Tap tempo modded Echo Base PCBs in the works - vote on features

[Taylor]

I'm not in the habit of building with mounted pots anyway 'cause I like the freedom of placement (in a larger enclosure) , so soldering up 6 lugs is nothing to get hung up on for me.
 My personal concern is I won't be able to buy a load of opto's to sort through if you go that route.
   Mainly I hope you don't lose patience and do the junior version. Looking forward to seeing how this ends up.

I'm doing both, don't worry. I think it's good because the plain old Echo Base is still a killer effect without all the bells and whistles, and the Gigantor is going to be a bigger build than a lot of newer DIYers want to mess with at first.

I guess I will just do the board for the dual pot. For the time being, people can build it with a solder lug pot, then when the board-mount pot becomes available, that will be an option.

[jkokura]

I'm already envisioning the two pedals side by side...

The "AT-ST" and the "AT-AT"

All this talk of Echo Bases is making me want to watch the Empire Strikes Back.

With these PCB's we will come up with names for pedals that totally make us look like Geeks to everybody else.

Jacob

[Taylor]

Hate to break it to you, Jacob, but I think the nature of this hobby already makes us look like geeks to everybody else. 

It's made up for by the way people think I'm an insane genius about electronics out in the real world. Then I come on here and feel like I barely know anything. This forum is good for a reality check.

[slacker]

In the meantime I completed a simpler Echo Base board. It has the updated input and output sections for cleaner operation, less hiss. It's got just a couple of little mods that don't take up room (the status LED flashes with the LFO, there's an option for an LFO kill switch), but other than that it's stock. Best of all it, it will fit, with stomp switch, jacks, etc. in a 1590B box, oriented landscape style ala ZVex.

Sweet, can't wait to see that

I'd just go with the dual pot for the feedback, that way people have the option of using 2 separate pots if they want to, which is probably something I'd experiment with.

[Skruffyhound]

Yeah OK, if they are out over the edge of the board then I think you are right, there seems to be the same 10.7 mm on both from pins to base of shaft.
I don't care that much either way, there is just always a certain amount of messing about with opto's and as can be seen from every thread about an effect that uses them, they are not consistent between builds. It may, as you say, be a non-issue here, a dual pot is just clean and one less variable when comparing notes or building a few units, and if I'm honest I have amassed quite a stock of them and rarely get to use one
Just go with what makes the most sense for the largest number of people.

[RonaldB]

Hi Taylor,
I don't want to rush you but how does the work go on this PCB?
regards
RonaldB

[Taylor]

Coming along. I sort of put it aside because I know I'm not going to have the dough to order the PCBs right away. Need to scrounge some dollars first... 

[NQbass7]

I'd be willing to chip in a few bucks to a collective fund to offset some costs for you.  I'm pretty excited to try one of these out...

Anybody else?

[sinner]

I'm also the one up for it

[oliphaunt]

Yes, ask for pre-orders, and we will likely provide you the funds to make it happen.  I'll pre-order.

[aziltz]

as would i

[Taylor]

That's ok, I think I've got it sorted out. I'll finish up the design soon and we can move this project forward. 

[montezuma]

I'd like to order a board and will happily pay now, no matter how long it takes 

[Mr. G.]

I'm in for a board or two myself.  I'm in need of a delay with some longer repeat times, and I love modulated delay. 

[braintree]

Hey Taylor, I'm totally in for a coupla boards (as likely a couple of my friends will be too).

Love what you do, thanks a bunch; you're a total champion.

[Taylor]

A couple people PM'ed me about this, so I figured an update was in order. The simpler, but updated Echo Base PCBs are available (here) but I haven't been able to complete the Gigantor, and here's why:

I'm not really a circuit designer. My skills as an electrical engineer are woefully lacking. I'm pretty decent at layouts, but I don't really have the knowledge or time to breadboard a circuit and figure out all the tweaks necessary to make it work. This tap-tempo delay project started to get so far from any verified schematic that I realized I really need to build some prototypes before I bother getting PCBs made, and I just haven't had the time yet.

However, I have a good track record so far of actually completing all the PCB projects I've so far committed to, so it will happen. If anybody has some time to breadboard a prototype of a large circuit, let me know, and we can work together on this.

[Beo]

Hi Taylor,
  I'm guessing this project is shelved for the time being? I'm really keen on building a full featured dual pt2399 delay with decc's ptap. The schematics I've seen for a dual implementation of the echo base with all the buffers/mods look to be very tough to layout. Have you made any progress? Do you have any layouts that you'd like tried out and verified?

Travis

[Taylor]

Unfortunately yeah, just haven't had the time needed to do this. If I had a verified schematic I could do the layout, as I had it mostly completed back in February. What schematics have you seen of dual tap tempo Echo bases?

If anybody out there is up to work out some of the details of the circuit design and put together a final schem, please contact me and we can work out the details ($)

[aziltz]

the BYOC Dig. Delay is a Dual PT2399 and there is a PTAP design to mate with it.  I guess you could consider those pieces as being verified separately.

[Taylor]

Ah, right, but as I recall I thought the way they implemented the 2 chips was really limited. I think if you use them in "parallel" they still sum before the feedback, which means you can't have separate feedback lines for each, which in turn makes the 3-on-4 rhythmic delays we had planned with this project impossible. I'll try to dig back into this project when I get a little time, because it's a fun project.