Actually, it’s a different tremolo coming first: CMOS Eisley

Just got these boards in today and have begun the first prototype build. It’s an optical tremolo with both the audio path and LFO made from a single CD4049 CMOS hex inverter. Despite having it all function in a single IC, there is no LFO ticking in the audio. Two of the inverters are the audio path (input and output amplifiers), and three more inverters are arranged as a low-frequency oscillator. And the last inverter is unused (I may do another iteration later that uses this last inverter to add a bit of grit/drive).

There are three controls: Speed (pot), Depth (pot), and Triangle/Square (switch). The switch controls the wave shape of the LFO. Be default, the LFO products a VERY square output. To try to smooth this out as much as possible, I added a very large capacitor as a rudimentary low-pass filter on the wave. The result is pretty close to a triangle wave shape. And the switch allows you to choose which wave shape you want to use (obviously). There is also an LED to indicate LFO speed, and it is lit even when the pedal is bypassed. The pedal will be available with either a standard 3PDT mechanical bypass switch or with a relay-driven soft-touch bypass switch (modest upcharge for the latter).

I hope to have a demo video posted soon, and after that I plan to sell these primarily through a local music shop (who will ship pretty much anywhere), but I will also sell direct if someone would prefer that.

Pic of the mostly populated board: