My little project

[knives490]

Ok, I'm working on my own design for a good tremolo. I want to know what everyone thinks that is needed in a tremolo. If it ends up being good enough, I'm wanting to start selling it and my few other little pedals ive been working on. (a Fuzz, an OD, etc.)

So what are the necessary requirements for a good, quality tremolo. (True Bypass and 9v, possibly internal voltage doubler for high headroom...)

[andrej]]

okay...
volume knob. really useful
true bypass
ac adapter jack (9 to 18v for headroom)
square and triangle waveforms
pulse width knob
speed knob

if you have a stereo rig, it would be interesting if you made a dry out and connect a clean amp to the dry out and the fx out to the dirty one. i guess it'd be sick.

if you've got midi gear, midi tempo sync

if you have much time on your hands, tap tempo (useful for tremolo-ridden rhythm)

something that would make me buy a tremolo: jack for an expression pedal to control speed. radiohead - bones style.

what type of tremolo are you making (optocoupler or transconductance opamp or else)? what is used as lfo? going digital for the lfo might be interesting...

[jm417]

speed control, depth control, volume, footswitchable waveform, A tone control might be nice on a tremolo. I don't know about all the MIDI stuff. Tap Tempo seems like more trouble than it would be worth to build. and probably time consuming and expensive too. I like the idea of stereo outputs for dry and wet.

[andrej]]

oh, yeah, i forgot depth...

[iaresee]

I don't want to knock a creative streak: but why build something that's been done to death? Can you bring something to the tremolo table that isn't already available? How are you going to set your tremolo apart from the pack (of already great tremolos out there)?

Your competition is fierce: you've got Cusack and empress for feature-laden analog trems with tap tempo, you've got Keeley and Demeter and Analog Man and Catalinbread all producing fanastic *simple* tremolos (with Keeley's TR-2 mod at a ridiculously low price point because he doesn't have to build the whole pedal), and you've got the strange-and-profound available in the Goatkeeper and the Trem Probe from ZVex.

And that's just the fancier brand stuff.

What are you going to do so you don't get lost in all that noise?

[asatbluesboy]

I don't want to knock a creative streak: but why build something that's been done to death? Can you bring something to the tremolo table that isn't already available? How are you going to set your tremolo apart from the pack (of already great tremolos out there)?

Your competition is fierce: you've got Cusack and empress for feature-laden analog trems with tap tempo, you've got Keeley and Demeter and Analog Man and Catalinbread all producing fanastic *simple* tremolos (with Keeley's TR-2 mod at a ridiculously low price point because he doesn't have to build the whole pedal), and you've got the strange-and-profound available in the Goatkeeper and the Trem Probe from ZVex.

And that's just the fancier brand stuff.

What are you going to do so you don't get lost in all that noise?
I would unfortunately need to second that. My Tremulus Lune does everything I would want a tremolo for, except maybe for tap tempo (but I don't really care about tap tempo).

If you're serious about this you might want to think about something that will set you apart from the pack, as Ian said.

[sonda01]

a tremolo with phaser going on at the same time.

or a dual speed tremolo.. to have two different tremolo speeds going on at the same time... i.e. choppy + slow sweep.

or better yet, dual speed tremolo with phasing going on.. all at once.

or even better yet, dual speed tremolo, with dual phasing speeds.. all at once.

and keep it under $150 please. hahahahahahah!

[knives490]

well, I'm going through with it all in my own style. It will have an Intensity (depth) and Speed control. I want to make it simple and reasonably priced, always economically friendly. can reach square wave with full intensity and sort of revolving speaker feeling volume throbs when on less intinse settings.

I'm not wanting to start a revolution with my own tremolo. I just want it to be my own design with all the best features you'd need in a straightforward tremolo.

[asatbluesboy]

Ramp up/down would be loverly.

[iaresee]

a tremolo with phaser going on at the same time.
A big +1 to this one. That is a very unique effect. The effect used on the rhythm guitar in this track (http://ian.coastpedalboards.com/sounds/mhammer/pf-splus.mp3) was very much that: a phaser/tremolo/wah-type filter. Custom made. Though I'm trying to convince the guy who made it to bring it into production.

[stratguy23]

A big +1 to this one. That is a very unique effect. The effect used on the rhythm guitar in this track (http://ian.coastpedalboards.com/sounds/mhammer/pf-splus.mp3) was very much that: a phaser/tremolo/wah-type filter. Custom made. Though I'm trying to convince the guy who made it to bring it into production.

That's a very cool effect that you've got going there.

[iaresee]

That's a very cool effect that you've got going there.

Thanks. That was done more to show off Mark's effects. That's his phaserfilter and Scrambler+ on the track. Just wrote a quick ditty for them. The phaserfilter in stereo would be something else.

[guitargeek]

add an insert type fx loop with blend knob

[jm417]

I would make it slightly more complicated than just 2 controls and a footswitch. Earthquaker's Pulse Machine Tremolo is just about the simplest you can get and still be vesatile and usable. Depth, Level, and Rate. You really do need a volume in one of these. I'd definitely want some way to select waveforms, whether it's a footswitch or a toggle.

[knives490]

thanks to everyone for the ideas. I have a good idea of what I'll do. for everyone else, this thread can serve as a reference for their little tremolo project ideas.

I'll post my end result. (and as far as a phase/trem, thats in my "Lunar Phaze" project, the ideal phaser, best suited for spacier styles. probably have the ability to pan left and right while phasing at another speed and many others that i cantgo into detail with right now)

[AFF]

Ok, I'm working on my own design for a good tremolo. I want to know what everyone thinks that is needed in a tremolo. If it ends up being good enough, I'm wanting to start selling it and my few other little pedals ive been working on. (a Fuzz, an OD, etc.)

So what are the necessary requirements for a good, quality tremolo. (True Bypass and 9v, possibly internal voltage doubler for high headroom...)


Haha give the tremolo some distortion! I might buy one if you add a little gain ... give it two signals inside the pedal one clean and one with a little (adjustable) gain. I love anything with gain!

[toma]

add an insert type fx loop with blend knob

YES!

this would be grand.

[knives490]

damn! that would be a pretty crazy idea.. Ive been testing out a few designs but hadnt thought to throw that into it.. my little project is still in the works, but it will be unique when it's done. :D