Trem de Lune

[Aleph Null]

This is an almost stock Aion Electronics "Luna".



I tried a few different designs before settling on this graphic. I think the Victorian man-in-the-moon design communicates well from under foot. I used a blue diffused LED for the bypass indicator and a red waterclear for rate.



IC2 is a TL062 instead of the recommended TL022. Having seen many variants of this circuit, it seems any low-power opamp will work without producing audible clock noise. I went with the vactrol for this build instead of rolling my own. I've had good luck with the LDRs from Tayda before, but the square wave setting does sound a little more square to me with the vactrol.



The Aion layout makes it easy to keep wiring tidy.

[dan.schumaker]

Super clean!  Looks nice!

[matmosphere]

Very nice build.

Its hip to be square

[Aleph Null]

Very nice build.

Its hip to be square

Thanks! I'm too obtuse to be square! 🙃

[Leevibe]

beautiful!

[mjg]

Very classy. 

[Caedarn]

Nice. I have this PCB in my build queue. How do you like the sound?

[Aleph Null]

Nice. I have this PCB in my build queue. How do you like the sound?

The Tremulous Lune (which the Luna is based on) is the gold standard for tremolo in the DIY world. Personally, I think it's the most versatile tremolo out there—commercial or DIY.

The Luna in specific is a nice layout. I found it easy to build and easy to wire cleanly. The PDF documentation has a link to a bill of materials, which makes ordering parts easy too. The added input buffer is one of those things you don't realize you need until you have it. It's a great improvement on the original circuit. It basically just ensures more consistent results when you move it around in the pedal chain.

I'm still getting a feel for the symmetry and spacing (or ramp and space, as I've labelled them), but they really do open up the possibilities. You can get weird square wave blips, or even synth sounding sawtooth stuff. I can't imagine I'll ever need another trem...unless I put together a second pedal board.

[gordo]

Is that a gold footswitch??

[diablochris6]

Very nice! A Tremulus Lune was one of my first builds, and I like it so much, I haven't felt the need to build another tremolo. Love the moon illustration.

[Aleph Null]

Is that a gold footswitch??

Definitely not (though I have seen them). The lighting and the blue paint job messed with the camera's white balance. This is the truest representation of the enclosure color I could get.