Practical Usage

Category: Pedal board

  • PU-2: New brain – Arduino Mega

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    rt
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    The FCB1010/PU-2 has a new brain. The Arduino Mega (clone) has been connected in place of the main board. I have removed: the power transformer, the mains/120 volts plug and the on/off switch, because the PU-2 will be bus-powered. It was a straightforward affair: no new connections were made, no new switches installed. But the connections…

  • FCB1010 – PU-2: Requirements and Wish List

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    rt
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    I’ve identified some requirements for my second pedal board based on the Behringer FCB1010. Here’s a list for now: USB connection. This is a must, for fast and efficient programming and reprogramming. USB also makes it a lot easier to have bi-derectional communication with a computer, be it a Mac, PC, Linux, iPad, iPhone, etc.…

  • PU-1: Emulating the Apogee Gio, Part 2

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    I have completed the second phase of this project. The PU-1 can now send commands to GarageBand/Logic/Mainstage and receive commands and other information using Midi commands (but not from GarageBand). Part 2 did not require more electronics. All additional changes were made in software. WARNING: I first picked up a guitar a few months ago,…

  • PU-1: Let’s do MIDI

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    After days spent trying to find reliable ways to get Midi data from the pedal board to the computer,  and more days trying to get data from the computer to the pedal board, the proverbial shovel finally hit me square in the face. This is what happened: The PU-1 is using an Arduino to process…

  • PU-1: Emulating the Apogee GIO, Part 1

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    The Apogee GIO is a small pedal board expressly made to interface with Apple’s Garageband or Logic. I use Logic for music production and control, as well as for live performance.   Since the PU-1 is awaiting a purpose in life, I decided to try emulating the functionality of the Apogee GIO. Let’s review the…

  • PU-1: Complete V 1.0

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    The PU-1 is complete, at least in its prototyping phase. The connection board is done and the external Arduino/Shield is attached. In this picture, the PU-1 is powered by a 9 volt battery. At the top is the Arduino with the connection shield and the connection ribbon. I removed the USB connector from this picture.…

  • Line 6: Renaming it PU-1.

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    Time as come to put the Line 6 pedal board back together. I decided to call this particular board the Line 6/PU-1. I hacked it… then it is mine! The behringer FCB1010 will probably be the PU-2… The PU-1 will serve as a test bed for new ideas and prototypes. Each subsystem has already been…

  • FCB1010: More documentation

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    I have received a complete schematic for the Behringer FCB1010. I have updated my previous post about the components.

  • Arduino: Using a rotary encoder

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    rt
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    As explained in this post, rotary encoders are notoriously unreliable. Well, the cheap ones are. Why bother? But wait, could they be used at all? Most of the problems people complain about have to do with bouncing. But is bouncing as important if someone is turning a rotary encoder manually to increment a counter? Also,…

  • Side Project: understanding cheap Rotary encoders

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    Seven whole days! That’s how long I had to work to finally get my rotary encoder to work with the Arduino! The idea is to be able to quickly select a preset on a guitar pedal board using a rotary encoder instead of a couple of push buttons. The rotary encoder I’m using uses pretty…