Let's talk colors...

It very interesting reading what colors you all associate with what sound, I think that is a neat correlation to how we feel music.

The best thing about this thread is how most of you said you are evolving and trying to get better at the craft! That is awesome as hell to me.
 
Yeah, that's interesting how we associate colors with... in fact with many "things" in our life.
But how about we play small puzzle game.

Assume, we have the following colors: black, white, red, green, blue, yellow.
And we have: overdrive, distortion, fuzz, delay, reverb, phaser/chorus/flanger, compressor, octave, other.
Pick a color and effect type.

Speaking about evolving - we're happy if our first pedal works at all.. nevermind the colors. Then, with every build we can step a level up, focus on something else. It's never ending process.
 
jjjimi84 said:
It very interesting reading what colors you all associate with what sound, I think that is a neat correlation to how we feel music.

The best thing about this thread is how most of you said you are evolving and trying to get better at the craft! That is awesome as hell to me.
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There have been some studies on composers seeing colours and associated musical elements, such as keys (Shostakovich among them) and discrete pitches. If you have time or inclination, check out his 24 preludes and fugues. Amazing music for piano (ignore any offstage boos and hisses). 😊

It’s called synaesthesia. I’m not sure whether there have been similar studies with performing musicians, can’t see why some should be excluded from the syndrome.

But I so agree with what you say about the craft. I’ve learnt so much here from an awesome 👏 group of generous and inspiring people.
 
temol said:
How much importance do you attach to the color of the enclosure, color of the knobs, graphics?
Also - do you match color to the pedal type? Distortion - black or red, delay - blue, etc...
Would you postpone the build because you don't have knobs that match the enclosure? :)
Is there any color you would not use even if the enclosure was free?
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Yes


Why is chorus associated with "blue"? Is it because Boss made its chorus blue, why was blue chosen, and other companies followed suit?


When you see a certain shade of green on a pedal, it's hard not to think TS-808. How many people choose to emulate the colours of the pedals their DIY project is based on?



I don't have a specific colour for any type of effect. Usually the name comes first and I base the rest of the aesthetic off of that.
Then I screw up the graphics so royally that I don't even submit a build thread.
 
All my pedals are in blank aluminum enclosures. I tried to use the classico colors to help me recognize them. That will change once I get into printed boxes.

My only rule with colors is no purple. I just hate it and tend to hate purple things too, except for some fruit (blueberries are not blue - where is all the blue food?!).
 
temol said:
So no Purple Rain in you mp3 playlist? :)
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Prince was an amazing talent and it's sad he died so young but I never could stand him and never liked his songs, with a few notable exceptions, Purple Rain being one.
Please don't ever bring up that solo with me, you know the one...
 
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FWIW, Tayda's "winked silver" enclosures are (y). nice subtle sparkle, goes well w any knob colors

The brown sugar ones are good, but underwhelming.
 
I have a spreadsheet where all 80-ish pedals I have on the list to build has enclosure size, tayda drill template choice, color, and design idea. If that doesn't set the tone for what I am all about, I am not sure what would. Each pedal must be PERFECT, inside and out. Or at least as close as I can get without some sort of breakdown.

I can't just throw Sharpie on bare enclosure. Don't get me wrong, that is about the level of effort I want to put in, but they would haunt me. How the designs get on the pedal may evolve. I think I am going to start with self adhesive labels and AmplifyFun face plates. Then when I figure out UV printing, it's on.

I initially thought about just using Boss colors to cut down on cognitive load, but I realized that was too limiting. I ran into design ideas that didn't quite go with those colors. So, now it's all based on the complete design idea. Some like the Blue Shoe Gai Pan are gonna be colored like the original, but have different graphics. Most will be whatever the project name or sound inspires. No color is off-limits.

I have no idea about knobs, there are several styles I like, but this is a design problem I think @dmnCrawler's Pachyderm templates will help with.
 
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