EXAMPLE Developing a custom pcb for Daisy Seed - Funbox

[jwin615]

Any chance/plans of a Fun Box 2.0 with program changes(not even certain if the seed can pull programs via eeprom or hold multiples)?
IT would be cool if short taps of the footswitches were program up/down(with bleed over¿) and long taps were program dependent (freeze, etc)
Or maybe press both to enter program up down function? Ideas...)
Nvm, that interaction is for expression. Maybe pots with a 1 pole push button/push push function?
It's been a joy watching your development. Summer/early fall are really busy and I don't get much build time in but I truly hope to build a Fun Box come winter.

 

[keyth72]

Any chance/plans of a Fun Box 2.0 with program changes(not even certain if the seed can pull programs via eeprom or hold multiples)?
IT would be cool if short taps of the footswitches were program up/down(with bleed over¿) and long taps were program dependent (freeze, etc)
Or maybe press both to enter program up down function? Ideas...)
Nvm, that interaction is for expression. Maybe pots with a 1 pole push button/push push function?
It's been a joy watching your development. Summer/early fall are really busy and I don't get much build time in but I truly hope to build a Fun Box come winter.

You can definitely configure the Funbox to run multiple effects, they just all have to be included in a single binary file to upload to the Daisy Seed, if that makes sense. There's another really great Daisy Seed pedal project that has a OLED screen, which lends itself to having multiple separate programs, with a software framework written for doing exactly that. I've written abunch of effects for that platform as well, here's a post on this forum about it, and if you scroll down I have a demo video of it:

interesting daisy project on github

found this interesting Daisy pedal project today while browsing github. stereo and midi in and out, 6 controls and an OLED screen in a 125B enclosure. https://forum.electro-smith.com/t/my-daisy-guitar-pedal-designs-on-github/3641

forum.pedalpcb.com

With the Funbox I was really going for something that has a single, full featured effect with tons of customization, similar to Chase Bliss pedals, so the code is written with that in mind. I also wanted a through-hole PCB, instead of a fully manufactured SMD board. Essentially any of the ideas you listed is possible on the Funbox, it's just a matter of writing the code to do what you want. It doesn't matter that I'm using the footswitches for expression, if you want them to function differently, you just write code to do something different! The advantage of a fully digital pedal is that code is cheap, you just rewrite it to do anything you want.

 

[keyth72]

Wanted to add this bit of information for anyone ordering their own PCBs. I've been reading up on the two main different types of surface finishes, HASL vs. ENIG. Google search summarizes it like this (and I looked at other sources and it seems correct):

"
For guitar pedals, ENIG is generally considered a better choice than HASL with lead, as ENIG provides a flatter surface ideal for fine-pitch components often found in compact pedal designs, while also being lead-free and offering superior corrosion resistance, making it more reliable in the long run, even though it might be slightly more expensive; however, HASL with lead could be a suitable option if cost is the primary concern and you are not working with very high-density components.
"

PCBway and JLCPcb also offer a lead free HASL option. ENIG is more expensive, but will probably be the only finish I use going forward. Oshpark only uses ENIG I believe, but PCBway and JLCPcb default to HASL on the order page. I think it's more of a concern when using SMD components, not sure how much it matters for through hole designs. Anyway, just something to think about when getting PCBs manufactured.

 

[keyth72]

I released two new planet modules for Funbox, Mercury and Earth. Mercury is an amp emulator with a 4 band EQ. It run NAM Neural Amp Modeler for the 9 different amps, if you’re familiar with NAM, these are custom size models small enough to run on the daisy seed, and they will also run in the NAM plugin. There’s some info in the github repo on how to train your own models, but maybe I’ll do a video on that too.

Earth is a plate reverb and octave effect. The reverb comes from the Dattorto algorithm that is used in VCV Rack’s Plateau, and the octave effect is the polyoctave shared on this forum. It has some really cool momentary effects using the second footswitch, I particularly like how the overdrive mode turned out.

I’ll do proper video demos on these soon, for now here’s the code:

GitHub - GuitarML/Mercury: Mercury is a Amp emulator running Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) for the Funbox pedal with Daisy Seed.

Mercury is a Amp emulator running Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) for the Funbox pedal with Daisy Seed. - GuitarML/Mercury

github.com

GitHub - GuitarML/Earth: Earth is a plate reverb and octave effect for the Funbox pedal using Daisy Seed.

Earth is a plate reverb and octave effect for the Funbox pedal using Daisy Seed. - GuitarML/Earth

github.com

And the firmware downloads:

Release Mercury v1 · GuitarML/Mercury

Initial Release Note: Mercury must be uploaded to the Daisy Seed SRAM using the bootloader process.

github.com

Release Earth v1 · GuitarML/Earth

Initial Release

github.com

As far as planets go, all that’s left is Uranus, suggestions??

 

[xconverge]

I released two new planet modules for Funbox, Mercury and Earth. Mercury is an amp emulator with a 4 band EQ. It run NAM Neural Amp Modeler for the 9 different amps, if you’re familiar with NAM, these are custom size models small enough to run on the daisy seed, and they will also run in the NAM plugin. There’s some info in the github repo on how to train your own models, but maybe I’ll do a video on that too.

Earth is a plate reverb and octave effect. The reverb comes from the Dattorto algorithm that is used in VCV Rack’s Plateau, and the octave effect is the polyoctave shared on this forum. It has some really cool momentary effects using the second footswitch, I particularly like how the overdrive mode turned out.

I’ll do proper video demos on these soon, for now here’s the code:

GitHub - GuitarML/Mercury: Mercury is a Amp emulator running Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) for the Funbox pedal with Daisy Seed.

Mercury is a Amp emulator running Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) for the Funbox pedal with Daisy Seed. - GuitarML/Mercury

github.com

GitHub - GuitarML/Earth: Earth is a plate reverb and octave effect for the Funbox pedal using Daisy Seed.

Earth is a plate reverb and octave effect for the Funbox pedal using Daisy Seed. - GuitarML/Earth

github.com

And the firmware downloads:

Release Mercury v1 · GuitarML/Mercury

Initial Release Note: Mercury must be uploaded to the Daisy Seed SRAM using the bootloader process.

github.com

Release Earth v1 · GuitarML/Earth

Initial Release

github.com

As far as planets go, all that’s left is Uranus, suggestions??

Awesome stuff! Considering your original amp/IR module (mars I think) is what got me started with the daisy (and porting it to the bkshepherd project on a fork of mine before finding a fork of yours doing the same thing ), do you have any comments on the quality/experience/results of this newer Mercury and the models vs your previous one? Obviously skipping the IR portion is a large aspect of the project/debugging/development/quality, so I am moreso asking about the amp specific portions.

 

[keyth72]

), do you have any comments on the quality/experience/results of this newer Mercury and the models vs your previous one? Obviously skipping the IR portion is a large aspect of the project/debugging/development/quality, so I am moreso asking about the amp specific portions.

Sure! NAM is using a WaveNet style neural net, and the amp module is running an LSTM, and I’ve found the WaveNet sounds more accurate to the original amp capture, given the same amount of processing power. They seem to sound more clear, less muddy, than the LSTM models I previously made. They both use the RTNeural engine under the hood, and some recent work was done on RTNeural specifically for loading NAM models, so I was able to adapt my code fairly easily to run them. Also by not using IR, I was able to run larger NAM models than would be possible also running IR, making them more accurate.

 

[xconverge]

Sure! NAM is using a WaveNet style neural net, and the amp module is running an LSTM, and I’ve found the WaveNet sounds more accurate to the original amp capture, given the same amount of processing power. They seem to sound more clear, less muddy, than the LSTM models I previously made. They both use the RTNeural engine under the hood, and some recent work was done on RTNeural specifically for loading NAM models, so I was able to adapt my code fairly easily to run them. Also by not using IR, I was able to run larger NAM models than would be possible also running IR, making them more accurate.

Very nice! That is what I was hoping to hear and makes sense! I will definitely be checking it out on my bkshep 125b (and using 48 for audio block size as well) when I get a chance

 

[keyth72]

Very nice! That is what I was hoping to hear and makes sense! I will definitely be checking it out on my bkshep 125b (and using 48 for audio block size as well) when I get a chance

I have a NAM module for the bkshep pedal! I’ll be able to share it soon.

 

[crashguitar]

Just saw the new demo of the Mercury patch. Sounds great!

I know I sound like a fanboy, but you have killed it on all of these.

 

[jcpst]

As far as planets go, all that’s left is Uranus, suggestions??

I am but one person, but while you’re asking, what about something a bit more aggressive? Wavefolding, multiband distortion, ring mod w/ pitch tracking

 

[keyth72]

Here’s that demo for the Mercury module:

 

[keyth72]

New video, Earth module demo. I really like how this one turned out, especially the overdrive function for the footswitch, which to me sounds like a rocket blasting off. This pedal uses the polyoctave effect by @Steve Schulteis and the Dattorro plate reverb algorithm from VCV rack Plateau by Valley Audio.

 

[keyth72]

New Funbox module is out, Uranus! Demo coming soon, but the code and binary are now in the main Funbox repo for people to try out. I explored some new territory with this one, it is a granular delay and synth. That's all the planets done, but I'm sure I'll be making new stuff for Funbox before too long. P.S. Please (dont) refrain from all butt related Uranus jokes.

 

[Feral Feline]

Butt... But... That's no Uranus...






... that's a FULL MOON!



And some NUT is flying right into it!

They must be cracking up!

 

[keyth72]

And here’s that demo:

 

[Feral Feline]

WELCOME TO URANUS would be great to combo-build pair with the WRONG SIDE OF URANUS.

 

[philgravy]

I'm super curious what your process is like when designing a PCB like this, knowing what resistor capacitor configurations to lay out. I'm an electrical engineering student and would love to be able to design something like this for a project.

 

[keyth72]

I'm super curious what your process is like when designing a PCB like this, knowing what resistor capacitor configurations to lay out. I'm an electrical engineering student and would love to be able to design something like this for a project.

Good question, you probably know more about circuits than me if you’re an EE student! For the Funbox I used something I know works, that’s been done before. The input/output buffers and power section are the same as the PedalPCB Terrarium (just with two for stereo), and the midi and expression sections are from Electrosmith’s “Petal” designs. Unless I need something specifically different, I like to use what’s been done before so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

 

[xconverge]

I'm super curious what your process is like when designing a PCB like this, knowing what resistor capacitor configurations to lay out. I'm an electrical engineering student and would love to be able to design something like this for a project.

I opted to do my first PCB of a known circuit/schematic to isolate variables. It allows you to develop skills independently. PCB design vs circuit design vs integration of well-tested circuits etc. I would encourage you to start with ANYTHING that solves a problem for yourself to keep you motivated in finishing the project. Each project will then build on the others, and by the time you graduate, you will have a lot of practical experience and skills that school alone may not have given you, also...guitar pedals...

 

[Cwallmeier]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to pedal building, I started about three months ago and have built around 30 pedals so far. I began with some Pedal Mania boards, but almost gave up right away because my first two builds didn’t work. Then, I switched to Five Cats PCBs and had success, followed by some Moonn Electronics projects. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up about 10 PedalPCB boards and have already built three of them.

I've used this forum several times for information, so a big thanks to everyone!

Lately, I’ve also gotten into stripboard and more diy builds, which led me to discover the Funbox. Most of my builds have been overdrives, fuzzes, and distortions since modulation and spatial effects tend to be more expensive. I thought the Funbox would be a great addition to my setup, so I ordered the boards from pcbway and I gathered enough materials for three builds and completed my first one yesterday.

The build process was straightforward, and the instructions were clear, thanks a lot for that. I assembled everything, loaded the software onto the Daisy Seed, and it worked! but unfortunately, there's a very loud hissing noise throughout. I used the latest components and also tried a TL072, but no luck.

I’m not experienced enough to pinpoint the issue. The only deviation I made was using stranded tin wire instead of the recommended solid core wire, but otherwise, I used all the correct components. The hissing occurs even when the pedal is bypassed, though it gets significantly louder when engaged. I’ve tested the Earth, Mercury, and Neptune modules, and all have the same issue, so I don’t think the Daisy Seed is the problem.

Any ideas on what might be causing this?