Circuitbenders CB55 - drum machine build notes.

These are my build notes for the circuit benders clone of the Roland/- Boss Dr 55 drum.

The clone is called the CB-55.

The original is a really simple and great sounding machine. It's definitely a classic.

I think where it falls short is it's limited sequencer, and that its tricky to sync to external gear. 

I loved the first DR-55 I bought so much, that I purchased a second one with the intention to mod it.

But I just couldn't vandalize  it .

Mods to overcome this are out there but I think its a shame to need to mod vintage gear. 

These relics are getting harder to find as the years go by and in the future, the ones that will

retain their value will be those in original condition.

So from a practical level, get an original to admire & treasure and build the clone to 

mod to your hearts content.

Links:

+ official site

+ Boss DR -55 drum machine

+ CB 55 mods

+ Modwiggler

+ CB forum

+ DR 55 schematics

+ Music thing modular

I'll install the trigger conditioning circuit.... connected to TRIG_IN1 connector.

This allows you to connect 5V triggers that last longer than 10ms

The build looks easy. all through hole with standard parts that i probably already have in my store.

Resistors first.

Caps 

fairly straight forward build so far.

D1 1N4001 Rectifier diode

D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D9 1N4148 or 1N914

D1 is a larger 1N4001

rectifier diode that provides polarity protection for the power input, but all the others can be general purpose

small signal diodes such as 1N4148's or 1N914'

Jumper wires:

The jumper wires at J3-J7 connect the output of each voice circuit to the main mix bus.

These links are designed as 

jumpers for easy mods to provide individual outputs, but at this point it would probably be better to just install 

them. You can always change things at a later date.

the voltage regulators and transistors. 

REG1 is a 78L06 regulator that supplies the 6v power to the 

voice circuits. REG2 is a 78L09 that supplies 9v to the trigger conditioning circuit

ebay ... ordered

There is just one IC

IC1 - LM324 Quad opamp

T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10 2SC945 Or similar transistor

Its a  Bipolar (BJT)

"T1 to T10 are general purpose NPN transistors. Roland/Boss used 2SC945's is virtually everything they produced 

during this era, so this is what we've specified here, but you could probably get away with using any number of 

transistors with similar specs. We haven't actually tried it, but we would imagine it'd also work fine with the 

common 2N3904 or 2SC1815"

I'll use 2n3904s

-----------------------------

Q1 in the accent circuit should be a JFET transistor with a DSG pinout. A few different types will fit here. We've

tried the J201, MPF102 and 2N5457, and they all seem to work okay.

I installed a J201

------------------------

L1 --- 47mH inductor Original DR55 uses 45mH **

mouser

Guitar pedals & effects 2

For more info on pedals that work with synths:

+ Guitar pedals and effects 1- that work well with synths

 This is Boss's 1st pedal

The CE-1 

Musonics Phaser

Mu-Tron Phasor II

Phase shifter

1977

Six phase-shift stages provide a maximum of 1080 degrees of phase-shift 

The feedback circuitry (first introduced on the Mu-tron Bi-Phase) produces a distinctive, pronounced sweeping effect

MXR Stereo Flanger

16 second digital delay

Electro-harmonix

This is a early digital sampler

Able to record parts on the fly, and then replay them at the touch of a button, 

Strymon

Echo

El Capistan

Ekdahl Moisturizer

Reverb & Variable state filter

Control (CV) over freq and res.

Also Cv control to pick which filter .. LP BP,HP

Strymon bluesky

reverb

zoom MS-70CDR

Multi effects

 

 

Boss OD - 3

overdrive

.

Boss TR-2

Tremolo

.
 

For more info on pedals that work with synths:

+ Guitar pedals and effects 1- that work well with synths

Guitar pedals & effects 1

What are the basic pedals you should have in a rig for synths?

1. Overdrive 

      (Ibanez Tube screamer)

      (boss SD-1 & SD1w)

      (Boss BD-2 & BD2W) ... Blues driver

2.  Distortion

      (ProCo Rat 2)

(Boss DS-1)

3. Fuzz

(Electro-Harmonix Nano or Op-amp Big Muff)

... really any big muff will be great.

(Z.Vex Fuzz Factory)

      (Jim Dunlop Fuzz Face)

      (Boss FZ-1W)

       (RML Electron Fuzz)

4. Reverb

(Holy Grail)

(Blue Sky)

(Fender Marine Layer)

5. Echo / Delay

(Boss DD-7) Digital Delay

(Electro-Harmonix Canyons)

(MXR Time Delay)

6. Tremelo - modulating the volume in a rhythmic way.

(Boss TR-2)

(JHS Pedals Tidewater))

7. Chorus

(Way Huge Blue Hippo)

(Boss CE)

(MXR Stereo Chorus)

8. Equalizer-- EQ.

(Boss GE-7)

(Boss GE-7 bass)

9. Phaser

(ElectroH Small Stone)

(MXR Phase 90)

10. Flanger

(Ibanez FL-303)

(MXR Flanger)

(Electric Mistress- EHM)

(Blue Hippo)

11. Uni-Vibe - Rotating speaker Leslie simulator

(Voodoo Labs microVibe)

(Shin-Ei Uni Vibe)

(EHX Good Vibes)

(MXR M68 Univibe)

(Dunlop JHM7 Univibe)

12. Octave Pedal

(EHX POG, POG2 and micro pog)- POG = Polyphonic Octave Generator

(Boss OC-5 & OC3, OC2)

(octavia - Dunlop ‘69 Psych Series)

(Mu-Tron Octave divider -1970's)

(Boss PS-2 "Pitch Shifter")

(EQD Organizer)

(TC Electronics Sub 'n' Up)

(EHX HOG2 (Harmonic Octave Generator)

13. Looper

(Ditto TC electronic)

(Ditto X2) -- stereo looper

(Boss RC-2 Looper)

14. Multi effects pedal

(Zoom MS70 CDR)

(Zoom MS50 G)

(Zoom MS60B - multistomp Bass)

(Hologram Microcosm)

(ZOIA - Empress effects)

These are some of my fav guitar pedals that work great with synths.

Little Big Muff

Big Muff - Russian 

MXR Time Delay

MXR stereo chorus

Ibanez Flanger. FL 303

Electro Harmonix Voice Box

MXR Flanger

Electro Harmonix LPB

Linear Power Booster

RML - Electron Fuzz

Retro Mechanical Labs

Small Stone - Electro-harmonix

Small stone - phaser - vintage EHX

Metal Zone MT-2

Boss

Acoustic Modeler - Behringer

AM-100

Korg Kaoss Pad.

Ok ... not a pedal, but works great. !!!

Electro Harmonix Mole

Bass booster

Electric Mistress - Flanger/filter matrix. EHX

EHX Q-Tron

Envelope filter & FX loop

EHX clockworks

Rhythm generator & clock

Boss PS-2

Pitch Shifter/delay

Slap back echo

Boss - DS 1

GE 7

Boss EQ

Boss RC-2

Loop Station

BOSS ACA vs PSA Power adaptors - correctly powering your old BOSS pedals

 Boss & Roland compact pedals  & Synths were designed to use one of two adaptors: ACA or PSA.

ACA and PSA adaptors look very similar. They (and all Boss compact pedals) use the same sized jack/connectors but their electrical specifications and requirements are different.

 

ACA adaptor.: May be labelled 9V, but they in reality produce 12v's of "unregulated" DC power.

PSA adaptor : produces 9v's of clean, regulated power.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Before 1997, Boss pedals usually used a ACA adaptor.

The ACA adaptor produces 12v's of "unregulated" DC power even though the pedals were designed to run off 9v's of DC power ( Many can use a 9v battery).

Unregulated adapters give a higher voltage at low currents. Eg a  Boss CE-2 draws just 8 mA.

So the ACA is really outputting 12V. 

These early pre 1997 pedals often had internal circuits that dropped the 12V DC to 9V 

(a simple zener diode and resistor inside the pedal converts 12V to 9V)

Around 1983, boss started to switch to the new system.

The  boss DD-2 (digital delay) was the first pedal designed around the new PSA adaptor. This produced 9v's of clean, regulated power. 

 

Boss used both of these power supplies side by side until 1997.

Finally they standardised all pedals to the PSA system.

 

------------------------------------

 

This PSA pedal supplies 500 mA of current to easily power multiple pedals, even digital ones.

 It's Centre -ve

The Roland PSUs are also centre -ve

My Boss RE-20 (reverb pedal) uses a 9V DC PSU. centre -ve. (500mA)

----------------------------

 This is a PSA-120

The PSA-120 is designed for AC 117V (USA)

BOSS AC adaptors use these formats:

PSA - 100  for 100ACV (Japan)

PSA - 120 for 117ACV (USA)

PSA - 220 for 220 ACV (UK)

PSA - 240 for 240 ACV (Australia)

The PSA-240S is the recommended power supply for products including all new BOSS Compact and Twin pedals, ME-50/-20/-20B Multi-effects, the DB-66/-88/-90 metronomes, DR-Series drum machines, FC-Series foot controllers, MC-202, SH-101, SP-202, TR-626, and all TU-Series tuners.

 ------------------------------------

The ACA power supplies are designed for these pedals :

BF-2, BF-2B, CE-2, CE-2B, CS-1, CS-2, CS-3, DF-2, DM-2, DS-1, DSD-2, FT-2,
GE-6, GE-7 GE-7B, HM-2, LM-2B, NF-1, OD-1, OD-2, OC-2, PH-1, PH-1R, PH-2,
PSM-5, SD-1, TW-1, SD-1, SG-1, SP-1, VB-2 

These pedals work fine at 12V unregulated, but 9V regulated input does not provide enough voltage.

If your old pedal didn't come with it's original PSU there are a few solutions:

1. power your "old ACA pedals" via 12 volts

2.  put a 9V battery in it,

3.  modify your pedal. (bridge the zener diode and the resistor inside the pedal that converts 12V to 9V)

 

This is the rear of my Boss CE-2

There are 4 versions of the ACA power supply. 

 

This is a BF-2 (flanger)

It's a ACA version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

----------------------------------

Roland Synthesizers & Drums

Roland SH 101 uses PSA-120, 220, 240 adaptors.

A 9V regulated, 500mA , negative-center adapter should work. 

 

According to the official manual, the Roland TB 303 uses a ACA 100, ACA220 or ACA40 depending on your country. negative-center. (Though I've used a PSA on another tb303 without any problems for years).

 

 To the left is my original TB 303 psu.

 

 

 

According to the official manual, the Roland TR 606 also uses a ACA 100, ACA220 or ACA40 depending on your country.  negative-center

 

Boss CE-1 - Chorus Ensemble & the Panasonic BBD

I'm addicted to bucket brigade chips. Ever since I first heard a Serge WAD I can't get enough of their beautiful sounds. The WAD used the Reticon SAD1040.
BBD (Bucket Bridge Delay) ICs are great for effects like reverb, vibrato, chorus, phasor, flanger & echos.
My favourite Chorus pedal is the Boss CE-1

#bossce1 #chorus #bosspedals Lobing this pedal. Its super old but has the sound. Bucketbrigade chip i think?

A post shared by jono (@dj_jondent) on Oct 1, 2017 at 2:40pm PDT

It doesn't use SADs but still sounds great.

Created in 1976 when Roland founded Boss, the CE-1 is viewed as one of the progenitors of the chorus/vibrato effect & is timeless.

It uses Panasonic MN3002 BBD chips. They are single 512 stage IC's.
They also featured in the 1975 Roland Jazz Chorus.

Yes , It's a guitar amp.

Another chorus pedal that I think is worth checking out is the Electroharmonix small clone.
EH4600.

From 1979 to early 1981 it seems that, EH used either the MN3007 delay chip or the RETICON SAD1024.
The sonic differences are subtle. The SAD1024 version has been described as more “watery” sounding, adding a slight “boost” to the signal, while the MN3007 allows higher levels and less noise without signal clipping. The most sought after unit is the 1024 one, mostly because this was the version used by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain on “Nevermind” and the “MTV Unplugged” sessions.
The vintage units have a clear and smaller (3mm) LED versus the red and larger (5mm) LED in the reissues. Also, the originals don’t have a dash mark (-) separating the words FULL and CHORUS.
The reissues have FULL-CHORUS (with the dash) written on it.

 The MN3007 is a 1024 stage long delay low noise BBD that provides a signal delay of up to
51.2 msecs. They seem pretty easy to get on ebay.

 It's found in many popular pedals like the DM-1 and CE-2 & CE-5 by Boss, the MoogerFooger 108M Clusterflux, theMemory Man by Electro-Harmonix, AD-999 by Maxon or Analog Delay by MXR.
Moog Delays (MF104)used MN3008 chips ??? I think.

The 3008 chips are very hard to get these days. Thus those MoogerFooger delays are not made any more & go for ridiculous prices on Ebay. They are a single 2046 stage chip.

 This rare Korg 5 channel mixer uses a single MN3005 to produce the delay.

Pansonic BBD IC characteristics:
MN3001 Dual 512 stage  (0.64-51.2msec for 512x2stage)
MN3002 Single 512 stage (0.32-25.6msec)
MN3003 Dual 64 stage     (0.32-6.4msec for 64x2 stage)
MN3004 Single 512 stage  (2.56msec-25.6msec)
MN3005 Single 4096 stage (20.48-204.8msec)
MN3006 Single 128 stage  (0.32-6.4ms)
MN3007 Single 1024         (5.12-51.2msec)
MN3008 Single 2046 stage (10.24-102msec)
MN3009 Single 256 stage   (0.64-12.8msec)
MN3010 Dual 512 stage low noise (5.12-51.2msec for 512x2 stage)
MN3011 3328 stage with 6 different output stages
MN3012 BBD with 3 parallel signal delay lines with a clock generator
MN 3101 CMOS clock generator for BBDs

There are some clones starting to appear:
Coolaudio: MN3207/3208/3205
Visual sound: MN3102/MN3207
Belling MN3208 and MN3207 (with the designation BL3208 and BL3207)
Xvive Audio : MN3005

The two Panasonic series of BBD chips go by the ID:
MN30xx
MN32xx (Low voltage : 5V) 

Devices using Panasonic BBDs
MN3001
Eventide Instant Flanger FL201.
Tycobrahe Analog Delay Line (used four 3001s)

MN3002
Roland Jazz Chorus; Boss CE-1

MN3003
MN3004
Reissued A/DA flanger (MN3004, MN3210 or the MN3204)
Ibanez AD-230 Analog Delay (used 18 MN3004s)
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1A with 512 stages BBD (MN3004/MN3204)

MN3005
blacet Time Machine.
Memory Man EH 7810 
Deluxe Memory Man EH 7850  
Deluxe Memory Man Tap Tempo 1100 (4 X MN3005's)
Boss DM-2 (later versions use the MN3205)
Boss CH-1 Super chorus (Up till 2001) 
Roland DC-10 Analog Echo
Roland DC-20 (BOSS DM-100)
Behringer VD400 Vintage Delay (CoolAudio V3205 chip)
Way Huge Aqua Puss MkII (CoolAudio V3205 chip)
Frontline Delay (Panasonic MN3205 chip)
DOD FX90
Dod FX96 Echo FX (Panasonic MN3005 chip)
IbanezAD202 
Ibanez Analog Delay 100 
Ibanez AD 80 - Analog Delay (c1980)
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1D with 4096 stages BBD (MN3005/MN3205) 
Korg EM-570 Echo Mixer
Korg SD-400 Signal Delay
Pearl F-605 Electro Echo Analog Delay 
Pearl AD-33 Analog Delay
Guyatone AE-5 Analog Echo (c1974)
 
MN3006

Guyatone PS-002 Stereo Analog Chorus (MN3101 clock and MN3006 BBD)
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1X with 128 stages BBD (MN3006/MN3206)

MN3007
Boss: DM-1; CE-2; CE-5; BF-2(MN3207)
MoogerFooger 108M Clusterflux,
EHX: Memory Man
EHX Smallclone.
Maxon: AD-999
Maxon BC-01 Stereo Analog Bi-Mode Chorus (MN3207) (late 1980s)
MXR: Analog Delay
IbanezAD202 .... Analog Delay
Ibanez FL-301DX (MN3207) ...flanger
Ibanez FL-9 (MN 3207) .... flanger
Ibanez FL 301 (MN3007 BBD and MN3101 clock) 
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1B with 1024 stages BBD (MN3007/MN3207/BL3207) 
Yamaha FL-01 Analog Flanger (MN3007)
DOD Stereo Chorus FX65

MN3008
Deluxe Memory Man Echo Chorus Vibrato XO (reissue in mid'00s).
                                                               (The XO version uses four MN3008s.)
Deluxe Memory Man TapTempo 550 - 4 X MN3008's
MXR Carbon Copy (2x 3208 chips AFAIK)
Moog Delays (MF104)
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1C with 2048 stages BBD (MN3008/MN3208/BL3208)
Maxon AD-9000 Analog Delay (uses four Panasonic MN3008 high-voltage BBD's. The AD900 runs off a special 12-volt adaptor. Some earlier models used the MN3005)

MN3009
Roland Juno 106
Roland Juno 06 - uses 2 in the chorus section
Doepfer Eurorack A-188-1Y with 256 stages BBD (MN3009/MN3209)

MN3010
A/DA Flanger (Original 1979)

MN3011
A/DA STD-1 Stereo Tapped Delay 

Links:
Doepfer A-188 manual
Panasonic BBD datasheet
Serge WAD (Wilson Analog Delay)
Florian-Anwander