Is anyone else interested in relay bypassing?

[sarde]

I'm interested in more knowledge on the subject. I have been thinking about this ever since I made my VFE Pale Horse pedal. I love the relay switch, and I like the ability to do momentary also.

Brian, I am still hoping that the softie will still go to production and that will satiate my desires in relay switching.
Props to Coda effects for their work on this front for the DIY community.

[pickdropper]

...people don't necessarily opt for the lowest cost possible because they want to personalize their builds to meet their own needs. So, another $5-8 might not be a big deal (of course that depends on the circuitry, what parts it requires, etc.)

I would tend to disagree with you on this one Brian. We all know that most, if not all builders tend to look for the best price on just about everything. It is exactly why we get monthly Tayda coupon reports  Where I would NOT agree with this is specifically those who build to sell. Those persons tend to look for better quality components.

Now, I am not saying that people don't personalize when they build. I am just saying that they will often go with the cheapest option to make their builds personal.

Don't get me wrong... I am definitely in favor of the idea presented in this thread. I was merely offering my opinion regarding price point with the venture.

I think it depends on the person, really.

When I make anything, it takes my time to do it, which is worth something to me.  I only buy cheaper parts when I feel they are low cost and still decent quality.  Often, I can make something myself with better quality parts than a commercial build.  I know there are others other there that have this mentality as well.

Of course, there are plenty of others out there that use the cheapest parts possible because they enjoy trying out all the different circuits and are less concerned with the reliability or overall quality as with the experimentation of things.  That's cool too.

[gordo]

I've been trying to get to this same thing for ages but real life keeps getting in the way.  I'm a big fan of the Coda because it's pretty cost effective and the VFE system is very cool as well although with pricier parts.

I really like having soft touch switching on my board because playing the stuff I do requires some changes over dead silence.  Relay/optical bypassing is about as close as I've come.  I agree with Brian though that if you could do a prefab board with surface mount to reduce the foot print to throw it in any size enclosure I think you'd be on to something.

I have extremely limited time but if I can be of any help just hit me up.

[electrosonic]

My first pedals used a CD4052 for switching. Then I switched to mictesters relay bypass for a while - I really like it and it is very quiet.

I decided to switch to an Attiny13A for the logic so I could

a)incorporate muting to get rid of the last bit of click when switching

b) add remote switching.

I want to have an 1/8 " stereo jack on each pedal. This would allow me to read the pedal's status and switch the pedal remotely. Rather than have an external looping box to have presets I would have an arduino nano based switch box  turning various pedals on and off as required. I am inching towards having a "proof on concept" finished, but my three children are stealing all of my free time these days.

There are a couple of benefits to this plan.
1) The audio does not have to be routed through an external switching box
2) The user can turn pedals on or off normally with the regular pedal mounted footswitch, the switching box would be able to turn the pedal back on or off when a preset is pressed.
3) MIDI could be incorporated for say a Strymon pedal. (Though the initial setup might not be as simple as I would like)
4) The cables carrying the switch logic I plan to use are cheap and plentiful (eBay)

Andrew.