Recurring Ideas

Designing feedback looper pedal

The first PCB I've designed was for a Tube Screamer clone I made for a friend. I've put in a momentary footswitch that would short the output of the pedal to its input through a pot, creating an odd oscillator. I saw that technique on some of the Fuzzrocious pedals. It sounded wild. It would respond to the volume pot on the guitar or whatever else you'd play through it. It was a simple addition, that unlocked a whole new range of sounds.

My first production pedal, All Animation, has a separate jack with a copy of the output signal specifically to be able to feedback patch it. Because of the way the device is structured, you can shape the amount of feedback over time using an expression pedal, an internal envelope follower or a slope generator. The time component allows for rhythm, swells, and gradual changes.

Designing and playing with feedback is fun, it's surprising and sometimes a little unhinged. That's why when I felt a little burned out working on complex projects with too many features and moving parts, I thought I'd distract myself with designing another feedback looper.

I'll publish a more extensive write-up of the circuits in the pedal and in the video later. For now you can already get the full schematic of the device here: RDRPT.pdf

You can purchase RDRPT here: pedalmarkt.com.