DivKid Mutes

JakeE · Post by **JakeE** » Sun Feb 17, 2019 12:05 pm

Damn I was putting off getting a kit till next payday then I changed my mind now the Thonk DIY kits have sold out

Will these be restocked anytime soon if at all?

ben_hex · Post by **ben_hex** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:24 am

Jalopy Yeah stock should be sent out to them soon and they'll have full kits and the PCB (SMT done) and panel sets.

JakeE it's sold out assembled in some places too, but more stock is going to EU and US shops. But we are looking at a second run, once that's decided it will be roughly 1 month away from setting it in motion.

Heliophile You'd have to cut traces and mess around a bit more than a simple mod. Here's the response from Befaco

"you could wire the switch to g oto GND isntead to 12, cut the trace and route it to the input of the vsctrol
but not sure if this would drive this to higher current draws
and remove the clickless effect...."

cackland · Post by **cackland** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 12:30 pm

Yes, schematic would be nice

Halfgeleider · Post by **Halfgeleider** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 3:38 pm

Ordered 2 kits at thonk but they only had 6 vactrols in stock, and apparently i cant find those vactrols anywhere.... i ordered components to make 4 kits but without vactrols i will be limited to 1 mutes

ben_hex · Post by **ben_hex** » Tue Feb 19, 2019 5:05 pm

for those that have asked I'll get the schematic sorted and uploaded for people soon.

Heliophile · Post by **Heliophile** » Wed Feb 20, 2019 7:28 am

Thanks very much for passing my question on to Befaco, Ben, much appreciated!

ben_hex · Post by **ben_hex** » Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:22 pm

Heliophile no problem.

Halfgeleider · Post by **Halfgeleider** » Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:13 am

No knurlies or glow worm cables with the DIY kit? Would been great though.

ben_hex · Post by **ben_hex** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:58 pm

Halfgeleider yes to both, should have knurlies in there and should have 1 cable (ran out to do 2 per DIY kit).

cackland · Post by **cackland** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 1:30 pm

ben_hex wrote:for those that have asked I'll get the schematic sorted and uploaded for people soon.

Sounds good, thank you.

Post by **Paranormal Patroler** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 4:05 am

Super excited to see a DivKid module out there! Congratulations Ben! I'll think up of something practical to suggest for a collab module in the future - something for performances

Currently being patient as a batch is being shipped to Escape from Noise. You managed to ruin my plans of a finished live case. I added this in there and now I have to mod the case to have the power on the back (instead of having it as a module), change some switches to 1hp etc. You rascal!

Such a great concept!

locust_locust · Post by **locust_locust** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 7:20 am

Excellent idea Ben.
I've bought it and plan on using it in my guitar processing system.

ben_hex · Post by **ben_hex** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 7:26 am

Paranormal Patroler sorry to ruin your plans! But happy to do so with a nice module that many seem to be enjoying. I imagine Escape From Noise should have the order very soon.

Cool have fun. locust_locust

Jalopy · Post by **Jalopy** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:06 pm

Paranormal Patroler wrote:You managed to ruin my plans of a finished live case.... You rascal!

QFT

Halfgeleider · Post by **Halfgeleider** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 5:04 pm

Damn, dont have the luck on my side, i have a dead board i think.... diy kit via thonk pcb and panel, but after wiring it up no leds flashing or output signals on all four channels

have a second one but not assembled yet. Very strange since i solderd several modules, smd , trough hole.

Just another rookie · Post by **Just another rookie** » Sat Mar 02, 2019 5:14 am

Halfgeleider wrote:Ordered 2 kits at thonk but they only had 6 vactrols in stock, and apparently i cant find those vactrols anywhere.... i ordered components to make 4 kits but without vactrols i will be limited to 1 mutes

Thonk re-stocked on vactrol.
Order placed.

Markthom · Post by **Markthom** » Sat Mar 02, 2019 9:29 am

Halfgeleider wrote:Damn, dont have the luck on my side, i have a dead board i think.... diy kit via thonk pcb and panel, but after wiring it up no leds flashing or output signals on all four channels have a second one but not assembled yet. Very strange since i solderd several modules, smd , trough hole.

Interesting, also bought the PCB / Panel and have the same problem - if I stick a 4.7k resistor over the LDR section of the vactrol, the Audio passes through no problem and the LEDs illuminate, but with the Vactrol / Switch portion of the circuit incorporated there isnt enough signal passing through - its a simple build in comparision to the stuff I usually build (e.g. just built two Performer sequencers), but has me stumped currently

PS my reading of the schematic looks like it needs the audio passing through before they illuminate, so no sound = no LEDs

JakoGreyshire · Post by **JakoGreyshire** » Sat Mar 02, 2019 2:53 pm

Markthom wrote:
Halfgeleider wrote:Damn, dont have the luck on my side, i have a dead board i think.... diy kit via thonk pcb and panel, but after wiring it up no leds flashing or output signals on all four channels have a second one but not assembled yet. Very strange since i solderd several modules, smd , trough hole.
Interesting, also bought the PCB / Panel and have the same problem - if I stick a 4.7k resistor over the LDR section of the vactrol, the Audio passes through no problem and the LEDs illuminate, but with the Vactrol / Switch portion of the circuit incorporated there isnt enough signal passing through - its a simple build in comparision to the stuff I usually build (e.g. just built two Performer sequencers), but has me stumped currently

PS my reading of the schematic looks like it needs the audio passing through before they illuminate, so no sound = no LEDs

Could be a case of bad vactrols... I've seen this in other builds and thats why I always buy more vactrols than I need... Testing the vactrols is a good thing to do before soldering them in...

Markthom · Post by **Markthom** » Sat Mar 02, 2019 3:05 pm

JakoGreyshire wrote:
Could be a case of bad vactrols... I've seen this in other builds and thats why I always buy more vactrols than I need... Testing the vactrols is a good thing to do before soldering them in...

Yeah, the vacs were from Thonk, but I'm leaning that way, typical it has to be a relatively expensive component!

JakoGreyshire · Post by **JakoGreyshire** » Sat Mar 02, 2019 4:43 pm

Markthom wrote:
JakoGreyshire wrote:
Could be a case of bad vactrols... I've seen this in other builds and thats why I always buy more vactrols than I need... Testing the vactrols is a good thing to do before soldering them in...
Yeah, the vacs were from Thonk, but I'm leaning that way, typical it has to be a relatively expensive component!

I think that they are expensive because they are not easily made and because they are not easy to make there are more faulty duds after the process of making them... At that point I don't think it's worth the manufacturer testing them and they just send them out to retailers... I'm just hypothesizing here, I really don't know the inner details of vactrol production process..

This is the thread where vactrols were an issue and there is some info here on testing them:

viewtopic.php?t=124990&postdays=0&posto ... &start=525

Hope this helps you all... Of course one could just replace one vactrol at a time and try to eliminate the faulty one...

Obviously you all have checked other part placements and values as well....

Good Luck!

Tranquillitatis · Post by **Tranquillitatis** » Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:54 am

Heliophile wrote:I had actually hoped that the default (middle) position would let the signal through and that you could (temporarily) mute the signal using the switch. Is this a possible modification when building the kit?

Hey ben_hex, nice work on the module. My only concern is related to Heliophile's question here.

It's hard to tell from the videos, but is there a chance that when switching from ON (right) to OFF (center), that the pressure required to activate the switch can be misjudged and you accidentally switch it to MOMENTARY (left) for a fraction of a second? This would obviously be unacceptable in a live performance situation.

I'm thinking of using the module to switch between 2x stereo signals, so switching all four switches at once with one finger each. If perfectly accurate switching is difficult to nail every time in this way, it's a no-go for me.

Going back to Heliophile's query, I have yet another suggestion: if the switch positions were changed to be OFF at right, ON at center and MOMENTARY at left, this would solve this issue. Is this something you'll consider changing in manufacturing, or will I need to DIY and change the switch pinouts during building?

Cheers.

sherwood · Post by **sherwood** » Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:11 am

Markthom wrote:
JakoGreyshire wrote:
Could be a case of bad vactrols... I've seen this in other builds and thats why I always buy more vactrols than I need... Testing the vactrols is a good thing to do before soldering them in...
Yeah, the vacs were from Thonk, but I'm leaning that way, typical it has to be a relatively expensive component!

You can (literally) roll your own vactrols with a photoresistor, an LED, and electrical tape (or plastidip if you're fancy.) $1 in parts! plus shipping

Nice module!

ben_hex · Post by **ben_hex** » Wed Mar 06, 2019 4:42 am

Hello all, any having issues with modules / faulty boards etc please let me know and I can try to get things sorted. I know lots have built kits totally fine. LEDs won't light up without a signal coming in, audio will leave them on, LFOs / clocks etc will pulse in time with the signal.

Tranquillitatis trying to switch four switches at once seems like a "technique" that's not going to be very accurate. Trying to place your finger parallel to the panel along the switches. In that case I would use four VCAs and an offset voltage into the Mutes module and use one single Mutes channel to feed that voltage (through a multiple/stackcables) to four VCA channels so you can more accurate and freely use one switch to turn off four things.

Regarding changing the switches, that's not something I want to change. I really like how this performs. From off to flicking the mutes left works really well. Having to click through the on stage to momentary takes away the chance it will momentary and you wouldn't be able "flick / ping" the momentary as you're going through a latching stage in the switch. You wouldn't be able to momentary much or at least not accurately at all. As there's no route from off to momentary on.

In terms of accuracy of going from on to off, I've had no issues. My use has been both more careful and considered where it's obviously totally fine and more head bobbing heavy handy use in some techno patches I was performing with for a recording.

I can't see any issues with going from on to off and then pushing to far to momentary. After trying the module I think you'd realise how much pressure needs applying and work with it as part of your instrument. Of course if you just slam at it heavily then yeah you'll push all the way from one side to the other as you would with anything.

You're of course totally welcome to DIY it however you see fit. Would be nice to see people adapt them to suit themselves. If you do so please try both ways and let us know how you get on.

Jalopy · Post by **Jalopy** » Wed Mar 06, 2019 1:06 pm

https://modularaddict.com/divkid-mutes-kit

Jalopy · Post by **Jalopy** » Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:25 pm

So... having received a shipping confirmation today and having reviewed the concerns regarding vactrols - How can one test a vactrol before committing it to the build? I read the page 22 in the PS3100 thread linked in the above post and did not see it explicitly discussed.

Thanks!

MUFF WIGGLER

MUFF WIGGLER

DivKid Mutes