All the FV-1 boards sold out

passtheducky

Active member
Hey folks

I noticed pretty much all the fv-1 boards are out of stock. Are they hugely popular or going the way of the dinos?

I want to make more.

Cheers.
 
They sell out pretty quickly.

Last week the stars aligned and FV-1 ICs, PCBs, and rotary switches were all in stock at the same time. :ROFLMAO:
They did not last very long under these circumstances.

Don't worry, more are on order, and I have another crate of rotary switches that just need to be counted.
 
That's good to know, thanks.

While I have your ear, I've noticed that those rotary switches seem to be pretty delicate. The last batch I got (from another source) had one that was just bad, and another that I think I might have damaged with too much heat. Desoldering and replacing these is a real PITA. Now I test them thoroughly before putting them in.

This is a pretty important part (eg in the Arachnid). If there were a slightly more expensive/robust alternative part available it might be worth an extra buck or two.
 
I don't know of any higher quality alternatives that are similar in footprint...

Alpha makes some mini rotary switches that are probably more durable but they aren't 8-position and are a completely different footprint. The big metal ones definitely wouldn't fit....

The Arachnid used to use a standard potentiometer and microcontroller to switch programs but there was no tactile or visual reference to determine which program you were in. (a large majority of people hated this method)

A rotary encoder could be used, but that would also require a microcontroller and still wouldn't have any visual reference for the selected program. Since rotary encoders turn continuously there'd be no way to label it on the enclosure.
 
For two bucks, it's hard to beat the good old Adafruit SP8T rotary switch, but if you want to spend a lot more, Grayhill (and others) make miniature, panel-mount rotary switches with a BCD coded output. A BCD coded switch would eliminate the diode matrix needed with the SP8T switch and let you connect the switch's 1, 2 & 4 coded outputs directly to the FV-1's S0, S1 & S2 pins (with appropriate pull-down resistors, of course). There are also lots of very inexpensive PC-mount BCD switches about the size of a trimpot (and with similar screwdriver adjustments) that unfortunately do not lend themselves to what we're looking for in an effects pedal.
 
That's fair. This is probably the right part for this sort of pedal.

Another possible solution that I came up with is that if the 8 program bank could be logically divided into three sets of two parameters, then three toggle switches could make sense as a UI. For example, switch one selects delay (banks 1-4) vs reverb (5-8). Switch two selects hi vs lo-fi, and the third some other variation. It would be limiting, but simple.

So when those Arachnids back in stock ;) ?
 
the datasheet for the FV-1 provides an example that uses three toggle switches to select the programs. that seems like a viable alternative for a pedal design but it would take up a bit more room than the rotary switch.
 
This is how the Hydra Delay head switching works.

It works best when the banks can be divided up logically in some way. It'd be a clumsy method of switching if you were just selecting between 8 unrelated patches.
 
I agree having some kind of organizing for the patches with the toggle switches would help. Sometime the logic on the rotary switch with the Octagon can be random too, but it is still fun to turn the dial and see what happens. : ^ )
 
Does the Arachnid fit into the pre-drilled Tayda 6-knob enclosure? The drill template looks the same but wasn't sure with that rotary switch.
 
I'm considering going ahead and getting the PCB now and trying to find the chip and put it on myself.(This thing is in such freaking high demand) However, I've never done an SMD before. I've done plenty of through hole and think I'm highly capable in that regard. How much harder is it to do SMD? Tips? Thoughts?
 
I'm considering going ahead and getting the PCB now and trying to find the chip and put it on myself.(This thing is in such freaking high demand) However, I've never done an SMD before. I've done plenty of through hole and think I'm highly capable in that regard. How much harder is it to do SMD? Tips? Thoughts?
There are loads of videos online - get a flux pen and some fine solder to make it easier. I have this plan too but not done any SMD myself either so I bought some J201 and conversion boards to try my hand at it before wrecking a $18 chip.
 
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