PIC Polywhatsit
Approx construction cost US$62
A novel compendium of musical effects to delight the creative musician.
What's in a name? Well, in this case, Polywhatsit was the title given by the author to a similar musical multi-effects unit published in Practical Electronics in May-June 1987. As he commented at that time, the effects are so unusual and varied that there really is no other descriptive name that could be given!
So, what does a PIC Polywhatsit do? Well, using just seven integrated circuits instead of the previous 17, it provides a compendium of some of the typical delay-based musical effects that amateur musicians have delighted in employing across many decades:
o) Echo
o) Reverberation
o) Delay
o) Double-tracking
o) Phasing
o) Flanging
o) Chorus
o) Vibrato
o) Pitch multiplying
o) Pitch halving
o) Reverse tracking
Despite the sophistication of modern musical instruments available from major manufacturers such as Korg, Roland, Yamaha and their likes, amateur musicians continue to enjoy enhancing their instrument playing and vocalizations with all the first eight functions, especially as they can be realized comparatively simply and inexpensively. The last three are perhaps not widely encountered, but as anyone who has heard them in operation will affirm, they can add considerable interest, and even humor, when used in moderation. They are particularly easy to achieve in the PIC-micro-controlled design described in this project.
More details on this construction project can be found in the December 2001 issue of EPE Online, the world's first web-delivered electronics and computing hobbyist magazine.
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