Effects

I still haven't got around to doing a video of the MIDIpal, but the effects PCBs finally arrived a few days ago. I brought the boards for a Gristleizer and an EchoBase delay from http://musicpcb.com. Prior to this and in need of something to occupy me, I drilled a case for the Gristleizer, mounted the pots on a piece of stripboard and did some of the wiring. I opted for small desktop format cases rather than stomp boxes.

Prepared case

Once the PCB arrived, it was quickly populated and wired up. I ordered the wrong trim pots, but they fit with some leg-bending and the LFO speed pot has the wrong taper. Anyhow, it works and I'll change the pots at some point.

The Gristleizer PCB

PCB mounted and wired

"Completed" Gristleizer. Yes I drilled a hole in the wrong place.

Having completed the Gristleizer and before starting on the EchoBase, I decided that laser cut front bezels would look good. I designed one, along with a drill template for the EchoBase in Inkscape and will do also design a new front panel for the Gristleizer.

Initial EchoBase drill template

I built and tested the EchoBase outside the case as there are several mods available that I wanted to experiment with before modifying the panel (see http://musicpcb.com/pcbs/echo-base-delay/). I went with a diode lift switch, along with substituting the value of one resistor to cope better with "hot" signals as I will be running synths through this.

EchoBase guts

Finally, the case was drilled (with the deletion of the effect LED as the LFO LED is dual purpose) and the internals mounted within.

The completed units

I intend to do several more effects and also build a power supply for them in a matching case, rather like a DIY version of the Boss Micro Rack series from the 1980s. In the meantime I'll get the bezels made and build the Shruthi-1.