madbeanpedals::forum

Projects => General Questions => Requests => Topic started by: illcom on October 01, 2010, 06:46:33 AM

Title: death by audio robot
Post by: illcom on October 01, 2010, 06:46:33 AM
I would like to build this one
it souds amazing if your into that kind of fuzz 8bit sound
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZKeGsWRRm0
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: illcom on October 01, 2010, 03:28:19 PM
(http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx167/illcom777/dbarobot.jpg)
That would be a start
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: jkokura on October 01, 2010, 03:36:28 PM
Looks like the centre of that circuit is a 16 pin IC of some kind, and my bet is it's a PIC or some kind of programmed computer or something like that. But I'm cynical and pessimistic about stuff like that.

Jacob
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: madbean on October 01, 2010, 04:20:44 PM
It's an HT8950---voice modulator. Apparently it's pretty close to this (maybe exactly): http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/20-modulationecho/124-dh-pitch-shifter

It's actually 18-pin. Anyway, I ordered a couple of those ICs. I'm pretty curious about this thing. It looks like a lot of fun!
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: jkokura on October 01, 2010, 04:25:34 PM
See there, my cynicism strikes again. I was so pessimistic I didn't even bother to count the pins. I would build this though, if it were possible. Crazy noisemaker.

Jacob
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: gtr2 on October 01, 2010, 05:00:42 PM
that thing is sick  :o
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: eniacmike on October 02, 2010, 03:22:46 PM
Quote from: madbean on October 01, 2010, 04:20:44 PM
It's an HT8950---voice modulator. Apparently it's pretty close to this (maybe exactly): http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/20-modulationecho/124-dh-pitch-shifter

It's actually 18-pin. Anyway, I ordered a couple of those ICs. I'm pretty curious about this thing. It looks like a lot of fun!

I am going to give that ggg project a shot. I ordered an IC from small bear. It looks like a lot of fun.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: eniacmike on October 10, 2010, 11:31:46 PM
I built up the ggg project tonight. I am having problems with the dry mix controls, but I will try to fix that later. I am getting sound off the chip and it is really fun.

here are my notes:

this layout is really bad and baffles me in alot of ways. It is HUGE yet resistors are still standing up none of the spacing is really right except for the ic's and the electrolytics.

the oscillation knob is crucial to dialing in the sounds. I am still trying to figure out exactly what this thing is doing to the input. The 7 position does go from low to high but it doesn't really have any tuned intervals. I want to say it almost goes from male to female like if you had a voice changer/gender changer.

I get some really cool chimey sounds like the guitar is a wind chime or something. and I get a really cool almost tremolo/vibe sound out of it in certain settings.

I haven't been able to get the robot or vibrato settings to work. I don't have a momentary switch but I tried just tapping the pins with a wire connected to ground and it doesn't do anything. neither does holding the ground wire to the pin.

also it seems like the chip can't really handle guitar level signals. It overloads if you pick normally, the best way to play with it is soft finger picking or muted strings. that being said it also lacks sustain.

I am going to play around with it somemore tomorrow.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: eniacmike on October 11, 2010, 09:18:47 PM
okay I got the momentary switches working now and I got the mix working. I think part of the problem is the opamp is running on 3.1v so it is rail clipping. the schem shows a really weird power supply portion for the board and two different layouts for single battery and dual battery operation.

but some cool sounds in it. I am waiting on a big enclosure to come in so I can box it up and then I'll post a video.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: illcom on October 12, 2010, 04:48:28 AM
hey Eniacmike
thanks for trying all that
I'm looking foward to seeing your video
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: madbean on October 12, 2010, 05:41:58 AM
Mike, you could put another 10k resistor to ground before C3 to form a voltage divider with R4. This would knock down the input signal to the chip.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: eniacmike on October 12, 2010, 09:42:47 AM
Thanks! I will try that I think I can tie on the the leg of r4 and then to the wire that goes to the 1st lug of the dry mix.

I was getting some really cool sounds yesterday with it. dropping the clock speed you get some really cool bizzare trem/vibe sounds. Like depending on what note you play and the dynamics the speed changes. It was really bizzare I guess when it maxes out the sample with bigger waveforms or louder wave forms has to adjust the sample speed or something. I have no experience with digital though so I might have it completely wrong.

This project is really weird becuase there seems to be alot of room for improvement but in the end you are still going to have an extremely lo-fi sounding effect. I read some talk about using a compander/expander before and after the chip but it sounds like alot of work for an 8bit toy.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: madbean on October 12, 2010, 02:00:19 PM
I actually thinking about the compander thing this morning as I was mulling over your 'hot signal' problem. It seems simple enough to breadboard as is, so I might have a go at that when my chips finally get here from HK.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: eniacmike on October 12, 2010, 02:54:36 PM
I tried the voltage divider and it doesn't really change anything. the distortion I am getting almost sounds like crossover distortion or at least it sounds kind of like the zvex machine pedal.

also when I roll back the volume it isn't really feeding enough to keep the holtek running. I also get weird unpredictable volume swells during sustain at times. It sounds really cool but I can't seem to repeat it.

the only sounds this gets that is close to the dba robot are the octave up and the octave down. I can't get the fuzz tone or the arpeggiator. it does get alot of other cool sounds (mostly crazy dissonance augmented 5ths, semitone down, etc)

Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: illcom on October 13, 2010, 07:30:48 PM
I wonder what the ggg project would sound like if you were feeding a fuzz into it
And when your talking about rolling back the volume is it the effect volume or the guitar's
I hope you'll find a way, i'm not paying 250 for a dba robot, and I would like to build this one
Anyways , nice work
Pat
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: eniacmike on October 18, 2010, 10:20:33 PM
(http://www.rhythmanddetonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/IMG_1041.jpg)

here's my build. I shot a video but it is over 20 minutes just going through all the sounds so I have to try to edit it down.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: gtr2 on October 19, 2010, 04:57:42 AM
Cool!  I'm looking forward to the demo video  ;D
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: eniacmike on October 19, 2010, 09:11:23 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pwyb9jHV3Q (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pwyb9jHV3Q)

here is my second try at making a video. the first one was 20 minutes of nothing so I tried playing back some loops through it so I could be hands on the pedal. it starts out with acoustic, then goes to electric.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: illcom on October 23, 2010, 11:44:26 AM
Wow a realy nice box
Who cares if it's not exactly like the DBA robot,
your effect has some really cool sound
Nice Video BTW
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: madbean on May 29, 2011, 05:55:16 PM
I started playing around with this design today. It's really, really cool! I came up with some interesting ideas on how to add and LFO and envelope to the frequency control. I'm going to try a different input stage, too and a couple other tricks. This is something that will definitely happen in terms of a project :)
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: dwstanford on May 29, 2011, 09:09:30 PM
That's awesome.  I'm really psyched!  Can't wait to build it.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: bigmufffuzzwizz on May 30, 2011, 07:34:55 AM
This is a wild effect! I really enjoyed the video Mike posted awhile back. I would be very interested in building this.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: madbean on May 30, 2011, 07:50:11 AM
I've already taken it up to 8 knobs. I think I may have to reel it in a bit.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: night-B on May 30, 2011, 09:17:26 AM
Wow  :o
Tones from outerspace are coming!
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: culturejam on June 01, 2011, 09:55:47 PM
Lots of interest in that Holtek IC lately.

FSB thread:
http://freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12112


And here's a work-in-progress novel approach:
http://circuitworkshop.com/forum/index.php?topic=875.0


Can't wait to see what Bean comes up with.  :)
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: the3secondrule on February 12, 2012, 06:02:42 PM
Bump  ;D

Brian, did anything ever come of this?
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: madbean on February 12, 2012, 06:25:27 PM
I actually am about ready to get back to it. I haven't touched it in a few months but it was already quite close to being finished. I'd like to get it done for March, I think.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: jtn191 on February 13, 2012, 04:21:31 PM
Quote from: madbean on May 29, 2011, 05:55:16 PM
I started playing around with this design today. It's really, really cool! I came up with some interesting ideas on how to add and LFO and envelope to the frequency control. I'm going to try a different input stage, too and a couple other tricks. This is something that will definitely happen in terms of a project :)

:o tell me it does something like a dubstep wobble!
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: madbean on February 13, 2012, 06:04:57 PM
I have no idea what that is, so....yes?
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: culturejam on February 16, 2012, 12:19:33 PM
Quote from: madbean on February 13, 2012, 06:04:57 PM
I have no idea what that is, so....yes?

I think he's talking about the "wub-wub" you hear in a lot of dubstep songs.

To do dubstep live with instruments and do it right, you need some fancy gadgets, like these guys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuunY8BTqNs

The bass player makes the wub-wub with this odd glove that is like a proximity detector. Wacky
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: madbean on February 16, 2012, 12:53:57 PM
WTF am I watching here?
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: Ettore_M on February 16, 2012, 01:00:03 PM
Quote from: madbean on February 16, 2012, 12:53:57 PM
WTF am I watching here?
+1!
What the hell, dude? WTF are these things the bassist and guitarist  use? Is that on the guitar a palmtop? It seems like one..
Absolutely Freakin' Awesome!
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: jkokura on February 16, 2012, 01:10:11 PM
I thought it was a fun video!

Jacob
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: Ice-o on February 17, 2012, 12:01:27 PM
Looks like the bassist is using a Source Audio Hot Hand:

http://www.sourceaudio.net/products/hothand/index.php
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: monkeyssj1 on April 18, 2012, 12:01:14 AM
would anyone be able to etch one of these things for me?
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: irmcdermott on April 18, 2012, 04:11:45 AM
Quote from: monkeyssj1 on April 18, 2012, 12:01:14 AM
would anyone be able to etch one of these things for me?

If you have a particular layout you want, send me a PM. There are other members that can do it as well.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: monkeyssj1 on April 18, 2012, 09:23:09 AM
here's a link that was just posted on the diystombox forum: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=97078.0

unverified though
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: irmcdermott on April 18, 2012, 11:27:35 AM
Quote from: monkeyssj1 on April 18, 2012, 09:23:09 AM
here's a link that was just posted on the diystombox forum: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=97078.0

unverified though

i you want to be the one to try and verify it, PM me and I'll etch one for you.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: monkeyssj1 on April 18, 2012, 12:20:28 PM
hot damn dog sauce. def not me  :-\. if anyone out there is good at verifying things, I would greatly appreciate the help :). I've only been building pedals for a few weeks now.
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: Vintageman on May 13, 2012, 10:11:58 PM
Great stompbox!!

I love this 8-bit commodore 64 sound!!!
Title: Re: death by audio robot
Post by: Vintageman on July 01, 2012, 12:05:58 AM
another unverified project of this machine...

http://freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12112&start=140