stompbox for disabled

[deadastronaut]

Have you checked out the lightwah? It uses a light-determined resistor (LDR) rather than a pot to create the effect. Anything that moves and casts a shadow can be used in place of a foot. A search on this forum will give you all the info you need.

i presume going by your 'name' this would be ideal...( even in the mouth)  e.g.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nU9mFkxfUY

you could also use this idea for other effects too (with a little circuit adaptation)  /delay-repeats /volume..etc... you would have  to pull some funny faces though.. ...but hey it works right.


there is also the 'pulsewah' which has no light control...just an lfo which will sweep the wah slowly or fast....

or try an 'autowah/envelope filter...

[Mustachio]

Yeah an envelope filter or auto-wah would actually work great. Some times with the right settings I can't really tell a difference between a regular wah and an auto-wah. I think PJP said some times live he just kicks on an envelope filter instead of using a wah.

So I was looking for some arduino code about controlling a digital potentiometer with an accelerometer and stumbled across this guys youtube videos of him making just that , an accelerometer controlled digital pot connected to a colorsound wah. The only thing is he attached it to his headstock which doesn't get that much movement while playing. I'm thinking put it on the bill of a baseball cap and bob your head up and down or on your elbow or heck anything that moves , a glove on your picking hand tons of possibilities!

So these are the videos I ran across showing it done. He didn't provide any source but It shouldn't be too hard. He provided a bit of info in the description . I'm sorta new to arduino just working on a pickup winder now but ill look more into this cause It looks really interesting controlling a digital pot with sensors!

Also I found a lil info on it here page 96
Controlling a Digital Potentiometer Using SPI
http://www.ele.uri.edu/courses/ele205/ELE205Lab/ELE205_Lab_files/Arduino%20-%20Learning.pdf


I don't know If I totally understand the LDR in the mouth trick , would you put it in the end of a tube like a talk box but black out the end of the tube and put that in your mouth then open and close real fast to get the sweep ?

My face would get tired. My face is already tired haha.

[Johan]

How about an accelerometer/tiltcensor mounted on the guitar? If they can fit inside a cell phone so you can play games and stuff, surely it could be descrete enough to be on the guitar itself and the player would be free to sing, talk, whatever, and not worry about where that mouth thingy has been since the last time it was used
J
Edit. Sorry, didnt see that mustachio just posted the same idea...

[Mustachio]

Haha I just watched that soul kiss video that is pretty awesome! The part at the end when he says " I feel sick" hahaha and his comment "It tastes like disinfectant" 

It did sound pretty good and reacted much better then I thought it would. Very cool.

Now if you wore dentures you could pop in an LDR and run an 1/8" jack out of a molar or incisor. Just for fun some one should do this with some plastic vampire teeth or something Count Funk'u'La!

Also found this

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/mcp41100-mcp41100-i-p-digital-potentiometer-100k-ohm-ic.html

[DougH]

I used to own the Soul Kiss - it worked well. Wish I didn't sell it!
I was using in on keys and it couldn't handle the input. This was before DIY :-(

Aron

Aron, what about something using a breath controller? I know you did some work with breath controllers back in the day.

[Mark Hammer]

The OP's username might be a bit of a clue as to the nature of the disability...

  Although in my defense, once you start scrolling down through the replies, the poster's handle starts disappearing off the screen.

I suppose the strategy starts, for me at any rate, in determinng how the user wishes to employ a wah-wah effect.  For instance, there are many instances where a player uses a foot-controlled wah in exactly the same way they might use an auto-wah that does single-shot sweeps, or perhaps a modulated wah that just goes on its own.  Those are easy to do.  It is the impromptu custom-tailored riff-wise use of a wah that is hard to duplicate via other means.  Certainly part of the "feel" of how people use a wah in that way is dictated by the way they move their foot, its acceleration rate, limits on its movements, etc.

On the other hand, much of the goal of the wah, whether it is a physical one used by a trumpeter, Joe Walsh or Alvino Rey using a voice/talk box, or even Jimi, is to mimic voice.  So it seems a no brainer to place control of a filter in the mouth, where it belongs.  The challenge is in getting it to detect mouth movements in a way that does not either limit what you can do/say, or misrepresent what you're trying to do.

Some time back I proposed a "talked-to" pedal, that would serve as a very crude kind of vocoder.  The idea was not to split the mic signal into 8, 10, or some other number of bands to modulate those same bands in the carrier.  Rather, the user would have 2 or 3 simple envelope followers, each tuned to different aspects of the vocal input, that could then adjust, in real time, something about the signal.

So, say you had one envelope follower that detected the amplitude of vocal input within a certain band.  Maybe that band is centered around the frequency of your voice when you say "waaa".  As a person says "oowaaa", they are supplying progressively more energy to the envelope follower, and the output voltage should rise.  That envelope could then be applied to a bandpass filter.  In fact, one could use the exact same bandpass filter in the Soul Kiss, but without having to hold something in your mouth.  At the same time, a second envelope follower, that detects the amplitude of the entire mic signal (not just stuff within a certain band) could be used to control the resonance of that filter, or maybe the degree of grit to the signal, if one wanted to get a little "gargle" in it.

So why not just use a Soul Kiss?  Well, first, the idea of something that can be tuned to one's own voice is appealing.  Second, being able to control several parameters at once is appealing.  Third, if your hands are busy playing, it's nice not to have to use them for sticking something in your mouth and taking it out.  Nudging your knee against a momentary switch, and moving away from the micis more fluid.  Hell ,it would be possible to rig up a momentary switch at the mic that you simply bang with your chin.

But again, all of this revolves around what the player wants to do.

[Bill Mountain]

Could this be used to control a wah?

http://www.sourceaudio.net/products/hothand/

[Mark Hammer]

Absolutely.

I was curious about it a few months back so I wrote to them and learned that there were 3 outputs, one of them equivalent to the Line 6 expression pedal, which is simply a variable 10k resistance to ground, and the other two being 3V control voltages that the Source Audio pedals employ.  The HH3 retails for around $150.  I was hoping to sell a couple pedals locally and get myself one.

Again, waving your hand doesn't get you the exact same musical feel as moving your foot.  But who knows, it might even be more responsive.

Good call on your part.

[Jdansti]

There are a lot of great ideas being proposed! However, a lot of the ideas, although very feasible, are more complex than a poor hack such as myself would be able to employ.   If we assume that the OP is a "paint-by-numbers" person (OP-please let us know your skill level), I'd like to propose two alternative approaches to help focus the conversation.

1) Keep it Simple Option: How could an existing wah be modified? Move the pot to a location that the OP could manipulate with something other than feet?

2) More Complex Option: Digital, LDR, Etc.: OP chooses a method and a volunteer from the forum builds it for him/her.

We've had so many great ideas in a short amount of time that either the OP hasn't had a chance to respond yet or is overwhelmed with the possibilities presented.  OP, let us know what you think!

[moosapotamus]

Yeah, why not a talk box? You don't have to actually talk. Just open/close your mouth and you get "wha-wha".

Anyone remember the Danelectro Free Speech?
http://www.danelectro.com/download/DTB1_freespeech_instructions.pdf
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/danelectro-free-speech-talk-box


~ Charlie

[Jdansti]

^Good idea and more versatile than a standard wah. Having the mics attached to the tube eliminates the need for a regular mic.

[psychedelicfish]

I could use one of there mouth controlled wahs! whenever I use any kind of wah I subconsiously move my lips anyway

[Paul Marossy]

Another Idea I haven't totally hashed out in my head is attaching a pot to a tremolo bar. so the same movement you get when you screw the bar in would affect the pot instead of pushing the bar down to get the strings to loosen. If that makes any sense. But I think it would limit the agility in the hands to be picking and moving the bar would at least be harder to get the same effect you get from a wah.

How about something like a "B Bender", except that it would control a pot? I know, the guitar would have to be specifically built for it, but it could potentially be one method. Seems like it would be hard to do the whacka whacka thing with that though. Maybe not if one could build some kind of spring loaded linkage that moves the pot a lot with only a little bit of movement and makes it return to some set point. Probably not really practical or realistic, but not every idea is. 

[mistahead]

Hmmmm... what does the OP sit in/on when playing?

Again if there is a thigh that can be utilised...

What if we went the other way - modify a comfy chair with a recess so a normal wah could be slipped in under the thigh in the chair - modify the enviroment to suit all standard tools, rather than the other way around?

Possibly unsuitable but carpentry once may turn out to be better than electronics n times over.

[Jdansti]

The OP will also have to have a way to switch in and out of bypass.

[mistahead]

The OP will also have to have a way to switch in and out of bypass.

True...

Bypass looper under the other thigh.

[R.G.]

The OP will also have to have a way to switch in and out of bypass.

See earlier comment on the remote bypassing tactile switch setup.

[Tony Forestiere]

All very interesting possibilities from so many diverse thoughts for solving the OP's inquiry. Really weird though. Only one post from the OP and no reply as of yet?
No offense to anyone with physical limitations, but could "legless" collectively be pulling ours

[mistahead]

Refer to my original response in this thread...

But I've been abrasive with folks from time to time lately so covered my arse with an apology.

[petey twofinger]

i keep checking this thread , it is an interesting topic , i do get the feeling op may infact not be returning , but who knows  . something about problem solving , unsolved issues tend to haunt me .

how about a soul kiss type circuit running a led/cds combo mounted on the guitar or bridge , the user would cover this with his palm , add a bypass switch in that area / maybe a small distortion circuit as well .