Pedal to USB Question

[cps]

Hi,

I posted this question over on the DIYAudio forum however there hasn't been a response.

I'm a computer programmer (mainly multimedia), and I've dabbled in analog electronics (I've built a couple of valve guitar amps and distortion pedals as well as other music gear). I'm also a guitarist.

I'd like to build a distortion "pedal/interface" that I can use for recording. More specifically, I'd like to add a USB port to the pedal/interface.

I think I'm OK with the pedal and the computer aspects of the project but
I haven't done much in the way of digital electronics - how difficult would this be to do?

I was thinking of doing something like running a runoffgroove amp simulator (Thor?) into their Condor cabinet simulator and then into a TI PCM2906B (?) and finally into the computer via the USB port.

Would this be (a) easy, (b) hard, or (c) forget it? 

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Chris

[km-r]

i think you can reverse engineer those cheap'n'nasty USB soundcards that usually come from C****

check out these DIY USB soundcards
http://zedomax.com/blog/2008/05/19/diy-usb-sound-card-needs-no-xp-drivers/
http://electronics-diy.com/PCM2706_USB_Soundcard.php

[potul]

i think you can reverse engineer those cheap'n'nasty USB soundcards that usually come from C****

check out these DIY USB soundcards
http://zedomax.com/blog/2008/05/19/diy-usb-sound-card-needs-no-xp-drivers/
http://electronics-diy.com/PCM2706_USB_Soundcard.php

I think these USB soundcards have a DAC, but no ADC. They don't seem to have an analog input.
But I guess something like a PCM2912A could be used for input.
Not a beginner's project, though.

Potul

[Ice-9]

M-Audio who make high quality sound cards for home studio usemake a small USB interface stick which has input and output, I have one plugged into my PC just so i can plug in effects pedals to test. Sound quality is good and there very cheap. Maybe having a look at one of these would be a good start. The interface came free with session software which cost £20.

[Ice-9]

I've just opened up the M-Audio interface and it uses a Micronas UAC35568 chip for its usb to audio and it also has a 24cxx eeprom in there and not much else.

here is a link to the controller data, maybe its worth a read

http://www.digchip.com/datasheets/parts/datasheet/656/UAC3553B.php