Nocto Loco demo

This night time demonstration depicts the Nocto Loco FX pedal by 4ms pedals,hand-built by myself being sonically exploited by Leigh. The output sound is being filtered by the Sherman Filterbank and has Bugbrand's audio weevil as the input to the Nocto. Enjoy.

Nocto Go Go

A-Horrah! The nocto loco FX pedal is finally up and running! With the help of John at the club with his electronics knowledge, we discovered that the stomp switches I had wired up were in fact 90degrees round the wrong way. So after John patiently de-soldered and re-soldered each wire, we looked to be getting somewhere. Using a digital multimeter we were able to trace the path of current around the circuit checking for the correct voltage. So it seemed that only 9volts was required for the Voltage Regulator, and from then on the voltage is set to just under 5v through out the circuit

John came across some parts of the circuit which were not showing a decrease in value, in essence, we had 5v showing at one point but the ground (or 0v) was not appearing at all. Thus we came round to the idea that the track had a break in it. This was quickly solved with an insulated piece of wire being attached to link across the break. Then came the oh so exciting bit...

Looking at how the nocto loco acts using an oscilloscope made my heart sing! John had to do a bit of adjusting to get the waveform on the screen, brighten it up a little and make connections with the board using a couple of pointers. From the outset there was a nice small, tidy waveform flickering on the screen, however further explorations showed the curvy pattern switch to a choppy large square form (a rather sound shifting point) and then we discovered around the IC chips some very disjointed waveforms which appeared to be more like sanskrit than waveform. Oh they were brilliant!

And so knowing full well the box of tricks was working, it was time for me to pack up at the club and head for home. On arrival the soldering iron was plugged in and work began to finish off the loose ends.



The nocto loco was plugged in and given it's first test run by Leigh putting his BugBrand through it going then into the Sherman and out of the lovely sound system. It was very bendy and manic to say the least.

I was asked a question last night about what this pedal actually is, and here is some kind of explanation...

The Nocto Loco is some kind of pitch shifting FX pedal, with a jack input, you can put anything through it, though I am speculating that keys and guitars work best due to their hot sustained signal. The bypass switch means you have the ability to bypass the whole circuit to the output (so no loco) or where can switch to running through the maze of copper tracking. This then offers up the ability to move through three harmonic octaves, change waveform and the LFO (or what I believe to be LFO). There is a standard volume knob and a switch which still now I haven't quite worked out what it does. The Loco is self explanatory, it just pumps up the mania of the coarse sound.

The final result is magnificent. I am planning on getting a nifty little video on here in the near future, so keep them skins peeled!

Nocto Loco 7

All loose parts are fully wired up and soldered from having unscrewed the knobs and moved the PCB board around. However, further testing shows that still the nocto loco fx pedal is no-worko.

Last Wednesday I was explained each step of the circuit diagram by John at the club. This has helped to clarify how the signal and sounds are being affected (rather manically all in all) and bit by bit I am coming to grips with understanding these diagrams.

So, the plan is to use this guide and test each part of the build hoping to spot the break.If all else fails the nocto will have to be taken along to the club again and I will be asking (John) kindly for help and hopefully inspect the nocto with an oscilloscope should there be one available (see pictured above) and identify the problemo.

Nocto Loco 6

You little...

I have it! (or so I think). I remembered that the digital multimeter could be used to test continuity. Setting the dial on the meter to the sounder function, the two pointers can be targeted on certain areas of the circuit to see if power runs though the fx pedal, if so then it bleeps!


With this in mind and wanting to test that the octave and pulse switches are soldered to the PCB board (as previously mentioned there were issues with solder sucking), so by reviewing the circuitry I had an idea where each point was connected to and thus placed one pointer on one point and t'other on, well, t'other. In doing so, the majority of points showed up as continuous and she seems to have found the culprit!

I will solder a new wire between said points on the circuit board and then test again.

Nocto Loco 5

So fixing a new connection between the IC chip and voltage regulator has worked, we have a reading again of 4.9V. So comes the power up check....

No, no, no. Alas, even though meter readings show the power is running through the circuit, the LED is not illuminated nor can I get a single sound out of the nocto loco. I have looked over all the solder points and they aren't touching each other or frayed. It might just have been when the octave and pulse switches were soldered on the wrong side of the PCB board, now shorting out or something. Once again through solder-sucking to fix the past problem some contacts now look a little patchy.

More problem solving is required, for another day I thinks.

Nocto Loco 4

I have been battling with the nocto loco once again. The case is open and all wires exposed, the multimeter is set to on and copies of all instructions are finally printed out. (In retrospect, it is always a good idea to print these out first.) With thanks to Will of Bowood Electronics I now have a new voltage regulator 7805 which after solder sucking the last fried piece out has had to be wired up directly to its conectors. Good news it that it appears to have worked! Horrah! There is a steady reading of 4.9V. Oh and I decided to buy a new power plug, one that could be identified as centre negative and 9v DC (you just can't guess these things).

This little diagram came in handy for understanding centre negative
And so this is the opposite, centre positive


So, things seem to be going well in terms of the tweaking of power, voltage regulator sorted and working, now checking the IC chips and two are fine, another 4.9 V DC, however the smaller 4558 IC is not responding (even when I shout at it for 5 minutes!). Could it be the chip is fried? Replaced with one I had lying around and still nowt. So, following the circuit diagram it looks like pin 4 goes via a resistor and to pin 2 of the voltage regulator. Ha, there must be the problemo. So with a small piece of insulated wire a new connection is being made, just as this is being typed.... will it be a success?

Noco Loco 3

The problemo appears to be the voltage regulator 7805, which is frazzled. Measuring with a digi multimeter between two pins is the 11.5V (correct) and 0V between the other two (oh dear). So I have arranged for a new one. A big thanks to Bowood Electronics UK supplier of all electrical components for the heads up with a new part in the post.

I have prepared the ground by undoing all knobs to remove the PCB board and solder-sucker the part out from the board. We now sit by the pear tree and wait...

Noco Loco 2

I have again been working on the Nocto Loco by 4ms pedals. Now you'd think this was easy. Particularly as the mishap before put her on the straight run with the purchase of a new PCB board. Alas, for some reason the search for instructions online didn't happen until she had been at it again with the soldering iron. Oh! I had arranged the pots and switch on the incorrect side and the 7805 on the wrong way round. Out came the solder sucker...

Then things looked up and following the directions and wiring instructions all parts were gradually soldered as they should and the jacks and switches arranged to fit in the case then soldered. I realised that through (one can only suggest) over solder-sucking the top coat of the solder on the PCB had come off some points of the Octave pots. However following the circuit these seem to not be attached to anything else other than to fix to the board. So I soldered these pins as best as possible and carried on as before.
All parts were in place, knobs attached and this is the final thing prior to any painting or printing.

Looks delicious. So now I started the test. The search of the flat became a mission, 9v DC plug... the only one found an hour later was an American stylee with only two pins. However Leigh came to the rescue with an adaptor. Then the unit was fixed up with my Fender in, and out to a speaker. But there was nothing coming through.

And so the unit was opened and testing took place, after discovering that the meter leads weren't in properly, I clicked them into place and tested 11.5V. 11.5V?? How is this? She did an eye check over the unit, and scoured the forum for info testing again. I is now waiting for help over the ether as quite frankly she now hasn't much idea.

Nocto Loco 1

Purchased by Leigh, I now have in my mits Nocto Loco by makers 4ms pedals. It is a right, grimey pedal that can drive the input sound down several octaves and frequency shift to make a truely dirty noise. Marvellous. It came as a kit with all the parts illustrated above to fix onto the PC board and house in a tidy aluminium box.

I had just organised all the bits and began with the IC chips when it occured to me that there didn't seem to be enough points on the PC board for the other chips (or so I thought). Turns out that the IC chips aren't to be soldered (oops) direct to the board but to solder the IC sockets (that's what they are!) and simply pop the chips on top to protect them. The word 'dufus' springs to mind.

So lesson learnt the costly and hard way. Still this will not hold me down I am sourcing a supplier for the IC chips as we speak and will, sooner than the snow stops, be back on track for making the Nocto Loco ready for the next musical meltdown of Molten Gods!