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Vintage threads from the first ten years

IC in Boss Slow Gear

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11/4/1999 5:46 AM
JR	IC in Boss Slow Gear Anyone able to clue me in what is the lone IC in a slow gear? The schematic on the net doesn't have it ID'ed. Also, does anyone know if it available or is it a custom chip for Boss? Thanks!

11/4/1999 7:35 PM
Roger	I'll check in mine to see what it is when I get a spare minute, but if you're looking to build one, I'd suggest checking out the Paia Gator kit. It does the same thing, really, and is around $40. I've found a few other "Attack Delay" schematics out there that I haven't tried yet, but they seem pretty simple. Roger

11/5/1999 5:50 AM
JR	Thanks for offering to check. Don't mar those screws, you might lower its value! Do you know where a schmatic to an EH Attack Decay could be found? I emailed that guy who pops up once in a while, who says he was a designer for EH ,offering $200 if he would build one, but he refuses to manufacter.

11/5/1999 5:49 PM
Roger	I'll check later today on the IC. I have a schematic for the Attack Decay. I purchased it from Analog Man. Its pretty involved. I wouldn't tackle it. I've found that for that effect (which I use every once in a while) either the Paia Gator or Slow Gear will do live, when a volume pedal won't cut it. Beyond that, I use the ADSR patch in an Ensoniq DP/2. Roger

11/5/1999 7:00 PM

Thanks for th info. There are just some crazy stuff the Attack Decay can do that most others cant. I'll give the slow gear a go, it looks fairly do-able. Hopefully EH will reissue it. Boss seems to have no intention of bringing back the slow gear. Their latest magazine has a blast form the past page featuring the SG1. It says those looking for one can find the effect in their multi effect units, I think they specified the GR-5 or something.
Hey RG, maybe you could look into designing a board for a Attack Decay clone, but if its as involved as Roger says, maybe its not such a good idea.

11/5/1999 8:26 PM

Another Technology Of.... paper

In essence, boxes like the Slow Gear, Attack Decay, and Gator (especially in the case of the Gator), are noise gates with slow turn-on times. So, part of the circuit detects the onset of a note, and feeds that control signal to something that turns it into a gate or trigger signal. This signal, in turn, drives a VCA-like or attenuator-like control element that gradually turns on. A basic tape-reverse simulator will simply increase the amplitude over time. A more realistic one will probably also alter the timbre in a similar manner, since the beginnings of notes tend to have more high-frequency transients and harmonics (hence a reversed one will start dull and get brighter).

There are a number of posted schematics for noise gates. If anyone could identify a unit that is easily adapted to provide a slower turn-on time, I think this would make many folks happy.

11/5/1999 8:50 PM

Just talking out of my hat, here, but the MXR Dyna-Comp looks like a good start. You'd need to invert the gain-control sweep direction and fiddle with the threshold of the noise-gate function.

I'm thinking a CA3080-based circuit is gonna be a good base.
Are SSM (now part of Analog Devices) products available in hobbyist quantities? IIRC they have a very op-amp-like VCA part that requires less signal conditioning than the 3080. No memory er: price, though.

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