Dwarfcraft Great Destroyer v2

[cylens]

hey,

long story short: had a genuine TGD kit, it didn't match the layout I found here (the PCB says "v2.1"), so I decided to give it a go to learn to trace a PCB and create a layout

here's what I'm at, there is certainly things to do to make it more "elegant" (standing R1 resistor, pins 13&16 of the IC are not used, so trace cuts could be avoided...) but hey, at least it works the same now:



FYI n°1: a M74HC4049B1 chip (I think that I got it from Banzai, ordering a CD4049 buffered) doesn't work at all with this layout while the MC14049BCP chip that shipped with the kit does... aren't they supposed to be equivalent?

FYI n°2: Genuine kit ships with electrolytic caps and carbon resistors while the pedal itself is built with poly film caps and metal film resistors.

FYI n°3: oh, and there's also a 10k resistor for the LED on the PCB, which I have not included

It was also my first attempt at using DIYLC, is there a tutorial somewhere (couldn't find the red square thingie for trace cuts...)?

[IvIark]

Very nice job, thanks for sharing.  I think it's great the number of people now who seem to be putting together layouts, I don't think there has ever been a better time for cost effective DIY!

[KT]

Hi, did you make both versions? Which one did you like most?

thanks

[cylens]

Actually, I couldn't make the layout on the main page sound like my genuine Great Destroyer, that's why I decided to order a kit and then trace it. I can't tell you which one "sounds best" to my hears, I was interesting in having the same one as the pedal I had...

BTW, missing info: Volume 2 to Output

[Kinski]

Very cool. Thanks for this. I tried the other layout as well and never got anything that great. I'll try this one out and see if it like it better.

Is the chip in your layout any different than the CD4049UBE used in the other layout?

[Zanius]

Hey Cylens, I had the same problem when I first used diylc, you used the right item, just double-click it and uncheck "cut between holes".

[cylens]

hey,

-> Kinski: yes, mine only came to life with the chip that I specified, others, supposed to be equivalent didn't work
-> Zanius: thanks for the tip. but now I'm using another version I guess and everything is fine.

I think I'm going to draw it again and post it in the "contributions" section, which didn't exist when I did post this!

[Freppo]

Hi Cylens,
Top job! This was not bad for a first try at diylc :)

Just a couple of things I thought I should mention.
Any unused CMOS inputs must be decoupled, which means pin 7, 11 and 14 should also be connected to ground. Non-decoupled inputs can cause noise and high current draw and may even cause the chip to fail eventually. This is actually something that should be corrected on lvlarks layout aswell. If the TGD kit don't have decoupled inputs then it's badly designed imho and schematics does often not show this, as it's taken for granted.

Also, you could move over Gain 1 so it's on the same side as Gain 2. Just a suggestion. :)

/ Fredrik

[cylens]

Actually, I did this > 2 years ago, and it makes me feel bad that it gets some "exposure" now :D

Yes I should definitely redo it now, thanks for your suggestions!

As for the unused CMOS inputs, I'm pretty sure (though not 100% sure...) I did the same as what they did on the PCB... I remember I took the time to test IC pins 2 by 2 to see if they were connected (I really didn't know how to trace a circuit by then!!!)

[Beaker]

Yes, this is something I was told recently by an electronics expert.

It's really bad practice to leave unused pins on CMOS chips, for the reasons Freppo states. Unused pins are also notorious for picking up stray signals, and feeding them back into the chip, causing noise or oscillations.

Therefore standard practice is to connect all unused pins to ground. As Freppo says, it's rarely shown on any schematics, instead it is assumed that you know that this needs to be done.

A quick google search confirms this.

[Frank_NH]

Actually, just all unused inputs need to go to ground or Vcc (9V).  The outputs can be unconnected.

[Beaker]

Ah, thanks for that Frank, that makes sense.

I was watching a guy at work drawing up a PCB for an electrical fault simulation rig using CMOS chips. I immediately thought about all the pedal layouts I've seen with unused, un-connected or sometimes cut off pins.

To be honest, some of what he said went over my head, as I'm not that knowledgeable on CMOS, so I may have (probably) got confused.

[BetterOffShred]

I built this layout and it is much closer to the videos IMO.. I actually unboxed my original build and then built this.  I had the standing 10k resistor replaced by a 7.5k resistor with a B20k in series originally..  that's kind of a fun control.  Having read this thread I may try the Nuclear Adam build or whatever and add that input pinch control too..  I also usually go with a b5k or b10k on starve.. I think B5k on this one. Thanks for the layout.  

[Marbles]

Thanks for bringing this thread up!
I also built the one on the page, and was not that blown away by it. I like far out and weird, but it just was the same stuff on most settings.
Will also destruct mine and make this one!

[cylens]

Holy Moly!!! A blast from the past!

[BetterOffShred]

It's just a really fun effect.   Nothing quite like it, I was always hopefully I'd come back to it someday.. and I saved your layout so I figured why not!  

I also got some of the Mc14049bcp or whatever.. but I'll test those and the un-buffered as well.