One of my favourite things in music making is turning up the feedback on my DIY delay and then twisting the speed knob which turns things into a tunable instrument of sorts. Upping the speed, or delay time, raises the pitch in the feedback loop and lowering it… lowers the pitch.
Trouble is that it needs both my hands on the knobs to do this and that means I can’t generate new sounds to be in the loop. It’s kinda difficult to explain but basically you turn up the feedback then play the sounds but before you get hands off you’ve got to turn the feedback down otherwise it’ll get away on you… as it does but with both hands on the knobs it can be played somewhat but not optimally because the feedbacks always going up and up to keep the regeneratition going so what one really needs is the ability to put the knobs into a treadle type pedal so, for one, your feet can do the controlling while your hands are free to keep playing whatever sound source, and two the treadle action kinda spreads out the rotation into an action simpler to control… from about 10 degrees of rotation of the knob, or about 5-6mm, of useful area to play with between repeats that disappear and repeats getting out of control, you get about 50mm of action at the end of the treadle which is much easier to play with and control effectively… so thats what I’m building right now.
I got the box I’m putting it all in from my mate Felix in Raglan. I first sw it months ago and it was so neat I didn’t even bother asking if he was going to use it for something, given I would so he must be. Month or two later, on my next visit to that beautiful place that boasts one of the best dumps I’ve had the absolute pleasure to enjoy, it was still in a corner so I enquired and he let me have it saying it was going back to the dump anyways.
It’s big enough to fit four pedals on top of so I’m going to have the two delay parameters, speed and feedback with the other less twiddled knobs and switches above the treadles, and the other two are going to be a wahwah, garden variety inductor and rotating pot type, and an electronic volume pedal. Electronic volume pedal means the pot rotation isn’t part of the signal, otherwise you get the hiss and crackle, but is a VCA of sorts.
I really quite enjoy things like this as they require the mechanicals to work well so the electronics do what they are supposed to do. Most of the fx units are just that. Some electronics stuck in a box and the only mechanical challenge is drilling the holes in the right place. The instruments I really enjoy building are basically a bunch of mechanical interplays that need to work well together to be a good instrument. Not just like a effect where all that matters is getting lines straight and drilling holes in the right place. I like machines!