Dan’s grab bags come in a variety of flavors–capacitors of various types, semiconductors, transistors, diodes, etc., but my favorite is the large 500+ piece grab bag. I can’t remember how many of these I’ve ordered in the lat 35 years, but every time I do I am excited to receive the package from Dan and start sorting and taking inventory and adding the parts to my stash. The big grab bags can contain any of hundreds of types of parts–transistors, diodes, integrated circuits, capacitors, inductors, all sorts of very specialized parts, connectors, hardware–and it’s always worth way more than what you paid for it.

I recently placed an order with Dan–I ordered pretty much all grab bags: a 100+ piece diode kit, a couple of 100+ piece semiconductor kits, a bag of assorted NP0/C0G capacitors, and four 500-piece grab bags for $5 each. When my order arrived, Dan wrote on my order form that I had misread the web site–there was a one-bag limit on the 500-piece bags, so he sent one bag and refunded $15 in cash.

I thought it might be interesting to show what I received in my 500-piece grab bag, in case you’ve thought of picking one up and haven’t yet pulled the trigger. Here’s a picture of the parts from that single 500-piece grab bag, after I did a bit of sorting:

First, I should point out that the total number of parts in the 500-piece grab bag was 868. Granted, some of the parts were things like set-screws, surface-mount parts, quite a few 1/4-watt resistors, etc. But I’m guessing that just a small, selected handful of the parts you see in the photo above are worth far more than the $5.00 I paid for the bag, plus the cost of shipping. For example, one of the items is a ten-turn counting knob, a Beckman miniature DuoDial, the sort of thing you might use with a 10-turn potentiometer for fine-tuning a receiver with a varactor diode. I found a similar item on eBay listed for $15. That was just one of the 800+ parts in this bag of electronic goodies.

Here’s the full list with descriptions and quantities:

248 1/4W resistors, pre-formed, trimmed leads, mixed values
63 1/4W resistors, long leads, mixed values
67 1/8W resistors, long leads, mixed values
1 short length of ribbon cable (or something similar)
1 10-turn Beckman Helipot dial
1 miscellaneous plastic potentiometer knob
1 1/8″ panel jack
1 bridge rectifier
3 2PST breadboard-type toggle switches, black
8 2PST breadboard-type toggle switches, red
65 PCB-mount momentary tactile switches with ground
4 PCB-mount momentary tactile switches, no ground
1 brass Fahnestock clip
1 panel switch or pot nut
2 very small machine screws
2 small setscrews (different sizes)
1 PCB-mount trimpot, value 102
5 small metal solder tabs, flat, with mounting hole
1 4-pin transistor socket, small
6 surface-mount crystal oscillators, value not clear (possibly 20MHz)
9 miniature IF transformers
1 Coiltronics surface-mount signal transformer
1 yellow mylar capacitor
12 assorted small electrolytic capacitors
7 1/2W carbon composition resistors
1 1/4W carbon composition resistor
2 47k-ohm precision resistors
2 other 1/4W precision resistors
15 red poly film capacitors
18 silver mica capacitors, various values
4 miscellaneous small capacitors
13 miscellaneous ceramic disc capacitors
44 unknown green capacitor-like parts marked “331”
1 unmarked two-leg device in TO-92 package, likely a varactor diode
25 BT169DH silicon controlled rectifiers
10 switching diodes, similar to 1N4148 or 1N914
2 3M No. 3421 ribbon cable connectors
10 adhesive cable connector caps for No. 3421
1 78L08 voltage regulator IC
1 78L05 voltage regulator IC
1 3-pin connector for PCB mount
1 small tantalum capacitor, full axial leads
1 1W metal film resistor
113 small yellow bypass capacitors, pre-cut leads, various values
100+ small yellow bypass capacitors, on tape with full leads
1 mica insulator for T0-220 device
1 small surface-mount capacitor
1 small surface-mount integrated circuit (not yet identified)
32 small rectangular PCB material pads for Manhattan construction

Total: 868+ parts; total cost: $5.00

The rest of my recent order consisted of:

1 100+ diode kit ($4.00)
2 100+ semiconductor grab bags ($5.00 per bag)
1 150+ piece bag of assorted NP0 and C0G capacitors

I’m still sorting through all of those parts, but I can tell you that there were lots and lots of diodes, including rectifiers (up to 3 amps), varactors, Schottky diodes, one avalanche diode, and a lot of Zeners, some 1N82A germanium diodes, some random point-contact glass diodes, There were also some op-amps, some 555 timer ICs, a few LM386s, a healthy selection of small transistors (NPN, PNP, FET), voltage regulators (TO-92s and TO-220s), and even a TA-7642–a complete AM radio circuit on a TO-92 device, which I’m looking forward to experimenting with.

I recently participated in the Soldersmoke Direct-Conversion Receiver Challenge, which I highly recommend, whether you’re a long-time radio homebrewer or have never made a solder joint in your life. Bill and Dean and the gang at Soldersmoke have put together a collection of instructional video and documentation that can help you be successful (or have some fun trying). I used quite a few parts in that project that I bought over the last few decades from Dan. (Here’s my “hall of fame” video from the Soldersmoke YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/zsrkakDDih0?si=SK3hXVF34MUBr6f9). In fact, just about every homebrew or “scratch-built” project I’ve constructed in the 35 years I’ve been a ham has contained parts I got from Dan. I doubt I’ll live long enough to exhaust my stack, but I’ve got a couple of grandkids who have shown some interest in electronics, so I expect I’ll be making up some little kits of parts to help them build their first projects soon.

Given that Danny has stepped away from his business once already, I would recommend that you visit his website at https://www.danssmallpartsandkits.net/ while you can and check out his vast selection of components. Maybe your junk box could use some more stuff!

The article in the book mentioned above is meant to be used to assemble the QRP-Labs QRSS kit, but because the full schematic is provided, you can also build that transmitter from scratch, if you like. I built the circuit from the article for 30 meters, because I had a 10.140 MHz crystal on hand, and fortunately, I had all of the other parts handy as well. The Arduino code for the project was actually listed in the article in the book, but it was easy to find the download, and the programming of the Arduino was simple and error-free. I didn’t actually finish that project before I ordered and received the U3S kit, as my main interest was WSPR, and the book project was about QRSS–I don’t believe the Arduino sketch contained any code for the WSPR protocol. But the circuit did oscillate on frequency in my initial testing, and one of these days I will finish it up and try it on the air. Unsurprisingly, the low-pass filter for the book project is essentially identical to the low-pass filter kit I ordered with my U3S kit.

WSPR is the mode that attracted me to the U3S kit–the acronym stands for Weak Signal Propagation Reporter, from the mind of Joe Taylor, K1JT. The software behind WSPR (on the transmit side) configures CW transmissions that are very, very slow, requiring several minutes to send a call sign, and usually sending those transmissions at QRP power levels or lower. A WSPR transmitter essentially functions as a beacon, sending messages continually according to the WSPR protocol. The default power output setup for the U3S kit is 200 mW, with one BS-170 FET as the power amplifier, though the kit can be modified to use as many as three BS-170s, or to drive an external power amplifier. On the receive end, a WSPR receiver interfaces with a computer which looks at the incoming signal (on one of the agreed-upon WSPR frequencies) and decodes it, if possible, recording the reception in an Internet-accessible database which one can search for one’s callsign.

In other words, once I get this U3S transmitter on the air, I can leave it running for as long as I wish, and after a time, search for my callsign on the WSPRNet database (I have a mobile app called WSPR Watch that makes this pretty easy). Wherever my callsign appears, there will be information about the location of the receiving station, which helps me sort out what sort of propagation path my transmitter was able to use, and how far away my signal could be received.

The kit was shipped to me from Turkey–I hadn’t expected that, but had I looked at the QRP-Labs discussion group on Groups.io prior to ordering, I would have learned that. It took about two weeks, which didn’t bother me too much, having ordered numerous components and parts from China over the years. The box was a little beaten up, also not a surprise, but it was packed well, and no parts were damaged. A quick inventory of parts showed that everything was there, as expected, but it’s always good to check. My order contained the U3S kit itself (the basic kit, which includes the main board, the display, and one low-pass filter kit–I chose 30 meters), plus a 10-pack of extra BS-170 transistors, just in case I smoked the one that was included, and in case I decided to add additional PA transistors to the main board. There are several options available to the builder when purchasing this kit–you can opt, as I did, for a single LPF board, or you can buy a relay-switched, multi-filter kit that allows the radio to be used on several different frequencies. You can purchase a GPS unit for automatic time-setting, geolocation of the transmitter, etc., and you can also add a nice aluminum case kit. The base price for the minimal kit is about $35 as of this writing, and you can get a kit with all the options for about $140 (shipping extra).

One of the features of the U3S kit is the inclusion of an Si5351 frequency synthesizer kit that allows the transmitter to be built for any frequency desired, from 2200m to 222Mhz. The synth kit consists of a postage-stamp-sized PCB with a handful of parts, and it goes together very quickly. The actual Si5351 chip comes pre-soldered to the board, as it is a very small surface-mount part (all other parts in the kit are through-hole parts). There are pads on the synth board for SMA connectors that can be used to access all three of the synthesizer’s independent outputs, should the builder decide to put it to other uses as a signal generator, for example, under microprocessor control.

The U3S kit ships without any documentation, but all of the information you need is available for free download on the QRP-Labs website. This means that you can read the assembly manual, the configuration guide, and the instructions for the various add-ons before you buy, if you wish, which I really appreciate. You’ll need to read the assembly guide carefully before you begin putting the kit together, because there are some options that you’ll need to learn about in order to decide how you will use your rig once it’s assembled.

When I get a new kit to put together, I like to clean up my bench, get all my tools and supplies in order and then wait for just the right time to begin the project, so I can work without interruption for a while. That didn’t happen for this kit. In fact, my bench was still a mess from just having finished the main construction of the QRSS transmitter, but I couldn’t help myself–I was so eager to get this kit built that I dove right in. I began with the low-pass filter kit, which was the most labor-intensive part of the project, as there were three toroidal inductors to wind. As it turned out, I should have waited and tempered my enthusiasm–in my haste, I wound the toroids backwards, and didn’t discover my error until I had wound all three, and then looked at the board to see that the toroids’ leads were not in the right positions for the holes on the PCB. This meant that I had to un-wind all three of the coils and re-wind them in the proper way. In fairness, there was nothing in the documentation that mentioned this detail specifically, but had I studied the illustration of the PCB just a little longer, I might have been able to avoid this error. No harm was done, and the second winding was perfect.

The way the LPF is designed, you can build additional filters for different bands if you wish (they are sold separately, though one LPF of the frequency you choose is included in the kit price) and just swap them in and out as needed. The multi-band, relay-switched filter option is another approach to making it easier to switch bands under software control.

The next module I built was the synth module, which was a quick build. Both the LPF and the synth module are built with male header pins that allow the modules to be plugged into email headers on the main board. The main board construction took a little longer than the smaller add-on modules, and included one more toroid coil to wind, but the assembly process is not too difficult for any of the modules in this kit. One caveat, though: the PCBs are quite small, and most of the components are quite close together, which means that a very small soldering iron tip is needed. Fine-gauge solder is also helpful. The markings on the included capacitors are quite small, so a magnifying glass is helpful if your eyesight is anything like mine.

The kit requires a well-filtered, stable 5-volt DC power supply. The documentation notes that this is a very important requirement, and that some of the wall-wart switching supplies are unsuitable for powering the U3S. When wiring up the radio, there is an option to include a separate power supply for the power amplifier section of the circuit, so that it can operate at a higher voltage and thus, higher output power. Be sure to read the assembly documentation carefully concerning powering the unit.

When I was finished assembling everything, I plugged the four pieces (main board, synth board, LPF, display) together and connected the output jack to a home-brew QRP power meter with an integral dummy load, and then temporarily connected power. The LCD display lit up, but there was nothing on the screen initially, but a quick adjustment to the LCD contrast trimmer pot brought the word “Diagnostic” into view, which was an indication that the microprocessor was at least talking to the display properly. For the next several minutes I cycled through the menus using the two menu buttons while paging through the operation guide, which is a long and detailed document that covers every menu in the microprocessor software. I configured a few of the main options, such as my callsign and the default operating mode. When the transmitter was finally keyed, the power meter indicated that RF energy was being generated, and I could hear the signal on another receiver. And there was no smoke!

I decided to box the U3S in an old plastic project box–I have a bunch of these clamshell-style cases that are nickel-sprayed on the interior for shielding, but I don’t have any front or rear panels for them, so I cut double-side copper-clad fiberglass PCB material to the right size, and drill and punch as needed. The fit is loose, but hot-melt glue firms things up. Once I had all the holes in place, I spray-painted the panels, and when the paint is cured, I’ll do the final assembly. The only steps left after that are to finish the configuration for WSPR mode, and to calibrate the frequency synthesizer–also a software step.

My current antenna situation is fairly grim–just a piece of wire that extends from the window near my operating desk to a tree 35-40′ away. It’s adequate for listening for now, and I’ll try putting the U3S on that (through my tuner) and see what happens, but I have gathered all of the materials I need to build a dipole for up to 80 meters, and I hope to have that up and working soon. I will post a follow-up once I get some results.

Antenna matters have always been problematic for me. My first antenna was an indoor antenna, and not a particularly good one. I cut a dipole for 40 meters and installed it along the ceiling of an upstairs bedroom that was barely big enough for it. In fact, now that I think of it, it might have been a folded dipole made from 300-ohm TV twin-lead. My shack was in the basement, and I don’t recall how I ran the coax from my operating position to the upstairs room, but somehow it worked well enough for me to make a few contacts with my Drake TR-3 transceiver. Not many contacts, mind you, but I was never as excited about being on the air as I was about building gear and gathering test equipment and stocking my junk box.

I also didn’t care to run my rig anywhere close to its full power capability. Theoretically, the TR-3 was capable of 300 watts of transmitted power, but I rarely cranked it even as high as fifty watts. Most of the time I was happy to try to make contacts with five or ten watts (or less), and the one time I remember actually turning up the output to 100 watts, my straight key suddenly began biting me with RF energy that was making its way back into my basement shack. I had a lousy ground set-up, as I recall–there might have been a counterpose wire on the floor, or at best, a connection to a cold-water pipe.

But I digress. For this WSPR radio project, I hope to actually have a dipole in the air, higher than any antenna I’ve ever had before, and a ground rod in the ground with connection to my shack. The only problem is that we’re on the cusp of full-blown summer here in northeast Kansas, and every ham knows the best time for antenna work is either late fall, when the wind chills are brutal, or even the dead of winter.

Farewell until I have more to report.

I never met Dan, the proprietor of Dan’s Small Parts and Kits (I’m not sure I ever knew his last name), but I’ve done business with him off and on for quite a long time. I can’t remember the first time I ordered something from Dan, but I searched my computer files and found an order that I sent him in January of 1998, and it was not the first–in that order letter, I referenced the fact that it had been a while since I had last ordered, and that I was getting back into ham radio after a couple of years of inactivity. The only reason I still have this letter is that that is the way you had to order stuff from Dan–you couldn’t place an online order, so you had to either download the order form from his website or print one of your own, and mail it to him with your payment.

I imagine that my first order was sometime around 1991, the year I was first licensed as an amateur radio operator. I knew going into ham radio that I was going to follow my father’s footsteps and be a “home-brewer,” that is, I was going to build at least some of my radio and test equipment myself. My dad, formerly K8LZO, was a ham from the time I was growing up until I was a teenager. I didn’t embrace the hobby during that time, though I spent a lot of time watching dad build radio kits, home-brew projects, antennas, and such, and as a very small child, I tried to be around when he was on the air.

Not long after I was licensed I decided to build a small QRP (low-power) transceiver to operate CW (continuous wave transmission, using a circuit that switched a radio-frequency oscillator on and off to create the Morse code characters that were transmitted using a simple wire antenna). My aim was to take this transceiver with me to Colorado to use during a family vacation in the mountains that happened to overlap the annual “field day” operations exercise of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), of which I am still a member. To build this radio, I began collecting parts at hamfests–swapmeets where hams buy and sell parts and radios and other electronic gear–and purchasing parts I didn’t already have in my junk box from suppliers online. I was elated to find Dan’s Small Parts and Kits, because Dan specialized in stocking electronic components that were of particular interest to home-brew radio folks, and especially the QRP crowd.

Once I had all of the parts together, I built the circuit I had selected from an old back-issue of the ARRL magazine, QST, which was called the “Ugly Weekender.” (It’s the gray box on the right of the image above.) This little 7-MHz transmitter circuit was published in the early 80s, and utilized a very simple electronic construction method known as ground-plane construction or “ugly” construction, because it involved soldering components directly to a piece of unetched copper-clad fiberglass circuit board material, hooking them up directly to one another, and using the copper-clad board as a ground plane, for all of the circuit ground connections. The result was a truly ugly, almost chaotic-looking circuit that actually worked quite well, the first time I powered it up (which rarely happens, in my experience). By the time I built the circuit, QST had published a follow-up article that added a simple direct-conversion receiver to the transmitter, creating a complete transceiver, and I built both the transmitter and the receiver sections for my little rig, which I still own, and which still works today.

Over the years after my first Dan’s order, I ordered parts again, several times–I’ve lost count. Unlike my first order, many of those subsequent orders were not made with any particular project in mind, but rather to stock up my junk box for whatever projects I might choose later on. Dan often had “grab bags” available–some of which were collections of similar parts, such as a transistor grab bag, or a NP0 capacitor grab bag, but the ones I ordered were mostly the big grab bags that contained hundreds of random parts. Usually I ordered a set of three grab bags, or more, if I could, and eagerly awaited their arrival, looking forward to seeing what I got.

Although buying parts this way comes with risks, I knew that I would receive parts worth far more than what I paid for them. A typical grab bag might cost five dollars or so (my 1998 order includes a three-for-ten dollars deal), but in most cases, a very small handful of the parts in that bag, if purchased from a traditional supplier, would cost many times more than the full cost of the bag. There were invariably hundreds of resistors and capacitors of many types and values, some were brand-new, modern parts, and others were new old-stock parts, like carbon composition resistors. There were many transistors, sometimes marked, sometimes not, but with a transistor tester I could at least identify their types and a few of their characteristics. There were integrated circuits, resistor networks, inductors of many different types, trimmer capacitors of many types, feed-through capacitors, LEDs, diodes and usually a variety of hardware items, such as small nuts and bolts, metal brackets, terminal strips, transistor and IC sockets, connectors, and often some random small plastic parts. I assume that Dan bought up surplus lots from electronics manufacturers or parts manufacturers, because some of the parts came in the form of tape strips used by automatic component placement machines. As the years went by, more and more of the components in the grab bags were surface-mount resistors, capacitors, discreet transistors, and occasionally, integrated circuits.

For me, because I’m a little OCD and weird, too, a big part of the fun was sorting through everything with tweezers and a magnifying glass, and sort the parts into the little plastic drawers that I use to organize my components collections. I now have dozens and dozens (perhaps more than a hundred) little drawers and other plastic containers full of components that I have collected, purchased, harvested from old electronic devices, or inherited from my dad’s junk box, and these days I have enough stuff lying around to build many circuits without ordering a single component. (Plus, a decent home-brewer knows how to substitute parts for the specified ones in many cases.)

My orders from Dan’s almost always arrived with a personal note from Dan–something like “Have fun, Doug, with all of these parts!” It was a small thing, but it made me feel like I had a connection with Dan. And Dan knew his radio stuff–he stocked almost all of the most commonly-needed parts for the kinds of circuits that quite often appeared in the ham radio magazines. He even stocked a couple of kits that he put together himself, and I enjoyed building one or two of those over the years.

Dan’s Small Parts and Kits will be missed–his departure from the market leaves a uniquely-shaped void that few other suppliers can fill. Yes, it was less convenient to order from Dan’s, and unless you were willing to wait for your personal check to clear, you had to go to the post office or the bank and purchase a money order to include payment with your order, and yes, Dan didn’t generally ship outside the U.S., and yes, the web site was not professionally done, nor was it particularly well-organized. But I really loved poring through that long, basic HTML-formatted page to look for good deals, and sometimes I found stuff that I just couldn’t pass up.

Dan, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing with what I imagine to be your autumn years, thank you for decades of fun and for great customer service, and for the personal touch that accompanied every order. Thank you for substituting parts that you knew would work just fine instead of the ones I ordered, when you were out of that specific part. Thank you for staying in tune with what the home-brew, QRP, ham radio community needed to continue to pursue the hobby in their unique way. Thanks for being there when I was a new ham and needed to find parts for my Ugly Weekender. If I ever make it to Missoula, Montana, I’m going to try to look you up.

73 OM.

Doug, AA0MS

As I mentioned in the last post, since I moved The Shack I began ordering parts from Chinese suppliers via eBay, so in the last year or two I’ve acquired a lot of new parts and gadgets. One of the reasons I started getting parts on eBay was an article I saw about how to use an Arduino microcontroller board to control a DDS module–the applications that interested me were (a) an RF signal generator for testing and (b) an Arduino-controlled VFO for use in homebrew radios. So among the first things I bought were an Arduino (which I actually got from a U.S.-based supplier, because I wanted a genuine Arduino, not a clone, at least for my first foray into the Arduino world), and an AD9850 DDS module, which came from one of the many Chinese electronics parts suppliers in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.

(Side note: there are many parts suppliers to choose from on eBay, and some are more reliable than others. In a later post I’ll share some of my experiences and lessons learned about picking a supplier. The bottom line is that you can save a lot of money on electronic parts and modules if you are willing to wait a couple of weeks for shipping, and if you are willing to accept the risk that you may occasionally receive parts of dubious authenticity–yes, there are a lot of counterfeit chips for sale in Asia–but I’ve generally had pretty good luck, and the cost savings makes it worth it to me. Example: Jameco sells a 555 timer chip for about a quarter in the U.S.; I bought 30 of them for $2.97 with free shipping from a Chinese eBay supplier.)

So the most recent thing I’ve built is an Arduino-controlled RF signal generator–the main parts cost about $15, including the Arduino Pro Mini clone, the AD9850 DDS module, the 16×2 LCD display, and the rotary encoder. I put it in an aluminum case I bought years ago at a hamfest for $3, so the whole instrument was less than $20, even figuring in the cost of connectors and such. The software for the Arduino was free, and open-source–I can modify it if I wish to change its behavior or add (or remove) functionality, any time I choose. The DDS module is capable of producing a clean sine wave from 0 to 20 MHz; the chip will work up to about 40 MHz, but the signal degrades in quality and strength above 20-25 MHz.

In the photo of the internal view of the signal generator project, you can see the LCD display at the upper left. In the center is a small project PCB that has the AD9850 module (top) and the Arduino Pro Mini clone (bottom) attached to it. The small copper-clad board just above the AD9850 module just holds a trimmer for the display contrast, and the small copper-clad board at the lower right (near the BNC output jack) is a little buffer amp that takes the sine wave output from the DDS module and buffers (and slightly amplifies it) before routing it to the output jack.

But before this project was completed, there were numerous little detours along the way–after my initial Arduino purchase (an Arduino Uno, in case you’re interested), I learned that I can actually program the Arduino to act as a programmer for various Atmel microprocessor chips, most notably the ATTiny45 and ATTiny85 models. The ’45 and ’85 are 8-pin chips with limited I/O capability, but can be remarkably useful for a variety of tasks, so I snagged several ’85s to play with. And then I found that I could get some Chinese clones of the smaller Arduino Pro Mini microcontroller boards for just a couple of bucks apiece. Similar deals were found for 16×2 LCD displays, a wide variety of sensors, and many other parts. (I probably could have saved a lot of time by just purchasing one of the many Arduino sensor kits on the market, but the hunt was fun.)

So in the time between my first Arduino purchase and finally finishing my signal generator this weekend, I’ve been wiring up all sorts of little circuits and learning bit by bit how to program the Arduino. I’ve played with LED matrix modules, multiplexed multi-digit LED display modules, relay modules, proximity sensors, ultrasonic distance-measuring sensors, temperature and humidity sensors, and generally had a ball. The Arduino platform is brilliant in several ways:

• The ease of interfacing the Arduino with other circuits and devices
• The ease of programming the Arduino
• The low cost threshold for getting started with the Arduino
• The fact that because the hardware is open-source, there are dozens of very inexpensive clones available
• The availability of many, many libraries that simplify the use of most of the available sensors and modules
• The arduino.cc Web site contains a wealth of information for anyone who wants to learn

There is also a robust community of Arduino users who support the idea that information should be shared, so it’s easy to get answers to questions.

For years I’ve known about microcontrollers–I’ve even purchased ham radio kits that came with pre-programmed PIC chips, for example–but the whole thing seemed complicated and difficult. For me, the Arduino has de-mystified microcontroller programming and opened up a vast world of projects and solutions. Plus it is great fun.

I’ve also had a renewed interest in building guitar effects pedals in the past year or two. A few years back I made a distortion pedal for a friend (a birthday gift), but it was just okay, not great. Ever since then I’ve wanted to try my hand at some of the many circuits that are available today on the Internet, and I’ve collected a lot of those schematics. I’ve also stocked up, when good deals presented themselves, on some of the sorts of parts that are useful for building guitar effects–things like 3PDT footswitches (for true bypass capability), and various transistors and op amps. I’ve also obtained a stash of old germanium transistors from my dad that I’m hoping will work well in some of the old classic fuzz circuits.

Another whole arena that I hope to explore is the making of my own printed-circuit boards. I’ve done this a lot in the past, back when the best option available to me was the use of chart tapes and rub-on traces and pads from Radio Shack (they used to sell a little PC board kit with several sheets of rub-on circuit board artwork and some copper-clad board), but that process is tedious and error-prone. I found (on eBay, of course) some coated laser-printer paper that is intended for use in making PCBs–you print on the coated side (in reverse), then apply the toner-side of the printed pattern to the copper-clad board and iron it on to transfer the toner to the board. Some folks are using inexpensive laminating machines to do the toner transfer. Etching is done as usual, with appropriate chemicals.

The availability of Eagle and other PCB design software has made the process a lot simpler, and in recent years, it has become financially reasonable to send a design off to a PCB manufacturing house for production of small quantities, even single boards, with fairly short turn-around times. But I’m cheap, and it’s hard for me to part with $40 or $50 for a board or two when I could etch and drill my own in an evening, especially for one-off projects.

So that’s what’s cooking around here. If anyone is reading this, I’d love to hear what you’ve got going on.

A year or so ago I had to move The Shack from one room of my house to another, and during that time I was just beginning to explore the world of Arduino and microcontroller programming. About the same time I also discovered the availability of inexpensive parts from China via eBay (and I’ve learned some valuable lessons about buying parts that way). Many of the projects and experiments I’ve entertained myself with have been for the purpose of trying out those parts and sensors and controller boards, and it’s been loads of fun.

There will be more to come about all of this stuff.

Then, again, several years later, came the CD recorder, and lo and behold, I could actually back up my DMT-8’s eight tracks to CD, and reload them to the Fostex, all in the digital domain, without loss of audio quality. Again, heaven.

I should mention that it was not long after I obtained my DMT-8 that recording on a computer became fairly commonplace. I had a friend who recorded some really wonderful acoustic guitar albums on a Mac that was horribly slow by today’s standards, but it worked great. I however, was unwilling to trust a computer with my recordings. I just didn’t think that computers were reliable enough for the job, so for a long time I just watched while the computer-based recording world matured and grew.

Finally, believe it or not, just within the last year, I have decided that my computer is a worthy replacement for my DMT-8 and all of the associated outboard gear I had accumulated, such as my digital effects unit and my dual-channel compressor. Part of my reticence to move to computer-based recording was that I didn’t own a very good computer. In my former day job, I always had a good laptop computer, which meant that I didn’t really need to upgrade my old Bondi Blue iMac at home, because I wasn’t using it for much. Plus, I didn’t feel I should use my company machine for personal recording projects. But when I left my job a little over a year ago, I decided to buy a MacBook Pro, and that’s when I made the decision to jump headlong into computer-based recording.

Anybody want to buy a used Fostex DMT-8 in really good condition?

My lovely wife and my amazing son surprised me on Christmas Eve with a gift that I wasn’t expecting–a BOSS RC-20XL Loop Station Twin Pedal.  It had been on my Amazon wish list for so long that I had frankly forgotten it was there, so you can imagine my delight.  As a certified gear geek, I am enamored with anything that has as many knobs, buttons and blinking lights as this sweet little stomp box has.

Honestly, I’ve got no idea what I’m doing when it comes to using one of these things, but I’ve seen some very cool looping things from the likes of Phil Keaggy and others, and I’ve wanted to play with a looper for the longest time.  Well, now I’ve got one, and I have to say, it’s enormous fun.

The RC-20XL is one of the Boss twin pedals (yeah, I’ve had my eye on a couple of the other ones, such as the Boss DD-20 Giga Delay, and the BOSS OD-20 Drive Zone Overdrive Twin Pedal.)  It’s not trivial to figure the thing out, but within five minutes of plugging it in, I was looping, albeit a bit awkwardly.

The instruction manual isn’t bad, but I suspect that it’s going to take me a while to master this device.  There is sufficient flash memory in the RC-20XL to record up to 16 minutes of audio, and there are eleven phrase storage locations from which to choose.  (“Phrase” is Boss lingo for a recorded loop.)  The first few locations are empty when you unbox the unit, but there are several pre-recorded demo phrases in the upper locations.  You can blow them away if you like, or use them to play around with the pedal.

There is a built-in “guide” function, which is essentially a click track, except that it isn’t just a click–it’s drum or other percussion sounds.  Not exactly a drum machine, but a fairly versatile way to keep your playing on the mark, and you can select from about eight different guide sounds or patterns.  You can also set the time signature (well, anything with a “4” on the bottom).

There are three inputs on the device–one regular quarter-inch guitar input, one quarter-inch mic input, and an eighth-inch auxilliary input for plugging in a CD player or some other audio source.  The mic input (which I haven’t used yet) could be put to interesting use with vocals–layering harmony parts and such–but could also be used to record loops using acoustic instruments.

There are also a couple of footswitch jacks–one is for use with a dual footswitch (for switching between recorded phrases), and the other is for using the reverse function (which I’ll not say anything about because I haven’t tried it yet).  The output jack is a quarter-inch (mono) phone jack that switches on the power when a plug is inserted (so if you’re using batteries, don’t leave it plugged in or you’ll run down your batteries in pretty short order).  The unit also has a power jack for the standard PSA-series power supplies.

Here’s a quick and dirty run-through of how I’ve been using this thing:

1. Switch the phrase select knob to an empty track.
2. I suggest that for your first trial you click the “Autostart” button to turn this feature on.  In Autostart mode, you can press the record pedal and the RC-20XL will wait until you start playing to begin recording.  Later on you may want to try it without this feature turned on.
3. Click the left pedal to enable recording.
4. Start playing a phrase, and when you get to the end, click the left pedal again to stop recording–do it right on the beat.  What you recorded should begin playing back, and repeating.
5. Click the left pedal again to overdub over what you’ve just recorded–in other words, to add a second part.  Click the pedal again at the end of the phrase to stop recording, and your second part will play along with the first.  (There is an undo function available, too, but frankly, I haven’t learned to use it yet.)
6. To stop the loop, click the right pedal.  To start it again, click the left pedal.  You can repeat this process as many times as you like, or until you run out of memory.

That right there is enough to get you going, and it is almost the extent of what I know so far (although I did figure out how to save a phrase).  But with that small amount of understanding, I’ve been having a lot of fun looping.

I’m still not sure exactly what I’m going to do with my Loop Station–there may be some live performance situations in which I’ll pull it out for a piece or two, but frankly, I think it will be most useful as a practice tool, and for working out ideas before recording them in the usual way.  There isn’t much you can do muscially with the Loop Station that you can’t do with regular multitrack recording, but the thing is that the Loop Station helps you do it much, much faster, which means you can explore new ideas as they happen, without being encumbered with the recording process.

Even though I haven’t figured out all of its features, I really like my RC-20XL, and I’m looking forward to playing with it for a long time.  If you find that you need a little more looping versatility, the BOSS RC50 Loop Station Pedal Board
(the big brother to the -20XL) is a bit like having three RC-20XLs all in one unit, at approximately twice the price.  The RC-20XL sells for about about $260 at Amazon.com.  Your local Boss dealer might have one you could try out in the store, too.

This won’t be a comprehensive review of these applications–maybe when I get more time–but here’s a quick run-down on each one:

Audacity

Audacity is available for Windows, MacOSX and Linux, and it’s been around for a long time, now. The current stable version is 1.2.6 on Windows, Linux and MacOSX (PPC), and 1.2.5 on MacOSX (Intel); version 1.3.6 beta is also available for all three platforms (universal binary on MacOSX). With an optional VST Enabler, Audacity can load VST plug-ins for Windows and MacOSX, and it also can use LADSPA (Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plug-in API) plug-ins.

Ardour

Ardour is available for Linux and MacOSX, and the current version is 2.71. As of this writing, there is an Intel build for MacOSX, and a PPC build is coming “shortly.” Source code is available for both Linux and MacOSX, as well. Ardour requires Jack, which has the benefit of making Ardour compatible with any audio interface that is supported by Jack. LADSPA plug-ins are supported, as well.

Koblo Studio

Koblo Studio is part of the Koblo project, which, according to the developers, is a bit like ProTools, Skype and eBay rolled into one–check out the Koblo main site for information about the Koblo community and collaboration tools (there’s an interview with Michael Logue of Koblo.com that you might want to hear on the Inside Home Recording Podcast, #62). Koblo Studio is currently in beta, and does not support VST plug-ins or MIDI, but those features are planned. Beta version 0.9 is currently available for Windows and MacOSX. Koblo is looking for Linux developers to port the project to Linux, and the source code is available.

Rosegarden

Rosegarden is a Linux-based “general music composition and editing environment,” with audio recording, MIDI sequencing, and and score editing capability; LADSPA plug-ins are supported, and DSSI synth plug-ins are supported, as well. The current release is 1.7.2. A variety of helpful tutorials are also available at the Rosegarden site.

Traverso

Traverso is a multi-track audio recording and editing application that purports to be “complete solution from recording to CD Mastering.” The current stable release is 0.42.0, and Traverso is available for Windows, MacOSX and Linux. Like Ardour, Traverso appears to rely on Jack, and it uses LV2 plug-ins. CD burning tools are also integrated in the application.

If you try out any of these applications, I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences with them.


Stumble It!

Roland VS-880 track sheets, PDF
Roland VS-880 track sheets, MS-Excel
Mackie track sheet, PDF
Mixing track sheet, PDF
Tascam track sheet, PDF
Simple track sheet, PDF
Elaborate track sheet with pull-down menus, PDF
Studio track sheet, PDF

Just in case you prefer to pay for a product (on the premise that you get what you pay for), here are a a few other resources that aren’t free:

Silent Way’s Ultimate Track Sheet for MS-Excel, $1.00 download
AnyTrac 8, Windows track sheet software, $49.90 download

If this has been helpful to you, I’d appreciate any Diggs and/or Stumbles; your comments are also welcome!


Stumble It!

The focus of Notes from the Shack is shifting back to what I had originally hoped it would be when I started it–home recording and making music.

“The Shack” is the name I gave my little home studio/office/study/station a long time ago, when I became an amateur radio operator. Radio nerds usually refer to the place where they have their radios set up as their “radio shack” or just “the shack.” My shack is a back bedroom that is home to my books, my radio gear, my home office workspace, my junk, and my home recording gear. If it sounds like a lot of stuff for one room, you’re right–it gets a little crowded in here at times. That means I have to constantly be careful to keep things as simple and compact as possible, but that’s a good thing.

So I’m eager to get back to writing about home studio recording and stuff. The recording world has changed a lot since I first got into it, and it’s still changing all the time. This blog won’t touch much on high-end tools, because my set-up is very low-end. Although there are some whose home recording setups rival those in professional studios, most of us get by on a lot less gear (or a lot worse gear), and we’re always looking for ways to improve the quality of our recordings, even though we can’t buy the best stuff. That’s where I’m headed with this, so I hope you’ll enjoy it and benefit from it. I also hope you’ll subscribe, so you won’t miss any of the content that is posted here.

Thanks!