favorite DIY trem (1590B)

[RobA]

[...]
So you both think it's not worth having all these controls? Isn't the shape of the lfo the main factor in a tremolo? Or is there more to it?

General question: what lfo shapes do all these tremolos use? Any having a clipped triangle?

The number of controls on the Lune would be fine, great even, if they provided precise control over the LFO and the resulting trem response. But, they don't really. The controls interact too much -- moving a shape parameter speeds up or slows down the LFO for example. That combined with the Vactrol slowing down/filtering the response of the LFO makes the overall usefulness less than I want from that many controls.

I'd agree that the LFO shape is probably the biggest factor in these vactrol based, Anderton family trems, but the slowed response and the hysteresis in the LDR means the LFO waveform changes need to be pretty extreme and distinct to be effective. I mentioned the Cool Cat Trem and that I liked it. Well, I pulled it apart last night and traced the audio path. It's pretty much the same kind of trem as the Lune -- LDR based with inverting op-amp stage to do the gain control. The LFO has speed, depth, and hard/soft. That combination is much easier to use than the Lune and yields more distinct and useful settings.

I don't know of any that use clipped triangles. I've been (slowly) working on a dual trem that uses quadrature trapezoidal LFO's in one mode. I like the way they work.

[kothoma]

[...]
So you both think it's not worth having all these controls? Isn't the shape of the lfo the main factor in a tremolo? Or is there more to it?

General question: what lfo shapes do all these tremolos use? Any having a clipped triangle?

The number of controls on the Lune would be fine, great even, if they provided precise control over the LFO and the resulting trem response. But, they don't really. The controls interact too much -- moving a shape parameter speeds up or slows down the LFO for example. That combined with the Vactrol slowing down/filtering the response of the LFO makes the overall usefulness less than I want from that many controls.

I'd agree that the LFO shape is probably the biggest factor in these vactrol based, Anderton family trems, but the slowed response and the hysteresis in the LDR means the LFO waveform changes need to be pretty extreme and distinct to be effective. I mentioned the Cool Cat Trem and that I liked it. Well, I pulled it apart last night and traced the audio path. It's pretty much the same kind of trem as the Lune -- LDR based with inverting op-amp stage to do the gain control. The LFO has speed, depth, and hard/soft. That combination is much easier to use than the Lune and yields more distinct and useful settings.

I don't know of any that use clipped triangles. I've been (slowly) working on a dual trem that uses quadrature trapezoidal LFO's in one mode. I like the way they work.

I see. What does the hard/soft on the Cool Cat Tremolo do? It switches between sinus/triangle and rectangle wave?

The Fender Rhodes tremolo supposedly uses a clipped triangle wave shape.

That dual trem will be stereo, or are there other uses for quadrature oscillators?

[RobA]

I see. What does the hard/soft on the Cool Cat Tremolo do? It switches between sinus/triangle and rectangle wave?

I didn't trace the LFO section, but that is what it sounds like. The hard setting is very square wave sounding.

The Fender Rhodes tremolo supposedly uses a clipped triangle wave shape.

Interesting. I've got faint recalled sounds of the Rhodes modulation in my memory. I'll have to go youtube searching to refresh them.

That dual trem will be stereo, or are there other uses for quadrature oscillators?

Not stereo. I'm working to recreate parts of this AU http://www.musicunfolding.com/ditone.html I wrote in analog pedal form. But, I'm going to make the waveforms more programmable.

[kothoma]

That dual trem will be stereo, or are there other uses for quadrature oscillators?

Not stereo. I'm working to recreate parts of this AU http://www.musicunfolding.com/ditone.html I wrote in analog pedal form. But, I'm going to make the waveforms more programmable.

Yeah, that's quite interesting. Hope you make progress.

[kothoma]

Hey all, as tremolo is only a special case of ringmodulation (low frequency carrier) maybe something like this could become your favorite DIY tremolo?
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=11555.0

[aballen]

I love the modified EA trem.  I got a kit from GGG.  Its an easy build, and it really sounds fantastic.

The Cardinal Trem is even better imho.  It can do the sounds of a modified EA trem, but it the added harmonics and square wave settings, it does even more.  Also a very simple build.