Reverb Module Alternative

[raulduke]

On the hunt for buying a Spin FV-1 development board, I came across a company selling these:



I've ordered a couple to experiment with, and thought it may be of interest to DIY guys (due to it being a module which seems easy to fit like the Belton etc).

From reading the data sheet, it should also be relatively simple to mod the module to provide two algorithms (room and spring) and 3 decay lengths.

There is very little information I can find on the old 'tinterweb about other people using them in their projects (who knows.... they may sound like sh*te ).

link: http://www.profusionplc.com/pro/gex/pcatdtl0?ipartno=NemFxReverb2-Sprg-MH

The company (Profusion) also have some other interesting stuff (Spin FV-1 dev board, THAT IC's for Mic Preamps, compressors etc.).

[micromegas]

Wow! this could open a few posibilities... but this is what grabs my attention:

http://www.profusionplc.com/pro/gex/pcatdtl0?ipartno=NemFXSC-SO

it seems like the module is based on that chip.

Regarding the Spin FV-1 development board, I've been doing some research too, and have como to the conclusion that diy is the cheapest/best way as there are no boards adapted to guitar electronics.

[raulduke]

Yeah the SMD module also grabbed my attention... till I looked at the datasheet and saw it has no adjustable parameters.

There are a lot of n/c pins on the data sheet!


You can get a  FV-1 dev board from profusion for around £65.

I just ordered one. You just need to fit the guitar friendly 'analogue wrapper' around it.

I'm going to fit an input buffer + mixer (for dry/wet mix), then fit it in a big box with externally mounted potentiometers.

Looking forward to playing with it as there are plenty of examples/algorithms available.

There is also SpinCAD available, which looks awesome (a visual develpment environment for the FV-1).

[micromegas]

Yeah the SMD module also grabbed my attention... till I looked at the datasheet and saw it has no adjustable parameters.

There are a lot of n/c pins on the data sheet!


You can get a  FV-1 dev board from profusion for around £65.

I just ordered one. You just need to fit the guitar friendly 'analogue wrapper' around it.

I'm going to fit an input buffer + mixer (for dry/wet mix), then fit it in a big box with externally mounted potentiometers.

Looking forward to playing with it as there are plenty of examples/algorithms available.

There is also SpinCAD available, which looks awesome (a visual develpment environment for the FV-1).

You can use thise as the analogue wrapper:
http://www.hexeguitar.com/diy/utility/devloop
it is quite complete.

They also have Wavefront's AL3201. I recall this was a quite powerfull reverb engine.

By the way, the reverb modules seem to be pin-to-pin compatible with our beloved Belton bricks.

[raulduke]

That's a great site. Thanks for the link dude!

The modules are compatible with Beltons eh.... I didn't even notice that 

Makes this even more interesting  !

[Soup39]

This is really exciting and makes me wish I knew the first thing about designing circuits. 

Did you see the reverb, delay, chorus data sheet:

http://www.profusionplc.com/images/data%20sheets/nemfxsc_rdc1.pdf

[raulduke]

This is really exciting and makes me wish I knew the first thing about designing circuits. 

Did you see the reverb, delay, chorus data sheet:

http://www.profusionplc.com/images/data%20sheets/nemfxsc_rdc1.pdf

I did mate and it looks interesting.

If the first modules I bought work out ok, then I'll most likely buy the multi FX chip, 'breadboard-ise' (ie. mount the SMD chip to pin headers) and have a play.

Could be exciting.... could be pants..... I can't find audio demos available anywhere 

[Soup39]

yeah I started looking and couldn't find anything, which leaves me a little skeptical. 
Since there is the option to change the module from Spring to Room, and fudge with the decay simply by soldering a 0R resistor, it would be cool to be make these switchable.

[selfdestroyer]

ICE-9 has some stuff shared out on Oshpark also
https://oshpark.com/profiles/Ice-9

Cody

[drolo]

ICE-9 has some stuff shared out on Oshpark also
https://oshpark.com/profiles/Ice-9

Cody

I just bought a board from him through DIYSB. Pretty excited to get started with this :-)

[micromegas]

ICE-9 has some stuff shared out on Oshpark also
https://oshpark.com/profiles/Ice-9

Cody

Yep, I took a look at that and it could be improved with some additions to make it more suitable for development. I have some half-drawed schematics somewhere, if I get to a point I manage to get something useful I'll post it here (and at DIYSB of course).

[raulduke]

I wired up a NemFX reverb last night and there is some good news, and also some bad news:

The Good news:

- The room module I bought sounds great. No weird modulation on the tail (eg. Belton medium/long brick) and it has a nice character to the verb. I'll try and record some samples if I can. I prefer it to the Belton module (I had a medium module to hand)

- The room module has quite a nice long decay. I'd say around 4 seconds. Not too long, not too short.

- It was a straight swap out for a belton module, therefore you could in theory fit one to a 1776 rubadub etc. for a different DIY reverb 'flavour'.

The Bad News:

- The spring module I bought isn't working. I'm not getting any 'verb signal out of it at all. I need to look into greater detail to see if I am missing something here (from datasheet it should operate exactly the same as the room module).

- I modded the room module for external control of decay and reverb type (as specified in the datasheet). The pads are really small (for fitting 0603 resistors) so adding physical switches is pretty much a no go. The module is effectively 'set and forget'.

- When I did fit the switches, there was not much perceivable difference in the decay lengths and reverb algorithms. In fact I am almost inclined to think there was no difference (other than the old placebo effect), and I confirmed the switches were making contact and operating ok. More research needed here I think!


In short so far: The room module appears to be a convenient swap out for a belton btdr module if you fancy a different verb, but the new BTDR3 (ie. Rubadub deluxe), or a Spin FV1 may be the way to go for extensive control of parameters.

[mmlee]

Yo,
Did you ever get the spring module working?

Cheers,
Marcus

Marcus