[ORDER] Wogglebug by Erica Synths

[pritzcobinger]

Oh wow, thank you so much whyfarer and ym2612, that's very nice and it's much clearer now! I really appreciate your help.

[paulg]

Just finished assembling a kit bought direct from Erica Synths. V3 PCB. Plug it in, turn on case... no power on -12v rail. Have resoldered power header, swapped power cable. Visual inspection shows all soldering looks fine. I did have an issue with a lifted pad on Q3 (sloppy part replacement), but it looks fine now.

I can't see anyone else having had this problem with their kit. Any suggestions?

[needspeed]

Ordered a full kit from Erica. First attempt, had similar issues to those listed above. In the process of debugging things went from bad to worse, so I take the fault.

Purchased a new board and new ICs and second attempt is a lot closer in that it does woggle and ring mod out does the same with tone out playing just a steady tone, clock in and out work and cv's seem like they mostly work, but not as woggley as the v1 Wiard Make Noise wogglebug version.

So being a glutton for punishment, I have ordered another full kit from Erica. If this does not work as advertised, I have decided that it aint my issue and that the board/kit is effed up!!!!!

Just a little of my DIY background include two successful O&Cs by hand, a touring machine and all expanders, Serge variable slope VCF, Penrose quantizer, Klee eurorack sequencer and 2 L-1 4 channel panning stereo mixers. All worked first shot. On the bench tomorrow is a fonitronik ps3100 triple vactrol resonator.

We will see if the third time is a charm for the Erica wogglebug. It's OK that DIY is not always cheaper, as I love the challenge and hate to give up.

Have Deckard's Dream pre-ordered, so that will be a notable challenge and project......Steve

[GryphonP3]

Out of 5 built I only had one work without issues. I've been able to solve the problems on the rest but thwy were different each time. I blame the traces inside the pcb being faulty, because jumpers have always solved the issues. Maybe traces have cracked leaving an open circuit or something like that. Anyway, i'm sure you can get then workig by testing continuity on every part down the schematic. I have 3 running in my system now, and they all work as advertized. One did develop a weird issue after a few months where theinimum clock value increased to just under 1hz. I need to get in there and fiz it someday but I feel lioe half my life has been spent troubleshooting this board already

[needspeed]

Out of 5 built I only had one work without issues. I've been able to solve the problems on the rest but thwy were different each time. I blame the traces inside the pcb being faulty, because jumpers have always solved the issues. Maybe traces have cracked leaving an open circuit or something like that. Anyway, i'm sure you can get then workig by testing continuity on every part down the schematic. I have 3 running in my system now, and they all work as advertized. One did develop a weird issue after a few months where theinimum clock value increased to just under 1hz. I need to get in there and fiz it someday but I feel lioe half my life has been spent troubleshooting this board already

Good on you for investing the time to debug them as my kinda working one is providing some great noise.

I am just wondering if I am better of hand etching the board from the schematics so I know it is right.

I feel bad for any first timer getting this kit and not at least knowing about this forum.

Wonder how many folks are out there wondering what the hell to do with this messed up project......Steve

[dubtoms]

For people who have been struggling with their build, I would highly recommend resorting to Voodoo or Gypsy Black Magic... I can testify that the Bug needs to be summoned to work properly.

I could not get mine to work until I took it to a friend for the second time, and after twiddling a bit with inputs and knobs it was finally alive and well...

[needspeed]

For people who have been struggling with their build, I would highly recommend resorting to Voodoo or Gypsy Black Magic... I can testify that the Bug needs to be summoned to work properly.

I could not get mine to work until I took it to a friend for the second time, and after twiddling a bit with inputs and knobs it was finally alive and well...

That is great news for you. Are you or your friend able to share the details of you bug fix journey so as to help the other lost and suffering souls here in Wogglebugland.......Steve

[dubtoms]

Well, there was not a lot of fixing to be honest. As far as symptoms went, when I first finished my build the left led was not flashing as other wigglers have reported. Also some of the CV outputs were not working at all if I remember correctly.

The first thing I noticed was that one of the TL072 was not socketed tightly so I decided to replace the faulty socket. I thought it would not be a big deal with proper desoldering equipment so I took it to my usual repair guy but he ended up runing some of the pads with his electric pump so some traces had to be rewired according to the schematics.
I think the only modification that my friend did to my original build was to replace one of the resistors which looked dubiously like an inductor to him due to its greenish color.

This was one of my first eurorack builds and I'd rather carelessly used lots of old stock components including some salvaged electrolytic caps so for me the fact that the issue could stem from the pcb itself was far from obvious.

I'm afraid the above wont be very useful to you guys but I'd recommend feeding the rate in and clock in with some cvs and twisting the knobs and see what happens. To me it seems that the circuit design might be dependent on some external help to engage in proper woggling...

[flab]

There simple no worst thing in diy community to offer sth , here for years, and not to bother trying to figure what you selling is faulty, that s that

[Barcode]

There simple no worst thing in diy community to offer sth , here for years, and not to bother trying to figure what you selling is faulty, that s that

Completely agreed. I've completely given up on mine.... a waste of hours of time and somewhere in the ballpark of $100 in parts... Not to mention those beautiful vactrols.

One side of me wants to follow the original schematic and produce my own PCB's that would fit behind the panel. The other side of me doesn't want to give the Erica Synths name the honor of a working module.

Bad karma on having a module with so many issues and not stepping in to provide support or a replacement and continue to sell the PCB's. Just my 2 cents....

[flab]

is not just the erica dude that sells it, is people i respect thonk for example, is just bit fair, this could have been a nice project

[ImNotDedYet]

It's not Thonk's responsibility (or any other module kit retailer) to fix or know there are issues with a module. It would be very difficult for them, or a modularaddict or synthcube to keep track of any issues with the modules/kits they sell.

This issue is a responsibility of Erica Synths - a company with a pretty good reputation outside of this module.

[needspeed]

As I said in an earlier post, I am a glutton for punishment and I hate to give up, so I ordered another one since I am human and may have eeeefffffdddd up.

It arrived today, but I am on business travel. Crack of dawn on Saturday, I am going to build it with the closest attention to detail and checkmark every single component as I stuff it as well as test each component.

If it does not work, on the this, the 3rd try, I will be most sad. But, I have had a private chat with Girt and I have not given up on Erica as they make many really unique modules and they want me to be happy.

More than almost all their modules/kits are fine as we do not see anyone raising issues beyond this finicky damned Woglebug........Steve

[flab]

No-one said is thonk problem or responsible to fix this. Though in my job I do a background check to what I buy and offer, I have other nodules from Erica and am I am happy, straightforward builds. Is just that

[paulstone]

I bought 4 pcs a year ago or so , 2 are ok and 2 no work , I thought it was my welding mistake to building it but now i feel this is a proven bug

[DenisOvan]

After reading this thread I was really concerned that I'd purchased something that would only give me grief.
However, this wasn't the case, so please don't all think that this project is doomed to failure.
I've just built one of these, I found it a straightforward build, and it works flawlessly, it's most definitely lots of fun indeed.
Sorry to hear so many people have had issues, but it's not universally the case, so I was wondering if the people who are having the most issues were early adopters ?
I've just built a V3 PCB, and it works great.
I just went with the values on the silkscreen, before even thinking of looking for a build guide.
When I did see the build guide it listed a load of resistor changes for the V2 boards, this made me panic for a split second, before I confirmed the V3 silkscreen was all good, phew.
I dunno, did these Resistor swaps get missed by anybody who's had the thing non working for a long period, but didn't grab the latest build doc ?

What about the 555's, did you use the LM555N?, is your 3.3uF Electrolytic Bi-Polar ? any B1m and B100k pots mixed up ?

I'm just throwing up anything that I thought it was likely I'd mess up in the build...
I'll post some picture of my build once I'm allowed to by Muff's.

[needspeed]

After reading this thread I was really concerned that I'd purchased something that would only give me grief.
However, this wasn't the case, so please don't all think that this project is doomed to failure.
I've just built one of these, I found it a straightforward build, and it works flawlessly, it's most definitely lots of fun indeed.
Sorry to hear so many people have had issues, but it's not universally the case, so I was wondering if the people who are having the most issues were early adopters ?
I've just built a V3 PCB, and it works great.
I just went with the values on the silkscreen, before even thinking of looking for a build guide.
When I did see the build guide it listed a load of resistor changes for the V2 boards, this made me panic for a split second, before I confirmed the V3 silkscreen was all good, phew.
I dunno, did these Resistor swaps get missed by anybody who's had the thing non working for a long period, but didn't grab the latest build doc ?

What about the 555's, did you use the LM555N?, is your 3.3uF Electrolytic Bi-Polar ? any B1m and B100k pots mixed up ?

I'm just throwing up anything that I thought it was likely I'd mess up in the build...
I'll post some picture of my build once I'm allowed to by Muff's.

Good on you as I am glad it worked out for you the first time. All of mine are V3 and my first one was the full kit from Erica.

The second, I sourced my own parts and got a new board from Thonk/Syncube, do not remember.

Just got my 3rd directly from Erica. Should know in a few hours if it works.

This aint my first rodeo, so it is what it is. Glad to hear yours is working, so enjoy......Steve

[needspeed]

Well 3rd time is a charm. It is in my rack and I am really having fun with it.

My second build is so close to being right so I may dig in and trouble shoot it. The only thing not quite right is the Tone out which just makes a single tone that only moves if I change the Woggle Range and/or Smooth.

I am sure Girts will work out any issues you have, just contact him at Erica.

They did help me out and I am very happy.......Steve

[Absalom]

For all its worth my V.3 board, purchased directly from Erica, seems to be working at first attempt. This thread scared me a bit, but as I had it on my wish-list for a long time before taking the plunge to modular this summer, I had to have it anyway, and I thought I would get some error-probing exercises as a bonus. Not so.

Anyway, I want to learn to use my new (very old) oscilloscope, and I wonder what i should probe for on this board to confirm that it is actually doing what it is supposed to? What should I expect from the various outputs? And is there anything fun I can probe for on the board itself?

Ah

Edit: clock out does not work.

[flab]

i love the fact that those guys at erica released a new version of this with out first trying to clear things and troubleshoot the mkI. I do not think that is fair ,the least

[Synesthesia]

i love the fact that those guys at erica released a new version of this with out first trying to clear things and troubleshoot the mkI. I do not think that is fair ,the least

not cool

[Whelm]

So after several years of loyal service (more than might be said of Erica Synths), my Wogglebug has suddenly stopped outputting anything on the Smooth jack. To my chagrin this began literally minutes before taking the synth to a live improv set that was making liberal use of the Wogglebug.

To my increased chagrin I've learned that Erica has apparently removed all the fucking info on this module from their website. There is no longer any page nor any schematic. Cool.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to go about fixing this? I figure I can use the schematic on Electro-Music, but I'm not really sure what to look for. Everything else is working fine, and Smooth was working fine for years until suddenly yesterday. The patch hadn't even been changed for several hours of runtime.

The soldering on the jack seems fine, though I guess I may as well reflow it. I have spare ICs I could swap out. I suspect the inevitable project is to trace the signal path in the Smooth circuit, but maybe there's something obvious to the experienced that I haven't considered. I find it odd that everything else seems to be functioning as normal.

EDIT: Seems like replacing the jack fixed it.
EDIT Again: Thanks to Erica for responding to the issue and restoring access to the documentation. My unkind words were perhaps unjustified.

[Girts23]

Hi, guys!
Just in case - we added the Wogglebug schematics and assembly manual to our DIY SWAMP page. You can find them here:
Erica Synths DIY Swamp

[maltemark]

Are the 1N4007s replacable with some other rectifier in the same series in this design?

Thanks

[airfrankenstein]

I just got a v3 secondhand and have some questions about the clock in and clock out, namely does plugging an external clock into the wogglebug override the internal clock or is the internal clock independent (as in the make noise V2 wogglebug).
I've only owned the make noise V1 which I find more lively. I don't know if the memory of that WB is what's giving me the impression that erica's take is not working as expected. The stepped and woggle cv seem rather tame. Mine has weird leds which have dark tops - they shine red nonetheless but i'm wondering if they're proper leds.
Last question - is the schematic to be trusted or not regarding pin 12 on the 4046's?

I just finished assembling the Wogglebug but can't get much woggling out of it. The components have been checked and the soldering inspected.

None of the ICs have ever been installed backwards, but reviewing the schematic, my theory is that I might have a bad CD4046. I have swapping around (3) CD4046 IC's in the (2) sockets and it only seems to make the Ring Output when one chip is in the U2 position, so I think that the other two have issues. I will be ordering another but want to know if there are any thoughts on the issues below or if there may be further issues.

Below are my notes from troubleshooting. Below are photos of both sides of the assembled panel.

What seems to work:
- Rate pot: changes the clock speed
- Rate CV pot: attenuates the Rate CV In
- Rate CV In: takes a CV and modulates the clock speed
- Clock out: works
- Ring out: expected sound that is modulated by the Woggle Time and Woggle Range pots
- Right LED blinks with the clock speed

What has no effect:
- Cluster pot
- Smooth Range pot: No response
- Woggle CV Out: no CV, but seems to have a slight audio bleed with what sounds like the Ring and if a CV is fed to it, will cause the left LED to blink
- Clock In: no response to clock signal or CV
- Smooth CV Out: no CV, but seems to have a slight audio bleed with what sounds like the Ring
- Stepped CV Out: no CV
- Woggle Tone: no sound
- Tone: no sound
- Left LED does nothing

A few final tests that were contrary to the function of the module, but I couldn't think of anything else to do:
- Woggle CV Out: if a CV is fed to it, the left LED will blink with brightness modulated by the CV
- Woggle CV Out & Smooth CV Out: there seems to have a slight audio bleed with what sounds like the Ring

Thanks