Parasit Arcadiator

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

WARNING- politics adjacent content. If you don't want to see such things, please move along. It's more of a silly dad joke word play than actual politics but as always, this is not an invitation to debate.

Long before I started posting build reports and memes around here, I was in to big combo builds. This was originally housed with a Roboto and an ocelot. I eventually got tired of the big multi pedals so I separated them in to individual enclosures. This one was the last to get is own box. It was low priority mostly because I also have a Sidescroller from which I can get most of my Arcadiator sounds. It's fun to look at and clean up older builds, this one's so old that I had skipped the ic sockets and bought the blue film caps "because that's what I had received in a kit so they must be the ones to get."

The Arcadiator is my favorite of all the parasit octavers(favorite overall is the sonic reducer). Having both smooth (mod board) and choppy (lfo) modulation on top of all that square wave up and down octave is petty awesome. I do prefer the mod board modulation so I gave that it's own stomp switch and a red/blue led. The lfo is pretty intense for my purposes but it's definitely fun to ape Atari game soundtrack sounds.




I present, the Magaman aka the inch erection insurrection.

 

[airbud]

looks dope! so the mod board changes the LFO rate? i'm still learning about the CD chips (as evidenced by my malfunctioning super heterodyne). i was fixing some LEDs from my very initial builds and man, i've come a long way in terms of quality lol.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

The mod board adds a completely different modulation with its own separate rate control (brown knob). I'm pretty sure it's pulse width modulation while the lfo switch is more of an amplitude/ tremolo kind of thing.

 

[Mir9]

I have an Arcadiator (v2.5 though) I haven't placed in an enclosure yet. Is that a 1590BB, or a taller BBS/BB2?

I also have the mod board, but was hesitant to combine them as the mod's instructions say other future projects will allow its use. I haven't seen any yet though.

This builder says he paired it with the Sonic Reducer. As you've built them all, is this possible?

https://www.reddit.com/r/diypedals/comments/mgw6nh

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I have an Arcadiator (v2.5 though) I haven't placed in an enclosure yet. Is that a 1590BB, or a taller BBS/BB2?

I also have the mod board, but was hesitant to combine them as the mod's instructions say other future projects will allow its use. I haven't seen any yet though.

This builder says he paired it with the Sonic Reducer. As you've built them all, is this possible?

https://www.reddit.com/r/diypedals/comments/mgw6nh

BB2 but it would've been fine in a BB.

I haven't tried the mod board with the sonic reducer but I've been curious. I think @DGWVI may have some experience with it. I kind of use the sonic reducer in a static position with only occasional twiddling. Not sure if the lfo would be useful to me on that effect. It is truly great on the arcadiator though. I highly recommend.

If it's not useful to you on the arcadiator it's pretty easy to undo and install on another project. I've been hoping Frederic would release a new project that utilizes the modboard for a long time now. We get spoiled around here with new shiny things to build but it's been a long time since there's been anything new at Parasit. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and I haven't built them all. The C19 Databus is terrifying.

 

[DGWVI]

BB2 but it would've been fine in a BB.

I haven't tried the mod board with the sonic reducer but I've been curious. I think @DGWVI may have some experience with it. I kind of use the sonic reducer in a static position with only occasional twiddling. Not sure if the lfo would be useful to me on that effect. It is truly great on the arcadiator though. I highly recommend.

I didn't find the LFO in the Reducer terribly useful. I also like to set and forget it.
I'll agree- it's a lot more useful, imo, on the Arcadiator

If it's not useful to you on the arcadiator it's pretty easy to undo and install on another project. I've been hoping Frederic would release a new project that utilizes the modboard for a long time now. We get spoiled around here with new shiny things to build but it's been a long time since there's been anything new at Parasit. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and I haven't built them all. The C19 Databus is terrifying.

He's about to release a new pitch shifting PLL fuzz (Liberation Frequency), and a stripped down take on on the C19 (Ladder to the Moon). It doesn't appear that either have in built ModBoard compatibility, though


Edit- I've used the ModBoard (and similar )hacked into other places
Chaos Machine XL (Grind PLFO)
Dark Rift on this synth thing

 

[Mir9]

Thanks for all the information. I hadn't checked Parasit's social media and am now catching up. Ladder to the Moon and Liberation Frequency sound cool. Agreed on the C19!

Even though it's not mentioned in the Sonic Reducer manual, I see the M1/M2 pads for the mod board on the PCB.

I'm tempted to house the mod board on its own in a 1590B and add a side jack to the Arcadiator as I like the original less cramped drill layout. I also have an Into The Unknown board ready to be started on after all of this. It was great to see it on those other projects. The manual recommends VTL5C1, but is there anything special about it compared to any LED+LDR ?

 

[Diynot]

Thanks for all the information. I hadn't checked Parasit's social media and am now catching up. Ladder to the Moon and Liberation Frequency sound cool. Agreed on the C19!

Even though it's not mentioned in the Sonic Reducer manual, I see the M1/M2 pads for the mod board on the PCB.

I'm tempted to house the mod board on its own in a 1590B and add a side jack to the Arcadiator as I like the original less cramped drill layout. I also have an Into The Unknown board ready to be started on after all of this. It was great to see it on those other projects. The manual recommends VTL5C1, but is there anything special about it compared to any LED+LDR ?

I installed a home rolled vactrol and jack in my sonic reducer on the mod pads so I could use my Wavelord to drive the LFO. It was great in theory, but certainly lacking in the irl department. Really, the C19 is large physically, but it’s not a terrible build.
@DGWVI do those new boards have CV pads? I built the new wave cv generator and would love to be able to use it on more things

 

[DGWVI]

I'm tempted to house the mod board on its own in a 1590B and add a side jack to the Arcadiator as I like the original less cramped drill layout. I also have an Into The Unknown board ready to be started on after all of this. It was great to see it on those other projects. The manual recommends VTL5C1, but is there anything special about it compared to any LED+LDR ?

Depends on what you'll have the ModBoard attached to- if it's replacing a resistor, I'll try to make sure the LDR I use can approximate that resistors value with its minimum light setting

If it's running parallel to a resistor, I'll use an LDR that's double that resistors value

Not sure I've used it in series with a resistor, but if I were to, I'd have to play with the value of the LDR to see where I get the most range

 

[DGWVI]

@DGWVI do those new boards have CV pads? I built the new wave cv generator and would love to be able to use it on more things

I've just seen the mockups of the boards in the build docs, but they don't appear to.

That doesn't mean you couldn't hack the CV in somewhere, though