[sdiy] Rising Realsitic Electronic Reverb prices and the urge to modify...

[BrightBoy]

Did you also design the Radio Shack Stereo Synthesizer unit?

Cheers,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
>From: Paul Schreiber <pschreiber at sbcglobal.net>
>Sent: Apr 22, 2008 9:37 PM
>To: anthony <aankrom at bluemarble.net>, Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>Subject: Re: [sdiy] Rising "Realsitic Electronic Reverb" prices and the urge	tomodify...
>
>Jeez, I designed this thing in 1980 and it won't die :)
>
>Paul S.
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "anthony" <aankrom at bluemarble.net>
>To: <Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
>Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 1:13 PM
>Subject: [sdiy] Rising "Realsitic Electronic Reverb" prices and the urge 
>tomodify...
>
>
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> So I have one Realistic Electronic Reverb: the greatest effect to use for 
>> not quite what it was intended for. This booger is a great noisemaker and 
>> lots of fun with it's slider controls. It's even better with a few tweaks 
>> to the circuit: more gain and high-end roll-off to the regen path, 471pF 
>> polytsyrene caps in place of the ceramic ones, JRC4558DD op amps in place 
>> of the AN6550's, socket for the timing cap to play with different values, 
>> adding 0.1 uF bypass caps here and there, and the latest greatest mod: 
>> popping in a BL3208A (normal 8-pin!) from Small Bear and WOW! I've thought 
>> about wiring 2 or 3 in series, the BL3208A being something like $3.75 in 
>> price. Next planned mod is making the "DEPTH" control into a true wet/dry 
>> crossfader, which is a non-trivial task, but not impossible: I think a 1 
>> uf cap and a couple 100kOhm resistors to put the bias in the right place 
>> again and cutting the traces on the PCB and rewiring accordingly.
>>
>> SO I've been trying to buy another one on eBay for what I got my first one 
>> for ($12.00) and it's been a daunting task. People are catching on to how 
>> cool these are.
>>
>> I'm not one to care much for collectability in gear because I like to be 
>> able to use my gear to the fullest. But I'm planning some more mods that 
>> will actuall involve cutting into the unit and I'm beginning to wonder 
>> whether I should. I wanted to add a DP3T selector switch to select between 
>> various timing caps (if I can just find a good place on the front for a 
>> toggle switch to go...), and adding some brass body contacts to bring it 
>> (sort of) into the realm of circuit bending. I must admit that I don't 
>> actually hold to the philosphy of circuit bending although I enjoy hearing 
>> some of the results. I don't think wiring various contacts and capacitors 
>> to the timing cap connections could be considered circuit bending in its 
>> true spirit because they are not random bends, but carefully thought out 
>> connections. Putting your fingers across the timing cap terminals is very 
>> fun: it depends on the pressure exerted so it has a playability factor to 
>> it: you can quickly (or slowly) descend into the realm of 2 second delays 
>> and back again. With the increased number of stages in the BL3208A, it's 
>> even better: repeats just go on and on without sounding like an 
>> oscillation, but it'll oscillate too - and how!
>>
>> So I'm wondering: should I do it? I mean even when they're going at $40 on 
>> eBay, it's not like I'm talking about circuit bending an Ibanez FL9 or 
>> something.
>>
>> Also, if anyone has DONE the wet/dry crossfade mod and would like to 
>> share, I'd appreciate that a lot. Thanx...
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Anthony
>>
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>
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