Ludwig Phase II Clone Debugging and Miscellany

[Seven64]

took me 3 tries to get it drilled correctly.  how do you guys drill this so easily?  i drilled 1 side and wasnt even close, so i drilled out the bottom and was lots closer, increased the hole size for the toggles and it fits!  now to do the leds and stomps....

[R.G.]

took me 3 tries to get it drilled correctly.  how do you guys drill this so easily?  i drilled 1 side and wasnt even close, so i drilled out the bottom and was lots closer

This is a good place to insert some mechanical advice.

Drilling many holes in alignment is hard. I did the hole layout template specifically because of that. Otherwise, it would have required laying out parallel lines and careful measurements along them on the top of the box from distances. If you're not a machinist, hobby modeller, or skilled cabinet maker, the chances of getting this wrong are high.

The template encases that in a single bit of printing. It works well, but you have to be aware that not all printers print it at exactly the right size. That's what the few distance measurements are for - checking the printer scaling. You have to check it in both X and Y directions, because some printers have different scaling in each direction. Once you get it printed the right size and checked, the intermediate measurements should be very close.

Actually drilling the holes on size is also tough. The best way I've found is to locate the drill template on the top of the box, then to use something very sharp, like a filed-down nail point to make a little indentation as close to the center of the drill-point locations on the printed template as I possibly can. Using magnifiers to get this right helps. Once there is a little mark in the center of the places where the holes go, use a center punch to make a deeper dent in the first indentation. This will guide the bit.

Now comes the drilling. I like to drill a guide hole, and I like to use a drill press. Hole location with a hand drill is **entirely** dependent on a nice deep (and accurate!) centerpunch hole. In a drill press, you have better control and may be able to finess it a little bit. But drill a small hole, about 0.050 to 0.062 (1.2 to 1.5mm) in the center punch dent. When this is done, the center of the hole is located as far as drills are concerned. You then drill the holes with bigger drills to the final size. The location accuracy is much better with the first "starter" drill.

Be very, very careful with any power tools, especially drill presses.

[Seven64]

yea.  my printer didn't scale it properly so i tried to lay it out by hand. i am on a jankity laptop, as my desktop with all of my software crashed.  i did the centerpunch and guide hole method yesterday, and it turned out well but i decided to experiment with just using my step bit instead.  i guess thats what i get for rushing it.

[R.G.]

yea.  my printer didn't scale it properly so i tried to lay it out by hand. i am on a jankity laptop, as my desktop with all of my software crashed.  i did the centerpunch and guide hole method yesterday, and it turned out well but i decided to experiment with just using my step bit instead.  i guess thats what i get for rushing it.

At the very worst, with a Hammond box you can cut out almost the entire top side and bolt a suitably-shaped flat plate on top of it, replacing all the holes. In fact, you could more easily etch/paint/silkscreen/otherwise decorate the flat plate than the basic box itself. It can replace a lot of sins.

[wavley]

yea.  my printer didn't scale it properly so i tried to lay it out by hand. i am on a jankity laptop, as my desktop with all of my software crashed.  i did the centerpunch and guide hole method yesterday, and it turned out well but i decided to experiment with just using my step bit instead.  i guess thats what i get for rushing it.

At the very worst, with a Hammond box you can cut out almost the entire top side and bolt a suitably-shaped flat plate on top of it, replacing all the holes. In fact, you could more easily etch/paint/silkscreen/otherwise decorate the flat plate than the basic box itself. It can replace a lot of sins.

I actually planned on doing this to re-purpose a hammond box I've already drilled for another pedal.

[theehman]

I dropped the control board inside the chassis.  Once I got it where it had plenty of clearance and was centered from side to side I marked the standoff hole above the controls and drilled it.  After that I put the diagram on top, dropped a bolt through the diagram into the standoff hole and taped it down straight.  I then used a punch to mark all the holes, removed the paper, and drilled the holes.

[R.G.]

That's the same general idea behind the centerlines.

The centerlines of the drilling diagram are designed to coincide with the centerlines of the box. So you (carefully) mark the centerlines of the box in two directions, cut out those alignment holes on the paper template, then align the centerlines on the paper template to the centerlines on the box.

That way, it lines up the hole pattern up and down as well as rotationally.

I created the drilling template by making a mechanical drawing of the box projected through the top surface, then overlaying the PCB location features onto the box drawing. I picked out the centerlines of both and lined them up, and finally erased the extraneous box features.

[pinkjimiphoton]

FWIW, here's a link to order all the parts you need from Mouser.  It has everything except the recommended 1590D chassis, LEDs (since color is a personal choice) and footswitches.  I included Neutrik open frame jacks (4 mono and 1 stereo), plus a DC jack to match the recommended power supply.  RG recommends changing the plug on the power supply to keep it from being used with other size-compatible devices so if you want to do that, you'll need to add your choice of connector and jack to the list.

http://www.mouser.com:80/ProjectManager/ProjectDetail.aspx?AccessID=9e9fb9c47d

Please inform me of any errors so I can update it.

ron, this is awesome, thank you so much!

[charmonder]

First off thank you EH MAN for posting that mouser part list!

I have my PCBs and Im about to order my parts, I have some last question for those who have a completed phase synth:

I was hoping to take a short cut for my project I was wondering if anyone could describe what the animation footswitch does exactly, I cant seem to pick it out technically from the demo videos. Does it only engage the LFO to control the filter? does the wah pedal do anything when it is engaged? Id like to know Im not completely interested in having the wah pedal unless it can control the lfo rate. Also, if I do without the wah pedal should I add a 5k pot anyhow to control the center frequency? Would I still technically need an animation switch if I dont use the wah pedal part?

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey bro,

the animation footswitch kicks the LFO(which ramps up or down depending on whether you turn it on or off. if the animation switch is set to slow, when engaged, the lfo will ramp up to whatever speed the modulation speed is set at slowly....if set to fast, will do opposite.

you NEED the wah or you cannot sweep the formants. you can use it as a wah/phoneme pedal with the animation on or off.

all the animation really does is use the lfo to sweep the formants. when the animation is engaged, you use the wah to sweep the FREQUENCY of the modulation. not the speed.

you can do some sick things with it when set right, like make sounds appear to come ahead of or behind you. the animation alone is basically nothing more than a fuzz repeat, like the repeat percussion on an old electronic organ.

trust me...without the wah pedal, you won't get 1/64th of what this thing can do.

you can use the formant filter modulation section to adjust the strength (depth) of the modulation and it's speed, and the intensity of fuzz repeat. this is all controlled by the animation footswitch.

the whole thing after that is the wah, as the fuzz by itself isn't very useful and very similar to a dano tripple wah's fuzz.

while you CAN adjust the level of the fuzz, and choose normal or "vocal", it's really just there to enhance the formants.

live, using my original pII i can get sounds that would be hard pressed to get out of a synth...and i've owned moogs arps rolands electrocomps and sequential circuit analog synths.

it's pretty phat, dude.

hope this helps.

just build it!!!




as for adjusting with a trimmer? you gotta talk to rg or dino about that one...i'm still too much of a newbe.

[Keppy]

You can remove the animation switch if you just wire it always on. You'll have to keep the pot from the treadle to set the frequency range of the animation sweep, but you can move that to the console. You can then move the rate pot into the treadle.

However, this will be tricky given that the boards are made to have specific spots in specific places. I don't know if that's a layer of complexity that you want to add to this already difficult build.

[pinkjimiphoton]

also, kicking the animation in or out and the ramping is a good part of what makes the effect so cool.

i'd build it stock....then if ya don't like it, simplify it. but you really (imho) gotta experience the animal as it is to really grok what it's about.

if need be, i'll shoot another video focusing just on the animation and treadle for you to see the interaction between the two.

[digi2t]

if need be, i'll shoot another video focusing just on the animation and treadle for you to see the interaction between the two.

Geez, you read my mind bro. I can shoot one as well, if you're too busy. Let me know.

[pinkjimiphoton]

i'm up to my eyeballs and losing my mind trying to debug a diphonizer...so if you can do it dino, i'd appreciate it immensely!

the diph is madbean's "honeydripper"...it's working, kinda...but it's not sweeping. when it DOES sweep (which only seems to happen when i mess with one of the QOA's) tho, it sounds EXCELLENT..

figure i need to hone my chops a bit more before i tackle the pII.

[charmonder]

wow thanks! ok so I really want to rig up the wah pedal now, sounds like a lot of fun sounds, the stereo output is actually very appealing to me now that you mention that it can get sounds to change their place in the room... I cant wait to assemble this thing

[digi2t]

I'll post a video, concentrating on the pedal part of the Ludwig, tomorrow.

Stay tuned....

[pinkjimiphoton]

char, the stereo out is just unaffected, nothing special.

the wah pedal/filter combo however CAN make stuff seem like it's swirling around, but not left to right, but forward to backwards...it can sound like it's coming from behind you or in front of you, sometimes INSIDE you. it's pretty hip, and the demos we do here can't really capture that. but it's pretty amazing live when ya see people look behind them, 

[Vince_b]

I have bought the boards from someone on this forum and I'm about to order parts for building it.
The power supply that R.G. have suggested
https://ca.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=GS06U-8P1Jvirtualkey63430000virtualkey709-GS06U-8P1J
is not available from mouser right now and I'm looking for something similar to do the job.

Will this one works for the project?
http://ca.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mean-Well/GS15U-8P1J/?qs=9v8X2fPoQt4psQl2hoV71oUtRLBDaQEG1nAn5F9f074%3d

[digi2t]

First off thank you EH MAN for posting that mouser part list!

I have my PCBs and Im about to order my parts, I have some last question for those who have a completed phase synth:

I was hoping to take a short cut for my project I was wondering if anyone could describe what the animation footswitch does exactly, I cant seem to pick it out technically from the demo videos. Does it only engage the LFO to control the filter? does the wah pedal do anything when it is engaged? Id like to know Im not completely interested in having the wah pedal unless it can control the lfo rate. Also, if I do without the wah pedal should I add a 5k pot anyhow to control the center frequency? Would I still technically need an animation switch if I dont use the wah pedal part?

Hi guys,

Here is the video, as promised. I explain the interaction of the pedal with the unit, and animation. As you'll see, it doesn't control the LFO rate, but rather, what part of the spectrum the LFO will work in.

Any other questions... don't hesitate.

Cheers,
Dino

[pinkjimiphoton]

great demo as always, dino


see...you hear the lfo going e o e o e o e o...the ffm depth is as dino shows how intense the lfo sweeps the modulation

the speed controls how fast it goes yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoy

the pedal determines what FREQUENCY the yoyoyoyoyoy happens at.

thanks  brother!!