Joined: Jan 21, 2011 Posts: 14 Location: Cincinnati
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:50 pm Post subject:
cgs18 Drum Simulator
I just finished my drum simulator and everything works great except that the pots do absolutely nothing(well, one of them has a very slight effect). I read on the Yahoo forum someone who had the same problem and someone suggested that he might have used newer 3v diodes. The diodes I used are the old fashioned 1.6v. Does anyone have any suggestions?
thanks,
steve
Joined: Apr 19, 2010 Posts: 346 Location: San Francisco, CA
Audio files: 13
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:39 pm Post subject:
Re: cgs18 Drum Simulator
Dhamaryder wrote:
I just finished my drum simulator and everything works great except that the pots do absolutely nothing(well, one of them has a very slight effect). I read on the Yahoo forum someone who had the same problem and someone suggested that he might have used newer 3v diodes. The diodes I used are the old fashioned 1.6v. Does anyone have any suggestions?
thanks,
steve
If it helps, here is a pattern using both of my CGS18 voices as I sweep the harmonics pot from min to max.* I used 1.6v LEDs too. I don't get much effect from the pot until the last 25% or so. I sometimes wonder if I could get a little more juice out of that knob, just a little heavier distortion.
If your build is working otherwise it seems like there are very few possibilities to explain why one pot doesn't work:
Bad LED, LED installed backwards, wiring fault, wiper not tied to ground, etc.
*I fed the cathode of each LED into a single pot as a compromise for panel space. _________________ -Jim
Joined: Jan 21, 2011 Posts: 14 Location: Cincinnati
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:07 pm Post subject:
Jim, thanks for posting the recording. you're getting a LOT more difference out of that pot than I am. I think my LEDs are in correctly but I'm not a hundred percent sure because they were a different make than I've used before. But when the drum is working the LEDs do flash, although very faintly. If they were in backwards would they still flash?
steve
Joined: Apr 19, 2010 Posts: 346 Location: San Francisco, CA
Audio files: 13
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:07 pm Post subject:
Dhamaryder wrote:
Jim, thanks for posting the recording. you're getting a LOT more difference out of that pot than I am. I think my LEDs are in correctly but I'm not a hundred percent sure because they were a different make than I've used before. But when the drum is working the LEDs do flash, although very faintly. If they were in backwards would they still flash?
steve
No problem, Steve.
I assume they shouldn't flash if you have them in backwards, and per Ken's notes on the CGS site, the flashing is pretty faint. The brightness increases as you turn the pot to max. Pretty noticeable in the dark of a cabinet at least.
Well, the voltage must be getting somewhere if they are flashing. You could try banana-clipping the cathodes to ground to confirm that your pot wiring is ok. If you hear/see an improvement, then you know it's something to do with the pots. _________________ -Jim
Joined: Aug 15, 2011 Posts: 11 Location: Bratislava
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 5:36 pm Post subject:
I had the same problem, when using modern LEDs.
I asked Ken and he suggested either adding 2nd LED in opposite direcetion in parallel, or removing the led and replacing with two 1n4148 diodes in series. I tried both options and both worked.
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