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.

 

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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.

 

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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)

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 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.

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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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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

 

LZX - Cortex & Castle quad gate patches

The Castle quad gate is a very cool addition to the LZX Modular.

This is my first patch using the gate. I'm still finding my way around these modules so do let me know if you have any better patch ideas.

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The Gate has 4 inputs (A1,B1 & A2,B2)  and 4outs.
I multed the Lumen out from the VC. ... the first one out went into the ADC & the second to B2.
The 3 outs from the ADC were plugged into A1,B1 & A2.
Three outs were taken from the Quad Gate and plugged into channel 2 of the V Cortex.

A variation of this involves the DAC module.
Output of the Visual cortex (Blue & Green) -----> input A2 & B2 of quad gate.
The outs of the quad gate ----> inputs of DAC.
output of DAC -----> Channel B of V. Cortex
Tweak to taste.

tHERE are 2 DACs so you can experiment taking the outs from the Quad Gate to both and then into the VC or bypassing one DAC and going direct from the gate to the VC.

Links
+ ADC overview - LZX
+ LZX industries 
+ Bit numbering
+ CMOS
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Video Index page

lzx Video Synth - 110 Counter module

These are some build pics of my DIY LZX 110 counter module.
It's part of the Castle series of digital modules designed by Philip Baljeu of Toronto.

I am in no way affiliated with LZX. These are pics to help me (and others) to trouble shoot.
Other modules in the Castle series are:

LZX - Castle
Introduction
00_000 ADC - Analog to digital converter
01_001 DAC - Digital to Analog converter
02_010 Clock VCO
03_011 Shift Register
04_100 Multi Gate
05_101 Quad Gate
06_110 Counter
07_111 Flip flops

One of the great things about building these modules is that the schematics are included.

It's described thus:
"The Counter is a 4-Bit clock counter/divider. Each successive output from Q0 to Q3 is half the frequency of the previous."

It also generates a sequence of numbers in binary counting order from 0000 to 1111 (0-15) in response to the level changes of a single clock input. After the counter reaches 1111 the next clock pulse will return it to 0000. At the end of the count (when it reaches 1111), there is a output pulse at RCO.

The Counter will take an oscillator signal from the vidiot and give you four divided outputs. /2, /4, /8, /16. And a fifth output that puts out a pulse when the counter has reached the last number in its count.(Philip)

Finally when used in conjunction with the Clock VCO and the DAC , waveforms can be synthesized.

The Counter module uses a inexpensive SN74HC191N -- it's a TTL Counter/Multiplier/divider logic IC.
It has 4-bit synchronous, reversible, up/down binary counters.

Links
+ ADC overview - LZX
+ LZX industries
+ CMOS
+ TTL chips
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Video Index page

LZX Castle - shift register patches

Just experimenting with the LZX Castle shift register... module 110
Some quick patch notes ...............

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The module has three inputs. Clock, data & reset.

This is my first patch ... really basic.

Lumen from V cortex ------> input of ADC
Data out from the ADC ----> data in of the Shift Register
Clock is from the VCO clock
Reset - use a second oscillator... eg prismatic ray or a sequencer

There are 4 outs.
I plugged three into the V Cortex (no particular order).

----
Thanks to Chris for the following patch:
"put a ramp shape or camera input in to the DATA input. clock vco to CLK. take d0 out to your monitor. note the position on the screen. take d1 and it should be one clock cycle to the right from d0. etc with d2 and d3."

I tried a version of this:
i took the lumen out (from the VC ) into the data input of the shift register.

....
patch 2

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Video Index page

Erica Synths - Midi to Trigger

This is a fantastic module.

Easy to program.

I use it mainly with my Keystep Pro.

This has a default setting which outputs drum triggers via MIDI on channel 10.

(this can of course be changed).

To program the Erica module set the MIDI channel first.

1. Push & hold the PROG button while powering on the modular synth.

2. press a note on the keyboard.

    If your sequencer uses channel 1 press C

    For channel 2, press C#

    In my case, as I want channel 10, I press A

3. Push the PROG button again for 2secs

    Trigger 1 LED will go on.

4. Push the key you want to assign to trigger 1.

5. Trigger 2 LED should now light up

6. Push the key you want to assign to LED 2

7. LED 3 should now light up.

8. Repeat till you have programmed all the triggers.

 

Enjoy

 

 

LZX visual cortex - inputting external video - composite vs component

Just some quick notes to remind me (and hopefully help others) about inputting external video into the LZX Visual Cortex. When I first bought this module I didn't understand the difference between composite and component video.

The camera is a pretty old Sony HDR-XR260VE

The yellow input is a standard composite. going into the top "y" input.
This will only give you a black/white luma output.
 To get a full colour input you need to use all 3 component inputs: Y, Pb, Pr.

In Composite video all the video information is combined into a single line level signal that is used in analog television. The video cables do not carry audio but are often paired with audio cables.
In the photo above, the composite is the yellow, and the red & white are the left & right audio (and thus remain unplugged).

In Component video , the video signal is split into two or more component channels. 
Like composite, component-video cables do not carry audio but are often paired with audio cables.
Component video usually refers to analog YP_BP_R component video with sync on luma (Y).  

In the pic above, the green "Y" input is termed Luma for luminance or brightness. 
It also importantly carries the sync signal.
Pb carries the difference between blue and luma (B − Y).
P_R carries the difference between red and luma (R − Y).

YPbPr is the analog version of the YCbCr color space; the two are numerically equivalent but YPbPr is designed for use in analog systems while YCbCr is intended for digital video.  
I have tried plugging a DVD player with YCbCr outputs into my Visual Cortex --- it just doesn't work !

The advantage of using the YPbPr inputs is that the quality of the extracted image is nearly identical to the signal before encoding. S-Video and composite video mix the signals together by means of electronic multiplexing (though S-Video does far better as it gives the whole video bandwith to luma and transmits chroma separately). So if you can use S-Video throughout the whole signal chain do it.

The rear of the Visual Cortex.

In the pic above I've plugged into the Y input a simple CCTV camera. Thus there is only a Luma output.
This is mult'ed into the Castle 000 ADC (analog to digital converter) and its output is passed back into channel B of the Visual Cortex. The Castle Clock VCO is triggering the Visual Cortex.



Links
+ LZX industries

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Video Index page

Castle 111 Flip Flops - LZX video Synth

Some pics from my build of the Castle Flip Flops module.
It's a Eurorack format video module.

The module has three D type Flip Flops that share a common Clock and Reset.

So what's a flip flop? It's a bistable multivitrator. The outputs of Flip Flops have two stable states and can be used to store data. The Flip-Flop is also known as a latch. It's a fundamental building block in computers, counters, registers, memories, decoders & sequential logic.

Flip Flops are basically memory circuits. They can remember the logic state in which they were set. When a flip flop is set in one of its two possible states, it will remain in that condition until it is changed (or power is removed).

A D-type is also known as a Delay Flip flop, Data Latch or D-type Transparent Latch. They are used in Sequential Circuits.

The flip flop ic being used in this module is a SN74HC174N. 
It's a a hex positive-edge-triggered D-type Flip-flop  
It's a TTL series 74xx.

So Flip flops are like binary sample and holds. There are 3 so you can do a sample and hold type operation on the adc output for example. It has the effect of pixelizing. (Philip)

Anything can be used as an input, it doesn't need to be binary logic signals  

The SN74HC174 contains 6 flipflops, but it appears only 3 are used in the module.
The basic D Flip Flop has a D (data) input and a clock input and outputs Q.
It also includes a CLR (Clear) control input.
Information  at  the  data  (D)  inputs  is  transferred  to  the outputs  (Q) on  the  positive-going  edge  of  a clock (CLK)   pulse. This flip-flop is a positive edge-triggered flip flop. This means that the flip flop changes output value only when the clock is at a positive edge (or rising clock edge).

iT'S done !

LZX - Castle
Introduction
00_000 ADC - Analog to digital converter
01_001 DAC - Digital to Analog converter
02_010 Clock VCO
03_011 Shift Register
04_100 Multi Gate
05_101 Quad Gate
06_110 Counter
07_111 Flip flops

Links
+ LZX industries
+ CMOS
+ TTL (transistor-transistor logic)

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Video Index page