for sale soon. I am not making them myself so they won't look like the one in my build. I just have to talk with the person who's making them to figure out the price. More details on the PCB's to follow.

Here is my build:

I fit the whole thing, 8 pots, 2 footswitches, 2 toggles, 3 LEDs, input, output, and DC in all on the lid of a 1590BB.

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/MM.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/magnus_modulus005.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/magnus_modulus004.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/magnus_modulus003.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/magnus_modulus010.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/magnus_modulus015.jpg)

(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/magnus_modulus020.jpg)



If anyone's able to build one, I'd love to hear what you think.

Very,very Nice! Congratulations on what looks like a very adaptable pedal and cheers for giving out all the info in what could only be described as... detailed. Make them up as a kit with a pre drilled box and I think you'd do very well out of it. I'm looking forward to trying to design my own board, cause thats what I do, even though it'll be double, if not triple the size of yours.  :icon_biggrin:

That looks awesome!

Any chance of sound clips? I'm quite curious as to how the delay modulation setup sounds, as well as the tremolo.

Thanks for sharing this well documented project!

I can't wait to hear the soundsamples.

That looks an amazing and very well documented piece of work. Well done.

It's so superb that people are willing to share their hard work on this forum fo the benefit of others.  :icon_wink:

This one just reminded me to prioritize building a Trem Lune LFO module that I can experiment to stick to any other circuits possible.

Nice work ForcedFire!

+1 again to my growing build list.

looks good!  :)

may i suggest add the lunes wave shaping knob to the lfo.
to me thats the coolest part of that circuit!
a ramp settings would be pretty neat with this circuit!

Nice work :)

hella awesome dude.


i love my modulatable delay thats on my stereo memory man...its so useful for adding that extra little....whoa!



delay is my favorite effect....if you wanna hear a work i did solely using the memory man with hazarai you can go here (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=886668&songID=7006630)

Thanks everyone!

I started doing the sound samples last night but my recording setup wasn't really working out. I'll try to mic my Twin Reverb, I don't have a proper mic though. Maybe I'll just get some quick samples on my MP3 player.

The waveshaping mods sound cool. If I ever build another one it'll be in a bigger box  :icon_lol: then I can more stuff... :icon_wink:

Quote from: slacker on November 29, 2008, 08:32:11 AM
Nice work :)

Thanks Ian,

Didn't want to step on any toes, it was your idea in the first place!

Nathan

Very impressive!  I think I might have to place a new parts order!

-chris

 :o :o :o

Great work. Definitely going to build/breadboard this week.


Zach

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 29, 2008, 12:31:42 AM
I've been working on a new DIY project the last few weeks and finally got my build finished and verified today..

Hi!

Maybe you have not reinvented wheel, but your way how to modulate PT239x VCO is pretty innovative, all I've seen up to now was always some kind of variable "resistor". Veeery nice!

Thanks for sharing!

Quote from: Thomeeque on November 29, 2008, 04:47:41 PM

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 29, 2008, 12:31:42 AM
I've been working on a new DIY project the last few weeks and finally got my build finished and verified today..

Hi!

Maybe you have not reinvented wheel, but your way how to modulate PT239x VCO is pretty innovative, all I've seen up to now was always some kind of variable "resistor". Veeery nice!

Thanks for sharing!

I read some long complicated post on some site talking about how you needed a current limiting circuit? Pin 6 just requires a resistor (probably another internal resistance to the supply to form a voltage divider) to set the voltage, you can just add a small AC voltage on top of this to vary the voltage around the nominal value to the voltage controlled oscillator. Pin 6 probably just connects to a CMOS FET connected capacitor that changes capacitance as the voltage to it changes, and that capacitor is what sets the frequency of the oscillator that controls the clock that controls the delay times.

I know the way I did it may look overly simple but the chorus modulation sounds really smooth, no problems at all.

 :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim:
PLEASE CHECK OUT THE YOUTUBE DEMO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBk5Bxj9SDU
:icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim:

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 29, 2008, 10:07:49 AM

Quote from: slacker on November 29, 2008, 08:32:11 AM
Nice work :)

Thanks Ian,

Didn't want to step on any toes, it was your idea in the first place!

Nathan

No need to worry about that. Apart from the delay tails there was really nothing original in the Echo Base, various people had already added LFOs to Rebotes and PT80s, all I did was put it all together in one package.

Like Thomas said I like the way you've modulated the PT2399 simple and effective judging by the excellent soundclip. I bet you can get some really weird sounds as well using the LFO square wave into the delay.

Quote from: slacker on November 30, 2008, 06:35:10 AM


Like Thomas said I like the way you've modulated the PT2399 simple and effective judging by the excellent soundclip.

Thanks!

It was funny, I don't have a good microphone and tried all these setups with cheap mics and my MP3 player mic and it wasn't working out so as a last ditch effort I just plugged my guitar directly into my computer and it actually sounds pretty decent.  :icon_eek:

That thing is like Superfly TNT!!  ;D

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 29, 2008, 10:44:20 PM
:icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim:
PLEASE CHECK OUT THE YOUTUBE DEMO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBk5Bxj9SDU
:icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim:

Awesome!

Btw. is there C13 neccessary? Doesn't it suppress modulation for slower VCO LFO speeds?

Quote from: Thomeeque on November 30, 2008, 04:48:03 PM
Btw. is there C13 neccessary? Doesn't it suppress modulation for slower VCO speeds?

C13 is required as a DC block. You could probably increase it to 100uF, if that makes you feel better...

R9 and the time pot set the nominal DC voltage to the VCO inside the PT2399. If you don't have C13 this nominal DC value will be affected by the LFO. By using a coupling capacitor the LFO voltage is just superimposed on top of the DC point set by R9 and the time pot.

Without R10 and C13 the voltage would be pretty high at pin 6. It's not a good idea to apply voltages higher than the breakdown voltage of the CMOS process, you would blow the internal diodes in the chips transistors. The way I have it arranged with R9 and R10, it forms a voltage divider so that even if the LFO was swinging full scale at 9V pk-pk, the largest AC voltage it could apply is 1.914V pk-pk. When the time pot is maxed at 50k, there will be a large enough voltage drop before pin 6 that it won't damage the chip. When the pot is turned to 0 ohms, R9 and the internal resistor set the voltage very low so that the maximum possible LFO voltage will never cause the swing at pin 6 to approach VDD of the PT2399.

EDIT: After re-reading this I sound pretty sure of myself. I just made this up off the top of my head, it makes sense now but feel free to put me in my place  :icon_biggrin: Take what I say with a grain of salt I guess... :icon_wink: I don't really know what's inside the chip and how much voltage it can handle, mine works great though.

Checked out the sound sample... Wicked sick!  :D

EDIT: And by the way, thanks for accidentaly naming it after me! hehe

Magnus Nordbye

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 30, 2008, 05:04:21 PM
R9 and the time pot set the nominal DC voltage to the VCO inside the PT2399. If you don't have C13 this nominal DC value will be affected by the LFO..

So, wouldn't it modulate delay time as well?

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 30, 2008, 05:04:21 PM
Without R10 and C13 the voltage would be pretty high at pin 6..

Yep, definitely - no doubts about R10 ;)

Quote from: Thomeeque on November 30, 2008, 05:56:26 PM

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 30, 2008, 05:04:21 PM
R9 and the time pot set the nominal DC voltage to the VCO inside the PT2399. If you don't have C13 this nominal DC value will be affected by the LFO..

So, wouldn't it modulate delay time as well?

That's the whole point?

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 30, 2008, 06:01:11 PM

Quote from: Thomeeque on November 30, 2008, 05:56:26 PM

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 30, 2008, 05:04:21 PM
R9 and the time pot set the nominal DC voltage to the VCO inside the PT2399. If you don't have C13 this nominal DC value will be affected by the LFO..

So, wouldn't it modulate delay time as well?

That's the whole point?

So, wouldn't it modulate delay time without C13 (by modulating nominal DC value) as well? That's my point ;)

Quote from: mnordbye on November 30, 2008, 05:47:10 PM
Checked out the sound sample... Wicked sick!  :D

EDIT: And by the way, thanks for accidentaly naming it after me! hehe

Magnus Nordbye

Actually I didn't name it, another user, Culturejam, suggested it. My cousin has a son named Magnus so it was pretty fitting. But you can just assume it was named after you... :icon_razz:

Sounds excellent, thank you for your detailed documentation!


Please put me down for a PCB when they're available  :)

Quote from: Thomeeque on November 30, 2008, 06:22:21 PM

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 30, 2008, 06:01:11 PM

Quote from: Thomeeque on November 30, 2008, 05:56:26 PM

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 30, 2008, 05:04:21 PM
R9 and the time pot set the nominal DC voltage to the VCO inside the PT2399. If you don't have C13 this nominal DC value will be affected by the LFO..

So, wouldn't it modulate delay time as well?

That's the whole point?

So, wouldn't it modulate delay time without C13 (by modulating nominal DC value) as well? That's my point ;)

Yeah but not the way I wanted it to  :icon_biggrin:

The LFO swings around an analog ground (DC value) set by the 'Spacing' pot. Without C13 the DC value from the 'time' pot would be directly affected by the DC point from the LFO. C13 just decouples the two. It might work if you want to try it, I just wanted to keep those two 'systems' seperate. There are some other things you can omit, on the layout there's space for some capacitors from the power rails to ground that are in the Echo Base and Ping Pong, I didn't use them in my build but I put them in the layout if it makes people happy  :icon_smile:.

The Echo Base has that exact issue, the delay time increases as you increase the modulation depth because of the DC offset added to the bias voltage of the modulation transistor . Personally it never bothered me because apart from at the more chorus like speeds you can just tweak the delay time know back a bit.
Someone, I can't remember who, raised it in the Echo Base thread and solved it by decoupling the LFO like you have. I've been meaning to try it, the only problem I can see with it is that in theory in distorts the waveform from the LFO, but I don't know if it will make any audible difference.

It just makes more sense to me to use a coupling capacitor. I want the voltage at the VCO port to be some value set by one control, then add a signal to it to vary it around that value. It makes sense to keep them independent. I don't have an oscilloscope to look at the LFO waveform as it's hitting pin 6. All I have are my ears and it sounds good to me. Like I said in the intro to the project, it's a highly modifiable circuit, you can build it however you want.  :icon_biggrin:

I would buy a kit version of that in a second!

Maybe one of the kit companies will pick something like this up. I'm not really set up to organize that so it won't be happening anytime soon from me. I am organizing the sale of the PCB's though, the prototype of the sale model should be available tomorrow or the next day.

Quote from: John Lyons on December 02, 2008, 01:16:08 AM

-Magnus Modulus-
PCBs For Sale

(http://www.mrdwab.com/john/Magnus-board.jpg)

$20 US
$22 worldwide
Shipping included

Paypal: basicaudiowv AT yahoo.com

You're the man John.  :icon_smile:

Great Job.. thanks

i work on the list part, but i need help whit some values

RESIST   
R1   10K
R2   10K
R3   15K
R4   1K
R5   10K
R6   10K
R7   1M
R8   47K
R9   1K
R10   4,7K
R11   47K
R12   100K
R13   1M
R14   10K
R15   10K
R16   1M
R17   1M
R18   1M
R19   100K
R20   1K
R21   12K
R22   10K
R23   240K-220K
R24   10K
R25   4,7K
R26   
R27   
R28   240K-220K
R29   
R30   100 OHMS
R31   240K-220K
R32   470K


CAPS.
C1   0,1UF       104
C2   0,1UF      104
C3   0,1UF      104
C4   0,1UF      104
C5   0,0022UF      222
C6   0,0022UF      222
C7   47UF   ELECT   
C8   47UF   ELECT   
C9         
C10   0,022UF      223
C11   0,047UF      473
C12   1UF      
C13   4,7UF   ELECT   
C14         
C15   100UF   ELECT   
C16   47UF   ELECT   
C17   470PF      471
C18   0,015UF      153
C19   1UF      
C20   0,22UF      224
C21   0,1UF      104
C22   N/A      
C23   1UF      
C24   1UF      
C25   100UF   ELECT   
C26   100UF   ELECT   
C27   0,01UF      103
C28   100UF   ELECT   

Nice, Niopren, I haven't checked all the values in your list but I can say there is no R29, this is a problem with the numbering in the software I used. R25, R26 and R27 can be anything from like 2k to 10k, I used ultra bright LED's with 10k resistors and they're still very bright.

C22 is optional, I didn't use it, you can try caps from like 1pF-100pF to roll of some high frequency from the input if you need it.
C9 and C14 are also optional, I didn't use them either, some people might want to add them for extra power filtering but I don't see the point. You could try 0.001 uF to 0.1 uF here.

So you have R25 listed as 4.7k, you can just use that for R26 and R27 and forget about all those capacitors, just leave them empty.

If you look at the picture of the PCB from my build you will see that these capacitor spaces are empty.

Quote from: ForcedFire on December 02, 2008, 04:39:37 PM
Nice, Niopren, I haven't checked all the values in your list but I can say there is no R29, this is a problem with the numbering in the software I used. R25, R26 and R27 can be anything from like 2k to 10k, I used ultra bright LED's with 10k resistors and they're still very bright.

C22 is optional, I didn't use it, you can try caps from like 1pF-100pF to roll of some high frequency from the input if you need it.
C9 and C14 are also optional, I didn't use them either, some people might want to add them for extra power filtering but I don't see the point. You could try 0.001 uF to 0.1 uF here.

So you have R25 listed as 4.7k, you can just use that for R26 and R27 and forget about all those capacitors, just leave them empty.

If you look at the picture of the PCB from my build you will see that these capacitor spaces are empty.

thank you.




here´s the complete list and resume.

(http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7747/list1pq9.jpg)


resume

(http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/2690/lista2be3.jpg)

cheers

I just swapped the LFO op-amp for TL022CP, TL072(CW?), and JRC4558D and they all work. To my ears the 5532 sounds better and that's what I designed the pedal on. I didn't find the modulation as intense with the TL series op-amps. If you want the exact sound from the Youtube demo, use NE5532.  :icon_biggrin: Or you could tweak the coupling network so it works for you.

The other buffer op-amp can be any dual op-amp.

I think I'm in love with this.  :icon_redface:

Quote from: frequencycentral on December 07, 2008, 09:52:07 AM
I think I'm in love with this.  :icon_redface:

Did you build it?

Quote from: ForcedFire on December 07, 2008, 11:07:27 AM

Quote from: frequencycentral on December 07, 2008, 09:52:07 AM
I think I'm in love with this.  :icon_redface:

Did you build it?

Not yet. I'm in love with your sounclip though, I've listened to it a bunch of times. I've had a few PT2399's for a while, just never decided 'which one' to build. This is it. I'll be ordering a board from John.

Quote from: ForcedFire on December 07, 2008, 11:07:27 AM

Quote from: frequencycentral on December 07, 2008, 09:52:07 AM
I think I'm in love with this.  :icon_redface:

Did you build it?

Just ordered my PCB from John, so I'll be building this in January.  :icon_biggrin:

 I build this effect, I am very happy.
worked on the first attempt

I have some doubts and problems that do.

1. I have a problem of "popping" when the tremolo active, occurs in the version of you?.
2. I doubt the end of the bypass wiring. I saw in the photos is the first 3PDT is the true bypass and  the second 3PDT was the "tails", is that correct?
3. the switch from "tails" to turn off functions as a bypass, but "always" the effect is slightly heard in the background, it´s normal?

to see if I clarify this before the board put in the box

greetings

ForcedFire,

OK, so I've etched a PCB, built the board, and am currently testing it.  First, let me say thanks for designing this and sharing it with us.  My build worked on the first try, and I'm getting some awesome sounds out of it.  I'm just a little confused about the function of some of the pots/switches.  If you have time, could you provide a short tutorial (or maybe just some hints) about how the delay, tremolo, and modulator interact - and which of the pots affect the others.  I think I have most of it figured out, but could still use a better understanding of how it all works together (the "space" pot in particular doesn't seem to do much).

Quote from: niopren on December 27, 2008, 05:55:56 PM
I build this effect, I am very happy.
worked on the first attempt

I have some doubts and problems that do.

1. I have a problem of "popping" when the tremolo active, occurs in the version of you?.
2. I doubt the end of the bypass wiring. I saw in the photos is the first 3PDT is the true bypass and  the second 3PDT was the "tails", is that correct?
3. the switch from "tails" to turn off functions as a bypass, but "always" the effect is slightly heard in the background, it´s normal?

to see if I clarify this before the board put in the box

greetings

I have the tremolo on a toggle switch and do not get any pops.

You are right about my build with the true bypass and tails switch. I have noticed the same thing about hearing the effect in the background. I think this is due to some feedback from the delay configuration. I just took half of the BYOC Ping Pong delay and used that and didn't put the tails switch in until the very end. When I was working on the breadboard I was just using the delay level knob to turn off the delays instead of a switch so I never noticed this. To remedy this, you need to use another pole of the 3PDT (delay tails switch) to cut the path at either R21 or C24. To do this, remove either of those two components (the resistor is cheaper to replace usually) and put a pole of the 3PDT switch in series with the resistor or capacitor you took out and wire that to the pads where the component you removed was. This will ensure nothing feeds back to the input of the delay. If anyone doesn't need the delay tails, just put a jumper across the pads for the delay tails switch. Use the delay level knob to turn off the delay in this case.

In my build I get a pop from my delay tails footswitch when I turn it on, I think this is because there is zero resistance between the source of the pop created in the switch and the input to the first op-amp filter so there is infinite gain that leads to the audible pop. I might try shorting R14 and putting it between the switch and the pad at R7. I am on vacation until January 15th so I do not have time to try this out. I was super busy before the holidays and just managed to squeeze out this project between the work I was doing for school. Hopefully we can work out these little issues. I'm glad you're happy with the overall effect though!  :icon_lol:

Quote from: waltk on December 28, 2008, 12:51:55 AM
ForcedFire,

OK, so I've etched a PCB, built the board, and am currently testing it.  First, let me say thanks for designing this and sharing it with us.  My build worked on the first try, and I'm getting some awesome sounds out of it.  I'm just a little confused about the function of some of the pots/switches.  If you have time, could you provide a short tutorial (or maybe just some hints) about how the delay, tremolo, and modulator interact - and which of the pots affect the others.  I think I have most of it figured out, but could still use a better understanding of how it all works together (the "space" pot in particular doesn't seem to do much).

Hey, here is a response to a similar question I answered on another forum, I'll just copy and paste:

QuoteThe knobs in the pictures don't match up with the sounds in the video and the pot function and ordering doesn't follow a really strict order but it's something like this:

Right footswitch: true bypass / turns blue light on and off

Left footswitch: sends the guitar signal to the PT2399 for delay and modulation/chorus. When you turn it off, if you have the feedback set sort of long, the delays trail out (echo tails). Since the delay uses the Ping Pong delay setup, some of the output gets fed back in. I find with the delay turned off, so you hear sort of a faint reverb in the background. So if you want echo tails you can turn off the delay, then you're just playing through the buffer, once the tails fade you can turn off the buffer and have true bypass, then if you want delay again you can tap the delay switch and then turn on the bypass switch, of course if you don't want tails you can just use the one switch and turn on and off for true bypass or not. Then if you want just the tremolo or booster you keep the delay off, if the slight reverb bothers you, you can just turn down the delay level and nothing will come out of the delay chip. Then you use the true bypass switch to turn the booster or tremolo on or off. To omit the delay switch, you would put a jumper across the pads on the PCB and you can omit the two 1M resistors connected to them (R7 and R13). You'd just use the delay level pot for pure tremolo or boost. This is how I had it on the breadboard, I never tried the switch until it was all together, it works but I don't have much use for it really. The way I have it set, you need to really make sure the gain is set at unity for the tails to work out so that when they fade out and you switch from the buffer to true bypass that it sounds identical.

The modulation switch is a toggle on the top right. The delay switch has to be on for the modulation to do anything as it just modulates the delay section.

The tremolo switch is on the top left, the modulation depth has to be set pretty much at the max to get tremolo and the gain knob can be used to bring it up to unity or boosted volume (all tremolo usually causes volume drop).

You can have echo, modulation, and tremolo all at the same time.

For the controls, across the top:

Depth: controls the level of the Low Frequency Oscillator signal to the delay chip and tremolo transistor switch, as well as the intensity of the flashing white LED.

Delay Level: controls the volume of all signals coming out of the delay section, including modulated echo/chorus level.

Delay Feedback: controls the amout of repeats, with short echo it basically sounds like controlled feedback, crank it for self-oscillation. During self-oscillation, the two silicon diodes limit the output signal and start distorting. Originally I had used two red LED's so when it oscillated the two LED's would start to glow. Since this is followed by the booster stage it was way too loud and put out too much voltage. I used silicon diodes to protect peoples amps/other pedals. The diodes can account for a slight distortion but it's pretty insignificant, your signal shouldn't be very strong going in. I would not recommend taking out the diodes. Any distortion in the delay section can be attributed to the quality of the PT2399 (gets noisy at long delay times) and the delay filtering. I just used the filtering from the Ping Pong and I can make it distort with my bridge pickup on my Les Paul. I changed some of the capacitors to increase the filtering of the highs, increasing the filtering too much really darkens the repeats and doesn't sound good. You can play with the filter components to see if you can get it better, I think it sounds good with the values I used.

Gain: Controls the gain of the output amplifier. With all the effects off and just the buffers on you get a really nice clean/gritty boost with the NE5532 op-amp. I think it's a nice addition, also it allows unity volume with the tremolo.

Bottom row:

LFO Rate: controls the speed of the LFO, I used a 10kB pot, I think a C reverse log pot would be best but my goal was to build this out of parts I already had in my apartment (I'm a nerd), so I haven't tried it. The wiring diagrams and schematics show the rate pot with lugs 1 and 3 reversed. On my build you turn to the left for higher rate, I'll update the file so it goes faster with clockwise turns, not a big deal. The original had a 'fine' rate control. 8 pots looked better than 9 so I took it out. Add this in series with the rate knob if you want it.

The middle two are Space and Smooth: Space basically controls the duty cycle of the LFO signal, how much it is on versus how much it is off in one cycle. You can look at the LFO LED to see what it's doing to the waveform. This is a really useful control, it really changes the choppyness and smoothness of the LFO, the Smooth knob doesn't really do that much but I just included it because it's in the original Tremulus Lune LFO. When the rate is low it seems to control how fast the signal peaks and decays. When the rate is pretty fast I can't hear much of a difference there, just slight. I used 240k resistors in my build, the original LFO has 220k resistors so this could be a major factor in why mine isn't so noticeable.

Finally there's the time knob, it controls the nominal delay time. With modulation, the LFO signal rides on top of the voltage set by the time knob.

Okay, that was a huge response, but hopefully it answers some questions, I'm sure it'll raise even more...

Maybe I'm confusing space and smooth. One of them is really useful and the other doesn't do much like you said, I just figured people would freak if I took it out of the Tremulus Lune LFO.  :icon_rolleyes:

I'm not proud of myself for asking a "sounds like" question, believe me  :icon_redface:, but WTH, is there one of the PT2399+modulation pedals that gets closer to the Memory Man magic?

Quote from: Ben N on December 29, 2008, 03:13:12 PM
I'm not proud of myself for asking a "sounds like" question, believe me  :icon_redface:, but WTH, is there one of the PT2399+modulation pedals that gets closer to the Memory Man magic?

Well I'm not very proud to say I've never played one  :icon_lol:. I'll look into it though....

Please disregard what I said here:

QuoteYou are right about my build with the true bypass and tails switch. I have noticed the same thing about hearing the effect in the background. I think this is due to some feedback from the delay configuration. I just took half of the BYOC Ping Pong delay and used that and didn't put the tails switch in until the very end. When I was working on the breadboard I was just using the delay level knob to turn off the delays instead of a switch so I never noticed this. To remedy this, you need to use another pole of the 3PDT (delay tails switch) to cut the path at either R21 or C24. To do this, remove either of those two components (the resistor is cheaper to replace usually) and put a pole of the 3PDT switch in series with the resistor or capacitor you took out and wire that to the pads where the component you removed was. This will ensure nothing feeds back to the input of the delay. If anyone doesn't need the delay tails, just put a jumper across the pads for the delay tails switch. Use the delay level knob to turn off the delay in this case.

I am still on holidays and haven't actually done this. I don't think it will work. I'll work on the tails switch wiring when I get back to my apartment...

Quote from: ForcedFire on January 08, 2009, 01:15:38 PM
Please disregard what I said here:

QuoteYou are right about my build with the true bypass and tails switch. I have noticed the same thing about hearing the effect in the background. I think this is due to some feedback from the delay configuration. I just took half of the BYOC Ping Pong delay and used that and didn't put the tails switch in until the very end. When I was working on the breadboard I was just using the delay level knob to turn off the delays instead of a switch so I never noticed this. To remedy this, you need to use another pole of the 3PDT (delay tails switch) to cut the path at either R21 or C24. To do this, remove either of those two components (the resistor is cheaper to replace usually) and put a pole of the 3PDT switch in series with the resistor or capacitor you took out and wire that to the pads where the component you removed was. This will ensure nothing feeds back to the input of the delay. If anyone doesn't need the delay tails, just put a jumper across the pads for the delay tails switch. Use the delay level knob to turn off the delay in this case.

I am still on holidays and haven't actually done this. I don't think it will work. I'll work on the tails switch wiring when I get back to my apartment...

ok thanks..


my Magnus is 99,9% finished
pictures soon

Awesome!

I might try putting a 1 transistor buffer between the delay output pot and the output buffer/mixer to avoid the dry signal coming back into the delay input through the feedback path when using the tails function.

Looking forward to your pictures niopren!

Quote from: ForcedFire on January 09, 2009, 03:27:26 PM

Looking forward to your pictures niopren!

some pictures from my cell phone.

(http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7976/dsc00011bm1.jpg)
(http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/4130/dsc00002dy8.jpg)

Looks good niopren!

anyone try this on bass guitar yet?  My PT-80 doesn't sound nearly as good on bass as it does on guitar and i'd hate to spend lots of hours on this project to find the same thing.  I also have problems with clarity with guitar oriented chorus effects too.  If anyone could run a bass through theirs and report back (or post a sample  ;) )that'd be awesome.

Hey all, long time listener, first time caller etc etc  :icon_cool:


Been building pedals for 6 months or so and fell in love with the Magnus Modulus project as soon as it was posted up by FF_Pedals. Seemed quite complicated with my limited experience but, while I'm still in kindergarten theory-wise I can triple check things and follow a plan with the best of them ;)

I finished the enclosure last year prior to getting the board from the US and ordering the parts. Started on the innards early this month.

I'd intended a fully polished finish, something different from my usual painted approach, with a label on top. Well, I spent hours and hours filing, then sanding and finally polishing the box and eventually got it looking like chrome. Unfortunately, after I'd stuck the decal on and begun adding the final polyurethane coat, all that shine went south. It's ended up as a sort of burnished, slightly greenish metal finish that I'm still pretty happy with so all's well.

It's the most complicated pedal I've built and yet, due to Nathan's / FF_Pedals excellent documentation, the most fun. Oh, and it fired up first time, thank God I didn't have to debug this bad boy.

Some idiot accidentally ordered a couple of capacitors suitable for use as part of the national grid and yet was determined to make them fit as a personal challenge... see if you can spot which ones  :wink:


It sounds fantastic and is a lot of fun to play with, working out what dial interacts with what. I'd always assumed that I'd be using it pretty clean but found that quite a fast tremolo rate coupled with a nice scuzzy fuzz pedal sounds brill. Lots more to discover.

I decided that this pedal was going to be built practically rather than prettily and so went for stronger stranded wire rather than the more easily positioned solid core stuff and also made each run long enough that I could hinge the board up and get at the underside to tweak things if need be. I have slightly more background hiss introduced by turning the pedal on than I'd like so need to look at isolating that problem and minimising it but, frankly, I'm having a lot fo fun just playing it at the moment, so that can wait.


(http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/mothercruncher/Guitar%20Pedal%20Builds/DSC00069.jpg)

(http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/mothercruncher/Guitar%20Pedal%20Builds/DSC00072.jpg)

(http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/mothercruncher/Guitar%20Pedal%20Builds/DSC00074.jpg)

(http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/mothercruncher/Guitar%20Pedal%20Builds/DSC00073.jpg)

(http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/mothercruncher/Guitar%20Pedal%20Builds/DSC00067.jpg)

(http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/mothercruncher/Guitar%20Pedal%20Builds/DSC00077.jpg)

Just seen the pics, nice job niopren.
What are the extra LEDs you've added there for?

Mothercruncher

That build looks very nice!
The layout of controls and switches is a little chaotic but there is a lot to fit in a BB size box.
What type of sticker did you use?

John

Cheers John, I must get into this "waterslide" business people talk about but, for now, I'm just printing stuff out onto photopaper and using photo mounting spray to stick it down. Coming from a graphic design background it's all stuff I've got to hand. The main downside of that approach is that, in order to get a good durable print, you need to use thick paper and if you then want to try to hide the edge under the lacquer then that's a LOT of spray layers and wet sanding.

Quote from: mothercruncher on January 13, 2009, 06:20:04 PM
Just seen the pics, nice job niopren.
What are the extra LEDs you've added there for?

thanks, your pedal is great.

the extra led is "D2" for the LFO.

I found some new layouts from deep in the internets:

Not-personally verified and I don't read Japanese...

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/anonymousfacelesscoward/28819763.html

That layout looks like it saves a little on space. And one thing I found with your layout which that one solves was that the electro caps C7, C8, C15 and C16 are a real tight squeeze! Not a problem, just a squeeze. This poject is taking it's time coming together for me, I've finished stuffing the board, I just need to order a few pots and work out how I'm going to box it. Other projects keep getting in the way!

I built mine with the multilayer ceramics and 16V electrolytics from Futurelec. If you use anything bigger it will definitely be a tight squeeze :icon_surprised: .

Post up some pics and/or sounds when you're done!

I recently compared the Magnus and Echo Base schematics, one thing that jumps out is the electronic switching of the tails in the Echo base, which I'm guessing would prevent any popping. Has anyone experienced tails popping with the Magnus?

Quote from: frequencycentral on June 19, 2009, 04:48:21 PM
I recently compared the Magnus and Echo Base schematics, one thing that jumps out is the electronic switching of the tails in the Echo base, which I'm guessing would prevent any popping. Has anyone experienced tails popping with the Magnus?

Is still schemo from 1st page valid? If yes, then small pop on tails footswitch is IMO expectable, since it's one pole is pulled-down to gnd by R13 and second to PT2399's V_ref (ca 2.5V) by R6..

EDIT: This could be easily fixed by reconecting second pole branch from R5+R6+C24 junction to C24+R21 junction, which is already pulled-down to gnd.

Hey, does anyone have a set of voltages for this? I'm having a bit of trouble getting mine to work properly.

Quote from: svstee on July 16, 2009, 07:13:00 PM
Hey, does anyone have a set of voltages for this? I'm having a bit of trouble getting mine to work properly.

I posted mine in this thread: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=77940.0

Not sure if they are typical...my VB is 4v instead of 4.5, but it works. I had a couple of small shorts when I took those measurements, but I doubt the voltages have changed much.

Well my problem just became blindingly obvious... no LFO.  :icon_redface:
If the LFO isn't working at all where should I be looking?

The lfo is the second opamp, so maybe it's something around there?

Has anyone tried Thomeeque's suggestion for getting rid of the tails switch pop?

Hi, my build is a bit odd, the lfo won't work unless i touch both leads of r32 which is 470k, I don't know what went wrong, but last night I put a socket in the place of r32 and tried some resistor in there and I found that the lfo worked with resistor with a value of 10k - 180k. I ended up putting 47k in there, is there any voltage reading for this project?

Another thing, I don't know how the effect supposed to work, the delay won't work unless i switch the delay tails switch on, is it supposed to work like that?

Thank you very much for this great project... 4 thumbs up, when it works it is my favorite delay :D

Hi there and congratulations for that great effects (bravo mr Forced Fire).
I've built one with my father and that pedal is so nice ! so many things to do with !  awesome...
excuse my english because i'm french...

Well, I want to build that fx again and to add something that can be very usefull for me (and perhaps for this community).
The thing is that i haven't the electronic skill you guys probably have, i've just made these last weeks some simple pedals (bronx cheer, tycobrahe octavia, mxr microamp, minimixer...) but i'm sure you can help to customize my forthcoming new magnus modulus.

>> Is it possible to modify the "delay level" of the MM ? I would prefer to change it in a "mix dry/wet" knob... :icon_biggrin:  actually, as the moogerfoogers analog delay....
As i said before i'm not able to study that thing cause i'm a newbie but if someone here is ok to give me a hand, i would appreciate very very much...

thank you for your attention

iologic

Quote from: ForcedFire on November 29, 2008, 10:44:20 PM
:icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim:
PLEASE CHECK OUT THE YOUTUBE DEMO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBk5Bxj9SDU
:icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim: :icon_exclaim:

very nice demo, im thinking of building another delay!  :o

Nobody can answer me ?

Doing the vero build of the magnus modulus and have one question if anyone can answer :
in the upper left corner of the vero there is something that looks like a cap marked N/A. What does that mean and what component is to be placed there ?
Sorry if the question was answered elsewhere in the thread, i looked for quite a bit but came up empty.

Thanks

found the answer, sorry.

Hi, another slow learner here with dumb questions..also, I'm using cathexis' vero layout .

Could anyone explain how the leds other than the "effect on" led get wired ?
also I can't figure out the switch wiring for tremolo, delay, and modulation...tried working off fire force's schematic but I'm not too good at reading those...i think i understand the leds work with the switches but i can't get beyond that.


Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Ok. I've got the power on led  and the modulation/tremolo /depth leds wired and working.
could somebody please tell me if the third led goes with the tails footswitch and if so where does the led get connected to the board on the vero layout ?

Thanks again.

Too impatient I guess. Worked everything out.
Awesome pedal Forced Fire !!!!

After watching the test videos for this project on youtube, I can't wait to build it.
I know that people probably build their own effects for various reasons, but one reason I am interested is because ideally DIY will be a little less expensive then a purchased effects pedal.  I was just wondering if anyone who has built this project or is in the process of doing so could give an approximate total cost to build, so I know what I am getting into.

Thank you for creating this awesome project ForcedFire.

All depends what you have already (wire, soldering iron, drill press or drill and bits) and what you're after for the final result in terms of esthetics and durabilty I think.
From what I remember the most expensive parts were the PT2399 (2.44 euros) and the alpha pots (1.14 euros approx and so much better than the black plastic ones).
I scrounged the caps out of various electronic junk, bought the resistors and the wire (probably enough to build another ten effects).
For the rest do you want an aluminum enclosure, painted eventually ? Otherwise you could just dig up a metal box, tin somewhere.
An example of the homemade approach : http://www.6079smith.com/fx.htm

Hope this helps you decide to give it a go.
In any event the Magnus Modulus is really worth it.

Howdy,
Long time lurker, first time poster.  I have completed my first valid build of the Magnus Modulus with a board ordered from GuitarPCB.com.  I really like the circuit. It does everything I expected and more with the simple boost the GAIN pot can give with everything else minimized.

But I have to tell you, despite having a great build, most of my error checking over the last three days (which I thought was the perfectly good circuit) was actually my repeated, different attempts to wire the toggle switches.  I had great success with simply connecting the pads together, and controlling the various aspects of the pedal simply through the various pot configurations of the different sections.

My mini-toggels have a 3 leads: a larger center lead (from research this is the "Source") and two smaller leads on either side which the toggle determines as output.  Originally, since the leads from the Magnus Modulus board are two leads, and not three, I had wired the pots with one of the smaller pot leads empty, and the leads from the board to the middle and one side respectively, such that the circuit was either open or closed.  But I got noises, bass thumping heartbeats, etc.

I then thought, "hey, I guess this empty second pot lead has to go somewhere, I better send it to ground."  That really didn't work out because it sounded like a screaming ground fault with no volume control.

This is when I decided to simply connect all the pads together, and test the circuit without switching other than a bypass, and it sounds great- there is no noise or uglies at all.

So while, I COULD easily use the Magnus Modulus as is, is there some way to better wire these switches.  Thanks,
John Blake Arnold   ;D

Hey guys!!!
I built this project recently and i have two problems with it:

a) the delay switch "pop" sound

to stop this i had try the Thomeeque solution with no positive results unfortunately. Maybe is a mistake that i did (misunderstand) so can anyone tell me with more details what to do (with an image if its possible)
i can't upload a scheme of what i did straight to the forum and i don't have a link to do that

b) when i turn the tremolo on sounds a backround loud "heartbeat"

Had anybody the same problem? How can i stop that?

Otherwise is a very good pedal which you can get the sound you want very easy and without plugging many pedals

...and after a few years there is somone else who tried and build this, ehm, son of a gun! Well, it didn't go well at first power up :'(, and it took me a couple of days to figure it out, but finaly it worked. And it worked fine! Only one thing to point out: on my build(using an analogue synth, not a guitar)everything works but when you kill delay everything is off :icon_rolleyes:, and mod and trem, have small effect on the sound when you lower the depth pot (or maybe that's what it does). Anyway, it is just my second project and it worked as I was expecting it (with a little troubleshooting). GREAT!

we'll be expecting to see a photo of your build soon, in the picture thread, Costas, and welcome to the forum.

It's in the wood finish enclosures. Not quite there yet, but I like where it goes...