Hydra delay possible mods

[Riccardo Turacchio]

Hi folks! I'm new to this forum but seems like I will hang out here often in the future....
I ordered an hydra delay PCB and I'm wondering if someone here tried some interesting modifications for this pedal....
Would be nice to add external modulation for time, feedback & "age", external clock(?) and probably the easiest one ...LEDs to show which "head" is selected
Anyone here that can lead me in the right direction??
I'm all hears and eyes

 

[Riccardo Turacchio]

Ah! ....and ...What about pots for the "heads" to control the level for each division?
By the way....anyone knows which divisions are available from these 4 switches??

 

[Robert]

The playback heads (except one) are mixed together digitally before leaving the FV-1 IC, you won't be able to control their levels individually.

Each head is a 1/4 note, you can activate any combination of heads simultaneously.

You could theoretically add indicator LEDs to each head switch by tacking a CLR + LED in series to ground on pins 16, 17, 18, and 22 of the FV-1 IC. (or preferably, the corresponding lug of each toggle switch)

 

[Riccardo Turacchio]

Hey thanx for the quick reply
I already love this forum
I see what you mean with those heads
I thought maybe right after the switches adding a pot would give me the possibility of regulating the level before it get then mixed inside the FV1...in my head seemed doable....
I couldn't find any schematic yet to see the all audio path
And....what about external modulation??
I thought since the rainbow machine/leprechaun offer this possibility and is also based on the FV1....maybe there was a possibility.....??
Been hangin out a lot at mod wiggler in the past....I'm.more a synth guy.... and over there there is a tendency to squeeze any possible option....

 

[Paradox916]

There are a couple mods I have tried both I feel didn’t enhance the circuit I feel it’s pretty good the way it is for my money
Mods:
Dry signal switch;
when the Hydra is at full mix the dry signal drops out, the switch allows you to pass dry signal at full mix but I found that with this switch the volume of the repeats is reduced significantly, so if you want some dry signal just don’t go full mix. I removed this mod.

Clock module mod;
You can replace the crystal oscillator with a clock module and ether have an internal trim pot or mount and external pot, I find that although you can significantly increase or decrease delay time I personally don’t find much use for it as where I like delay is well within the stock configuration range and the extra function just convolutes the control of the pedal…

You may or may not find these useful, as for me I think the Hydra is great as is and probably one of the more interesting unique DIY digital delays… definitely one I consistently revisit being a habitual pedal swapper.

 

[Riccardo Turacchio]

A while ago on mod wiggler we had a thread about the phonic taxidermist....another digital delay/ring modulator sort of...
An interesting part of this circuit was the possibility to select with switches 4 different frequency bands and someone came out with an additional circuit that was enabling you to "trigger"those frequencies....I'm pretty sure it would work on this one too....need to check for that schematic again.... obviously this kind of options are more interesting to modular synth people....

 

[Riccardo Turacchio]

I found a print out of that schematic
Just replace the frequency band selection with "heads"

 

[Robert]

I thought maybe right after the switches adding a pot would give me the possibility of regulating the level before it get then mixed inside the FV1...in my head seemed doable....

There is no audio on the switches, they are digital program select controls (0V / 3.3VDC) connected directly to the FV-1.

 

[Riccardo Turacchio]

Now I understand
Thanks again
Lovely forum here

 

[Feral Feline]

Bump!

Hola Riccardo

Here’s a possible mod for inducing feedback with a slight volume bump:

S

Post in thread 'Hydra Delay hidden fonction ?'

Dec 7, 2024

not exactly hidden
[EMBEDNot exclatly hidden but not as explicit as i say.

• sbn31

I’m not sure why the mod gives a volume bump, I’ll have to breadboard it and study the schematic to see.


LEDs
Also, I noticed one sure-fire way to add LEDs to the switches wasn’t mentioned:

Offboard wire DPDT switches in place of the boardmounted SPDT;
Use the extra pole to wire up the LEDs and CLRs.

Not sure how much room there is for that, as I haven’t built up my Hydra yet. You could move the PCB further south in a larger enclosure, and then instead of the stock location below the knobs, have the switches wired above the pots.

I just checked some Hydra build reports and you’d definitely need a bigger enclosure
Or switches to the side in a wider enclosure — (1590B3 or 1590BB)….

 

[Riccardo Turacchio]

Thanks mate
Yes I will definitely install the hydra in one of my custom boxes also because it will include few extra bits & pieces like
3 channels line input mixer and a Celsius....
It was a quite common configuration during the tape echoes era...