Yet another BBD question...

[Harry Bissell]

Newbie notes... If you want to try BBD that's fine... experience is good. But don't
get your hopes up. If you want "lo-fi" of have other noisy equipment you may be
satisfied.
The fuzz box you just built might cover up all the shortcommings of the BBD.

Some people like the "warm fuzzy" sound of the BBD. I like the "clean crystalline"
sound of the digital delay. To each their own.

You can get a digital delay for $100-150. If you want to add noise... mix a little
in... or add your own external (analog) feedback loop... Make an anti-alias filter
if you get grunge from your modular... use two delays for "through zero" flanging...
one short fixed and one variable... this will give the effect you want (like the
hyperflange...).

But IMHO... mixers and delays are buy and modify units, not build from scratch. I
think its easier to mow lawn or collect bottles and buy a good used digital delay
for $50 (can you say... delta lab effectron ???) and save the DIY for those Moog
Ladders, or MS-20 filters and other things you cannot buy.

BTW I have built several BBD designs and have always been disappointed. But I still
use my two effectrons, my age old 12bit Yamaha REX 50, my new ($150 brand new)
Digitech Studio 100....

And I sold off all the BBDs... the buyers thought they got a good deal for "so
cheap" and so did I.... win-win negotiation ;^)

H^)  harry

"Paul R. Higgins" wrote:

> I've been building BBD analog delays for years, and I can say that they most
> definitely do not suck (well, except for long delay times, where they really do
> suck).  But for short delays, and modulated delays in particular, they are
> great.  You can get huge sweep ratios out of them; the "Hyperflange" circuit
> designed by Craig Anderton had a 72:1 clock ratio.  I don't think that even
> modern digital effects boxes can give that dramatic a sweep.
>
> There's also something about the sound of a digital chorus box that I don't
> like, especially with a signal full of high-frequency components (e.g.
> synthesizers, distortion guitar).  I have no idea what's going on inside many of
> these digital boxes, but I find them strident and harsh-sounding.
>
> BBDs do have their disadvantages, such as limited dynamic range, low S/N ratio,
> etc., which is why most commercial analog delays used companders to attack this
> problem.  This had the additional side effect of making the resonance feedback
> loop more stable.
>
> Anyway, this is just my $0.02.  I think BBDs are fun to work with, and they
> sound infinitely better than my digital effects boxes for chorus/flange/etc.
>
> Regards,
> -PRH
>
> > its Bucket Brigade Device (or delay...). The idea is a long string of analog
> > sample and hold circuits. There is a high frequency (dual phase like Q and
> > not
> > Q) clock, which causes the charges to be passed to the next stage in
> > succession...
> >
> > like firemen passing buckets of water to the next guy in line... there is a
> > continuous stream of water being delivered to the output, delayed by the time
> > it took to pass the buckets through  (oh...) 512 men...
> >
> > Now picture that each bucket is filled with a different amount of water
> > (corresponding to the input (audio) voltage at the time it was filled. Then
> > at
> > the other end the bucket is emptied and the (audio) voltage is recovered...
> >
> > Plus some slop, and noise, and limited range (you can't make the buckets too
> > empty or nothing comes out, or too full, they overflow and never reach the
> > fire...) and there is the noise of the clock bleeding through to be filtered
> > out....
> >
> > which IMHO makes BBDs SUCK
> >
> > opinion for comparison purposes only
> > actual mileage may vary...
> >
> > H^)   (harry)
>
> _____________________________________________
> Paul Higgins
> email: higg0008 at tc.umn.edu
> University College, University of Minnesota
> _____________________________________________