EXAMPLE Developing a custom pcb for Daisy Seed - Funbox

[crashguitar]

Update on my build.

Parts arrived and I was able to finish soldering the board. I uploaded the Neptune patch via the web loader.

The bad news is that it is noisy and I am getting the dreaded 1 kHz whine. I tried a TL074 and the only other quad op amp on hand, which is a TLC274BCN. Same issue with both. I do not currently have it fully boxed up. The jacks and power are not soldered in place and I am using alligator cables to a breadboard for testing. Not sure if that is a factor or not. I think I might have had a similar issue with a Terrarium build that was fine once it was all boxed up, but I might be imagining that.

I will order some MCP6024 and finish boxing the circuit and see if either of these makes a difference.

On the positive side, the Neptune patch is really cool. I had fun playing with it while testing.

Thanks for the work on this. I will update when I can.

 

[keyth72]

Update on my build.

Parts arrived and I was able to finish soldering the board. I uploaded the Neptune patch via the web loader.

The bad news is that it is noisy and I am getting the dreaded 1 kHz whine. I tried a TL074 and the only other quad op amp on hand, which is a TLC274BCN. Same issue with both. I do not currently have it fully boxed up. The jacks and power are not soldered in place and I am using alligator cables to a breadboard for testing. Not sure if that is a factor or not. I think I might have had a similar issue with a Terrarium build that was fine once it was all boxed up, but I might be imagining that.

I will order some MCP6024 and finish boxing the circuit and see if either of these makes a difference.

On the positive side, the Neptune patch is really cool. I had fun playing with it while testing.

Thanks for the work on this. I will update when I can.

Ah man, yeah hopefully boxing it up and the new op amp will address that. If you are able to, you might want to use a probe to check if the line out from the Daisy Seed has the noise, or if it's only after the buffer stage. Thanks for the update!

 

[crashguitar]

Good news!
I finished boxing it up and both the 1 kHz whine and noise are gone. I have a TL074 in for the IC and it seems dead quiet to me. I haven't tested it into a bunch or amps or anything, just into my cab sim with a headphone out (Neunaber Iconoclast). That is what I use to record, so I feel pretty confident that if there was noise it would be present in this format.

I also swapped out for a different Daisy Seed with the Pluto patch with exactly the same results. Noisy and whiney before it was soldered to the jacks and quiet as a mouse when soldered up.

Not sure what this means for others.

Thanks again for sharing this project and the patches.

I think you mentioned earlier that you did not have an option for the right position of the speed toggle for the Pluto patch. Is it possible to have a mode where the speed option is removed? The loop just plays forward at 1x speed?

 

[keyth72]

Good news!
I finished boxing it up and both the 1 kHz whine and noise are gone. I have a TL074 in for the IC and it seems dead quiet to me. I haven't tested it into a bunch or amps or anything, just into my cab sim with a headphone out (Neunaber Iconoclast). That is what I use to record, so I feel pretty confident that if there was noise it would be present in this format.

I also swapped out for a different Daisy Seed with the Pluto patch with exactly the same results. Noisy and whiney before it was soldered to the jacks and quiet as a mouse when soldered up.

Not sure what this means for others.

Thanks again for sharing this project and the patches.

I think you mentioned earlier that you did not have an option for the right position of the speed toggle for the Pluto patch. Is it possible to have a mode where the speed option is removed? The loop just plays forward at 1x speed?

That’s great!! Very happy to hear that, I wish I knew a bit more about electronics to understand why, but I guess either proper grounding or shielding? I’m glad you didn’t get the toggle noise like I got with the pcbway board, the oshpark boards seem higher quality ( they should be for how much more they cost) but I don’t know if that’s the root cause.

Yes that switch position on Pluto is available, and yes you could make it a locked mode that only plays 1x speed, absolutely. I think it would be a fun exercise to show how one would do that, so maybe later this weekend or early next week I’ll do a quick write up on it.

My idea for that toggle was a “random” mode that played random segments of the loop out of order, but I haven’t given much thought on how to code it up yet.

Share some pics if you want!

 

[keyth72]

New demo, last one for awhile! Ventured into synth land for this one:

 

[keyth72]

I think you mentioned earlier that you did not have an option for the right position of the speed toggle for the Pluto patch. Is it possible to have a mode where the speed option is removed? The loop just plays forward at 1x speed?

You should be able to use the stepped mode (first toggle at center position) and put the speed knob to noon to always get 1x speed, but if you want a separate toggle for 1x speed, this is how you modify the code.

To add a 1x speed mode for the Pluto's 1st toggle, right position, make the following two changes to "pluto.cpp":

After line 436:

} else if (switch1_action == 2) { // Switch1 right = random TODO // <--This is line 436,

speed_inputA = 1.0; // <-- Add this line to lock in 1x speed with 1st toggle in right position (currently is a blank space)​

} else { // Switch1 center = stepped // TODO Verify that I don't need some kind of midi check here

After line 486 :

} else if (switch1_action == 2) { // Switch1 right = random TODO // <--This is line 486,

speed_inputB = 1.0; // <-- Add this line to lock in 1x speed with 1st toggle in right position (currently is a blank space)​

} else { // Switch1 center = stepped // TODO Verify that I don't need some kind of midi check here

That's all, just add those two lines to set the loopA and loopB speed input to 1, and recompile with "make".

 

[crashguitar]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate your sharing of this.

I also like the idea of random, as I was thinking of pairing it with an OBNE Ramper. The new version has a random mode.

Also, pretty cool that you made a midi synth out of this. You are on fire!

 

[keyth72]

I also like the idea of random, as I was thinking of pairing it with an OBNE Ramper. The new version has a random mode.

That looks like a useful little pedal! I didn't know anything like that existed. You should be able to accomplish the same thing over midi on the Funbox as well, if you had a device or plugin that sent ramping/random midi cc values.