Delay / Chorus Pedal Ideas

[jwroper]

Just trying to get my head round how I'd actually build this idea and hoping the experts on this forum can chip in with some advice!...OK so the idea for the pedal is this:

3 footswitches controlling 2 delay circuits and a chorus for modulation.

The first footswitch would turn the delay on/off.

The 2nd would switch between 2 different delay times.

The 3rd would turn the modulation on / off.

Ideally the controls would be:

volume / mix / repeat / delay time 1 / delay time 2. On the chorus side it would have Depth / Speed knobs and a switch for Vibrato on/off and a Square wave/ triangle wave switch, ala the EHX memory boy.

It also needs to include separate outputs for putting it through the effects loop, again like this: http://www.ehx.com/assets/jpg240h/deluxe-memory-boy.jpg 

So my initial thoughts to fulfill this was just to put 2 separate Deep Blue delay pedals and a Little Angel chorus pedal in the same box, so they could be cascaded and switched in and out separately. However I'd end up with 2 sets of delay controls (8 knobs) and i just need the 2nd delay time to be controlled, and all the other settings on both delay circuits need to be set with the same controls.

Q: How?! Could I use the same controls for both delay circuits but just make the delay time knob separate?
 
The next issue is how to wire the footswitches in order to engage the delay but only 1 circuit needs to be active at any one time depending on which circuit footswitch 2 is switched to (i think that makes sense?!) Q: Are there any wiring examples of this out there? Would it actually work?

And lastly the little angle has a 'space' switch on the final version, is this same kind of thing as the the memory boy square/triangle wave switch, or could the little angle be adapted somehow to achieve this?

Can anyone think of any other issues here? Really appreciate the help :)
J

[jwroper]

Also forgot to mention about adding the extra jacks for the effects loop issue, are there any example of how to achieve this out there? Do I just take 2 wires from the inputs/outputs of the footswitches and connect them to 2 jacks?
J

[jwroper]

One more thing...(last one i promise)

How could an 'expression pedal' be added to control the Chorus/vibrato switch?

On my memory boy the expression pedal can be used to control modulation speed. So with a latching footswitch it goes from slow to fast.

So the pedal would have an extra jack for the expression pedal to connect (how?!) and just go off to a footswitch in a small box. I can't quite get my head round how it would override the switch on board though (basically if an 'expression pedal' is plugged in the on-board switch needs to become inactive and the pedal needs to take preference) - could that be done using the ring on a stereo jack somehow to detect the jack?

[Madferret]

I don't think you'd need two separate circuits if all you want to do is switch between dewlay times, you could probably just add a DPDT switch with a pot on each side similar to how you add clipping diode options to a pedal, the DPDT switch would be wired in place of the standard delay pot. I *think* that should give you the options you're looking for and make things a little more straight forward. For wiring up the footswitches I can't see a problem with using Mark's offboard wiring diagram for a dual pedal setup and just adding another switch in the same way. As for the chorus, I've no idea as I've never built one so hopefully someone else can help you out there.

[jwroper]

Cool thanks MadFerret, i thought there must be an easier way to do it! I think I've sussed out the Bypass and A/B switching too.

I still need to clarify how to connect the extra jacks for the effects loop, do you know of any examples of this out there?

Heres a bad drawing of what i want it to end up like...

[Madferret]

Sorry I've not really got much experience with fx loops but if I see anything I'll let you know. Looks like you'll have a pretty badass pedal once you've got it up and running!

[jwroper]

Cool thanks man, I'll post up some pictures if I ever get it built.

[IvIark]

Do you want the chorus to affect just the repeats or also the dry signal?  Adding modulation to repeats is very simple, as per the Magnus Modulus (and whatever that section of it was ultimately based on), there was only a couple of components added to do that.  If you want to modulate everything, that's when it gets more complicated and you'd need to add a chorus/flange circuit or whatever.

Switchable delay times would also be really simple.  The delay time is determined by the resistance between pin 6 of the PT2399 and ground.  So you could use two pots and switch between them, or even have a switch and fixed resistors so you can select between pre-determined times.

I'm really busy with my day job at the moment but I think something like this would be very easy to accomplish with relatively minor mods to the Deep Blue Delay, and you wouldn't need to add too much to the footprint (providing you don't want to modulate the dry signal).  But in the next couple of weeks I'll have more free time again and be able to put a few things together.

[GoranP]

IvIark wrote

I'm really busy with my day job at the moment but I think something like this would be very easy to accomplish with relatively minor mods to the Deep Blue Delay, and you wouldn't need to add too much to the footprint (providing you don't want to modulate the dry signal).  But in the next couple of weeks I'll have more free time again and be able to put a few things together.

Looking forward to the potential DBD mod. Even though there are a few to be found, I never have the time to check them out so I can really appreciate someone else doing the legwork.

Also, looking forward to another one of your layouting sprees...

[jwroper]

I was wanting the chorus to affect just the repeats (i.e for it only to work when the delay 1 or 2 was turned on), but to be controlled by a separate foot switch. Is that possible using 1 circuit?

Thanks for the info on the delay time switch, that part seems easy enough once i figure out the correct wiring to the foot switch. Look forward to seeing what you come up with!

[IvIark]

Thinking about it, because you need to add an IC for the LFO, you actually may as well use the Magnus Modulus layout to do it because it's not too far away from what you want.  You can always alter the components on the right hand side of the PT2399 if you want the filtering to match the Deep Blue Delay (it's very close anyway).

You then have the modulation you want (remove the tremolo components if you don't need it - switch, JFET, 2 x 100u, gate 100K, 10K from 100u drain cap to IC2 pin 6 and the source link), and all you'd need for the two preset delay levels is to take the Time 3 wire to the middle lug of a SPDT toggle (or stomp if you prefer).  Then connect one of the outer lugs to Delay 1 lug 3, and the other outer lug to Delay 2 lug 3.  Then you can connect Delay 1 lugs 1 and 2, and Delay 2 lugs 1 and 2 together and daisy chain back to the Time 1 and 2 connection on the board.  So the switch (or stomp) will choose which pot is in circuit on the fly.

Turning modulation on and off is done by a single contact and so you could also use a stomp for that if you want (DPDT if you want LED indication).  Take the Modulate Sw2 wire from the board to one of the switch lugs, and take a feed to the other lug from Depth 2.

Done

[jwroper]

Cool thanks Mark, I've not built the modulus before so I'll have a bash at the standard version first then mod it from there if that all goes well. The delay doesn't have to be the deep blue as long as it sounds decent (which one would you say sounds closer to the memory boy?).

I'll keep the tremolo part but have it controlled by a toggle rather than a footswitch, and add in the extra footswitch to switch between the delay times instead. That should get me pretty close to the design, however there are 2 more issues:

1. The triangle / square modulation switch - could the modulus be 'modded' to achieve that? Or is it already part of the design?

2. The expression pedal - could I add in a latching footswitch that would control the tremolo on/off?

Thanks again :)

[jwroper]

OK so I got the Magnus Modulus built, pretty sweet. Will attempt to mod it as you've suggested and let you know!

Which brings me to my next problem:
"EFFECTS LOOP — The Deluxe Memory Boy has an effects loop feature which allows other effects to be inserted into the feedback loop of the delay block, before the bucket brigade chips. This means that you can put additional effects on your wet signal without changing your dry signal and each time your notes go around the feedback loop, they will also go through the effects loop."

How can I add send / return jacks for the effects loop to this pedal (the modded magnus modulus) so it will just affect the repeats of the pedal? For example you could put an octave in the loop that just affected the repeats but nothing else.

[bernierunns]

How is this project going? I'm really interested in building something similar.