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I want a pedal that can reroute some of the effects on my pedal board. My goal is to be able to choose between having the effects through my EHX SuperEgo's fx loop or bypassing the loop and being in my regular signal chain. I found a couple of ways to do this: the T1M Dropout and the Loopi Effects Loop Switcher. The Loopi looks like the cheapest option at $80.

I was about to buy it, but then I got to thinking... What if I bought the parts from china and built it myself. I mean, it'd be cheaper. I know how to use a soldering iron, I built and programmed an autonomous robot last year... Maybe I should just buy the parts and make it myself. Perhaps I could put the leds in those cool pilot light housings like on a fender amp. While I'm at it, I might as well draw up some graphics on photoshop and print them onto stick on decals. I have some clear lacquer lying around somewhere.

So, what I am looking for now is for someone who has already been down this path to tell me how bad an idea it is and how it won't turn out as awesome as it is in my head. Convince me that I should definitely not pick up yet another hobby when I am studying IT full time and gigging and looking after two children. I've nearly convinced myself but then I think about how awesome I could make a looper look. I just imagine something like this:

But with the leds in each eye.

Talk me down off the ledge.

How much do you earn per hour?

How many hours will you spend on this?

it'd be cheaper

I doubt it.

how awesome I could make a looper look

So just paint the loopi? Reposition the LEDs if necessary?

Fuck that, jump!

Don't count your time as cost and you'll be sweet. Loopers can be a nightmare to remember where everything is going but they're good for a mental workout. I love this hobby, nothing more satisfying than a build firing up, looking and sounding good.

Go for it, it's a fun journey

Don't look at me, I'm probably the worst person to try and talk someone down from the ledge when it comes to DIY.

Hmmm. It's a pretty fun hobby, but will take more time and money than you think. If the goal is a looper, I'd say just buy it... But if you want to make stuff, and have plenty of time before you need the pedal, then go for it DIY

I have an ECU problem with my ute, it ideally needs replacing rather than repairing (had one go already, didn't fix it). So I really need to junk it and the loom, get an aftermarket ECU and wire it in.

Megasquirt is ideal for this situation, you can buy them in kitset, build yourself the required loom, then buy a wideband O2 sensor and tune the map to suit the engine with the supplied tuning software. Being an electronic engineer, I can do this, I'd just need to brush up on my soldering skills, improve my wiring skills, learn some tuning skills. All the info I need is on the internet.

But I have a 2 year old daughter, a pregnant wife and a reasonably busy job. I know the limitations of my life and exactly how much "me time" I get (feck all). So I bought one already constructed, with a bespoke loom and good, standard base-map. It's taking me long enough just to fit that....

Sounds like you have the necessary skills and could make something pretty cool, but just ask yourself this "are there other things in my already hectic life I'd rather be doing than pouring over the guts of a looper?" If yes, drop the idea. If no, then that could be a pretty cool "me time" project, but just be realistic with expected timeframes.

Danger Mouse wrote:I know the limitations of my life and exactly how much "me time" I get (feck all)... ..."are there other things in my already hectic life I'd rather be doing than pouring over the guts of a looper?"...

Thanks for putting things into perspective. Exactly what I needed to hear.

I'd say do it, but there ar some wise words on this page. I have hardly finished anything since the birth of my daughter, many projects started, many plans drawn, very little completed. In 5 years! So yeah how urgent?

On the other hand, nothing so satisfying as having it how you want without buying extra features etc.

That's the thing, it really is my hobby. As a computer jockey, I love having something creative that engages my hands and brain in a tactile way. I LOVE designing PCB's (when they work), and there is nothing that beats your own circuit that you've designed and made into a PCB come to life and sound great!

But if you're trying to save money, don't bother unless it's discontinued or some other form of unobtainium. Most of the time it's faster, easier and actually cheap to buy the real thing, and you can sell it easily. People don't like paying what it actually costs to make clones, probably all up each will cost $160 on average and most people will want to buy the real thing at that point.

So I listened to the advice not to jump, I even bought the Loopi and didn't modify the case. Turned out the SuperEgo wasn't the sound I was looking for, so I no longer need the Loopi. Bullet avoided.

However... Pedal making ideas just would not leave me alone. They smoldered in my head in bed. I dreamed about making pedals. Eventually I could take it no more and I started looking up schematics for compressors and tremolos and overdrives. Then I looked at DSPs and read a bunch on Analog.com about the Sharc dsp. I figured "hey, I'm studying computer programming so I might as well apply it to something else practical that isn't robots, modified keyboards and arduino automation". Which is my long-winded way of saying that I caved in to my addiction and ordered a stupid amount of capacitors, resistors, diodes, potentiometers and ICs.

First up is a Tremulus Lune. No boosters here, I like to start things with a bit of a challenge. Like the time I learned to snowboard by starting at the top slope with my friends who had 10 years experience. Of course, I did nearly fall off a 20 meter cliff because I only knew how to turn one way. After the Tremulus I have designs towards an overdrive, optical compressor, bucket brigade delay and all going well I'll try my hand at some reverbs and mixing different circuits together. Ultimately I would love to look at creating some effects using DSPs but I'll judge how realistic (and desirable) that is once I've got through some analog pedals. I also have (what I think is) a really cool idea using DSPs for live musicians that I don't think has been done before, so that might make a cool project during or after my degree is finished - maybe post-graduate.

So yeah, I'm well and truly hooked.

I have a spin DSP dev board you could have for cheeps if you want to try your hand

Eruera wrote:I have a spin DSP dev board you could have for cheeps if you want to try your hand

Definitely. I PMd you.

Had some free time today so I soldered up the Tremulus Lune board. Went against the advice of most of the forums I saw and started with veroboard. We'll see if that was a mistake or not once I hook it all up.


The black tape abomination in the middle is my home made opto-isolator. I couldn't find my shrink wrap and I had already soldered the LED and LDR to the board. I was originally going to put it in a larger size 1590bb enclosure. However I've decided to only have four knobs on the front (speed, symmetry, depth and smooth), with a trim pot inside to control spacing. So now it's going to fit in the smaller 1590b enclosure nicely. Might even be able to fit a battery in there. Will get it all hooked up and enclosured tomorrow. Still need to buy some paint, decals, etc to make the enclosure look awesome.