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Tim Stanley's Build Your Own Effects FAQ
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Here are some hints:
1) Electronic Projects for Musicians by Craig Anderton. At least 20
projects and a great way to start. Alot of practical knowledge.
Includes pc board layouts. No chorus or delay effects in it though.
Note that this book comes with a sound-sheet of various effects (an
answer to another FAQ).
Recently, I have seen a new Anderton book dealing with digital
effects (no title handy, though).
2) Anderton used to have a monthly column in Guitar Player from at
least the late 70s to 1986. Go to your library and look up references
by author (Craig Anderton) and then you could find all of the other
articles he has written for magazines such as Guitar Player
(Polyphony, etc). He is distinctly prolific and has been around a
long time.
I point out that there are some projects and hints in the old mags
that are not in his book. E.g., chorus and flanger projects, an
octave divider, ground/noise issues, multi-effect issues.
IMHO - first get his Electronic Projects for Musicians book. If you
consume all of that material and run out of things to build, check out
the old mags. Note that this book comes with a sound-sheet of various
effects (an answer to another FAQ).
3) Electronic Projects for Guitar by RA Penfold, 1992. Published by
PC Publishing in England. The only things it has that Anderton's EPFM
does not are:
+ Dual-tracking unit (he means chorus) (Anderton has one that PAIA
sells; also 1982? GP article)
+ expander
+ dynamic treble booster
+ dynamic tremolo
+ direct injection box
plus other stuff that Anderton also has, or has published elsewhere.
IMHO - Penfold's book is not as excellent as Anderton's, especially
for a novice builder. However, I may be biased - I have read,
enjoyed, and learned from Anderton's stuff since the mid 70s. Penfold
gives component layouts on some standard prototyping board for each
project which may make building a little easier for first-timers.
Anderton gives layouts too, so you can etch your own boards. But,
there is less teaching going on in the book, and, the projects seem
lacking in controls (of course you can go and put them in yourself,
but that is for the intermediate-level builder, not really for a
beginner). I would never comment that Anderton's projects have too
few controls... ;-). Anderton's projects have so many controls that
the limits of settings can produce very ugly sounds even in properly
functioning units! I have never built anything from his Penfold's
book - probably will build the dynamic tremolo someday.
4) A reputable company called:
PAIA Electronics
3200 Teakwood Lane
Edmund, Oklahoma 73013
(405) 340-6300
Comments: electronic music kits
sells kits and boards and for all of the projects in Anderton's book.
Also, rackpanels and other projects that he has published. E.g., A
bucket-brigade hyperflange/chorus; a complex fuzz box called
Quadrafuzz; and more. With respect to these latter two specific
projects - IMHO - buy the kit, or at least the circuit board. They
are sufficiently complex in component count and circuit complexity that
novicely-hand-built is really inappropriate and of too low quality.
Also, these large kits are expensive and you want to ensure success.
I have built the chorus.
5) Check out those Sams Photofacts cookbooks such as Active Filter
cookbook, or Op-Amp cookbook. Not quite a textbook, more like an
engineers handy reference. Rather than theory, these Sams books focus
more on "what does it all mean". If you are not an EE, check out the
basic Radio-Snark books on op-amps.
6) Check out Popular Electronics, Radio Electronics, manufacturers
spec books, those circuit collection books that are 700 pages long and
full of all sorts of recently published circuits (better large
University type bookstores tend to have them). There are many circuits
out there.
7) There is a set of 4 books that are collections of schematics from
manufacturers data sheets, and from the electronics magazines. The
author's last name is Graf. I have seen these books at better/bigger
bookstores.
8) Diligence and discipline lead to working hand built circuits.
Don't rush, triple check everything! If you get in to this, you will
need a real power supply - batteries will not cut it...
9) Methinks you can actually look up references by author (Craig
Anderton) and then you could find all of the other articles he has
written for magazines other than Guitar Player (Polyphony, etc). It
seems to me he is rather prolific. Also, I recall that he stopped
writing for GP in 1986, and I think he was writing at least as early
as 1976? (as far back as I can recall - I had the first edition of his
book around that time).
CheckItOut and G'luck,
T
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Digest of related posts
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From: META@UNB.CA (META000)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: paia effects kits
Date: 19 Jun 92 13:49:47 GMT
Organization: University of New Brunswick
Oops! after recommending to several alt.guitar users to look into
kits for guitar effects from paia electronics, i realized i had
given them an incorrect address. the actual address is:
Paia Electronics, Inc.,
3200 teakwood lane,
Edmond, oklahoma, 73013
i have been buying stuff from these people for 15 years, and i highly
recommend them. they have a catalog they can send you, but i might
mention in advance that they have kits for almost every guitar effect
you can think of, and then some. reverb, active direct box, limiters,
compressors, parametric and other equalizers, mixers, vocorders,
an incredible flanger, noise gate, envelope-controlled filter, several
very different overdrive/distortion units, octaver, plus all the various
projects from the craig anderton books (headphone amps, ring modulators,
filter units, boosters, phasers, etc.). some are so unique that you
will not find anything else like them on the market at any price. others
can probably be purchased for an equivalent price at a pawn shop or
through second hand ads, however the advantage to paia's kits is that
they are accompanied by tons of documentaTION that will allow you to
know how to customize them, and probably teach you how to hot rod your
existing effects. if you wish to assemble some kind of remote, foot-
switchable monster, most if not all of these gadgets can easily be
adapted to rack mount form.
i should point out that this is not everyone's cup of tea, and
indeed, it may be the case that only a particular commercial product
will produce the sound you want. however, for the money, the fun, and
the learning, these are definitely worth looking into. paia also sells
a wide range of synthesizer and midi-relevant kits and hard-to-get ic's.
i hate to sound like a commercial, but these guys are real straight
shooters, and definitely not into get rich quick schemes.
I might point out that the magazine currently sold under the title
"electronic musician" was original published by them under the title
"polyphony" (they also have back issues for sale).
mark hammer
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Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
From: gw214790@LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Galen Watts)
Subject: Re: Electronic projects for musicians
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 18:50:19 GMT
Organization: Colorado Concert Sound
In article <1993Jan29.140747.29077@ugle.unit.no> svenn@Lise.Unit.NO (Svenn Are Bjerkem) writes:
>Craig Anderton wrote this book some years ago, and I find some of the projects
>interesting. I've got a problem: Craig writes that this buddy named RC4739 could
>be a bit tricky to find. You bet!!! Most of his projects features this thing.
>I know he suggests a replacement op-amp (NE4558) but pin-configuration is
>different, and If he knew that the 4558 existed and the 4739 was so hard to find,
>then why use 4739? Answer must be: 4739 is better. (Any other opinions on that?)
>Who produces the RC4739? And who stocks it?
>I know of some replacements like LM739, UA739CP, but noone stocks them either.
>Can somebody help me??
>Svenn Are Bjerkem
I have built most of the projects in E.P.F.M. usig LF347's, LF353's
and LF 355's and have not had any problems. The LF347 is pin-for-pin
the same as the 4739 and it's a J-FET device that works better in most
cases. I get mine from Digi-Key, 1-800-344-4539.
Good Luck and Have FUN!
Galen Watts
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Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 20:51:07 -0400
From: Charles Eric Horowitz <ceh1@acpub.duke.edu>
Message-Id: <199406240051.UAA27991@teer4.acpub.duke.edu>
To: ceh1@acpub.duke.edu, tjs@demon.eecs.umich.edu
Subject: Re: HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PEDAL/EFFECTS
The envelope modification unit is in Popular Electronics,
July 1979, pages 65-67. The unimod is in February 1981,
pages 65-70. One more circuit you may want to check out is
called a guitar intensifier and is in July 1974 page 45-46.
Good luck,
CHUCK
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From mccabd@goya.its.rpi.edu Tue Sep 27 22:11:48 1994
From: mccabd@goya.its.rpi.edu (Donna Marie Mccabe)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.builders
Subject: Theremin Promises Promises
Date: 26 Sep 1994 21:24:28 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
NNTP-Posting-Host: goya.its.rpi.edu
Oh My! I told C.I. Swift that I had Theremin schematics and now find
that I have close to 40 requests....so, since most of you were also
over-the-sea from me and I have three different schematics totalling
about 15 pages....how about I tell you all where to find them as I'm
a poor student without the funds to mail so much stuff to so many ppl.
A Transistorized Theremin/by Robert A. Moog
Electronics World Magazine, January 1961 pp 29-33
Build a Solid-State Theremin/by Louis E. Garner, Jr.
Popular Electronics, November 1967 pp29-35
Build the Digital Theremin/by C.R. Fischer
Hands-on Electronics, September 1987 pp 32-35
Good luck. Sorry for the broken promise. I hope you can understand. :)
Donna
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From: ky_yip@pavo.concordia.ca (YIP, KEN YEE)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.builders
Subject: Re: Analog delay
Date: 20 Oct 1994 02:51 -0500
Organization: Concordia University
In article <3815qh$di5@huron.eel.ufl.edu>, ticknor@eel.ufl.edu (Christopher Ticknor) writes...
>Keywords:delay, analog, electronics
>
>How do you build an electronic analog delay?
>
>Any advice would be appreciated.
>
What you would be talking about here is something called a
BBD or bucket brigade device. If you have access to back issues of
Radio Electronics magazine (municipal or college library perhaps),
then you might want to take a look at the January 1990 issue. There's
a simple circuit diagramed in one article (p. 38-9) which uses a
BBD.
In the article the chip they use is the MN3008 made by
Matsushita (parent company of Panasonic). It may be a good idea to
contact them and request a spec sheet for the MN3008. Chances are
that you'll get much more comprehemsive info than what's found in
the article I mentioned above.
--KYY
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From axh3868@vaxa.isc.rit.edu Mon Jan 30 15:18:59 1995
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
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From: axh3868@vaxa.isc.rit.edu
Subject: DYI tremelo/keyboard Mag
Message-ID: <1995Jan27.013215.14969@ultb.isc.rit.edu>
Sender: news@ultb.isc.rit.edu (USENET News System)
Nntp-Posting-Host: vaxa-eth.isc.rit.edu
Reply-To: axh3868@vaxa.isc.rit.edu
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 01:32:15 GMT
Lines: 9
I was reading guitar player july 1990 and an article by Craig Anderton
mentioned an article from Keyboard magazine 1979 months Aug and Sept. that
showed how to build a tremelo unit for keyboard (i assume). I would really
like to getacopy of this article. If anyone has acces I would greatly
appreciate it. The Guitar Player article said you could get a copy at
University Microfilms. I called (1-800-521-0600) but you had to have the
article tile or the page numbers. If anyone could post this I would be very
happy.
Bill
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From axh3868@vaxb.isc.rit.edu Thu Feb 16 13:30:54 1995
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
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From: axh3868@vaxb.isc.rit.edu
Subject: tremelo effect-build
Message-ID: <1995Feb16.003837.20662@ultb.isc.rit.edu>
Sender: news@ultb.isc.rit.edu (USENET News System)
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Reply-To: axh3868@vaxb.isc.rit.edu
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 00:38:37 GMT
Lines: 14
I was reading guitar player july 1990 and an article by Craig Anderton
mentioned an article from Keyboard magazine 1979 months Aug and Sept. that
showed how to build a tremelo effect unit. I would really
like to getacopy of this article. If anyone has access I would greatly
appreciate it. The Guitar Player article said you could get a copy at
University Microfilms. I called (1-800-521-0600) but you had to have the
article tile or the page numbers. If anyone could post this I would be very
happy.
In fact any information about building a tremelo effect would be nice.
Also,a few years ago Boss had a Pan/Tremelo effect pedal. Does anyone know
anything about this. I don't don't see it advertised in catalogs.
Bill
From ENNEAD@deimos.oit.umass.edu Mon Feb 20 15:34:50 1995
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From: ENNEAD@deimos.oit.umass.edu (Charles M Seaton)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Building effects
Date: 18 Feb 1995 23:49:06 GMT
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Lines: 54
Message-ID: <3i611i$k4b@nic.umass.edu>
References: <1995Feb16.004131.20864@ultb.isc.rit.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: deimos.oit.umass.edu
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2v [VAX/VMS]]
axh3868@vaxb.isc.rit.edu wrote:
: Can someone post a list of the effects from the Craig Anderton
:book "Electronic Projects For Musicians". I am thinking of getting
:this book but I wonder if it has anything I'd be interested in it.
:I am not really interested in preamps and stuff like that. I am
:more looking for distortions, modulation effects etc.
Here's what's in the book:
1. Preamp (for boosting to line level)
2. Metronome (very simple, easy, cheap)
3. Passive tone control (basically a bandpass filter, very simple)
4. Headphone amp
5. Miniamp (puts out about 1w into 8 ohms)
6. Ultra-Fuzz (very hard clipping, lotsa sustain)
7. Bass Fuzz (dunno how it sounds)
8. Compressor (no-frills, good compressor)
9. Ring Modulator
10. Dual Filter Voicing Unit (includes two bandpass filters and an
overdrive stage)
11. (article on basic effects bypassing)
12. (article on some simple guitar rewires)
13. Bipolar AC adaptor (can power all book projects at once)
14. Treble booster
15. Electronic footswitch
16. Tuning standard (not a "tuner"-- just provides reference
pitches)
17. Super Tone Control (sort of a weird parametric eq)
18. 8-in, 1-out line level mixer
19. (article on how to use a multimeter)
20. Practice Play-Along (plug guitar & tape deck into this, play
along through your stereo)
21. Phase Shifter (versatile, also does vibrato)
22. (article on making patch cords)
23. Talk Box
24. Tube Sound Fuzz (not bad for a solid-state stomp box, but not
great either)
25. Envelope Follower (can turn #17 into an "auto-wah;" also can
control other projects, i.e. phase shifter, ring modulator)
26. Spluffer (splitter/buffer amp. Basically a DI box)
27. Noise Gate
There's also stuff on how to package projects, how to read
schematics, handling parts, tools, etc. I've personally only made
the Compressor (liked it a lot-- low noise, wide bandwidth, good
enough to use for demo recording or as a guitar/bass effect; blows
away all "stomp box" compressors I've tried) and the Tube Sound
Fuzz.. kinda cool sound, NOT a replacement for real tubes, but not
bad. I personally preferred it to the Ibanez Tube Screamer, but
didn't like it as much as a ProCo Rat. But that's just me.
Also, if you get the book, get a PAIA catalog, as they sell kits for
all the projects, some of which use hard-to-find parts.
--ennead.