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[thawney]

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[inktrap]

Holy cow this is so beautiful I want to cry ;P Thank you so much … I just found the original pedal-pi and the pcbs are out of stock and they don't publish gerber files. So yeah, I love you.

[thawney]

I'm so glad u like the project! I have realized since making the PCBs and ordering parts that the holes on the PCB where the switch and foot switch go are slightly too small in my current version. I may need to drill those out a lil or if that doesn't work then redesign the circuit boards so just beware for now if u make some! :)

[thawney]

Alternatively if you want to put this in a proper guitar pedal case you can just connect those components with wire and face absolutely no issues so I may just do that.

[inktrap]

Ah I read that you are still working on the PCB and honestly, I had the genius idea to finish other projects before tackling this one ;P I am stoked about this because I was going to build the octagon multi fx pedal which has awesome effects, but is a little pricy when bought as a kit (~65€).

Also what I really want is a looper to loop various instruments (flute, kalimba, …) and just to experiment with. I know that you have to make slight changes so that pedalpi works with other instruments if they have a different tuning (e.g. a base), but I am open to just try it. The arduino loopers I had a look at were either midi-based, had not much sample time, or were complex pedals, like the ones inspired by Ed Sheeran, if I remember correctly.

However, my problem is that I would love to have (1) effects, (2) quantization and since I want to use it in conjunction with e.g. a novation circuit, (3) a midi clock would be awesome. But multi-track loopers like the ehx 45000 or the boss rc 505 are rather expensive and heavier than what I would prefer. But given that this is a well documented, tested, and budget friendly project, I would just try it and see what happens. I can always e.g. have some synth and use an effects pedal with that.

So I was quite disappointed to realize that there are no Gerber files present and that you can't order a PCB. But then I found your repo and while some work seems to be necessary, I am really happy that such a cool project lives on and will be truly open source.

[inktrap]

Ah just to clarify: What is the exact status?

I could print the PCBs, maybe have to drill out some holes, build a "case" with some spacers and acrylic glass, … and … it would work?

Your readme says that the code from the official guide works, including effects. On the other hand the schematics in the forum are outdated. So … you are just in the process of building it, but there is no further testing needed, right? Well, testing is needed anyways, but this is a useable product and not a prototype that needs some iterations to be useable, right?

I guess when I start with this I'll ask my questions here or send you an e-mail, if that is alright with you. And is there a benefit in using a newer Zero? Or should I just buy the Raspberry Pi Zero v1.3?

[thawney]

In theory, everything on this project should work in the way you described as I based my PCB design off if electrosmash's own designs. However, as this is my first time having custom circuit boards made it would give me some peace of mind if you didn't mind waiting until I could 100% confirm that everything works. There should be no reason for the project not to work but I'd like to check.

I am hopeful that this project will work out of the box as well as electrosmash's code as their schematics are what I based my design off of for compatibility.

As for which zero to use. I would assume that upgrading would have very little effect on the overall sound quality as the limiting factor is currently the analogue to digital converter and digital to analogue converter chips used in the circuit. However I haven't tried using a newer pi zero (as currently I can't find one anywhere). It could possibly run more complex effects though.

[inktrap]

Ah but you already ordered the PCB, right? But you can't put it together right now? Or are you just interested in having someone else build this too so it is reproducible? I would happily do that :). I guess I would upgrade from the 3.10 because the 3.10s are hard to come by currently and more complex effects seem very appealing. I am somewhat reserved on spending 50€ right now on parts, when I have already ordered parts for two other projects. Some of them are on backorder by Mouser anyways, but I haven't checked which I already have ordered and don't need to order again. Probably resistors and condensators.

[inktrap]

I can put it together now but don't have a RASPI zero, I am also concerned in the event that something doesn't work that you would have spent money on a broken project.

Ah alright, you wrote that already … you can't get a zero. Yeah, must have forgotten that. It is no doubt the consequence of the kind-of-awesome-but-intense summer heat …

I also need to get a drill to increase holes in the PCB which could break the PCB as it is has two layers

The classic guitar-pedal-case-method should give at least an indication if everything works so far and you could re-design it anyways. I guess you thought about this already, but couldn't you get smaller buttons that fit? If not, I guess I would simply wait for the re-design instead of risking a broken pcb or ordering parts I would only need for this project. The zero had insane price differences btw., both across versions and re-sellers.

P.S.: I can probably get a used raspberry pi zero 1.3 for ~20€ + shipping.

[thawney]

Omg where are you finding €20 pi zeros ( I'm based in the UK and all eBay sellers are upwards of £30)

[inktrap]

Hey so I found a used pi zero for 18.50€ inkl. shipping and I checked the shipping for UK and it would be 9€. So that is27.50€ which would be 23.36 Pounds which is pretty close to your 30 pounds. So I guess it wouldn't make sense to ship it to you. But if I get the pi shipped soon and if I order the other parts … all that would be missing is the re-design with the new hole dimensions.

[thawney]

Hi where did you see that pi because that is cheaper than any I can find in England

[inktrap]

Maybe try ebay?
I tried kleinanzeigen but I guess it will be difficult to convince someone to ship to UK. I think you should try the uk version of kleinanzeigen/craigslist … (Also I am not sure wether you saw my other posts about this?)

[inktrap]

It is my local version of craigslist … I was like the 8th person who saw it, just 20min. after they published the offer. After I wrote them that I would buy it, and after I wrote you about it, the item was sold. Not to me, but hey, someone else is happy now. I'll just keep looking :) If I'll get one or two cheap I could send it to you. You could pay me when it arrives or something …however I don't know how much shipping would be, especially after brexit. Probably not worth it. I saw 2 Zero Ws with thermal plates for 30€ each. The thing is … kleinanzeigen has its share of downsides too … mainly scammers. So if the offer is probably too good to be true and they only accept money via paypal "for friends" I wouldn't buy it. But to sum it up … it is an awesome place to buy or sell or swap or gift things … way more resource friendly and more personal than ordering online from e.g. amazon.

[inktrap]

Hi where did you see that pi because that is cheaper than any I can find in England

Ah as I wrote in another post here I used my local version of craigslist, ebay-kleinanzeigen. I guess something similar exists in UK too?

[thawney]

I found a pi!! It will arrive on the third of September:))

[inktrap]

Aaand … how are things going now? :)

I learnt through this video that the company that made the MOD Duo X apparently open sourced their software and their free patches and you can put it on a raspberry pi. While that is slightly OT it made me think of you and this project and maybe it is interesting to you too.

In the meantime I made the decision to install pihole on my raspberry and bought an empress zoia "pedal". I couldn't resist.

[thawney]

Hi!! Things are going well!! Sorry for my disappearance, I am a full time student and things have started getting a little hectic for me. On the bright side I am now developing this project as part of my school work so it means I have more time to do it but open source updates may be slower as I need stuff graded and proved to be my own before I can release it. At the moment I'm testing case designs.

How is pihole I've been meaning to try it out?

[thawney]

Great News! Pedal Pi Works!! check out the main announcement for a video!

[inktrap]

Nice! Congratulations! :) I like the lofi sound and it looks solid

[thawney]

Thanks so much :D the lofi sound is really fun and just what I was looking for tbh! I'm working on a full demo at the moment as well as getting a working case. The laser cuttable one I've designed works but has some massive tolerances at points.