instructables

Arduino Guitar Pedal

by randofo

and rotary switch to have 6 discreet steps between

ht t ps://www.yout ube.com/embed/VUroB-L0EV0
the di erent e ects.

The Arduino Guitar Pedal is a digital multi-e ect pedal

The cool thing about this pedal is that it can be
based upon the Lo-Fi Arduino Guitar Pedal originally
endlessly customized. If you don't like one of the
posted by Kyle McDonald. I made a few modi cations
e ects, simply program another one. In this way, this
to his original design. The most noticeable changes
pedal's potential is largely dependent upon your skills
are the built-in preamp, and the active mixer stage
and imagination as a programmer.
which lets you combine the clean signal with the
e ects signal. I also added a sturdier case, foot switch,

Step 1: Go Get Stuff

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 1

You will need: (8-Pin DIP)
(x2) 1/4" Stereo Panel-Mount Audio Jack
(x1) Arduino Uno REV 3 (x4) 1uF capacitor *
(x1) Make MakerShield Prototyping Kit (x2) 47uF capacitor *
(x3) 100K-Ohm Linear-Taper Potentiometer (x1) 0.082µf Capacitor
(x1) 2-Pole, 6-Position Rotary Switch (x1) 100pF Capacitor **
(x4) Hexagonal Control Knob with Aluminum Insert (x1) 5pf Capacitor **
(x1) TL082/TL082CP Wide Dual JFET Input Op Amp (x6) 10K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor ***

(x2) 1M Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** (x1) 1/8" x 12" x 12" cork mat
(x1) 390K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor ***
(x1) 1.5K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor*** * Electrolytic capacitor kit. Only one kit necessary for
(x1) 510K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** all labeled parts.
(x1) 330K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor*** ** Ceramic capacitor kit. Only one kit necessary for all
(x1) 4.7K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** labeled parts.
(x1) 12K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** *** Carbon lm resistor kit. Only kit necessary for all
(x1) 1.2K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** labeled parts.
(x1) 1K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor ***
(x2) 100K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** Please note that some of the links on this page
(x1) 22K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** contain Amazon a liate links. This does not change
(x1) 33K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** the price of any of the items for sale. However, I earn a
(x1) 47K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** small commission if you click on any of those links and
(x1) 68K Ohm 1/4-Watt Resistor *** buy anything. I reinvest this money into materials and
(x1) Heavy-Duty 9V Snap Connectors tools for future projects. If you would like an alternate
(x1) 90-Ft. UL-Recognized Hookup Wire suggestion for a supplier of any of the parts, please
(x1) 9 Volt Battery let me know.
(x1) Box 'BB' Size Orange Powder Coat
(x1) DPDT Stomp switch
(x1) 1/8" x 6" x 6" rubber mat

Step 2: Header Breakdown

Break the male header strip down to t properly in the Maker Shield kit.
Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 2
An easy way to do this is to insert the end of the strip into each of the Arduino sockets and then snap o the excess
pins. You will end up with 4 strips of proper size.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 3

Step 3: Solder

Insert the male header pins into the Maker Shield and solder them into place.

Step 4: Template

Print out the attached template on full-sheet adhesive paper.

Cut out each of the two squares.

(The le has the pattern repeated twice in case to optimize use of the paper, and in case you need an extra.)

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 4

Step 5: Drill

Peel o the backing of the adhesive template and Peel o the adhesive template from the front of the
stick it squarely on the front of the casing. case.

Drill all of the crosses with a 1/8" drill bit. Next, stick the next adhesive template to the back
edge. In other words, stick it to the edge face most
Starting from the left side, widen the rst three holes closely abutting the potentiometer holes.
with a 9/32" drill bit.
Drill the crosses rst with 1/8" holes and then widen
Widen the last hole of the top row with a 5/16" dill bit. them with larger 3/8" holes.

And then widen the singular hole in the bottom right Peel away this template as well, and the case should
with a 1/2" spade bit to nish o the front of the case. be ready.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 5

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 6
Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 7
Step 6: Wire the Pots

Attach three 6" wires to each of the potentiometers.

For simplicity's sake, you should attach a black ground wire to the pin on the left, a green signal wire to the pin in
the middle, and a red power wire to the pin on the right.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 8

Step 7: Wire the Rotary Switch

Attach a 6" black wire to one of the inner pins.

Next, attach 6" red wires to the 3 outer pins both to the immediate left and right of the black inner pin.

To be sure you did this right, you may consider testing the connections with a multimeter.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 9

Step 8: Build the Circuit

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 10

Start to build the circuit as pictured in the schematic. signal processing is happening. I'll explain a bit more
To see the schematic larger, click the little "i" in the about the code later. For now, in relation to the
upper right-hand corner of the image. hardware, what you need to know is that there is both
a 100k potentiometer connected to analog pin 3 and
For now, while building the circuit, do not worry a 6-position rotary switch connected to analog pin 2.
about the potentiometers, rotary switch, bypass
switch, and input jacks. The 6-position rotary switch is functioning in a similar
way to a potentiometer, but rather than sweeping
To better understand what you are doing, this circuit through a resistance range, each pin has a discrete
consists of a few di erent parts: resistance associated with it. As you select di erent
pins, voltage dividers of di erent values are created.
Pre a m p
The preamp uses one of the two op amps packaged in Since the analog reference voltage had to be
the TL082. The preamp is both boosting the guitar remapped to handle the incoming audio signal, it is
signal to line level and inverting the signal. When it important to use aref as the voltage source, as
comes out of the op amp the signal is split between opposed to the standard 5V for both the rotary switch
the Arduino input and the "clean" volume knob for and the potentiometer.
the mixer.
Arduino O ut put
Arduino Input The Arduino output is only loosely based on Kyle's
The input for the Arduino was copied from Kyle's circuit. The part I kept was the weighted pin approach
input circuit. It is basically taking the audio signal to get the Arduino to output 10-bit audio using only 2
from the guitar and constraining it to roughly 1.2V, pins. I stuck with his suggested weighted resistor
because the aref voltage within the Arduino has been ratings of 1.5K as the 8-bit value and 390K as the
con gured to look for an audio signal in this range. added 2-bit value (which is basically 1.5K x 256). From
The signal is then being sent to analog pin 0 on the there I scrapped the rest. His output stage
Arduino. From here, the Arduino is then converting components were unnecessary because the audio was
this to a digital signal using its built in ADC. This is a not going to an output, but rather to the new audio
processor intensive activity and where most of the mixer stage.
Arduino's resources are being allocated.
M ixe r O ut put
You can get a faster conversion rate and do more The e ects output from the Arduino goes to a 100K
multiprocessing of the audio signal using timer pot connected to the audio mixer op amp. This pot is
interrupts. To learn more about that, check out this then used in conjunction with the clean signal
page on Arduino Real-Time Audio Processing. coming from the other 100K potentiometer to mix the
volume of the two signals together in the op amp.
Arduino
The Arduino is where all of the fancy-shmancy digital The second op amp on the TL082 is both mixing the

audio signals together, and inverting the signal once to the output jack without any altering. In essence, it
again to get it back in phase with the original guitar bypasses the e ects (and hence, is a bypass switch).
signal. From here the signal goes through a 1uF DC
blocking capacitor and nally to the output jack. I have included the Fritzing le for this circuit if you
want to look at it closer. The breadboard view and
By pa s s Sw it ch schematic view should be relatively accurate.
The bypass switch toggles between the e ects circuit However, the PCB view has not been touched and
and the output jack. In other words, it either routes probably will not work at all. This le does not include
the incoming audio to the TL082 and the Arduino, or the input and output jacks.
skips all of this entirely and sends the input straight

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 11

 Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FHA/8FAB/GZMIUHMM/FHA8FABGZMIUHMM.fz
…

Step 9: Cut Brackets

Cut out two brackets using the template le attached to this step. They both should be cut out of non-conductive
material.

I cut out the larger base bracket out of a thin cork mat and the smaller potentiometer bracket out of 1/8" rubber.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 12

Step 10: Insert Knobs

Place the rubber bracket on the inside of the case so that it aligns with the drilled holes.

Insert the potentiometers up through the rubber bracket and the 9/32" holes in the case and lock them rmly in
place with nuts.

Install the rotary switch in the same fashion in the larger 5/16" hole.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 13

Step 11: Trim

If you use long shaft potentiometers or rotary switches, trim them down such that the shafts are 3/8" long.

I used a Dremel with a metal cutting wheel, but a hacksaw will do the job too.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 14

Step 12: Switch

Insert the foot switch into the larger 1/2" hole and lock it in place with its mounting nut.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 15

Step 13: Stereo Jacks

We will be using stereo jacks for what is tabs on each jack with a short piece of wire.
fundamentally a mono circuit. The reason for this is
that the stereo connection will actually serve as the Next, connect the black wire from the battery snap to
power switch for the pedal. one of the stereo audio tabs. This is the smaller tab
that touches the jack about halfway up the plug.
The way this works is that when mono plugs are
inserted into each of the jacks, it connects the Connect a 6" black wire to the other stereo tab on the
batteries ground connection (which is connected to other jack.
the stereo tab) with the ground connection on the
barrel. So, only when both jacks are inserted can Lastly, connect a 6" red wire to the mono tabs on each
ground ow from the battery to the Arduino and of the jacks. This is the large tab that touches the tip
completed the circuit. of the male mono plug.

To make this work, rst connect together the ground

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 16

Step 14: Insert Jacks

Insert the two audio jacks into the two holes in the side of the case and lock them in place with their mounting
nuts.

Once installed, check that none of the metal tabs on the jack are touching the body of the potentiometers. Make
adjustments as necessary.

Step 15: Wire the Switch

Wire one of the outer pairs of the DPDT stomp switch together.

Wire one of the jacks to one of the center pins on the switch. Wire the other jack to the other center pin.

Connect a 6" wire to each of the remaining outer pins on the switch.

The wire that is in line with the jack on the right should be the input. The wire that is in line with the switch on the
left should be the output.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 17

Step 16: Finish the Wiring

Trim the wires attached to the components installed inside the case to remove any slack before you solder them to
the Arduino shield.

Wire them to the Arduino shield as speci ed in the schematic.

Step 17: Cork

A x the cork mat to the inside of the case's lid. This will keep the pins on the Arduino from getting shorted on the
metal of the case.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 18

Step 18: Program

The code that this pedal is largely built upon audio delay is especially memory intensive. I suspect
ArduinoDSP which was written by Kyle McDonald. He the addition of a stand-alone ADC chip and external
did some fancy things like mess around with the RAM will greatly improve the ability for this pedal to
registers to optimize the PWM pins and change the do awesome things.
analog reference voltage. To learn more about how
his code is working, check out his Instructable. There are 6 spots for di erent e ects in my code, but I
have only included 5. I have left a blank spot in the
One of my favorite e ects on this pedal is a slight code for you to design and enter your own e ect. That
audio (distortion) delay. I was inspired to try creating a said, you can replace any slot with any code that you
delay line after seeing this really simple code posted wish. However, keep in mind that trying to do
on Little Scale blog. anything too fancy will overwhelm the chip and keep
anything from happening.
The Arduino was not designed for real-time audio
signal processing and this code is both memory and Download the code attached to this step.
processor intensive. The code that is based on the

Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FBY/9BTI/GZKGLS7G/FBY9BTIGZKGLS7G.zip
…

Step 19: Attach

Attach the Arduino to the shield inside the case.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 19

Step 20: Power

Plug in the 9V battery to the 9V battery connector.

Carefully situate the battery snugly between the DPDT switch and the Arduino.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 20

Step 21: Case Closed

Put the lid on and screw it shut.

Step 22: Knobs

Place knobs onto the potentiometer and rotary switch shafts.

Lock them in place by tightening the set screws.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 21

Step 23: Plug and Play

Plug in your guitar to the input, connect an amp to Did you nd this useful, fun, or entertaining?
the output, and rock out. Follow @m a de ine upho ria to see my latest projects.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 22

Can the case shown in the instructions fit a raspberry pi? I'm wanting to build a digital delay and
I'm thinking I could get a raspberry pi to circumvent the memory issues.
You could try to investigate if this is possible. Historically the Raspberry Pi's have been too slow to
do real-time audio processing since the chips don't have DSP capability. However, I have not
looked into this in a few years and maybe the newest boards can do it.

You can see an old thread on the subject here:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=30547

And a more recent post on the subject:

I've made it, everything seems to be working except the effects themselves. When I select the
effect channel using the DPDT switch, the sound is amplified, is more powerful, but no effects are
applied on it. The same thing happens independently from the effect selected through the rotary
switch. Can you help me?
I have same problem. Anybody know a solution please?

Same issue here. Did you resolve this?

I made it but this project is way out of date, had to use arduino 0020 to make it work an it doesn't
sound that good...

If you really want to make an Arduino UNO guitar pedal have a look at the pedalSHIELD UNO or
at the StompShield. Both schematics are available and they are not harder than this one to build..

I personally went with the PedalShield because there's a forum and the community seems more
active there.

BTW, all of them are compatible with the nano (the nano use the same chip, it's just a smaller form
factor)
Hello ! It looks workable on an Arduino Nano, could you pls confirm me ?

The code would need to be modified to work with a Nano since you are setting the registers on the
Atmel chip directly in the code. Honestly, I would not begin to know how to modify the code to work
with a Nano. It would require some research.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 23

The code would need to be modified to work with a Nano since you are setting the registers on the
Atmel chip directly in the code. Honestly, I would not begin to know how to modify the code to work
with a Nano. It would require some research.
hey, can you provide me with a link for the makershield prototyping kit since i cannot find it

hey, i cant find the makershield kit. it seems asif they dont sell them anymore can you provide me
a link to n alternate board and if they dont have one do you mind sending me one??
I've looked for Kyle's codes but it said on his instructable that the host took his down, so please
where do you find the dsp codes to program the pedal or is this obsolete?
I'm just starting to get parts to make this, is all the info up to date and please where do you find the
codes to program into the arduino?
Could this mono delay code be modified to be a stereo? I want to use this pedal in a drum synth
rather than a guitar. So would be interesting to have it stereo.
thanks!
Where is Wprogram.h and Wconstants.h?

I have not looked at this code in many years, but it seems that the names of these libraries have
changed with the new Arduino software:
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=147680.0
Thank You!

Hi there!
Trying to make this one and have three things to ask.
First - can you upload a (complete) circuit diagram with input/output wiring, or just say where
positive wires from jacks goes?

Second - i want to replace battery with dc power supply - will it be enough just to replace batteries
terminals with those of my supply?

Third - i want to use mono female-jacks - and dont care about that feature, described in Step 13 -
can i just skip that step?

Thanks in advance ?
1) I'm not going to make a panel mount diagram for this project, but the input and the output go to
the center pins on the DPDT switch (one on one side, one on the other).

2) Yes. That will work. However, replacing a power supply with a DC wall wart sometimes creates
a hum in the signal (generally speaking with guitar pedals).

3) You could leave that out I suppose.

Thanks for answering randofo!^)
I already figured it out in practice.(changed battery for dc supply, used mono jacks and found
where in and out goes on diagram - probably was blind last time ^^
but...still need ur help
Im using Arduino Leonardo with 32u4 chip, so firstly i refactored code to work with it (replaces 2nd
timer for 4th). it compiles - good.
Then built circuit upon corrections from comments and all (two times).
Pots, switch - are OK - checked with serial.

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 24

Preamp works well - i can get clear sound and change vol with pot(R9).
BUT arduino do not process any audio. i tried listening the joint after r16 and 15 - no go. Tried to
delete all effects but bitcrusher then remove pots-reading-function and hardcode an fx var, while
removing switch and pots from circuit - no use.
Now im stucked and thinking that the problem is in boards and pins. May be integrated AREF is
done another way on Leonardo or i messed with timers - i dunno. Think of getting one of UNOr#3
boards and try this one on it.
Have u got any suggestions on how to solve it working with leonardo?
Looking for ur answer (btw thanks for soldering lesson - came quite handy^^)
What modifications are need to work with a bass guitar? Thanks! Great project

hi ... is ther a project like this one base on raspberry pi

Where is your input and output connect with ??

Guitar goes to the input. Output goes to a guitar amp.

may i ask which jack is output and which jack is input?

It does not particularly matter, but the one connected to the power jack should probably be input.
The signal wires from the jacks get connect to where it says "in" and "out" on the schematic.
what is this wire will connect with? thx

That black wire goes to ground.

i want to know ,too.please.

I cant find the pieces, can somebody help me?

If the Radioshack links don't work, you can find all the parts at digikey.com

You could use a 3PDT. A DPDT is like having two switches (they switch two different things at the
same time) together. A 3PDT is like having three of them. So, if you want to bypass the signal
processing stuff and send a clean sound, you can also wire the power line that goes into the signal
processing circuits for it to be switched along with the effect/clean sound (through that third "extra"
switch). That way, the circuit turns off if the effect isn't enabled. Pretty useful if the circuit is ready
to go when you turn it on.

Sorry if it's not, just adding some details. If you powered this off a 9V battery, for instance,
disabling power would make it last a lot longer.
Here's the finished thing. It works but only after I correctly insulated the pots from the casing. See
my other comment for the other things I noticed. Mine doesn't have a switched input jack, instead I
opted for a 2.1mm power port on the back, the same kind as used by standard effects pedals. I just
use a 9V battery with the correct connector.
Be very careful when pushing the knob on your rotary switch as it can break the switch and they
are not fun and games to reassemble. I used a sharp blade to cut down the shaft to the right
diameter for it to slide on easily and be secured with the screw.
Also make sure your input and output are the right way around when testing. That seems like an

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 25

obvious statement to make but it is a likely error. The schematic isn't the easiest to comprehend,
my method was to go through with a felt tip pen and colour in each link as I soldered it down. This
is definitely worthwhile as it reduces the chance of error.

Hello. I have been trying to make this pedal for a long time. I have read all of your comments but
could you please be more specific.. how did do IT.. maybe could you please make your
schematics? Thank you very much!
Honestly, I would no longer recommend this project. It gives you a very noisy output. It is a fun
project to get used to using amplifiers and the Arduino but ultimately it gives a very poor result with
a poor sample rate.
The schematic I use is the same as the one illustrated in this instructable. Are you bread boarding
it before committing to veroboard? It's hard to advise without knowing what stage you're currently
at with the project.
My recent interest has been using the Raspberry Pi and a USB interface to do guitar effects using
Puredata. This blog (https://guitarextended.wordpress.com/audio-effects-for-guitar-with-pure-data/)
and Google in general has some decent info on this approach.
And thank you for your response :)

yeah.. i have been trying to breadbord it..

I can't find the attached template for the holes- can anyone point me to it?

Hi, i made this, the circuit is correct (i hope so), but no effects. I have a guitar sound with some sort
of distortion sound (signal going through resistors i think) but no sign of arduino work. What kind of
problem could it be? And what kind of value should i have in the input?
I made this using the stripboard layout posted in the comments. When I turn the switch on I don't
get any guitar sound, I just get a repetitive clicking noise that is not affected by the audio input.
This happens whether I have the arduino plugged in or not. The frequency of the clicks increases
slightly when I turn up POT 1.
Does anyone have any troubleshooting tips for me?
I found the error that was causing the clicking: C6 was not connected to the right strip. I fixed that,
but now I'm getting nothing when the switch is turned on.
Hey. I am starting with arduino. I play guitar and bassguitar.
Can I use something like TDA4050B as the preamplifier?
Thank you very much!
Do you think it's possible to run timer1 as an LFO while using this sketch?
As far as I see it does not use timer1.
Hi ! This is my Arduino project pedal, it's a MIDI controller for Whammy, which allows to play Muse
songs or Dubstep music with a guitar :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66G0tyxa3vw

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 26

It would be great if we could hear some of the effects (other than the distortion sound in the video)

I compiled and uploaded the code without a problem. Changed WConstants.h and WProgram.h to
Arduino.h, then no problem.
I get the guitar signal through it with different power/jack-setups, but no effects..
What can be causing this? Please help

Sorry do not quite understand that part of connect the stereo jacks, please you can explain how
connects this, Which is the input and output? Thanks
Disculpen no entiendo bien la parte de conectar los jacks, me pueden explicar a donde va cada
conexion por favor, gracias
I am using arduino uno. You could explain me, how use the code? That give me many errors about
a main class. And others about to incluide files. Thanks
Could someone can give me working code. Im using arduino uno

Arduino Guitar Pedal: Page 27