DiY Tape Delay?

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Jeremy Garber
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Post by Jeremy Garber » Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:29 am

Yes, I have had a lot of fun with creative routing of FX to get ambient, spooky, and whatnot type noises.

This project is intended for live use, so I don't want to depend on a mixer to achieve the sound. However, I did want to have an insert point on this 'pedal' so that I could insert say, a distortion pedal in the feedback loop. I've seen a few delay pedal projects on another forum which incorporate that feature. The reason I originally wanted a tape delay is because I wanted that saturated tape sound- intending on using maybe a jfet or something similar to drive the tape. I had considered controlling delay time with a variable speed control on the motor, but someone brought up the point that a cassette transport has heads spaced so close together, there would be too much noise introduced to achieve longer delay times. Then I though, OK, but maybe we could use the variable speed control as sort of a destructive add to the sound- to purposely add noise to the signal. When BBDs were brought up, I was interested in hearing how their drift and leakage could further destruct the sound.

I'm not really trying to make a glitch box or anything. I just wanted a fairly normal delay, with a fairly unique tone. The reason I was trying to keep it analog is not because I have an uber hatred for digital- it's just because I'm trying to focus on building analog circuits at the moment. Trust me, I love digital and can't wait to start working with micro-controllers and whatnot, I'm just trying to take a linear approach to my learning process. This project was intended to be a big learning experience as well as a functioning unit.

runrunrun
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Post by runrunrun » Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:57 am

"Can't afford an Echoplex? Echo-Matic and a three head tape deck get you into action for less than $10 in parts."

http://www.moosapotamus.net/IDEAS/Echo-Matic_a.gif

http://www.moosapotamus.net/IDEAS/Echo-Matic_b.gif

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Jeremy Garber
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Post by Jeremy Garber » Sat Aug 30, 2008 12:02 pm

runrunrun wrote:"Can't afford an Echoplex? Echo-Matic and a three head tape deck get you into action for less than $10 in parts."

http://www.moosapotamus.net/IDEAS/Echo-Matic_a.gif

http://www.moosapotamus.net/IDEAS/Echo-Matic_b.gif
Yes! I've looked over that article once before, and it seems like a really great start for this project. I'm sure I could find a rack mount tape deck, or at the very least one that would fit on a standard rack shelf.

Eventually I want to modularize my FX to rack them up and just have switch boards on the floor. The DIYStompbox forum has several members doing this well already.

signorMars
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Post by signorMars » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:32 pm

don't know how it's possible that nobody found this through google...

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2008/ ... ape-delay/

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Smitty
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Post by Smitty » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:35 pm

signorMars wrote:don't know how it's possible that nobody found this through google...

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2008/ ... ape-delay/

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ah, but i did.
Smitty wrote:here ya go!
not what he was after, though.
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signorMars
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Post by signorMars » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:35 pm

d'oh!

never question the smitty.
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Smitty
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Post by Smitty » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:58 pm

darn tootin'! :D
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Jeremy Garber
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Post by Jeremy Garber » Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:25 pm

Yep, I had seen that one in my own search and then it was posted in this thread a while back. Thanks though!

alf
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Post by alf » Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:27 am

Don't know if this would help at all, but in 'The Electric Guitar Amplifier Handbook' by Jack Darr has a schematic of an Echoplex.

http://product.half.ebay.com/Electric-G ... 5QQtgZinfo

I actually found my copy at 1/2 price books for like 5 bucks. :shock:

I can scan and email you the schematics if it would help at all. It is bigger than a stompbox, but maybe the schematic could provide a bit of 'Aha!' for your project?

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Jeremy Garber
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Post by Jeremy Garber » Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:56 am

It would definitely help.

alf
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Post by alf » Tue Nov 04, 2008 7:32 am

Silly me.

The book is up under the 'stuff to read' post.

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 45&start=0

Scroll down. The schematic is under the 'special signal circuits' chapter. Last or 2nd to last page.

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Skipwave
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Post by Skipwave » Fri Nov 07, 2008 3:11 pm

Anybody like my idea for a variable delay time on a walkman slap up?

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signorMars
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Post by signorMars » Fri Nov 07, 2008 3:42 pm

so the second tape would move back and forth to change the delay time? is that right? if so... that's pretty cool! as a bonus, instead of getting the normal pitch shift effect when changing delay times, it seems like you would get a cool scrub/scratch effect since you would be moving the heads while the tape was running.
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on the moon
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Post by on the moon » Tue Nov 11, 2008 4:21 pm

+1 Echo-Matic from the Stompbox Cookbook
humming Neil Young's "OHIO"

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