# Double Arachnid mega pedal



## p_wats

"I'll just build you a double Arachnid pedal", he said. "It will be easy", he said. 

Last year I built an older Arachnid pedal with a custom EEPROM for my wife/band mate to use with her Nord Electro keyboard. She has really enjoyed it, but two things always stuck out to me: 


The non-rotary mode knob of the older board resulted in her having issues finding the right patch between songs 
90% of the time she's got a delay running after her Arachnid no matter the patch
The first point is easy, as I can just build a new board with the 2019 revisions. While I'm at it, why not just build a second one with a delay, but maybe some other things too for extra fun? Thus, this beast was born: 







I haven't finalized the patch selection yet. Right now it's a mix of an EEPROM from PedalPCB and another filled with random patches from SpinASM forums (there are some fun, weird ones out there). 

Some hopefully useful additions include:

Toggle switch to select the order of the 2 PCBs
Send/return jacks for an effects loop (inserted after the 1st PCB, so less useful when the order is flipped)
Master bypass stomp (middle switch) that bypasses the entire thing (including effects loop)






Many mistakes were made along the way, like: 


Not checking the build doc and assuming all pot values were the same as the old board---it was a real pain to realize I'd used B100K for the mix pots on both well after I'd gotten to the boxing up stage. 
Assuming the effects loop would be easy to insert, but forgetting that I'd also decided on the order switching toggle. This resulting in a lot of trial and error
Would probably prefer LEDs on the order switch toggle, but couldn't be bothered with the extra wiring

In any case, I tried it on guitar last night with my original Octagon in the effects loop and it sounded great: 






Now to spend some time choosing patches!


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## ThinAir

I love the finish on your pedals... any color you can provide on the materials and technique?


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## p_wats

ThinAir said:


> I love the finish on your pedals... any color you can provide on the materials and technique?



Thanks! Nothing too special going on here. I usually just tape off the edges (sometimes I don't, depends on the colour of the enclosure) then spray a base colour or two, after which I splatter some other colours until I feel it's "done". Then I hit it with a few coats of clear gloss.


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## caspercody

That is really nice. On my build I added a switch so I can either use the EEPROM or FV1 chip programs. I also added the clock board so I can adjust the clock speed and put a switch in so I can either use the clock if the board or the internal crystal


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## p_wats

caspercody said:


> That is really nice. On my build I added a switch so I can either use the EEPROM or FV1 chip programs. I also added the clock board so I can adjust the clock speed and put a switch in so I can either use the clock if the board or the internal crystal



That's cool! I heard the internal programs weren't super great, so I left that out, but I'm curious about the clock. What are the benefits (I don't even know what it really does).


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## caspercody

I like the internal programs, and it easy to set up. Just a SPST switch to ground from a resistor I do not have the schematic with me right now. 

The clock, I first saw on the EQD Afternearth pedal. Pedal PCB does make a PCB for it. It just gives you another control option.


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## geekmacdaddy

I frightened. Fantastic work.


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## p_wats

caspercody said:


> I like the internal programs, and it easy to set up. Just a SPST switch to ground from a resistor I do not have the schematic with me right now.
> 
> The clock, I first saw on the EQD Afternearth pedal. Pedal PCB does make a PCB for it. It just gives you another control option.



Thanks. I guess I'm unsure of what the clock control actually does. I've seen the pedalPCB board, but am not well versed enough to understand why I would use it. 



geekmacdaddy said:


> I frightened. Fantastic work.



Thanks!


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## Robert

p_wats said:


> Thanks. I guess I'm unsure of what the clock control actually does. I've seen the pedalPCB board, but am not well versed enough to understand why I would use it.



The clock module speeds up or slows down the FV-1.    It can drag out a reverb, or make it more dense....  It can increase the maximum time of a delay....   It makes a pitch shifter even more lo-fi than it already is (if you're into that sort of thing) ...


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## knobToucher

Robert said:


> The clock module speeds up or slows down the FV-1.    It can drag out a reverb, or make it more dense....  It can increase the maximum time of a delay....   It makes a pitch shifter even more lo-fi than it already is (if you're into that sort of thing) ...



Awesome, didn't notice you had a clock module. Looked for a build doc but couldn't find one. Are the three holes at the bottom right for a 9mm pot? Or is it just controlled by the trim?


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## caspercody

The trim pot is the only control. I used a regular pot so I can adjust it. The other wires are for connections to the circuit. I do not remember right now what they are


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## caspercody




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## caspercody

Here is schematic for the clock board. So the three holes are for power, ground, and output


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## knobToucher

caspercody said:


> Here is schematic for the clock board. So the three holes are for power, ground, and output


Yeah I realised that must have been the case right after I posted that reply haha! Cool, so you can use a pot instead of a trim? What type of pot did you use? Linear?


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## caspercody

I used a 10K pot.


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## knobToucher

caspercody said:


> I used a 10K pot.


Yes, sorry I realise the value is 10k but did you use Log, Linear?


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## caspercody

I used whatever I had lying around, I think it was a linear


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