"Brazen Prophet" super simple 4-stage fake phaser

[Thomeeque]

..(Triangle might be nicer,) but I'm aiming for ultimate simplicity here.

Why?

simple circuits to do things that previously required complicated circuits are Art.

On the other hand ultimately simple phaser with unpleasant sweep would be waste of time, that's my point.

[Taylor]

If you think this thing is a waste of your time, then your time would probably be better spent checking out circuits that interest you.  

More constructively, I have worked out a more triangle-ish version of the same single opamp LFO.

[deadastronaut]

Simple circuits are cool because:

-more people will build them

-they provide a good stepping stone for beginners

-designing simple circuits that work well is difficult, so offers material for learning more about electronics, flexing our thinking ability, expanding lateral creativity/problem solving

+1

[Thomeeque]

If you think this thing is a waste of your time, then your time would probably be better spent checking out circuits that interest you.  

More constructively, I have worked out a more triangle-ish version of the same single opamp LFO.

Well, I've tried to be constructive, you just don't get it..

[Taylor]

Sorry Tomas, I really don't want to get into a thing about it - life is too short to be upset over effects pedals! I appreciate your suggestion to remove the buffer - in fact as I noted above I had already built it without that, so I agree about that.

I take your point about the triangle LFO, and in fact I already had the same idea, which you know from what you quoted. The simple answer is that, with this kind of circuit, if there needs to be a tradeoff between simplicity and perfection, I will go for simplicity. The reason is that people have already made endless regular old phasers. There is no point in me trying to design a regular phaser with the same number of parts, because I am simply not a talented electrical engineer in the professional sense.

If I wasn't going to make the tradeoff for simplicity, then there would be no point in designing this circuit at all, or really almost any new non-digital effects since the 70s. They basically already got it "right" so if that's our only design consideration, I know I have nothing to add.

Your philosophy about effects design seems to differ from mine, and that's cool. There's room for both. 

[Skruffyhound]

Come on guys, don't get irritated. I think Tomas was just saying not to be so obsessed with simplicity that you miss out on a better sounding design for the want of a few components. He wasn't having a go at you Taylor.
Props for this and the other new designs Taylor, I'm enjoying following the development of them. It's easier for a hack like myself to understand what's going on when things are broken down into relatively simple circuit snippets.

Ok, I see I was too slow posting, things are already under control 

[Thomeeque]

..in fact as I noted above..

I have missed that actually, sorry..

I think Tomas was just saying not to be so obsessed with simplicity that you miss out on a better sounding design for the want of a few components. He wasn't having a go at you Taylor.

Exactly, thanks - my advice would be to start with proper functional circuit and try to simplify it step-by-step later checking what's the price for each given simplification, not the other way.

And especially with sweep signal I'd be really careful.

T.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

Exactly, thanks - my advice would be to start with proper functional circuit and try to simplify it step-by-step later checking what's the price for each given simplification, not the other way.

I politely disagree; I think that's a way to get a stripped down version of an existing sound, not an altogether new sound that comes from approaching a problem from scratch in a new way.

[auden100]

Blah blah blah. When do we get sound samples? 

[Thomeeque]

Exactly, thanks - my advice would be to start with proper functional circuit and try to simplify it step-by-step later checking what's the price for each given simplification, not the other way.

I politely disagree; I think that's a way to get a stripped down version of an existing sound, not an altogether new sound that comes from approaching a problem from scratch in a new way.

Sorry, there should have been "to start with designing proper functional circuit and try to simplify it step-by-step later"..

[Jazznoise]

This looks very cool and very easy to expand out - I'm assuming one could add more and more stages? I'm also interested in the idea of adding an expression pedal input to it - I've gotta use that Moog EP-2 for something! But this looks great and would probably be good for a newbie like me to build and expand upon at later stages.

I'd be interested to here some audio clips, though. 

[Perrow]

 

Blah blah blah. When do we get sound samples? 

I don't like posting +1 posts, but I'll make an exception this time.

+1

[deadastronaut]

breadboard it!...

[Perrow]

breadboard it!...

Well, I did go to the post office today to pick up my Futurlec order, including a breadboard and quite a few other things, but it currently holds the beginning of a Tiny trem and I think I'll get that sorted out first. I'll let this one settle down first, but a sound sample would be nice

[Taylor]

This looks very cool and very easy to expand out - I'm assuming one could add more and more stages? I'm also interested in the idea of adding an expression pedal input to it - I've gotta use that Moog EP-2 for something! But this looks great and would probably be good for a newbie like me to build and expand upon at later stages.

I'd be interested to here some audio clips, though. 

Yes, more stages should be fairly easy. An expression pedal for manual sweep or LFO speed is simple too.

Sound clips and updated schem soon.

[deadastronaut]

breadboard it!...

Well, I did go to the post office today to pick up my Futurlec order, including a breadboard and quite a few other things, but it currently holds the beginning of a Tiny trem and I think I'll get that sorted out first. I'll let this one settle down first, but a sound sample would be nice

yeah know what you mean..ive got 3 full breads at the moment..  you can never have too many boards...but there's always never enough!...

edit:

aha..clips soon...

[SISKO]

I see no clean mix here, is that unnecessary in this kind of circuit?

[Taylor]

Right. In a regular phaser, the effect is obtained by creating a frequency-dependent delay, then combining the delayed signal with the clean signal to create cancellations which result in one or more notch filters.

In this circuit, we bypass all that and go straight to the filters so the blend is not needed. In this case they are peaking rather than notch filters, but I'll do a slightly bigger version that will allow for peaking or notching.

[Brymus]

Wow this is cool !!

[culturejam]

I'm all over this one, Taylor.