Post
by Wavy Davy » Sat Nov 14, 2020 8:03 pm
Finished my build, and after removing a solder bridge and turning around a transistor that got installed backwards, it works great.
I have small hands and it is a squeeze, to get my fingers in between the cables, to turn the knobs.
That said, I have spent hours on the couch playing with it.
Patching is fun, the jacks were stiff at first but soon broke in. (maybe a dab of WD-40 on a Q-Tip, stuck into the jacks, would help that).
The little speaker allows you to make noise with it anywhere, but with a fair amount of distortion.
If you want to hear the sound clearly, you must plug it into an amp.
If you were wondering.....When you plug into the Recursive's 1/8" mono output jacks (wired in parallel), it disconnects the internal speaker.
When I built mine, I put a piece of cardboard on the bottom (held on with the 4 mounting screws), to protect the circuit board from short circuits.
I installed new NmH batteries in it, and recharge them, without removing them from the case (which is reallllllly hard!).
I use a battery charger made for Radio Control hobbyist, that can charge all kinds of battery combinations, using aligator clips.
I simply clip onto the battery terminals protruding from the bottom of the circuit bd., and charge them in place.
(NOTE: Maybe you could solder the battery clips onto the bottom of the PCB, and mount the batteries on the outside, not between the two PCBs.
Then just make the case a little deeper to accommodate the batteries, (and bigger speaker)
I also modified a 5V power supply to use with the Recursive when I'm in the house.
Had to cut off the existing plug because it would not fit the 2.5 sized Jack on the recursive.
Replaced it with bigger plug, and reversed the polarity, because the Recursive requires a center negative connection.
The first mod I will make (I already did the reverb mod), it to add a headphone jack to the case, so that when I plug in 1/8th inch stereo headphones, it disconnects the internal speaker.
As it is, the mono outs, can not drive headphones.
I want to be able to sit anywhere and play with this using headphones (it already has batteries, and is portable).
Wondering if I can get my hands on the 3D printer file for the case.
Would be fun to print one in another color, and/or redesign it, to move the batteries off the pcb, into the case, for easier swapping.
Or, could you solder the battery clips onto the bottom of the PCB, and mount the batteries on the outside, not between the two PCBs.
Then just make the case a little deeper to acomodate the batteries, (and better speaker).
Could also redesign, to fit a bigger speaker too. Lots of possibilities.
I'm also considering making a nice hardwood case for it.
And designing a paper overlay with color coding for the different sections, labels of what signals are normaled to the inputs, and to help distinguish between audio, and CV in/out jacks. Although it is pretty logically laid out, and I am starting to have it memorized after playing with it for a few days. Maybe just print a cheat sheet, and tape it to the bottom.
This could also be the heart of a diy custom build, where you make your own front panel, with larger, more spaced out knobs.z
Happy trails.....
