From 2003-2009, I ran a small business building electronic devices on a custom-order basis for musicians around the world. The projects ranged from adding an expression pedal jack to a completely customized synthesizer. I also designed some circuits for small effects pedal companies. All in all, there are probably a few hundred devices with my signature scribbled in Sharpie somewhere on their case. This page shows some of the more interesting projects I completed. Click on any of the thumbnails in the scrolling box below for information, images, soundclips, and videos of each project.
Buffered death loop
The buffered death loop is a feedback loop with some extra circuitry to make it more useable. Typical passive feedback loops have a few inherent problems: You can't change the level of it unless you want to damp the feedback, many pedals that don't have enough gain won't work, and it's not a very nice thing to plop in the middle if your signal path. The buffered death loop fixes all of these problems by adding an amplifier in the feedback loop and a buffer after it. This makes it oscillate with any pedal (or no pedal) in the loop and allows reliable adjustment of volume. The result is what, in my opinion, all feedback loops should be!
Soundclips
Drum loop with ring modulator in feedback loop
Guitar with distortion in feedback loop
Images
The buffered death loop is a feedback loop with some extra circuitry to make it more useable. Typical passive feedback loops have a few inherent problems: You can't change the level of it unless you want to damp the feedback, many pedals that don't have enough gain won't work, and it's not a very nice thing to plop in the middle if your signal path. The buffered death loop fixes all of these problems by adding an amplifier in the feedback loop and a buffer after it. This makes it oscillate with any pedal (or no pedal) in the loop and allows reliable adjustment of volume. The result is what, in my opinion, all feedback loops should be!
Soundclips
Drum loop with ring modulator in feedback loop
Guitar with distortion in feedback loop
Images