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Projects => Build Reports => Topic started by: BaronWilhelm on December 01, 2016, 01:59:32 PM

Title: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: BaronWilhelm on December 01, 2016, 01:59:32 PM
After building a few pedals, I grew tired of the growing cable mess and never want to spray paint again.  I decided to build a rack unit to house all my pedals in a tidy configuration.  So, I designed a relay switcher board to handle switching with a face mounted momentary switch.  The units are all daisy-chained together as slaves on an I2C bus and can be switched with a single master Arduino (with a PCB shield I designed) via MIDI or USB from a PC.  I thought you guys might be interested in checking it out :)  The link is to the imgur album with descriptions of the build process.

Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching (http://imgur.com/a/7Qdp2)

(http://i.imgur.com/AriCPdEl.jpg)
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: Martan on December 01, 2016, 02:35:25 PM
Wow! Great work, and thanks for the walkthrough.
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: Leevibe on December 01, 2016, 03:26:38 PM
This is fantastic work, man! This is such a cool mix of everything that makes electronics and guitar fun. Bravo.
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: Timko on December 01, 2016, 04:09:49 PM
Awesome design man. 
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: Aristatertotle on December 01, 2016, 05:41:50 PM
Sweet! I need to build something like this.
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: BaronWilhelm on December 01, 2016, 05:53:03 PM
Thanks guys!  I'd probably do a few things different on the switcher board but not much.  I really appreciate you all taking the time to check it out.
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: m-Kresol on December 01, 2016, 07:47:31 PM
that's very impressive.

what is the patchbay on the front for? And I think 400mA won't do it with that number of pcbs effects. ;)
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: daleykd on December 01, 2016, 07:52:08 PM
Quote from: m-Kresol on December 01, 2016, 07:47:31 PM
And I think 400mA won't do it with that number of pcbs effects. ;)
I have to agree.  I wonder if the 400mA also includes the relays?  If so, I definitely would think it may not be enough.
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: BaronWilhelm on December 01, 2016, 07:53:02 PM
Quote from: m-Kresol on December 01, 2016, 07:47:31 PM
what is the patchbay on the front for? And I think 400mA won't do it with that number of pcbs effects. ;)
No it won't :)  I'd never built a power supply before, so this is really just a stop-gap.  I have some bigger transformers to build another linear supply, but am also investigating building my own "quiet"/low-ripple switching supply as my next project.   The patchbay is so I can run the ins/outs of each pedal to the front panel in a re-configurable way.  Right now most of them are just daisy-chained in the rear, but I have my drive pedals on a different chain than the delays.  I had considered mounting the I/O on the pedal faceplates but decided against it to save space and reduce visible cable clutter.
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: wgc on December 02, 2016, 02:47:56 AM
Dreamy
Title: Re: Modular Guitar Pedal Rack with MIDI Switching
Post by: Lubdar on December 02, 2016, 06:55:06 AM
awesome work so far!!!