DemiCOMP (Demented Compressor)

[rullywowr]

Here is a DemiCOMP compressor built with my "Demented Compressor" PCB - inspired by the Demeter Compulator. Really digging the sound of this circuit.  It makes clean passages just "pop" with a little extra something when dialed in.  I threw an old Boss chorus after it and was reliving some 1980's hair metal ballads for like an hour.

I powdercoated the enclosure with Dormant Purple Sparkle and laser engraved the top.  A white LED, Neutrik Jacks, and RW 3PDT breakout board completes the build.  A pretty easy build, the hardest part is sourcing the VTL5C10 as this optocoupler is required (a regular LDR and LED won't cut it...I tried!)  I think this may be staying on one of my boards for a while!  Planning on getting a video demo uploaded in the next day or so.

[chuckbuick]

That looks great inside and out.  I really like the graphic design.

[ckim715]

The cleanliness of your builds actually makes me a little sick >.<

I'm super jealous. Great build!

[hoodoo]

I think we need to ban, laser engraved pedal, build reports, they just make the rest of us look bad, who's with me?    Great looking build mate, love everything about this one.

[lincolnic]

That laser etch is killer. To say nothing of the guts! Looking forward to the demo.

[bcalla]

Wow pedal indeed!

[pickdropper]

I really like the artwork on this one.  Good job picking a color with great contrast, too.

[wgc]

Awesome! Super slick build

[rullywowr]

Thanks guys!  I fought with knob choices for a while (black, clear, red, purple, blue, even aluminum) but white seemed to fit it best.  The 3M 8124 cable from the group buy really helped clean up the interior wiring too.  I have an identical enclosure in dormant sparkle blue which I haven't wired up yet..  The circuit really kicks some serious tail and I am not normally what you would consider a big compressor guy.  If you play a clean passage with it off, then on...you want it on all the time during clean stuff.  I have some special recording equipment arriving today which will hopefully help make a great quality video.

In the past couple months, I have been getting more comfortable with Corel Draw X4 (old version..I know but is what I have) and have been using it for most everything when making pedal graphics.  The trace functions work super well for tracing a bitmap and creating proper shapes plus it works seamlessly with the laser engraver.  I do like Inkscape, except Inkscape never prints right for me (unless I export to PDF first) and also crashes randomly which is frustrating.  Inkscape still has its place in my toolkit for importing locked PDFs however   Also, Inkscape combined with the free "Big Blue Saw" DXF plugin works a treat for creating custom PCB board dimension outlines and importing them into DipTrace. 

For the DemiCOMP, I traced the outline for the paisely graphic and converted it into shapes.  I have also been using Corel's trace function to clean up raster images of PCB layouts before etching..makes such nice clean vector lines and enhances the etch. 

Overall, the builds around here on the forum make me keep wanting to raise the bar...you guys inspire me to make each pedal better than the last.    New stuff is in the hopper and if I can get even just one "wow" from someone then its "rully wow".