How to become an engineer: Step 1: Use theoretical knowledge to build something that works! Step 2: Assess your design and find ways to improve it (metal box sounds good) Step 3: Get feedback on design (video + comments does that nicely) Step 4: Future features?!?! (cram DI box innards for pickup side to electrically match mic, internal mixer so musician can control how much sound comes from mic/pickup, freq/magnitude adjustable notch filter(s) to cut out feedback producing frequencies on the fly... etc.) Step 5: Realize that at some point along the way you became an Engineer ;)
From my experience in theoretical physics: Non-theoretical physicists - builds LHC and stuff. Theoretical physicist shocks own tongue with a 9V battery - Wow! :)
1:03 "And, of course, probably somebody watching this will tell me right away that they know exactly how to find this." I was a bit disappointed that a quick scroll through the comments yielded no such results.
Commenting on "as a theoretical physicist, I am constantly amazed when things work as predicted". Welcome to engineering realm, we usually expect things to work as designed, thanks to all the good theories of physics.
Welcome to engineering realm, we usually expect things to work as designed and then spend the entire day figuring out why isn't it working the way it was intended to.
@@darshanambule6741 Lol. Welcome to the bioscience realm, where you spend decades trying to figure out why something we didn't design partially works, somewhat like how we expect but not quite, and only some of the time and only in some cases but not all.
I've got 30 plus years experience behind me with soldering, and there's nothing wrong with your work at all, that I could see! Nice clean joints, no sgraggly wire strands, you're heating the joint before you apply solder. It's all good!
This! I've been soldering for 20+ years and I'm usually too lazy to do things quite *that* nicely. For your first time, way to go! Also, if you managed to get all the parts through all the holes in the right order, and all the heatshrink tubing on before the connections, such that you didn't have to undo anything, then you're basically a legend among us. Keep doing this, you're a natural.
Tip tinner is useless. If there is some sort of crud on the tip, clean it with brass wool and add fresh solder. And before putting the iron back into the stand, make sure the tip is still covered in solder. The solder prevents oxidation and brass wool (instead of a wet sponge) prevents thermal shock. These two things alone increase the lifespan of the tip. Modern soldering stations also have a switch in the stand to detect when the soldering iron isn't used. They reduce the temperature to a low standby-temperature to save power and further increase the lifespan of the tip. These soldering stations tend to use tips that have the temperature sensor and the heating-element embedded in the tip. They can heat up in seconds. If they are in standby, they heat up before you have moved the soldering iron near the PCB you are working on. And they can rapidly deliver heat to large copper-surfaces without sticking to them or getting too hot. Tip tinner may be useful if you have some ancient soldering iron with a copper-nail as tip. Something that our grandparents have already thrown into the trash. ;)
zvpunry I have an old Iron, and mine stays hot. Even with Lead solder on the tip, it still oxidizes and I have to use tip tinner after about 4-5 joints.
Pickup tin can sound is usually because of mismatch impedance, Piezo electric pickups are high impedance, you need a preamp or buffer with a high impedance input, there is an easy high input preamp design called Tillman preamp, try that. I put one in my electric guitar and that solve the problem of losing the highs when reducing the volume, it work great with electric and piezo electric pickpus, it was designed by tillman for double basses and works wonders with violin and other instruments, and the cost of parts is like 10 dlls.
@@ot4kon exactly, the company I work for builds switchers for guitars and some of them allow you to adjust the input impedance up to 10MOhm for piezo pickups without an internal preamp
You're absolutely right that piëzo PUs require a high impedance input, however even then they still sound like “subwoofer-sized tin can”. Actually the analogy isn't really good, the problem is not so much the frequency response as the phase relations: a piëzo directly transmits the harsh transients from the bow-hairs sticking and unsticking on the strings, whereas acoustic transmission over the body smears them out. This can be pretty well emulated with a convolution reverb (e.g. available in amp simulators), using the body as the response generator instead of a reverb room.
@ot4kon actually, magnetic guitar PUs are in the range of a few _hundred_ kΩs. The often-quoted values of a few kΩ are just the _DC resistance_ of the wire, which is only a small part of the relevant _AC impedance in the audible frequencies_ (that is dominated not by the wire resistance, but by the coil inductance). (If DC resistance were what matters, then a piëzo would actually require _infinite_ impedance, because its internal impedance is of capacitive nature, not Ohmic or inductive.)
Really appreciate recording the entire process especially after 8 to 9 hours! This really shows that you can do anything with a little imagination and motivation.
As an Electronics Technician with over 25 years experience, I approve of your soldering. Seriously, it looks like you did great! As a guitarist with 35 years experience playing in bands, I love that you took the time to build your own "stomp box" (or whatever they call it in the bluegrass world). Fantastic! Two thumbs up! :)
4:41 The reason I’m doing electronic engineering at university and not physics. Regardless of job prospects, engineering is just extremely fulfilling, being able to design something that solves real world problems
I do this kind of stuff as a job. You pretty much did everything exactly right. The only thing I would have changed would have been to break the signal lines with the switch, rather than connect them to ground, thought it really won't make much of a difference, given the strength of the signals you're working with. If something were to happen and a power surge came through the line while you were muted (highly unlikely scenario, like literally being struck by lightning while you are on stage inside a building) having the signal tied directly to ground through the switch might burn out your switch/most of the wires inside. Good job on the soldering for a first timer though (at least the clips you showed us), and I agree wholeheartedly, heat shrink tubing is very satisfying.
I was thinking the same, but then thought about interference when switching. I haven't looked into this but shorting the lines instead of opening them could possibly eliminate popping sound when activating the switch. And I agree about the soldering. It was absolutely beautiful for a first timer.
@@miksu103 Yeah, I don't know enough about musical fidelity in situations like that (I'm in chemistry, not a lot to do with sound), so I didn't want to say what I said as a "you should have done exactly this instead, no if's and's or but's", but yeah, that makes a lot of sense when I think about it. Suddenly injecting the signal is definitely going to introduce transient voltages, either way. If the way he did it is the way normal switches do it, then I'll concede the point easily.
@@miksu103 he could always use a cheap passive (resistor + capacitor) filter to reduce/eliminate popping, which would be better than short-circuiting his pre-amp. Anyway that shouldn't be a problem, considering the length of the cable,which should probably give him enough impedance not to destroy anything.
".. spent entirely way too long measuring and remeasuring ..." As a scientist: No such thing As an engineer: If it worked, no such thing Being sure usually comes at the cost of spending the time to make your mistakes inside your head, rather than outside of it.
Skope Theo TwoSet Violin’s channel. Making fun of a guy who has the world record for playing the fastest, playing the Flight of the Bumblebee. They roast the dude. It’s a meme in their niche.
@Jonathan Stiles ??? Are you saying it's uncool for TwoSet to roast the guy's world record? If so, you're misinformed. His world record is a complete farce. If you're saying Chris's comment itself is rude, I have no idea what to think. There's nothing about that comment that is rude in any way.
This was different from your normal content, and really satisfying to watch! You did everything right, and using shrink tubing is a great thing to get used to. Congrats on the little project!
This is precisely the kind of project that everyone should try! Something that solves *exactly* your own niche problem ... love it! Once you do these, you can help your lateral thinking apply it to other problems, and pretty soon you'll have a whole toolbag of solutions that you can mix and match.
1. For a newb, your solder joints look great. 2. You could use phantom power from the soundsystem to power your LED. You would need a bigger resistor (you have a 4k7, as this scales linearly with the voltage and standard phantom power is 48V, a 22k or 27k would probably do) but it would make the battery obsolete. As your mic is a condenser mic, you need to have phantom power on anyway. You can just attach the led anode to one of the signal cables of the microphone and it should in theory work. If you really wanna be safe you can wire another switch and also add a battery clip, so you can switch between battery powered and phantom powered.
@@__dm__ you're not wrong. yes, if the led were on there would be a little bit of non-linear distortion at the diode but it would be dampened a lot through the series resistor. so you would very probably be not be able to hear it. that being said, your solution with a bypass capacitor would fix any problems, should they arise.
If the led switch engages a bit before the shorting switch, there will be a loud click sent through the amplifier. The switch probably does not specify the order of engagement. To make it right, one should drop two resistors of the same value, one from each line. Tie them together, and connect them to switch + led circuit.
For your future builds you should use an aluminium enclosure. DIY guitar pedals (and some professional ones) are usually made with a Hammond 1590A, 1590B, or 1590BB. Remember if you're going to use a DC jack that it has a plastic casing as guitar DC jacks are centre-negative, so a metal one will short to the enclosure unless properly insulated. You can get switched DC barrel jacks that will disconnect the 9v battery when a DC jack is inserted. Also, if you wire the battery's negative to the middle of a stereo input jack then unplugging the mono guitar cable from it will disconnect the battery from the circuit.
Awesome job! If you ever want to improve it use a metal box rather than plastic to shield from EMF. Use the ground from the XLR (don't use the balanced line's ground) to earth the metal case. Make sure the ground from the unbalanced line stays independent of the XLR ground or you'll get a ground loop. Another note is your circuit should be safe for phantom power in case anyone asks!
first time, here I am impressed, the video is straight forward, very pleasing to watch, not too long not too short and overall an amazing video. I'm sure I will subscribe and watch more videos. thank you for making youtube a better place. (GET IT PATENTED NOW!!!!)
The only issue I can see, other than that I would've used soft switching for the audio, is that the balanced audio muting, although often done like that will still let something through of something interferes with one of the phases. The same reason the phases are there, means they won't always be a perfect match, and if they aren't, the sum effect will have a nonzero result
One small problem... If your microphone is a phantom powered condenser mic, or if your mic cord is plugged into an input channel with phantom power (48 volts) turned on, you can short out the channel's power. The better idea would be to interrupt the signal by opening up the circuit rather than shorting it. Also depending on the design, the input channel's initial amp circuit can be damaged by a short. It would be rare, but possible on some boards. Most of today's boards have resistors inline to inputs of one or more opamps so a short wouldn't be fatal. Still, you have to be careful building a shorting device that will get plugged into an unknown input. Also, what if the cable doesn't get plugged into a board directly, but into some other device like a balun for the pickup or some outboard gear. Pickups are typically high impedance and need to be plugged into a balun on the stage to change the impedance. These are usually a transformer which can be shorted but some are active devices. You could find that one day the device shorts out something expensive. If you don't use the pickup and the mic at the same time, you can use the same switch pole for the hot side of the mic and the pickup. This allows you to interrupt both legs of the mic OR the one leg of the pickup plus the light.
was looking for this comment, thank you. i thought it was a joke when he drew the wires of the pickup and said "by connecting these two together...", and was going to show how it blows something up, like how electroboom educates people about mistakes like this. I was starting to believe I was crazy because no one else mentioned this...
Leaving it open produces enough capacitance it's likely to start buzzing. And these things are built robust, various stuff happens on the scene and the devices must withstand the abuse. In general 'short'='mute' is widely accepted. I'm much more skeptical about linking two phase-shifted lines to cancel each other. It's unlikely to blow up, but if you mute one through alternate means (eh, disconnect it), it's likely the other one won't be possible to mute.
Wow! I had 7-8 months of electronics training in the Air Force with an extra 2 day soldering course later on and yes there were soldering no-nos. But ya know what that is the cleanest nicest project I've ever seen. Great job man! Love you videos BTW.
i rarely leave a comment, but as a musician i totally identified with your super happy face for getting the exact gear you wanted for your gigs, great videos big fan!
2:45 "As a theoretical physicist, I'm constantly amazed when something actually works in real life the way you predict it should." Don't worry, that's software and hardware engineers too.
The most satisfying part of working with shrink tubing is _not_ the part where you actually shrink it. Although that is pretty fun. But no, the most satisfying part of working with shrink tubing comes just before that moment. It's the moment after you've soldered something, and you look at your work, and you see that you _did_ remember to put the shrink tubing on before soldering. Whew! What a relief! Never gets old.
Love the video! My grand father used to say that if you don’t have something, make it. He had all sorts of tools, gadgets, nicknacks & clever inventions at his house and workshop
The tools needed were basically a soldering iron and wire cutters. The heat gun isn't really necessary (you can shrink the tubing with the sides of the soldering iron tip (just rub on the shrink tubing). My point is that, instead of going to a maker space, those two tools (soldering iron and wire cutters) are something that everyone should have at home. They're not expensive and when you need them, having them at hand is a godsend.
I loved this, it was like a little Wintergatan video on minute physics, which was very refreshing to see after so many videos which require a much less, um, intellectually challenged mind than my own to understand.
Your soldering technique is great. While the heatshrink isn't absolutely necessary, it substantially improves the long term reliability of the product. If you upgrade to a metal box, I recommend insulating the inner surfaces to prevent any chance of shorts. Several layers of paint works well for this.
As an experimental Physicist i have to admit: Watching a Theoretican build an "experiment" made my day - especially to see, how happy he was, when it worked :)
Nothing wrong with simple pleasures from simple projects! I like changing my oil even though I'm not great at other things related to car mechanics. Easy project, doesn't take long, may not save much money, etc but I enjoy getting it done!
As a professional electronic designer/technician I can tell you that your soldering job is impressive, especially the led-resistor connection, good job. I'm also happy to heard that you enjoyed this activity, I also love electronics because it is tangible unlike programming for example.
I'm so glad you shared this, despite being new to it. I've been doing this sort of thing for decades, with much more advanced electronics, but I didn't know about the stepped drill bits, nor that libraries have maker spaces. Thanks!
A metal box would be a good upgrade in the future, If you do attach the ground of the XLR to it (in a more secure way than just the screws) to ensure you signal wires remain shielded :) Probably not a major issue but that should solve any noise issues if you were to get them in the future.
That's a good point. It is important though if you use a metal box, to make sure the wires carrying the signal cannot come into contact with the grounded box otherwise if your mixer has phantom power, you could blow a fuse.
It doesn't matter if it's really simple, YOU made it and YOU took your own time to think about it... congrats, and don't stop thinking about doing stuff like this, you can never be too creative.
Soldering instructor here; you did fine. Perhaps you should have provided a better mechanical connection between resistor and led, but you didn't break any real soldering rules. Good job on your first time soldering!
Jonathan Kayne Agreed. A little hesitant and clumsy looking but a better job soldering properly than most of the how-to-build videos I’ve seen on TH-cam.
as a hobbyist of almost everything that exists (tinkerer, quantum physics, animation, gardening, programming, origami, etc...) this video sparks great joy 😁
Plus the metal box shields the signal like the cable does if you connect it to the ground wire. While doing this, you could also have ground from the sources (pickup and mike) go through a switch before connecting it to the output ground. Creating a "ground lift". Very usefull if you encounter a "Hum" from Mains frequency on a stage.
Explain the physics behind doing something beautifully your own, and then sharing it for the benefit of others to learn from your example. Seriously. From conception of this very cool project, to completion, but all in physics terms. I dare you 😉
Tip: definitely get a metal box. It will isolate the circuit inside the pedal. Using plastic may be really noisy when used on stage cause the circuit is not protected against interference from other electrical equipment. Source: am an engineering student and guitarist who likes to build his own pedals
As a theatre sound technician, I think my solution would have been to use a 2 channel DI box, changing the XLR mic connection to 1/4”, with an XLR mute pedal wired after it. Unfortunately with sound there’s so many different scenarios, and this may not work for all your needs. Really cool to see this solution!
This is the first video I have given a “like” in a very long long time. Not just your channel but all channels. The challenge to yourself to make something seems to not exist as much I wish it would. Great video.
The way you muted these things isn't necesserly wrong, but not the best way you could have done it. About the pickup, the entire thing has very little power output so shortcurting won't do much harm. The microphone is a different story. Be it a battery powered one (especially if it has symmetrical output) chances are it has pre-amplifier right after the actual microphone output. The output you shortcut is a pre-amplifier, which leads to overloading it, potentially damagimg the microphone as a whole. Now maybe I'm wrong about pre-amplifier being in your microphone, but there for sure are pre-amplifiers in different ones, so even with the pickup, it's best to break the circuit instead of shorting it. Please note, that if you do so, chances are your output device will become noisy, because the broken input circuit now started picking up electrical noise from your surrounding, with good example being radio transmitters that you probably use to fiddle without being restricted by cables. In order to stop this noise, you must connect the input to the ground. Some may argue that you have still shorted the circuit, but keep in mind that the output from microphone pre-amp isn't being connected to anything, so there's no way it could overload. The part about LED was good tho. It's worth mentioning right resistance for an LED could be roughly around 1k ohms (but even 330 ohms is fine).
I also noticed that you were shorting rather than breaking the circuit. At a minimum you could place a resistor between the inputs instead of a dead short, but opening the circuit instead would be best.
Totally jealous of the makerspace in your area! Atlanta doesn't seem to have many open shops like that, and this project is exactly the type of thing I'm interested in, light circuitry and button boxes. Having the right tools definitely makes the finished product a lot nicer. Nice job!
deep down in the backwaters of South Central Louisiana here, and this is the first time I've EVER heard of a "maker's space at the local library"... 😳 Knowing that these exist in the world fill me with both absolute joy AND unyielding rage... 😻🤬 😂😭🤣
Hey, nice work. One thing I learned early in making stompboxes is that you want a pull down resistor to prevent a popping noise over the speaker when you turn the signal on and off. It's a high resistance resistor and pretty easy to implement on your existing design. Also, a metal box will help reduce RF interference bleeding into your signal.
2:45 _As a theoretical physicist I am constantly amazed when something actually works in real life..._
☺
3 months from now: minutephysics turns minuteelectronics
As an experimental physicist, I feel exactly the same. Just more often.
@@Drakonflare As a mathematician, it's the same... Seems to be a pretty universal experience among scientists ;-)
How to become an engineer:
Step 1: Use theoretical knowledge to build something that works!
Step 2: Assess your design and find ways to improve it (metal box sounds good)
Step 3: Get feedback on design (video + comments does that nicely)
Step 4: Future features?!?! (cram DI box innards for pickup side to electrically match mic, internal mixer so musician can control how much sound comes from mic/pickup, freq/magnitude adjustable notch filter(s) to cut out feedback producing frequencies on the fly... etc.)
Step 5: Realize that at some point along the way you became an Engineer ;)
From my experience in theoretical physics:
Non-theoretical physicists - builds LHC and stuff.
Theoretical physicist shocks own tongue with a 9V battery - Wow! :)
Thank you for shopping Parts Express! We would love to help you out anytime you need anything :)
lol
Respect the hustle!
mouser better
Seriously, how did you find this? Was an employee watching this?
Vincent Guttmann probably. I imagine if you have a business selling this kind of stuff, you have a vested interest in watching TH-camrs that use it.
Wow, your stick figures have really improved since the last video
Damnit you beat me to the joke!
lol xD
I don't know. This one is too realistic, I prefered the old version.
@@hebl47 Yeah, Uncanny Valley is too strong here
Lol
1:03 "And, of course, probably somebody watching this will tell me right away that they know exactly how to find this."
I was a bit disappointed that a quick scroll through the comments yielded no such results.
sammeee haha
What a wonderful video
SmarterEveryDay ikr
It is amazing
Ya, so wholesome.
I agree! Such a surprise to see two beautiful channels in the same place!
ikr
Twosetviolin reference?
May ling ling be with you.
Practice for 40 hours each day to understand references.
I don’t like those guys
I do like those guys
Let's get to 666 likes bois
HECK YEAH
TwoSetViolin 40 hours
CGP shirt
MinutePhysics video
Makes sense
Ikr
Also a TwoSet fan here
WE HAVE A LING LING 40 HOURS HERE FOLKS!
Saw another comment like this.. Did you copy?
The shirt tho, i love it
I freaked out when I saw "I wish i could practice 40 hrs a day"
Haha!! TWOSET!!
LING LING
amAAzing
Interesting..
stop surfing TH-cam and pRaCtiCe smh
ling ling
> Maker space at your local library
Yeh... My library isn't that cool.
I want to try turning up to the local library with a few loud tools, then grab a woodworking book from a shelf and get started, see what they say.
Wait, you still have libraries in your town?! man, I miss those days ;(
@@peter_smyth
-Excuse me, where's your drill press?
-**stares in librarian**
I was like whoa, libraries? You should have good ventilation for soldering...
@@alex0589 *at
Commenting on "as a theoretical physicist, I am constantly amazed when things work as predicted". Welcome to engineering realm, we usually expect things to work as designed, thanks to all the good theories of physics.
Welcome to engineering realm, we usually expect things to work as designed and then spend the entire day figuring out why isn't it working the way it was intended to.
@@darshanambule6741 Lol. Welcome to the bioscience realm, where you spend decades trying to figure out why something we didn't design partially works, somewhat like how we expect but not quite, and only some of the time and only in some cases but not all.
Ah this is why I love science. You think you know something then you test it. If it doesn’t work then redesign untill it dose
Ye
Welcome to theoretical physics realm, where nobody knows nothing and nothing works as predicted and take lifetime to figure out what's wrong
I've got 30 plus years experience behind me with soldering, and there's nothing wrong with your work at all, that I could see!
Nice clean joints, no sgraggly wire strands, you're heating the joint before you apply solder. It's all good!
This! I've been soldering for 20+ years and I'm usually too lazy to do things quite *that* nicely. For your first time, way to go!
Also, if you managed to get all the parts through all the holes in the right order, and all the heatshrink tubing on before the connections, such that you didn't have to undo anything, then you're basically a legend among us. Keep doing this, you're a natural.
Azy but did he use tip tinner to prevent oxidation?
Tip tinner is useless.
If there is some sort of crud on the tip, clean it with brass wool and add fresh solder. And before putting the iron back into the stand, make sure the tip is still covered in solder. The solder prevents oxidation and brass wool (instead of a wet sponge) prevents thermal shock. These two things alone increase the lifespan of the tip.
Modern soldering stations also have a switch in the stand to detect when the soldering iron isn't used. They reduce the temperature to a low standby-temperature to save power and further increase the lifespan of the tip. These soldering stations tend to use tips that have the temperature sensor and the heating-element embedded in the tip. They can heat up in seconds. If they are in standby, they heat up before you have moved the soldering iron near the PCB you are working on. And they can rapidly deliver heat to large copper-surfaces without sticking to them or getting too hot.
Tip tinner may be useful if you have some ancient soldering iron with a copper-nail as tip. Something that our grandparents have already thrown into the trash. ;)
I agree! Also shrink tubing is useful to keep wires and joints from creating short circuits. There's a reason for everything. Good job.
zvpunry I have an old Iron, and mine stays hot. Even with Lead solder on the tip, it still oxidizes and I have to use tip tinner after about 4-5 joints.
everyone be talkin about the references to twosetviolin but no one is complimenting henry for his amazing fiddle skills
Pickup tin can sound is usually because of mismatch impedance, Piezo electric pickups are high impedance, you need a preamp or buffer with a high impedance input, there is an easy high input preamp design called Tillman preamp, try that. I put one in my electric guitar and that solve the problem of losing the highs when reducing the volume, it work great with electric and piezo electric pickpus, it was designed by tillman for double basses and works wonders with violin and other instruments, and the cost of parts is like 10 dlls.
Inputs are generally "high impedance", just not as ridiculously high impedance as apparently necessary for this application.
@@MatthijsvanDuin piezo electric pickups are in the mega ohms range, electric magnetic pickups are in the range of a few Kohms
@@ot4kon exactly, the company I work for builds switchers for guitars and some of them allow you to adjust the input impedance up to 10MOhm for piezo pickups without an internal preamp
You're absolutely right that piëzo PUs require a high impedance input, however even then they still sound like “subwoofer-sized tin can”.
Actually the analogy isn't really good, the problem is not so much the frequency response as the phase relations: a piëzo directly transmits the harsh transients from the bow-hairs sticking and unsticking on the strings, whereas acoustic transmission over the body smears them out. This can be pretty well emulated with a convolution reverb (e.g. available in amp simulators), using the body as the response generator instead of a reverb room.
@ot4kon actually, magnetic guitar PUs are in the range of a few _hundred_ kΩs. The often-quoted values of a few kΩ are just the _DC resistance_ of the wire, which is only a small part of the relevant _AC impedance in the audible frequencies_ (that is dominated not by the wire resistance, but by the coil inductance).
(If DC resistance were what matters, then a piëzo would actually require _infinite_ impedance, because its internal impedance is of capacitive nature, not Ohmic or inductive.)
CGP grey plug AND TwoSet? Dang, impressive.
Yes yes. CGP and TwoSets!
Minutephysics video
CGP Grey t-shirt
TwoSetViolin reference (0:08)
It's nice to know that the youtubers you like also watch one another
lets be friends....
MinutePhysics is CGP Grey confirmed
OMG where's Brett?
LING LING 40 HOURSSSSSS!!!!
Henry: **draws nothing and shows his face through the entire video.**
Me: "Wait! That's illegal."
he did draw the circuitry of the mute switch to explain how it worked
1:57
🤣 incorrect BUT funnyAF
"Minute Fiddler", the new channel where we fiddle with stuff and get proud!
I'd sub right away
Maybe think about that name a bit more...
Too bad he is not more active on minutemandolin.
th-cam.com/channels/spCdzaOYa7hW70w9rR-gzA.html
@@mb3581 Oh, look at that. I didn't know, but I subbed right away. Yes, I got the bell on.
Count me in!
as a professional, I can say you've been soldering better than 3/4 of the hobbyist I've seen on youtube lol
Really appreciate recording the entire process especially after 8 to 9 hours! This really shows that you can do anything with a little imagination and motivation.
As an Electronics Technician with over 25 years experience, I approve of your soldering. Seriously, it looks like you did great! As a guitarist with 35 years experience playing in bands, I love that you took the time to build your own "stomp box" (or whatever they call it in the bluegrass world). Fantastic! Two thumbs up! :)
When you were describing the issue, I immediately had the same idea in mind. Great video!
4:41 The reason I’m doing electronic engineering at university and not physics. Regardless of job prospects, engineering is just extremely fulfilling, being able to design something that solves real world problems
I do this kind of stuff as a job. You pretty much did everything exactly right. The only thing I would have changed would have been to break the signal lines with the switch, rather than connect them to ground, thought it really won't make much of a difference, given the strength of the signals you're working with. If something were to happen and a power surge came through the line while you were muted (highly unlikely scenario, like literally being struck by lightning while you are on stage inside a building) having the signal tied directly to ground through the switch might burn out your switch/most of the wires inside. Good job on the soldering for a first timer though (at least the clips you showed us), and I agree wholeheartedly, heat shrink tubing is very satisfying.
I was thinking the same, but then thought about interference when switching. I haven't looked into this but shorting the lines instead of opening them could possibly eliminate popping sound when activating the switch. And I agree about the soldering. It was absolutely beautiful for a first timer.
@@miksu103 Yeah, I don't know enough about musical fidelity in situations like that (I'm in chemistry, not a lot to do with sound), so I didn't want to say what I said as a "you should have done exactly this instead, no if's and's or but's", but yeah, that makes a lot of sense when I think about it. Suddenly injecting the signal is definitely going to introduce transient voltages, either way. If the way he did it is the way normal switches do it, then I'll concede the point easily.
@@miksu103 he could always use a cheap passive (resistor + capacitor) filter to reduce/eliminate popping, which would be better than short-circuiting his pre-amp. Anyway that shouldn't be a problem, considering the length of the cable,which should probably give him enough impedance not to destroy anything.
".. spent entirely way too long measuring and remeasuring ..."
As a scientist: No such thing
As an engineer: If it worked, no such thing
Being sure usually comes at the cost of spending the time to make your mistakes inside your head, rather than outside of it.
Well said!
As an agile software guy, I buy five sets of parts and make my mistakes in production conditions
Me on my subscription feed: "Oh, a TwoSetViolin vid-"
*A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one*
If you can build this device slowly, you can build it quickly
SeanStephensen underrated comment
I don't get it.
Skope Theo TwoSet Violin’s channel. Making fun of a guy who has the world record for playing the fastest, playing the Flight of the Bumblebee. They roast the dude. It’s a meme in their niche.
The Ling Ling method of soldering.
@Jonathan Stiles ??? Are you saying it's uncool for TwoSet to roast the guy's world record? If so, you're misinformed. His world record is a complete farce. If you're saying Chris's comment itself is rude, I have no idea what to think. There's nothing about that comment that is rude in any way.
This was different from your normal content, and really satisfying to watch! You did everything right, and using shrink tubing is a great thing to get used to. Congrats on the little project!
Yeah and it certainly went much better than MOST people's first time soldering
For a soldering newbro, you did a very good job. Well done!
I'll have to remember that trick of using step bits on plastic boxes.
A MinutePhysics and TwoSetViolin collab will truly be more ambitious than Infinity War
It would be awesome!
highly agree
PLEASE DO THIS
Infinity war? wht's that
Einstein: "Nothing moves faster than light."
Twosetsviolin: "Ling Ling practices 40 hours a day."
Now i would love to see a CPG grey video with a minute physics T-Shirt.
That would involve a CGP Grey reveal, unlikely
@@PydraxAlpta Could always have a stick figure cameo
@@PydraxAlpta we have seen part of his body before
@@Danish_raven yes his tesla
@@michaelpapadopoulos6054 wasn't his Tesla though. Just borrowed
This is precisely the kind of project that everyone should try! Something that solves *exactly* your own niche problem ... love it! Once you do these, you can help your lateral thinking apply it to other problems, and pretty soon you'll have a whole toolbag of solutions that you can mix and match.
1. For a newb, your solder joints look great.
2. You could use phantom power from the soundsystem to power your LED. You would need a bigger resistor (you have a 4k7, as this scales linearly with the voltage and standard phantom power is 48V, a 22k or 27k would probably do) but it would make the battery obsolete. As your mic is a condenser mic, you need to have phantom power on anyway. You can just attach the led anode to one of the signal cables of the microphone and it should in theory work. If you really wanna be safe you can wire another switch and also add a battery clip, so you can switch between battery powered and phantom powered.
Benjamin Bugl wouldnt the nonlinear load cause distortion on the signal? Bypassing the led with a cap might be a good idea.
@@__dm__ The LED is only on when the signal is muted.
dLichti oh great point
@@__dm__ you're not wrong. yes, if the led were on there would be a little bit of non-linear distortion at the diode but it would be dampened a lot through the series resistor. so you would very probably be not be able to hear it. that being said, your solution with a bypass capacitor would fix any problems, should they arise.
If the led switch engages a bit before the shorting switch, there will be a loud click sent through the amplifier. The switch probably does not specify the order of engagement. To make it right, one should drop two resistors of the same value, one from each line. Tie them together, and connect them to switch + led circuit.
For your future builds you should use an aluminium enclosure. DIY guitar pedals (and some professional ones) are usually made with a Hammond 1590A, 1590B, or 1590BB. Remember if you're going to use a DC jack that it has a plastic casing as guitar DC jacks are centre-negative, so a metal one will short to the enclosure unless properly insulated.
You can get switched DC barrel jacks that will disconnect the 9v battery when a DC jack is inserted. Also, if you wire the battery's negative to the middle of a stereo input jack then unplugging the mono guitar cable from it will disconnect the battery from the circuit.
You did a great job with the soldering and construction. A die-cast box is highly recommended for stomping on the switch when on stage.
Congrats on this! I love seeing simple solutions to simple problems with basic science and engineering. Nicely job!
Is that a ling ling 40 hour reference?!?
Bruh
Twoset violin yooo
I pretend I understand this
@@eval_is_evil Google a channel called TwoSetViolin
@@eval_is_evil why you no practice??
Awesome job! If you ever want to improve it use a metal box rather than plastic to shield from EMF. Use the ground from the XLR (don't use the balanced line's ground) to earth the metal case. Make sure the ground from the unbalanced line stays independent of the XLR ground or you'll get a ground loop. Another note is your circuit should be safe for phantom power in case anyone asks!
Wow these are very high definition stick people. Very realistic.
first time, here I am impressed, the video is straight forward, very pleasing to watch, not too long not too short and overall an amazing video.
I'm sure I will subscribe and watch more videos.
thank you for making youtube a better place. (GET IT PATENTED NOW!!!!)
Ling ling 40 hours! I like the 40 hours reference, good job
@@uniqhnd23 Don't you know TwoSet?
@@ae5704 Of course I know TwoSet. Just feel there's no need for a "good job" for a reference since it seems pretentious.
@@uniqhnd23 rofl
The only issue I can see, other than that I would've used soft switching for the audio, is that the balanced audio muting, although often done like that will still let something through of something interferes with one of the phases.
The same reason the phases are there, means they won't always be a perfect match, and if they aren't, the sum effect will have a nonzero result
My first thought too. Plus if one of the phases is broken it will let sound through. Which I guess makes it a cable tester in a way 😂
One small problem...
If your microphone is a phantom powered condenser mic, or if your mic cord is plugged into an input channel with phantom power (48 volts) turned on, you can short out the channel's power. The better idea would be to interrupt the signal by opening up the circuit rather than shorting it.
Also depending on the design, the input channel's initial amp circuit can be damaged by a short. It would be rare, but possible on some boards. Most of today's boards have resistors inline to inputs of one or more opamps so a short wouldn't be fatal. Still, you have to be careful building a shorting device that will get plugged into an unknown input.
Also, what if the cable doesn't get plugged into a board directly, but into some other device like a balun for the pickup or some outboard gear. Pickups are typically high impedance and need to be plugged into a balun on the stage to change the impedance. These are usually a transformer which can be shorted but some are active devices. You could find that one day the device shorts out something expensive.
If you don't use the pickup and the mic at the same time, you can use the same switch pole for the hot side of the mic and the pickup. This allows you to interrupt both legs of the mic OR the one leg of the pickup plus the light.
was looking for this comment, thank you. i thought it was a joke when he drew the wires of the pickup and said "by connecting these two together...", and was going to show how it blows something up, like how electroboom educates people about mistakes like this. I was starting to believe I was crazy because no one else mentioned this...
Leaving it open produces enough capacitance it's likely to start buzzing. And these things are built robust, various stuff happens on the scene and the devices must withstand the abuse. In general 'short'='mute' is widely accepted. I'm much more skeptical about linking two phase-shifted lines to cancel each other. It's unlikely to blow up, but if you mute one through alternate means (eh, disconnect it), it's likely the other one won't be possible to mute.
Also, doesn't this kind of switch can produce huge POP sounds when activated?
On an xlr circuit they’re inverted, so if they’re shorted the signal is 0V
Wow! I had 7-8 months of electronics training in the Air Force with an extra 2 day soldering course later on and yes there were soldering no-nos. But ya know what that is the cleanest nicest project I've ever seen. Great job man! Love you videos BTW.
0:06
_reads caption_
*_chokes incoherently_*
TWOSET
i rarely leave a comment, but as a musician i totally identified with your super happy face for getting the exact gear you wanted for your gigs, great videos big fan!
2:45 "As a theoretical physicist, I'm constantly amazed when something actually works in real life the way you predict it should."
Don't worry, that's software and hardware engineers too.
And programmers. Debugging, more debugging, and even MORE debugging!
@@AuraChanneler Programmers *are* software engineers.
*laughs in pain finding where it went wrong*
The most satisfying part of working with shrink tubing is _not_ the part where you actually shrink it. Although that is pretty fun. But no, the most satisfying part of working with shrink tubing comes just before that moment. It's the moment after you've soldered something, and you look at your work, and you see that you _did_ remember to put the shrink tubing on before soldering. Whew! What a relief! Never gets old.
"I wish I could practice 40 hours a day"
Silly physicist, *_You can never be Ling Ling_*
...you mean Lang Lang?
...no, I'm pretty sure he meant Long Long
Just realized this sounds racist out of context lmao. Look up twosetviolin for context.
@@meltossmedia Yeah I know, I found it funny and was just messing around lol.
Love the video!
My grand father used to say that if you don’t have something, make it. He had all sorts of tools, gadgets, nicknacks & clever inventions at his house and workshop
“So I play fiddle in a bluegrass band” that alone sounds like a lyric, especially right after playing the fiddle
You're probably reminded of "she played the fiddle in an irish band" which has the same kind of rhythm
The tools needed were basically a soldering iron and wire cutters. The heat gun isn't really necessary (you can shrink the tubing with the sides of the soldering iron tip (just rub on the shrink tubing).
My point is that, instead of going to a maker space, those two tools (soldering iron and wire cutters) are something that everyone should have at home. They're not expensive and when you need them, having them at hand is a godsend.
I loved this, it was like a little Wintergatan video on minute physics, which was very refreshing to see after so many videos which require a much less, um, intellectually challenged mind than my own to understand.
Wintergatan is more like "I made a musicbox out of your mom's car and now it's in a gallery in Estonia" but yeah, i see what you're saying.
No, he doesn't do very many individual projects, it's mostly just engineering away at one big project
Your soldering technique is great. While the heatshrink isn't absolutely necessary, it substantially improves the long term reliability of the product. If you upgrade to a metal box, I recommend insulating the inner surfaces to prevent any chance of shorts. Several layers of paint works well for this.
As an experimental Physicist i have to admit: Watching a Theoretican build an "experiment" made my day - especially to see, how happy he was, when it worked :)
@MinutePhysics that's why I like to program, programming is just like that, it's so satisfying when you make a program that you want.
Wow didn't know you played fiddle. Awesome
BTW plz continue your space videos
Nothing wrong with simple pleasures from simple projects! I like changing my oil even though I'm not great at other things related to car mechanics. Easy project, doesn't take long, may not save much money, etc but I enjoy getting it done!
Thumbs up for the TwoSetViolin reference :P
As a professional electronic designer/technician I can tell you that your soldering job is impressive, especially the led-resistor connection, good job.
I'm also happy to heard that you enjoyed this activity, I also love electronics because it is tangible unlike programming for example.
I'm currently building a drone by myself. I was soo amazed when it actually worked and the motors began to spin.. I can relate to your satisfaction :D
aaaaannnndd you're now on a watchlist. Congrats. Say hi to homeland security for us!
@@alex0589 Hello!!
3:41 Your solder joints look great! Honestly 10/10. Source: I soldered as a technician for a few years
Never would have I ever thought of seeing a Ling Ling reference in a minutephysics video 😂😂😅😂🎻
I'm so glad you shared this, despite being new to it. I've been doing this sort of thing for decades, with much more advanced electronics, but I didn't know about the stepped drill bits, nor that libraries have maker spaces. Thanks!
A metal box would be a good upgrade in the future, If you do attach the ground of the XLR to it (in a more secure way than just the screws) to ensure you signal wires remain shielded :)
Probably not a major issue but that should solve any noise issues if you were to get them in the future.
That's a good point. It is important though if you use a metal box, to make sure the wires carrying the signal cannot come into contact with the grounded box otherwise if your mixer has phantom power, you could blow a fuse.
It doesn't matter if it's really simple, YOU made it and YOU took your own time to think about it... congrats, and don't stop thinking about doing stuff like this, you can never be too creative.
Soldering instructor here; you did fine. Perhaps you should have provided a better mechanical connection between resistor and led, but you didn't break any real soldering rules. Good job on your first time soldering!
Jonathan Kayne Agreed. A little hesitant and clumsy looking but a better job soldering properly than most of the how-to-build videos I’ve seen on TH-cam.
you broke the soldering rules by telling a newb the soldering rules
@@andrewaronson3364 no not really. I am a soldering instructor, so I teach people who have never soldered before how to solder all the time.
as a hobbyist of almost everything that exists (tinkerer, quantum physics, animation, gardening, programming, origami, etc...) this video sparks great joy 😁
*Me notices cgp grey tshirt*
"Is that a CGP grey tshirt?"
Plus the metal box shields the signal like the cable does if you connect it to the ground wire. While doing this, you could also have ground from the sources (pickup and mike) go through a switch before connecting it to the output ground. Creating a "ground lift". Very usefull if you encounter a "Hum" from Mains frequency on a stage.
My man is a Ling Ling, let's go boys. Share this to twosetviolin, they'll love it 😁
It’s great to have this guy on the internet minutephysics was already awesome and this is just delightful
Adam Savage would very much approve of this video, you should share it with him!
I just saw this and wanted to say that even though this is pretty different from your regular videos, I very much enjoyed it!
"I highly recommend today's sponsor..."
Me: ...Parts Express
"...Brilliant."
Me: oh
That video just reminded me why I decided to study Engineering 4 years ago. Thank you.
Ling Ling references spotted. I love u More than I did before.
Nice. Really impressed with how you had a problem and you created the solution your self. Definitely inspires me to create stuff
Explain the physics behind doing something beautifully your own, and then sharing it for the benefit of others to learn from your example.
Seriously. From conception of this very cool project, to completion, but all in physics terms. I dare you 😉
Tip: definitely get a metal box. It will isolate the circuit inside the pedal. Using plastic may be really noisy when used on stage cause the circuit is not protected against interference from other electrical equipment.
Source: am an engineering student and guitarist who likes to build his own pedals
This kind of video perfectly sums up why building things is such a fun and rewarding hobby! Thanks for sharing
-Minute- Physics
*_40 Hour_*
Seems legit
As a theatre sound technician, I think my solution would have been to use a 2 channel DI box, changing the XLR mic connection to 1/4”, with an XLR mute pedal wired after it. Unfortunately with sound there’s so many different scenarios, and this may not work for all your needs. Really cool to see this solution!
He played the fiddle in a bluegrass band... but he fell in love with electric strands?
This is the first video I have given a “like” in a very long long time. Not just your channel but all channels. The challenge to yourself to make something seems to not exist as much I wish it would. Great video.
The way you muted these things isn't necesserly wrong, but not the best way you could have done it. About the pickup, the entire thing has very little power output so shortcurting won't do much harm. The microphone is a different story. Be it a battery powered one (especially if it has symmetrical output) chances are it has pre-amplifier right after the actual microphone output. The output you shortcut is a pre-amplifier, which leads to overloading it, potentially damagimg the microphone as a whole. Now maybe I'm wrong about pre-amplifier being in your microphone, but there for sure are pre-amplifiers in different ones, so even with the pickup, it's best to break the circuit instead of shorting it. Please note, that if you do so, chances are your output device will become noisy, because the broken input circuit now started picking up electrical noise from your surrounding, with good example being radio transmitters that you probably use to fiddle without being restricted by cables. In order to stop this noise, you must connect the input to the ground. Some may argue that you have still shorted the circuit, but keep in mind that the output from microphone pre-amp isn't being connected to anything, so there's no way it could overload. The part about LED was good tho. It's worth mentioning right resistance for an LED could be roughly around 1k ohms (but even 330 ohms is fine).
I also noticed that you were shorting rather than breaking the circuit. At a minimum you could place a resistor between the inputs instead of a dead short, but opening the circuit instead would be best.
Would this way be less likely to cause a popping sound out of the PA when you press the button?
@@babylonfive open circuit + long cable = hum
Totally jealous of the makerspace in your area! Atlanta doesn't seem to have many open shops like that, and this project is exactly the type of thing I'm interested in, light circuitry and button boxes. Having the right tools definitely makes the finished product a lot nicer. Nice job!
deep down in the backwaters of South Central Louisiana here, and this is the first time I've EVER heard of a "maker's space at the local library"... 😳
Knowing that these exist in the world fill me with both absolute joy AND unyielding rage...
😻🤬
😂😭🤣
The rules to wiring are: use the wire closest to you
Yay engineering! Takes me back to all the little satisfying projects I did in robotics class back in high school.
so no one is gonna talk about how hard my boi went on that fiddle tho
Your boi is always on the fiddle and going hard.
Although I'm not a soldering expert, I think you did a great job. Usually a thin layer of hot glue is applied before the shrinking tube.
'Makers Space at your local library' which is either invisible or inexistent outside Canada/USA (?)
Bogdan Colesiu they’re more frequently found on college campuses
Welcome to the club! I love these kinds of projects!
Remember Minute Mandolin?
Minute Fiddle When?
(No seriously, I'd love to see more music from you, Henry) (or... you know... hear it)
Professional symphony violinist here.
That's some badass fiddle! Keep it up. Sounds like you are doing pretty great on less than 40hrs a day.
Ling Ling fans know how to practice 40 hours a day!
Ling ling 40 hours!!!!
2set
Hey, nice work. One thing I learned early in making stompboxes is that you want a pull down resistor to prevent a popping noise over the speaker when you turn the signal on and off. It's a high resistance resistor and pretty easy to implement on your existing design. Also, a metal box will help reduce RF interference bleeding into your signal.
Hi and thanks! Where would you put the resistor and what value?
Twoset violin!
Did you practice 40 hours a day?
(Sorry I need to practice now)
Henry, this is a great how-to video. I especially appreciate all of the links in the description that show your sources.
Great video! More audio science/engineering please!