rwl
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is a report on my build of Dylan159's "Trembling Satellite," a version of the DIY classic Tremulous Lune. You can find the gerber here.
Inspiration
Well, this is a pretty obvious one, isn't it? For a circuit based on "Lune," the pedal has to be a "Loon." I always liked loons, although I didn't know it. As a kid growing up in upstate NY, the wail of the loon is incredibly distinctive, just a beautiful call at night. But I didn't know that was a loon until about 5 years ago. One thing I've realized as an adult is that I was curious about a lot of things, but not really about the natural world - plants and animals - that surrounded me. I took it for granted. Since moving to the PNW I've gotten a lot more into connecting with my surroundings.
Anyway - I made a mistake with the design. I wanted to do pedal for a lot of the most distinctive or common PNW birds, so I chose the Pacific Loon. But then I also felt like the loon is the really midwestern kinda bird that I associate with Minnesota or Wisconsin. So I wanted to have the most "north-midwestern"-styled pedal. Like the aesthetics of Fargo. I say this haven't spent probably less than a month of my life anywhere in the midwest.
I'm pretty happy with the design (setting aside the Pacific Loon/midwestern aesthetic conflict), but the fonts are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in my mind (and the sun behind the bird, which could be a vaporwave sun if the colors were different). I threw on some knobs that didn't work on other builds that felt a little bit dated, but what I really want are some kind of knobs that feel like an 80s CRT TV. If you have ideas where to find them, or other good ideas for knobs, let me know.
The Build
This was one of the earliest PCBs I designed. I'm still quite proud of it, with a fair amount of components, ground plane separation, and so on. After my first build of this, I got really worried because this was my first tremolo and there was some "clicking," which I thought might be due to ground plane separation. No, I think it's just that background hiss never sounds great with a tremolo. I've since observed it on other tremolos.
This build used one of my original pcbs - probably in the first 5 that I laid out. I'm posting it now because the midwest is on my mind recently... for Good reason. I've since made some updates as I got my footprints more standardized. Overall the build was surprisingly easy, working the first time with no problems.
The Pedal
It sounds great. I like this a bit more than the EQD Hummingbird, which has a bit more of a mechanical tone. As with all modulation pedals, I like it to make things sound "alive" without going overboard - low depth and rate, and with an organic wave shape. I can see this being a 'mostly always-on pedal.'
Firsts
Inspiration
Well, this is a pretty obvious one, isn't it? For a circuit based on "Lune," the pedal has to be a "Loon." I always liked loons, although I didn't know it. As a kid growing up in upstate NY, the wail of the loon is incredibly distinctive, just a beautiful call at night. But I didn't know that was a loon until about 5 years ago. One thing I've realized as an adult is that I was curious about a lot of things, but not really about the natural world - plants and animals - that surrounded me. I took it for granted. Since moving to the PNW I've gotten a lot more into connecting with my surroundings.
Anyway - I made a mistake with the design. I wanted to do pedal for a lot of the most distinctive or common PNW birds, so I chose the Pacific Loon. But then I also felt like the loon is the really midwestern kinda bird that I associate with Minnesota or Wisconsin. So I wanted to have the most "north-midwestern"-styled pedal. Like the aesthetics of Fargo. I say this haven't spent probably less than a month of my life anywhere in the midwest.
I'm pretty happy with the design (setting aside the Pacific Loon/midwestern aesthetic conflict), but the fonts are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in my mind (and the sun behind the bird, which could be a vaporwave sun if the colors were different). I threw on some knobs that didn't work on other builds that felt a little bit dated, but what I really want are some kind of knobs that feel like an 80s CRT TV. If you have ideas where to find them, or other good ideas for knobs, let me know.
The Build
This was one of the earliest PCBs I designed. I'm still quite proud of it, with a fair amount of components, ground plane separation, and so on. After my first build of this, I got really worried because this was my first tremolo and there was some "clicking," which I thought might be due to ground plane separation. No, I think it's just that background hiss never sounds great with a tremolo. I've since observed it on other tremolos.
This build used one of my original pcbs - probably in the first 5 that I laid out. I'm posting it now because the midwest is on my mind recently... for Good reason. I've since made some updates as I got my footprints more standardized. Overall the build was surprisingly easy, working the first time with no problems.
The Pedal
It sounds great. I like this a bit more than the EQD Hummingbird, which has a bit more of a mechanical tone. As with all modulation pedals, I like it to make things sound "alive" without going overboard - low depth and rate, and with an organic wave shape. I can see this being a 'mostly always-on pedal.'
Firsts
- First Midwestern-themed pedal.
- First time using these wonky knobs.
- Build: 5/5
- Pedal: 5/5
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