Ok, I've started getting some email questions about building the Christine Fuzz (http://musicpcb.com/pcbs/christine/), so it's time for another installment in the "building the..." series. To recap, this is a design originally by The Tone God (http://tech.thetonegod.com/). He gave me the go-ahead to create a PCB for a slightly tweaked version of his design. Most notably, I've removed the in and out buffers, because I liked the way this allows you to control the pedal's oscillations and texture using the guitar's volume and tone controls.
It's designed to be a really simple, quick, clean build, but offer a ton of strange and massive fuzz sounds. It does a lot of the same velcro and oscillating tones from the Fuzz Factory, but without any germanium or other special parts needing to be selected. There are also some octave-jumping and synthy sounds available.
Here's my build. I was going for a "dredged up from the bottom of the sea" look. :D
(http://musicpcb.com/wp-content/gallery/buildphotos/christine-angle2.jpg)
(http://musicpcb.com/wp-content/gallery/buildphotos/christine-guts2.jpg)
(http://musicpcb.com/wp-content/gallery/buildphotos/christine-side-angle2.jpg)
(http://musicpcb.com/wp-content/gallery/buildphotos/christine-front-dark2.jpg)
I received a question about the pot orientation. This photo should make it clear how they should be wired to turn the right way. I use the Alpha right angle PC mount pots (Http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=692) available at Small Bear. These make for a super easy build, and also keep you from having a wiring mess that can contribute to noise. I put a little bit of velcro on the back of the board to keep the pots from shorting anything.
(http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/4760/christinepotssized.jpg)
The major mod I've come up with is to use a buffered inverter IC (part number is in the PDF). This makes what is already a very crazy effect into something completely different, and completely nuts. I have now built a second one using the buffered chip. It would be cool to swap between them with a switch, but my experiments and research seemed to indicate that this can't be done without altering the sound of the circuit noticeably.
Any other questions, mod ideas, or build reports/photos are welcome.
I went looking for sound clips of this a few months ago and came up dry or to broken links. Would you happen to know where I could find some?
Here's a clip of the Tone God's original build http://www.eskimo.plus.com/fxstuff/christine_knob_tweaking.mp3 (http://www.eskimo.plus.com/fxstuff/christine_knob_tweaking.mp3)
Thanks for posting that, slacker, I hadn't seen that myself. I bought a guitar recently, so I can now make guitar clips (figuring nobody wants to hear bass clips), so once I get some time I will make a bunch of this one - it's one of those circuits that's too crazy and versatile to capture in any one clip.
Quote from: Taylor on March 11, 2011, 02:01:50 PM
I bought a guitar recently, so I can now make guitar clips (figuring nobody wants to hear bass clips)...
.
:o Are you kidding?!?! Bass clips are way more important than thin, screechy, little sounding guitar clips! :icon_mrgreen:
~ Charlie
Quote from: Taylor on March 11, 2011, 01:28:31 AM
I received a question about the pot orientation. This photo should make it clear how they should be wired to turn the right way. I use the Alpha right angle PC mount pots (Http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=692) available at Small Bear. These make for a super easy build, and also keep you from having a wiring mess that can contribute to noise. I put a little bit of velcro on the back of the board to keep the pots from shorting anything.
(http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/4760/christinepotssized.jpg)
The major mod I've come up with is to use a buffered inverter IC (part number is in the PDF). This makes what is already a very crazy effect into something completely different, and completely nuts. I have now built a second one using the buffered chip. It would be cool to swap between them with a switch, but my experiments and research seemed to indicate that this can't be done without altering the sound of the circuit noticeably.
Any other questions, mod ideas, or build reports/photos are welcome.
Are other readers here also getting redirected to youtube when clicking the Alpha link to Small Bear above? Reminds me of other recently reported hackings. (Tonepad and Effects Connection)?
I'm not getting redirected to youtube, but my link is broken. Here's the fixed one:
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=692
loved making this board, it was less than 30 minutes, maybe 10... first testing on guitar, this thing is the tits.
(http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/183510_1299733310703_1751522634_514345_5608900_n.jpg)
thank god for radio shack, ordered the wrong IC socket.
(http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/190613_1299791592160_1751522634_514442_7334612_n.jpg)
populated board, don't know yet if it matters, but i used the Audio Grade Capacitors from Nichicon
(http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/189640_1300754376229_1751522634_515874_3001355_n.jpg)
in a metal pen case like swim wear.
(http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/198669_1301608837590_1751522634_516744_4306893_n.jpg)
this build was for my personal effects gear.
i make pretty experimental nasty gnarley Drum & Bass.
http://www.soundcloud.com/wizards-of-zen
(shameless self-promotion, sorry)
i suppose i can get around to posting some samples of my build.
i ordered both IC chips. the TI CD4049UBE i have is now going into a MR.EQ when ever i can find a PCB (any help is welcome!)
the MC14049bcpg makes this thing what it is imho, the TI chip is just a tame kitten, the MC unleashes this beast big-time.
Glad you posted your build here! Looks cool and it's nice to hear your music as well.
Things have gone towards the "polished" in the Pictures thread here over the last few years, so it's kind of refreshing to see a nasty build like that sometimes. :)
oh yea, i got intentions of a pretty box for it sometime, but the tones had to come out fast, so what i had on hand went in. look forward to more of your kits! currently i have a Meeblip ( http://meeblip.noisepages.com ) that needs boxing, 5 small effects (+APC & 4093 Drone) kits from Synthrotek (dot com) that i don't know what i'm casing with, and an Oakley Sound TM3030 (Roland TB303 clone) on the way thats going into a 2U rack space. I made Casper electronics (dot com) Drone Lab and love the filters on it. someone get the Shruti-1 back in stock!
I ran a test recording of the Meeblip through the Christine and got some pretty nasty gnarly sounds, my Meeblip is using a pos bellsouth 9v 300ma wall wart and produces horrible tearing noises, the Christine made it nice and dirty (its being powered by an old SEGA Genesis wall wart - 9v 1200mA (maybe a bit much? i've got some lower ones i need to try out)
... heres a link - http://www.zshare.net/audio/8801604228bf9dba/
the lower 8 bit sounding atari-nintendo sounds are the meeblip, the hard distortion is the Christine, and the right side is a bonus mystery track that showed up from my recording path.
:icon_mrgreen:
This thing is so fun I'm awake now 03:00 in the morning after not able to stop fiddling with it.
Much fun pushing it a bit with a boost, or more fun pushing it in various ways with EQ.
See that tiny black box next to the crybaby. that's a 1590A box, into that I'll be pushing it when I get some more time over.
Had to push a guitar in there too.. LesPaul Jet-black Ebony fingerboard everything Chromed METAL, no plastics, only thing stock on that thing is the wood. :icon_mrgreen:
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_EdqDkfJWXcY/TYgB92HhYfI/AAAAAAAAAWo/mWQcmPyArXc/s640/group.jpg)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_EdqDkfJWXcY/TYgB93aPGOI/AAAAAAAAAWk/p9yDgYj_yPk/close.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_EdqDkfJWXcY/TYgB9ydFkxI/AAAAAAAAAWs/4Net-WrCZlU/view.jpg)
Now I'm REALLY torn... I was gearing up to build a Great Destroyer, and now I'm smitten with Christine!
Taylor, I've just sold my house, and will have to move at the end of May. I probably won't be able to build anything for the next few months thereafter. I've got one virgin 1590 enclosure left on my bench. What's the call here? Destroyer, or Christine? Sort of a "alone on a desert island, and could have one of these 2 pedals" question.
Cheers,
Dino
They have pretty similar sounds available, especially if you use the buffered chip in Christine. AFAIK there's no fabbed PCB for TGD, so of course I'd go with my board since it's a much simpler and cleaner build.
Christine is a little more controllable - you can tune the oscillation with the OSC knob, so that's another advantage.
Diplomatic salesman... I like that. Going to order the PCB today. The controllability factor is important, since often times I need to be able to tune the oscillations to a certain key.
Will using ceramic caps make a big difference here, or do I need to order those box types, like you've got there?
Quote from: digi2t on March 22, 2011, 08:30:19 AM
Diplomatic salesman... I like that.
Yeap Taylor is nice. Almost built all his PCBs now. just need to find some time with a decent drill for the boxes.
Now lets all push him into making
Uglyface PCB, Skyripper PCB
avalible ;)
[So far his PCBs worked well for what Im doing so have high hopes for future projects :)
*Rock/Industrial/Noise-stuff, if that makes any sense. Insane guitars, Crazy Synths and Distorted Drums.]
Quote from: digi2t on March 22, 2011, 12:10:24 AM
Now I'm REALLY torn... I was gearing up to build a Great Destroyer, and now I'm smitten with Christine!
Forgot to reply to that in my last post.
Just whanted to say that, YES the christine is a real real nice pice of kit. *Just spent another 3hours playing around with it tossing all other boxes I have through it in various ways to see what could be coaxed out of it.
Nice stuff.
No prob dude. You're absolutely right where Taylor is concerned though, top notch miho. I've already got one of his Gristleizers on the board, and he was very helpful during the build. Hell, I'd buy dogshit from him, but my dog's got that covered.
Ordered the board this morning. Can't wait. This is going to be my last build for a while.
Cheers,
Dino
Thanks guys. :icon_redface:
I was playing around with my Christine box today - just a ridiculous amount of weird stuff inside such a small circuit, just using the unbuffered chip, AKA the less crazy version. I'm still having a lot of fun with it.
I was liking it with a boost in front, so then I decided to swap out the gain pot (stock 100k) for a 1MEG. Lots more front-end boost now, which is really nice to have on tap.
If you put OSC all the way clockwise, you can actually get some very normal OD, dist and fuzz tones out of this pedal. Starving the power in this configuration can get some great sagging fuzz, as well, without any oscillations or extreme gating.
Quote from: Taylor on March 23, 2011, 10:37:53 PM
I was liking it with a boost in front, so then I decided to swap out the gain pot (stock 100k) for a 1MEG. Lots more front-end boost now, which is really nice to have on tap.
Been and IS busy as hell theese last few days and comming weekend :( So not much time to play.
I can say thou from another few hours that, to me it got more or less a requirement to push the Christine with a mosfet boost and of course shape it with EQ pedal after. (as any good fuzz for the best tones).
Dont think I have a 1MEG pot left over. But a fair few 500k's 10mm pots. So I'll try that out then.
*Seriously think that atleast with the unbuffered chip, one gotta have some more front-end boost to let the Christine show what it can do. Too me it got way more controllable with the guitar's Volume aswell when it had the mosfet boost infront. (both with modern high output humbucker's and single coils )
*just a tad to "tame" without something pushing it. ( But then Im used to Devi Ever's Fuzzes ) (( also I play by the rule of Two's when it comes to Fuzzes ;) 1Fuzz is good, 2 Fuzzess is gooodness ))
Edit:
As far as what Fuzz to Pair the Christine with I just generally messed around with it But Like it with the Green Ringer atm, for some extra flavoir. (ring modulator fuzz). Im far from my full Kit atm, but looking to check out > -TS808/MosfetBoost > Christine > GreenRinger (or GreenRinger throu Christine) > OctaveDown > AMP > EQ > a tiny bit of Chorus/Reverb/Delay for thickness. To see what can be had.
Quote from: digi2t on March 22, 2011, 04:27:49 PM
Hell, I'd buy dogsh*t from him, but my dog's got that covered.
@ Taylor. I don't own a dog. Can you help me out? :icon_mrgreen:
Sadly, I haven't a dog myself these days. I'm a big dog fan, much more than I am a fan of most animals including humans, but my landlord won't allow them. All I have is my ladyfriend's horrible cat, whom I despise. It has been known to produce waste from time to time, not sure how to mark that on the customs form though. Insert joke about "duty fees"
I'm preferring the extra gain in the front end, as opposed to an external boost, as I can get more oscillation control with my guitar's tone knob this way. Almost like a $10,000 guitar with a fuzz factory built right into it... imagine if somebody had such a thing.
Quote from: digi2t on March 22, 2011, 08:30:19 AM
Diplomatic salesman... I like that. Going to order the PCB today. The controllability factor is important, since often times I need to be able to tune the oscillations to a certain key.
Will using ceramic caps make a big difference here, or do I need to order those box types, like you've got there?
I'm wondering the same thing as well. Are there other capacitors that may be used safely, when boxed metal caps are not available?
Yep, as the build PDf says:
Quote[cap types are only suggestions for what works and fits properly on the board. If you prefer something else and know
what you're doing, feel free to substitute]
Don't mess around with the electrolytics.
But for the others, you can use any non-polar cap type, and I don't think you'll hear any difference, especially in a circuit as chaotic as this one. People argue endlessly about whether different cap types sound different so I won't go into that here, but you won't break anything by using ceramic or some other kind of film cap where the PDF calls for boxed film.
Quote from: Taylor on March 26, 2011, 02:42:17 PM
Sadly, I haven't a dog myself these days. I'm a big dog fan, much more than I am a fan of most animals including humans, but my landlord won't allow them. All I have is my ladyfriend's horrible cat, whom I despise. It has been known to produce waste from time to time, not sure how to mark that on the customs form though. Insert joke about "duty fees"
Gift??? :icon_mrgreen:
Get yourself a Westie. Not even the coldest, scroogiest, curmudgen of a landlord could refuse a Westie. If he does... well, you must live in hell then.
(http://houndbound.com/dogblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/riley-westie.jpg)
Oh yeah, that's right, your girlfriend's got a cat. Yup. You're in hell! :icon_lol:
Finally pushed it into the case.
Its an insanely tight fit, but it works. Im still cutting down wires to make the fit as good as possible.
(the PCB is exactly the width of a 1590A so you gotta cut out slots in the bottom cap sides to make it fit correctly)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_EdqDkfJWXcY/TZsejveHBKI/AAAAAAAAAXM/Imqk7msGxYk/christine.jpg)
Sealed the slight overlap with self vulcanizing rubber
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_EdqDkfJWXcY/TZtl9Bx-IPI/AAAAAAAAAXc/v7dxnSU60Go/chris1.jpg)
Gut's needs overhaul, the problem isnt in so many pots on so little area but rather, all that damned wireing.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_EdqDkfJWXcY/TZtl9FfiCeI/AAAAAAAAAXg/oIDiGInrImo/chrisgut.jpg)
Wow, that's completely insane. Awesome work! I also like that the piece of cardboard separating the jacks seems to read "R G". :)
Quote from: Taylor on April 05, 2011, 04:01:13 PM
Wow, that's completely insane. Awesome work! I also like that the piece of cardboard separating the jacks seems to read "R G". :)
thanks :) my first tiny-build that is. Need to shorten some of the wireing to make a better fit eventually, and switch out that eye-burning led. other then that it all works well :)
the "R G" thing is piece of a plastic "Crew IDcard" for some Industrial-Metal/EBM gig's I organised, needed something in there to keep the jack-tips apart, and it was on the desk at the time.
Hey Taylor,
Can I throw a switch in between lugs 2 and 3 of the power starve pot, so I can cut the starve in and out? Something like the Parallel Universe II starve switch. OFF (bypass), it jumps 2 direct to 3, and ON it disconnects 2 and 3 allowing for the pot resistance to dictate the power to ground. What do you think.
I kind of like having that function on the PU, because I can dial in a sound in starve mode, and kick it in and out.
Cheers,
Dino
Well, I've put it together. As always, top notch board Taylor. I just find that maybe the 1M pot for the oscillator may be too big (on mine, anyways). It seems that all the action is in the first 1/3 of a turn, after that, mucho of the same little girls gettin' their pigtails pulled :icon_razz:. I'm wondering if a smaller pot may be in order here, to widen up the range. Also, I reversed the wires on lugs 1 and 3 on same, because I found it counter-intuitive when dialing in noise.
Buffered chip is just pure chaos!! I'll stick with the tamer version.
Cheers,
Dino
I sometimes find that the CCW range of the OSC pot does some interesting things with the power down, tone to bassy - in other words, sometimes it acts like you say, but depending on the other knobs' positions, it has more range. But it wouldn't hurt anything to use a smaller pot and you probably would get a little more tweakability for the most part.
Sorry I didn't catch your earlier question about the starve - a switch for that function sounds like a good idea to me. A stomp switch would be pretty useful.
Those look like really good, compact, easy to assemble pcbs, Taylor! I'm imagining a 1790bb box with 2 of them in it, with some wacky switching and mixing like this idea (http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=52927.0).
Thanks Ben, that sounds like a cool idea. 2 of these in parallel would be madness. :)
Hey Taylor,
Got your board on Saturday and populated it. Nice layout! Was a cinch to build. Thanks so much! Unfortunately I made the newbie mistake of stuffing it into the enclosure before testing it out. I'm getting a real nasty hum that I have to debug now. I used some really crappy thin ribbon wire to connect the pots that I'm pretty sure is the culprit. That, or I have a pot lug/wire touching the enclosure somewhere as it crackles when I wiggle stuff. I'm also using the millenium bypass instead of a 3pdt so lots of possibilities. Bleh... But my weekend wasn't a total failure, at least I got my TR-606 working again with MIDI and kick/snare mod pots installed and finally beat Dead Space 2 on Zealot difficulty. :icon_biggrin:
When I adjust the tone pot it cuts out the signal and fades back in at the new setting. Could I have a bad tone pot? The pedal worked for about five minutes then just cut out completely :icon_lol:
Here's a pic of the finish, went with a 125b so I could fit a battery. Says "Insano Fuzz" on the bottom
(http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9031/insanopic.jpg)
Also, if I turn the power down and then turn it back to max while testing the ohms with my dmm it goes up to 60k or so then slowly increases, is that normal? This is with no power in bypass and the pot still in the circuit.
The tone pot does act like that - if you make a drastic change the sound will fade out and then fade back in. Not sure why that is, but it's happened every time I built this circuit. I don't find it to be a problem, kind of an interesting quirk.
You generally can't measure pots or resistors accurately while in circuit. There will always be other series or parallel impedances which make the pots read some strange value.
But now you can't get it to make any sound no matter how you set the knobs? I suppose the normal debugging routine will be the next step.
Ok I have a clean signal coming through. Volume works-ish, gain acts as a secondary volume knob, tone cuts out but now does not change the tone(acts like it is fully cw to the treble side), osc does nothing, and power seems to work. It pops when stomping the switch and is a little quieter than bypass.
Volume works until maxed, then it turns into an oscillating low rumble that doesnt stop, with this the tone knob cuts the guitar back in for a second when it is turned ccw at any point in the rotation, and power has this same reaction but only at the very end of the sweep when turned fully ccw.
Any ideas where I should start looking? Thanks!
Which chip are you using?
It's a cd4049ube from mammoth.
Hmm, nothing sticks out. Maybe if you post a picture somebody will see something that looks suspect.
Here are some pics, click images to enlarge.
http://imageshack.us/g/204/dscn0473u.jpg/
Swapping out the chip fixed the problem. Oscillations galore!
Interesting - you swapped for a different part number, or just a different IC of the same type?
It was the same type as the other one.
Made a demo since I can't find one anywhere :icon_mrgreen: I used my rc-2 to loop a riff for the first two minutes then I turn it off and mess with the oscillations-
Great video! Thanks for doing that.
just completed my Oakley Sound Systems TM3030 (Roland TB-303 Acid Bassline CLONE) ....
heres a short recording of it with the Christine Distortion
http://soundcloud.com/wizards_of_zen/oakley-sound-systems-tm3030-1
its using the tame chip... i should have a new recording later with the nuts chip
Wow, that sounds great. :)
@Taylor - thanks!
now heres something slightly different... i recorded around 30 minutes using the Christine, but this time plugged into a 2 toys...
Casper Electronics - Drone Lab V2 passed through to Korg's Monotron, then out to the Christine...
these tones are raw and very loud.
http://soundcloud.com/wizards_of_zen/mini-hook-up-ham-jam-01-8-9-11
Link doesn't seem to work for me.
Just finished the christine and all I can say is wow. upon first use I thought it was sort of a less refined fuzz factory and was a bit underwhelmed, but then I played with it a bit and really started to figure out how all the knobs tend to interact and have started to get some VERY cool sounds out of it...and it has an undeniably unique flavor/character.
I am now wanting to build about another two so I set and forget a few of them on my favorite sounds and then put them in a GCX or RJM switcher to have patch recall. A couple settings are extremely unique. This is with the 4049UBE. The 4049BCPG buffered chip was out of control and mostly unmusical in my build, but then I only gave it about 30 minutes in court before swapping back in the UBE and it took me at least 2 hours to get a feel for where the tones are with the UBE so maybe it deserves more study.
SUPER PCB taylor!!!! I....MUST....GET....MORE....!!!!!
Cool! And my props as always to The Tone God for the great circuit.
The buffered chip is definitely very crazy and for a lot of people, unmusical probably describes it. Just a matter of taste - I think someone earlier said that to him the unbuffered chip was way too boring, so different strokes and all that applies well here.
I can't get my build to work, it lights up and the volume and tone seem to do something, but there is no fuzz and the whole top row of knobs don't do anything I can hear.
I have swapped out the IC, no difference.
I did mount the pots all backwards, and it got a little sloppy removing them and putting them back in the right way (not all, but some of the inside of some of the PCB holes came out with the pot post). Do I need a new board?
I am pretty new at this, but I have built 4 veroboard projects already and they all work. I thought this would be much easier using a PCB.
Any ideas how to go about troubleshooting it? Or should I just order another board and re-try later?
- Thanks,
- MikeT
Hi Mike, my guess would be that the pads got destroyed when desoldering and lost their connection to where they need to go.
If you have a multimeter, set it to test continuity and look at where the traces go from the pots. Test for continuity from each leg of each pot to where the pad is going. This will help you locate what's working and what isn't. If you find that a particular pad connection isn't working and you can't get the pad happening right, a kludge solution is to run a wire from the pot to wherever it's going.
I can't really answer whether you should get another board since there's sort of a conflict of interest there. ;)
If you don't have a multimeter, definitely get one! It will be indispensable for building and debugging.
Cool, thanks Taylor, I have a multimeter and will check that tonight.
- Mike
Another thing to check is to measure voltage at lug 1 and lug 3 of the power pot.
I tested continuity on the pots through the traces, found one that seemed iffy, but I was able to put some more solder in there and it's now working.
But that didn't fix it.
I have 3.1v on lug 1, 2 and 3 of the power pot.
- MikeT
Quote from: mthibeau on September 12, 2011, 12:03:37 AM
I have 3.1v on lug 1, 2 and 3 of the power pot.
- MikeT
Regardless of how the knob is set?
Quote from: Taylor on September 12, 2011, 12:44:57 AM
Quote from: mthibeau on September 12, 2011, 12:03:37 AM
I have 3.1v on lug 1, 2 and 3 of the power pot.
- MikeT
Regardless of how the knob is set?
Sorry - tested it again
lug 1 - turned all the way down = 3.5v, all the way up = 5.6v
same for lug 2
lug 3 - turned all the way down = 3.5v, all the way up = 0v
I may have been a little light with my solder connections for my IC socket, I may add a little more to some of them and test again. I took a couple of pictures of the board all built up, would that help?
Thanks again,
MikeT
Quote from: mthibeau on September 12, 2011, 01:10:14 AM
Quote from: Taylor on September 12, 2011, 12:44:57 AM
Quote from: mthibeau on September 12, 2011, 12:03:37 AM
I have 3.1v on lug 1, 2 and 3 of the power pot.
- MikeT
Regardless of how the knob is set?
Sorry - tested it again
lug 1 - turned all the way down = 3.5v, all the way up = 5.6v
same for lug 2
lug 3 - turned all the way down = 3.5v, all the way up = 0v
I may have been a little light with my solder connections for my IC socket, I may add a little more to some of them and test again. I took a couple of pictures of the board all built up, would that help?
Thanks again,
MikeT
still getting nothing out of the board... Going through the troubleshooting FAQ and trying everything I can think of. Could I have damaged any components by having the pots backwards and powering it up to 9v?
Re-soldering my IC socket didn't help.
Any other ideas? I get a clean signal still, and the vol, tone and power pots seem to change the volume slightly (tone is quirky - drops out, then back in) when I turn them, but that's it.
- Thanks,
Mike
Hmm. I went and measured voltages in my Christine, what I had was pretty similar.
You wouldn't have damaged anything with backwards pots. The problem likely has to do with your damaged pads.
The pins of the chip are labeled in the schematic, if you can check the schematic and test with an audio probe what the signal is like at the input and output of each inverter that's in the signal path, it might point to the problem.
I'm a little unclear, when you say you have nothing coming out of the board, does the guitar signal go through the circuit, just without change, or is there no sound when the effect is engaged?
Quote from: Taylor on September 13, 2011, 12:17:29 AM
Hmm. I went and measured voltages in my Christine, what I had was pretty similar.
You wouldn't have damaged anything with backwards pots. The problem likely has to do with your damaged pads.
The pins of the chip are labeled in the schematic, if you can check the schematic and test with an audio probe what the signal is like at the input and output of each inverter that's in the signal path, it might point to the problem.
I'm a little unclear, when you say you have nothing coming out of the board, does the guitar signal go through the circuit, just without change, or is there no sound when the effect is engaged?
I get a little signal, like a muted guitar sound with some breakup, the tone, vol and power knobs seem to change that sound slightly, but that is it.
Here were the results of my audio probe tests:
Pin 3-4 = nothing
Pin 5-4 = nothing
Pins 7-6 = sound
Pins 8-7 = sound
Pins 9-10 = nothing
Pin 11-12 = nothing
Pins 14-15 = nothing
I tested it with the knobs up full, then again with them all around 50%. No difference.
- Thanks,
MikeT
Are you sure you're reading the pin numbers correctly? Pin 12 is the output of the last inverter. I don't understand how you can have sound at the output but not at pin 12. Also, pins 7 and 6 are not part of the audio path. I guess there could be some bleed but the fact that you have sound there is pretty strange.
Looking at a chip with the writing visible and the notch or dot at the top, pins are numbered
1 dot/notch 16
2 15
3 14
4 13
5 12
6 11
7 10
8 9
Quote from: Taylor on September 13, 2011, 07:58:14 PM
Are you sure you're reading the pin numbers correctly? Pin 12 is the output of the last inverter. I don't understand how you can have sound at the output but not at pin 12. Also, pins 7 and 6 are not part of the audio path. I guess there could be some bleed but the fact that you have sound there is pretty strange.
Looking at a chip with the writing visible and the notch or dot at the top, pins are numbered
1 dot/notch 16
2 15
3 14
4 13
5 12
6 11
7 10
8 9
Oops, I had the 2nd row upside down. Still new at this, trying to learn. I am just going to order a new board and try and salvage as many parts off this one I can. I will order it in a week or two after I get paid (spent far to much on DIY stompbox stuff already this month)
- Thanks,
MikeT
ive been asked by someone who might want to buy my build of this if its friendly to active basses,,,anyone know? I dont have one to test...
thanks
Yes, it will work well and do lots of cool stuff with active bass, but, it will act differently. You won't be able to control the oscillation with your onboard volume/tone controls.
But I've used it on passive bass and it's plenty of fun.
thanks taylor :)
Hi all! I'm about to start this build and was wondering if anyone had a drilling layout for it?
Also, do you think this will fit properly in a 125B enclosure? I know someone on here stuffed it into a smaller one, but I don't really want to do that. Mammoth has pre-drilled enclosure, but not with the right layout. So my plan is to e-mail them the layout and ask them to drill it for me. I'm out of town, otherwise I'd drill it myself.
What's the success rate with this one by the way? Everyone that build it get it working properly? Taylor is the man!
In the first post you can see my build in a 1590b, which is smaller than a 125b, and it's pretty tidy - no difficult cramming necessary. So fitting it in a 125b is not a problem (I've built one like that as well) but if it's your first build, leaving yourself extra room can sometimes be a good idea.
Quote from: Taylor on March 17, 2012, 05:00:18 PM
In the first post you can see my build in a 1590b, which is smaller than a 125b, and it's pretty tidy - no difficult cramming necessary. So fitting it in a 125b is not a problem (I've built one like that as well) but if it's your first build, leaving yourself extra room can sometimes be a good idea.
Awesome! I actually was hoping you'd chime in. I really dig Iron Ether's look and that pedal looks like one of your regulars. I'll go ahead and order a 1590b then. Do you have a layout by chance I could snag from you? Like I said, I lack the means to drill this puppy where I'm at.
Thanks!
So I spent all day with this bugger and can't get it going. Anyone see any mess ups in my wiring? I know I wired the damn jacks wrong because I started out with a bypassed signal and don't have one now. Any help would be appreciated!
populated board
(http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g20/ahartley/photobucket-25987-1334181802159.jpg)
(http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g20/ahartley/photobucket-37690-1334181816473.jpg)
(http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g20/ahartley/photobucket-17630-1334181837845.jpg)
(http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g20/ahartley/photobucket-35973-1334181889744.jpg)
Check these out:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/debug.html
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29816.0
Thank you Taylor! Looks like I have some reading to do!
Quote from: jwar on April 11, 2012, 06:15:30 PM
So I spent all day with this bugger and can't get it going. Anyone see any mess ups in my wiring? I know I wired the damn jacks wrong because I started out with a bypassed signal and don't have one now. Any help would be appreciated!
The wiring of the input jack looks wrong. You have connected the input to the "ground" tab and the ground to the "switching" tab. I can't see the output jack, but it might be wrong also.
You should use a multimeter to test how to connect those jacks.
So I got everything wired up again, the correct way now because I'm getting a bypassed tone when I wasn't before. Still no LED, no effect either. I check all the paths with a multimeter and I believe it's the darn 3dpt switch! I think I may have just had a bad one. I'm going to try it with a new one in a bit. The reason I'm thinking it's the 3dpt is because I get the LED to come on with my multimeter touching different points, but get nothing on all the far right pins. So it seems that it's not properly flowing through the switch. I've triple checked the way I wired it too. So that's my next trouble shooting idea.
I'll get it going, I'm sure. Just gotta find that bug! Those links you posted really help btw Taylor! Some excellent ideas in there.
Oh and I just realized I suck at drilling, so this one is going in a blem box. hahaha.
switches can fail if you hold the iron on them too long .
i have been sanding the terminals a lil , pre-tinning the wires , then adding a tiny ammount of flux to the terminal after threading the wire thru . its important to remove that flux !
sounds like a hassle but i have also ruined my share of parts from overheating .
Don't assume it's your switch. It sounds like a grounding problem to me.
Those jacks you are using are not standard switchcrafts so they may have a different lug orientation.
That's a thought. I actually had considered that as well. I have since rewired the jacks and it bypasses fine. But there still could be a grounding issue. I'm going to double check that later.
Another thought I had was the diode. Does the orientation of the diode matter at all? If so, I may have put my the wrong way. My first instinct was a backward IC, which I've done before, but it's the correct way now.
At any rate, I'll continue to trouble shoot this guy! I can't wait to have it up and running! It won't be long. I usually have issues with my builds and they end up being something completely ridiculous that I just overlooked. Like a disconnected wire or a bad solder joint or the backwards IC.
Thanks for all the help guys!!
The orientation of the diode is important. It might not be the cause of your problem in this particular case but should check to be sure that you put it the right way.
Ah yes, I did not notice this before, but it does look like your diode is backwards, which would cause the effect to not work at all. It's very likely that that's your problem (or at least the first thing to fix). Diodes, including LEDs, have positive (anode) and negative (cathode) leads. The cathode is marked with a band on one end, and most PCBs including this one have a line or band on the part in the silk screen to show which direction to put it. Otherwise they might have a + or - symbol to show orientation.
So I checked the diode and get a good reading off of it. So the problem could be in one of the resistors or the caps. Crap. I'm going to check the IC next just because it's easier to pulled since I put it in a socket.
Quick question though. The schematic shows that there is a ground needed for the input and output jacks. Can the box act as the Input ground? Or does it have to have a wire run to ground it?
Your diode is definitely backwards in that picture. Did you flip it? If so, what are the symptoms now?
The box can connect grounds, but I don't think it's good practice to rely on it. If the jacks become loose your pedal will stop working. If you really want to do that, use some heavy duty lock washers.
Quote from: Taylor on April 17, 2012, 03:43:57 PM
Your diode is definitely backwards in that picture. Did you flip it? If so, what are the symptoms now?
The box can connect grounds, but I don't think it's good practice to rely on it. If the jacks become loose your pedal will stop working. If you really want to do that, use some heavy duty lock washers.
I have since cleaned up the wiring and flipped the diode, which I was getting a good reading on. So it should work.
I just grounded the input jack and no change other than the LED is now not working. So I need to double check my connections. I think I'm going to break down and try to find the bad component with a cable like the link suggested.
So right now I get a bypassed tone and that's it. The LED leads somehow twisted in the enclosure though, so I may have a bad LED (simple enough to replace).
I've built several pedals from kits but this is my first non kit build and I'm a little confused about capacitors. First question: Will the capacitor with SKU # 1155 from small bear work for the "100n boxed metal film" cap? It's labeled as .1mf on the small bear site which I believe is the same as 100n.
Second question: are capacitors rated at 16 volts enough for this pedal? I'm looking at sku# 1404 and 1406h on small bear for the rest of the caps. They are rated at 16 volts. I have a feeling they should be at least 18 since the pedal is powered by 9 volts.
Thanks for the help.
Quote from: Wayneland on May 20, 2012, 10:38:21 PM
I've built several pedals from kits but this is my first non kit build and I'm a little confused about capacitors. First question: Will the capacitor with SKU # 1155 from small bear work for the "100n boxed metal film" cap? It's labeled as .1mf on the small bear site which I believe is the same as 100n.
Yes, that will work, and you're right that ".1mf" is the same as 100nf, at least with the way Small Bear labels things.*
QuoteSecond question: are capacitors rated at 16 volts enough for this pedal? I'm looking at sku# 1404 and 1406h on small bear for the rest of the caps. They are rated at 16 volts. I have a feeling they should be at least 18 since the pedal is powered by 9 volts.
Thanks for the help.
16 volts is probably fine for any non-polarized part like film capacitors. To my knowledge, it's only when you are buying electrolytic capacitors that you really need to over-rated them by a lot, because operating near their rated voltage can cause distortion and short life (leaking, explosion). This is assuming that you are building this pedal for yourself and you know that you will never plug in an 18 volt power supply. If you are building for other people, different rules apply.
* Most shops/companies/people I know or read do not call 1 microfarad "mf". They will normally either use the mu symbol (μF) or, since it's not so easy to make a mu on a keyboard, most people just use "uf". This is technically wrong, but so is mf, and the latter can get you into trouble, since in actual metric prefixes, a lowercase m stand for "milli-". Small Bear is the only shop I know that uses mf.
put together a christine yesterday . the pcb is very nice , easy build , i populated it in a half hour , had it all boxed up the next day , due to paint dry time . i tried 3 different 4049's in it , i do not have the "crazy " version , but i will see about getting one eventually just for "fun" . i did notice a SLIGHT difference between the chips , very slight , when playing an 'A" one had no sustain , one did a "step down " note effect , and the other had slightly more sustain , but very minimal differences .
i tried it with a jfet buffer , a mosfett boost , and a FTM in front . i think i prefer the mosfet boost in front . tried a humbucker guitar , strat , and a fernandes w/ actives / sustainer . i was getting some very odd timbres with it , especially set to self osc. i think w/ proper technique i could do some musical stuff (lead) using it besides just noise . shutting it off during dead spots, or not pausing much when its on . this thing makes quite a racket ! will do a demo video sometime .
i would like to try it out in combo with more pedals when i get some tinker time , i will say , with nothing in front of it , with my strat , the effect was almost non-existent , unless i strummed very hard . i am curious if i may have screwed something up with the build or if its the way it is normally .
i also got 2 echo pcbs from musicpcb.com . cant wait to do those , rather , till they are finished . its a lot of components and i am such a noob ! but yeah , it was a treat working with the quality pcb from these guys , as opposed to vero . the whole build process was no sweat ( fun too ).
its the one on the bottom left ;
(http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/44/zdsc03673640x480.jpg)
SO! I just finished building up Christine and it rules! Those oscillations are insanely loud and so much fun with the onboard controls of my bass. One thing that is just incredibly weird though - my LED blinks when the effect is engaged. Like, on - off - on - off - on - off...you get my drift. I initially thought it was a electrolytic I had accidentally touched with my iron but after replacing it it was still doing it. The effect works (and is insane) BUT it's just weird that I have a pulsating LED...maybe I'll try a different type and see if that makes any difference. DERP.
Well, to answer my post...yeah. It was the LED. Sup with that? Changed it out to a different color and all is well. The one before was a UV one and it seems like something else is going on in the component itself, but it's so hard to actually see.
Oh well! Sorry for the virtually meaningless post. I guess it was cool to have a blinking EVERYTHING IS GO light :D
Awesome boards Taylor! Can't wait to get the Tap Tempo trem boards in. PUMPED.
Apologies if this is too obvious an answer, but there are some LEDs with impossibly tiny circuits inside (invisible to the naked eye) intended to blink the LED. They are indistinguishable from regular LEDs if you buy a random pack. If it's blinking in a random-ish pattern, it can be a bad solder joint or just a dodgy LED (I have experienced the latter before).
Quote from: Taylor on May 21, 2012, 04:24:41 AM
Quote from: Wayneland on May 20, 2012, 10:38:21 PM
I've built several pedals from kits but this is my first non kit build and I'm a little confused about capacitors. First question: Will the capacitor with SKU # 1155 from small bear work for the "100n boxed metal film" cap? It's labeled as .1mf on the small bear site which I believe is the same as 100n.
Yes, that will work, and you're right that ".1mf" is the same as 100nf, at least with the way Small Bear labels things.*
QuoteSecond question: are capacitors rated at 16 volts enough for this pedal? I'm looking at sku# 1404 and 1406h on small bear for the rest of the caps. They are rated at 16 volts. I have a feeling they should be at least 18 since the pedal is powered by 9 volts.
Thanks for the help.
16 volts is probably fine for any non-polarized part like film capacitors. To my knowledge, it's only when you are buying electrolytic capacitors that you really need to over-rated them by a lot, because operating near their rated voltage can cause distortion and short life (leaking, explosion). This is assuming that you are building this pedal for yourself and you know that you will never plug in an 18 volt power supply. If you are building for other people, different rules apply.
* Most shops/companies/people I know or read do not call 1 microfarad "mf". They will normally either use the mu symbol (μF) or, since it's not so easy to make a mu on a keyboard, most people just use "uf". This is technically wrong, but so is mf, and the latter can get you into trouble, since in actual metric prefixes, a lowercase m stand for "milli-". Small Bear is the only shop I know that uses mf.
Thank you so much for answering my capacitor quandary. It really made my day that you answered so quickly and that I also managed to figure it out correctly. I'm stoked to build this. I'm building two for friends. They're gifts not things I'm selling.
Your answer to my question inspired another question.
In what scenario would I or someone else hook these up to an 18volt power supply? Just curious.
Quote from: Taylor on May 24, 2012, 07:55:32 PM
Apologies if this is too obvious an answer, but there are some LEDs with impossibly tiny circuits inside (invisible to the naked eye) intended to blink the LED. They are indistinguishable from regular LEDs if you buy a random pack. If it's blinking in a random-ish pattern, it can be a bad solder joint or just a dodgy LED (I have experienced the latter before).
That's what I assumed. As far as I could tell it was a non-random, very precise pattern. It was cool! But a little aggravating if it means nothing. Neat to know I had a random pack of blinky LED's ;D
On another note, I'm getting some pretty noticeable whine in bypass, like something is "winding down" or something? At any rate, I DID purchase a new iron and for some reason I decided to start on this board and it's covered in cold joints (and my shaky hands proved to make it nearly impossible to desolder with the cheap pump i have). I figure that's where my problem lies - I will probably just populate the second board with my now correct-temperature-set iron and see if that solves the problem. And still, the sounds coming out of Christine are just mind boggling. It's play with the instruments electronics is insane! So many tones, so little time...
Quote from: Wayneland on May 25, 2012, 11:01:17 AM
In what scenario would I or someone else hook these up to an 18volt power supply? Just curious.
The typical one involves someone needing to plug in their pedal, and not knowing that there's a difference between different power supplies. The other one, which stings the best of us, is simply having two different, incompatible supplies which have the same physical plug, lying around the floor of the studio/practice space/gig bag, and not paying attention as we plug in and fry our pedal.
A third scenario is becoming increasingly common: guys who "know tone" post on blogs or forums that
X pedal sounds double-good when you power it with 18 volts. Sometimes this is true (or at least a matter of taste). Then people get the idea that "more volts=more
tonez," and they figure every pedal they own will sound twice as good with twice as many volts. You see where this goes.
One last situation that I've encountered is that, some of the modern pedal power bricks have a bunch of 9v outs, some 12v outs, and then a few assorted weird outputs. Owner of said supply finds that he or she has used up all the available 9v outputs, and attempts to use an 18v output, since that's all that's left.
TL;DR version: One
shouldn't do that, but sometimes people mess up or have the wrong idea.
Sorry for the thread necromancy but I figured this was the right spot.
I think I'm finally ready to build my Christine fuzz and would like to incorporate the Sag bypass mentioned earlier. Does the layout pictured below seem like a functional way to do that? I figure I'd socket the resistor on the bypass side of the switch.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s115/sidnitzerglobin/Music%20Stuff/BreakupSex_Gutshot_01_zps9d7896e3.png) (http://s150.photobucket.com/user/sidnitzerglobin/media/Music%20Stuff/BreakupSex_Gutshot_01_zps9d7896e3.png.html)
I've built a couple of BYOC kits so far but I'm still a noob at this stuff, so pointing out any other glaring errors in the layout would be much appreciated as well. Thanks!
I looked back over this thread but couldn't find the sag bypass to which you're referring, could you quote or link it please? I guess it's just a pre-set value for the power pot?
I think you might not be using the LED+ pad correctly - it is fed by the 4k7 to the right above it so you don't need to add what you've labeled R19. Then connect your second LED and your R20 directly to 9V either at the PCB inlet or on your power jack.
The starve/sag bypass was mentioned here in post #29:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=90403.msg774799#msg774799
I just kinda latched onto the idea of the sag bypass and figured "hey, if I put a static resistor on the "bypass" poles I could have a couple preset sag values to switch between rather than just on/off or jumper the sockets if I want a bypass..." I'm taking Power pads 1 & 2 and switching between posts 1 & 2 on the Sag pot and the leads of R21 while leaving post 3 (which I assume is ground?) wired to post 3 of the pot. Make sense?
Good info on the LED + pad, I was assuming it was just a straight 9V lead. I'll pull out R19 and move R20 to connect to + on the DC jack.
Thanks again!
Hi all - I just built a Christine Fuzz and the build went great (quick and easy and worked with no troubleshooting required!). However, I'd really like to try it with the mc14049BCPG - anyone know a source that currently has them available? They come up in lots of catalogues (Mouser, et al.) but no one seems to have any available in stock - any leads would be much appreciated!!
Thanks
Hmm, that's a bummer. There is a seller on AliExpress selling them:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/MC14049BCPG/1035932148.html
AliExpress is kind of like ebay but all of the sellers are in China. I've bought things on there and received them with no issue.
After being gone for a long time, the Christine PCB is finally back in stock:
http://www.musicpcb.com/pcbs/christine-fuzz
Hey there, I am noticing a osc. hum or feedback on the pedal at most times, it recedes when instrument is played. I am using the mellow IC at the time. Is this normal? I'll try a new IC when i can get one. Thanks
Hum could be a couple things: a lot of times a hum has to do with bad grounding. Make sure the ground lug from your power jack, the sleeves of the 1/4" jacks, and the G pad on the PCB all connect to each other at a central point. Make sure that the enclosure itself is grounded (sometimes with powder coated boxes, the powder coating on the inside keeps the 1/4" jacks from grounding the enclosure). Also, any high gain distortion will amplify hum if it's coming from your guitar (e.g. single coils).
Now, feedback, yes that's normal. This is a crazy feedbacking oscillating weirdo fuzz.
Trying to build this (my first build). The LED is working, but instead of sound there is only noise. Volume pot is reducing the noise level.
Going to disassemble this and debug where the problem is. I know that the design is not the best. Have to learn a lot of things.
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DGDOh42hjgE/XNRONEjryaI/AAAAAAAAH1Y/zwSLVIKbUqEm1qrWK8-Z3bjZtiPlszJYwCLcBGAs/s1600/20190505_235823_HDR.jpg)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4tV8Gud8PUE/XNROM75c1eI/AAAAAAAAH1U/I1gncdvlOyAppiZPRNXk3OhkRohZq3JogCLcBGAs/s1600/20190506_001547_HDR.jpg)
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yliUTL_61Vw/XNRONKaBmxI/AAAAAAAAH1c/Dy_5Vje5ibsaSvhttOSTnknwskRqyaw4gCLcBGAs/s1600/20190506_001557_HDR.jpg)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5OnmbId3ALg/XNROOMEyT1I/AAAAAAAAH1g/iMYmmGo0wwYvp3OZT5vdBPwDbXeiWYZyQCLcBGAs/s1600/20190506_001607_HDR.jpg)
I would start by making an audio probe (https://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/debug.html) and seeing if your guitar signal is getting to the In on the PCB, just to eliminate issues with the bypass board wiring. This circuit will oscillate and making all kinds of noise depending on the settings of the power and OSC pots, but especially if there is no input. Also make sure all your ground points from your jacks and both PCBs are connected together.
I have built an audioprobe. The thing is that some points have audio signal, some not. I have recorded a video where I'm testing all the contacts:
Unfortunately, I have not figured out where the problem could be. Would be grateful for any ideas.
Quote from: telebiker on May 16, 2019, 07:45:17 PM
I have built an audioprobe. The thing is that some points have audio signal, some not. I have recorded a video where I'm testing all the contacts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoCZTxqnzMc
Unfortunately, I have not figured out where the problem could be. Would be grateful for any ideas.
There's not much sense in just probing randomly around the board, you need to get the schematic and follow where the signal enters and travels through the board. In the video it sounds like you've got no clean signal on the board input. Do you have a bypass switch wired up? I'd recommend wiring input and output jacks direct to the board for now, confirm the effect is working and then tackle the true bypass wiring.
(https://i.postimg.cc/TK7LxsKj/Screen-Shot-2019-05-17-at-10-26-45.png) (https://postimg.cc/TK7LxsKj)
Quote from: patrick398 on May 17, 2019, 05:31:26 AM
There's not much sense in just probing randomly around the board, you need to get the schematic and follow where the signal enters and travels through the board. In the video it sounds like you've got no clean signal on the board input. Do you have a bypass switch wired up? I'd recommend wiring input and output jacks direct to the board for now, confirm the effect is working and then tackle the true bypass wiring.
I agree. I'm using an "Effect tester" PCB (https://www.delykpcb.com/product/effects-tester-mk-ii-pcb/ (https://www.delykpcb.com/product/effects-tester-mk-ii-pcb/)) to debug the issue. As stated in the manual, I have connected 4 wires (9V, in, out, GND) and switched 3pdt which this Effect tester board has.
> In the video it sounds like you've got no clean signal on the board input.
Does this mean that I should hear something while touching the board input with an audioprobe?
Also, am I right that "power starve" part from the schematics is not used in the pcb?
Yes, you should hear your clean signal at the board input.
The power starve part is included on the PCB. It's the top left pot on the board. Rather than working on the power input pin of the chip, it inserts a variable resistance between the chip's ground pin and actual ground.
If I hear distorted signal on the board input, what this could mean?
It turned out that there was a mistake: I soldered one electrolitic capacitor wrong swapping polarity. I replaced it, soldered properly, and the circuit started to work as expected.
That would be interesting though to find out how it can be possible to investigate such issues with audioprobe? It gave me some weird results. What should I expect soldering the circuit in a wrong way? :-X
Tried the effect on a bass, sounds pretty interesting. Will post some pictures later.
This particular circuit is probably more difficult to troubleshoot that way, because by design it's so chaotic and depends on the impedance of the source feeding it, etc. But in general, audio probing is useful for narrowing down the area where the issue lies. You can probe at the output of each active stage (opamp, transistor, or in this case inverter) to find where the signal isn't getting through.
Thanks everyone for helping with the build. My first pedal with a lot of errors during making.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Hux2pvDc7y6tzQteRqwuuzSTM7kM_rhY-CU6Gh0uDgstASLOVhQUpJ9l2VBatnvRUTcW5GR4w8zS7FUsbkvHn9x6l7EAv1VLfUyerEmZYVCTioI1mjE3_HEdqS0zOfozADH4Sh78BA=w600)
What does that lower oscillator section do in this circuit?