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I did some YouTube watching. Seems like with this, I wouldnt actually need an envelope detector up front? IF it would just be on / off

Actually, NorthCoast makes a good point; if you set up a comparator, you could feed the signal you want into it and set the threshold by adjusting the bias voltage. Or you could set the bias voltage high, and use a boost in front of the signal to get it above the threshold. In either case, you'd need to at least partially rectify the signal hitting the comparator.

If you connected the output of the comparator to the base of a BJT, wet signal output to the collector and the emmitter to ground, you could use it as a switch. When the input signal goes high, the comparator output will go low, causing the resistance between the collector and emmitter to increase and allowing the wet signal to pass. When the input signal goes low, the comparator will go high, increasing the voltage at the BJT's base, which will in turn allow current to flow from the collector to the emmitter, lowering the resistance to ground and muting the signal.

...in theory, at least—the devil is in the details!

I don't know exactly how you'd do that, but I'd start by looking at compressor and noise gate circuits. At the extremes, you'd get silence. I imagine you could use that kind of envelope detection to control an LDR or a mosfet to act as a switch.

How do you like the sound with the LFO going?

At first I thought a slow setting would sound good over heavy riffing, something akin to EVH with a phaser, but something about the modulation tends to obscure the rhythm. Medium to fast sounds good on single note lead lines. Sounds like a synth part!

If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have thought the finish was intentionally post-apocalyptic. Breakfast trio sounds like fun!

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I've heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

The storm is coming, but that little bird will keep singing. Keep hoping. Keep fighting. I'll keep praying.

[Rate]

I got this PCB in a trade with Mitchell over at Super Freq. This is his implementation of Tim Escobedo's "PWM". It includes the optional LFO. It's a square wave synth with modulated pulse width. In a track it could be mistaken for an old analog synth.



I tried a spray-can finish for the first time in a long time. Historically, I've had a hard time getting the paint to adhere. I'm optimistic that the few tricks I've learned over the years will help. Aesthetically, I wanted it to look like a Lisa Frank fever dream about fuzz.



You could fit all the components in a 1590A. The extra room is for all the attitude.



Of course, I can't leave well enough alone, so I made some mods.

• I swapped lugs 1 and 3 of the Rate control so that clockwise was faster.
• I jumpered the LFO switch and opted to put a big-ass 10mm bypass LED in its place. Setting Depth to zero still kills the modulation.
• I changed C2 to 6.8nF and added a 47k resistor between lug 3 of the PWM (labeled "Width" on my build) and ground. Without the minimum resistance, it's possible to set the pulse width so narrow that the signal cuts out entirely.
• I changed C2 to 10uF and R2 to 4.7k. This widens the range of the LFO.

All and all this is a fun circuit and unlike anything else I've built!

That's a beautiful etch! Looks crisp and clean inside and out.



I learned recently that Kewpie is a Japanese brand of mayonnaise.

What layer is the rectangle on? If it's in a copper layer that could cause problems. Can you post a screenshot?

As far as open-source, I've got RawTherapee for my RAW files, but with >25 years of Photoshop "muscle memory" GIMP makes me irrationally angry hence my thought to plop my purchased Affinity license into Bottles. It's kinda there.

I may not have the best distro. I have pop_OS because my machine is primarily for gaming, and using KDE Plasma has made some other RAW programs I tied rather unstable. I'll try just about anything on FlatHub, though.

I stopped shooting RAW when I realized my technique was what was limiting my pictures and not the file format.    I'm sure the same isn't true for you.  When I was shooting RAW, I was happily using Darktable.

Going to Gimp from Photoshop is worse than starting from scratch. It's like learning to play guitar left handed after a lifetime of playing right handed. I'm used to it, but that's because I never got used to Photoshop.

The etch looks great! Did you just omit the tone section entirely, or is there some fixed filtering in it's place?

Also, hit me up if you want to talk about Linux workflows; I've been Free and Open Source Software only for almost twenty years.

I've sent I private message to everyone on this thread that has expressed interest in a PCB. If you didn't get the message, reply here, I guess. For anyone in the future that may be interested, just DM me.

Welcome!

This is definitely a good place to share and learn. Looking forward to seeing your builds!

LMS order placed and will straighten out the footswitch and LED wires before I close this bad boy up.  Standby for mediocre but meaningful demos...

Did your LMS order ever come in? I'm excited to see how this turned out!

It occurred to me that the problem would then be the shipping, I am in Europe...

It's a little extra in shipping, but I've sent boards successfully to the EU before. DM incoming!

do you still have some?
I can't seem to be able to solve the CAPTCHA with the colors so I can't DM you

I sold the last one a couple of weeks ago, but if you're willing to pay in advance and wait two or three week, I can order more. If you're still interested, reply here and I'll DM you.