Lets talk about ticking in modulation and modulated delay pedals...

[Sensei Tim]

I've built a few pedals recently - clone theory and a few delays with modulation - and they are all have a ticking sound in the background which i assume is coming from the LFO.

I am also assuming that the ticking is coming from proximity of wires in the LFO circuit (rate control?) that are too close to other wires and transfer the noise.

i've tried putting some shielding between the bottom of my stripboard and the wires but it doesn't seem to help much.

Are there any other tips to help get rid of the ticking?  I am using a dunlop DC brick, so i'm fairly confident that i have clean power going into the pedal.

[ξεναγος νεκροπολης]

i have the very same problem...it's from the lfo for sure..i've build 2 different boards of the wampler analog echo+dirtbaby modboard. when i boxed it, i had that ticking even in bypass. playing with rate control made the ticking faster/slower... after moving the wires a bit, i found that when i was moving the in and out wires of the main board away from the daughter board, the ticking wasn't so bad..after that, i changed the route of my wiring, and now it's much better. it's still there, but you have to be quiet to here it...my dirtbaby on the other hand, didn't had any ticking...
i don't know...maybe it's the daughter board that causes all these..
i wish we could build something that will eliminate this problem...

[Zanius]

I once built a Ce-2 chorus that would't stop ticking after it got boxed. I shielded and re-routed every wire and the problem was still there. Until I thought that the only thing totally susceptible to the lfo was the jacks. Used closed jack types, wrapped grounded foil around them, total silence ever since

[Ciaran Haslett]

Hi Tim.

Here's a few things I've done to some builds that helped....particularly Madbeans Wigl (vibe)

If the LFO is IC based, isolate its power supply from the rest of the circuit meaning place a low value resistor like 100r between your 9V input and the IC power pin.  The rest of the circuit takes its 9V from BEFORE this resistor.

Also consider changing the IC to a lower current one (TL06x is a popular choice)

Install a small value electro (10uF) right next to the LFO power pin and ground to act as a current reservoir.

Isolate the IC ground pin by running it right back to the DC ground terminal.  The same should be done with the above mentioned cap.

Then there's the usual stuff...short cabling, general lead dress, shielded cabling etc.

For transistor based ones....I try to apply the above in whatever way it fits haha.

Hope that helps.

[Sensei Tim]

Ciaran,

I'll give the isolation of the LFO a shot.  Fortunately I have a  clone theory on my bench that's ready for boxing and there is enough room on the vero to add a 100R resistor on the power line to the LFO.  I think i also have some lower power ICs available in case.

will report back to see if it makes a difference when i get a chance to try it out.

[Frank_NH]

We fixed a ticking CE-2 by isolating the LFO power as explained in this thread (and as Ciaran explained above):

CE-2 Ticking

I would give that a go first.  Then, of course, the usual precautions for wires, noise, grounding, etc.

[ξεναγος νεκροπολης]

solved my ticking issues in my analog echo+dirtbaby modboard build, using shielded wire!
it was the rate pot that was right under the input jack in my enclosure, and it caused that annoying noise!
used shielded wire just for that pot, and moved the daughter/modulation board a couple of centimeters away from any other wire...works great now!