Linus Torvalds offers to build guitar effects pedal for kernel developer

Linux overlord Linus Torvalds has offered to hand-build a guitar effects pedal for one lucky kernel contributor. The odd offer appeared in his weekly state-of-the-kernel post, which on Sunday US time informed the Linux world that release candidate (rc) seven for version 6.13 of the Linux kernel “is slightly bigger than normal …

[stratcat]

Aion FX

Another programmer (or cybersec) person here with a soldering iron, and have successfully completed three Aion kits so far. They're pretty good quality, really satisfying to build and of course use.

I've built the "Azimuth" (Hermida Zendrive clone) and can't pick the sound of this from an original model which I also own. Have also built the Halo (Big Muff clone) and Andomeda (Nobel ODR-1) clone.

Highly recommended, but I'd prefer if Linus just sent out a voucher or unfinished kit. Not as much fun if you don't build it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

if they are really tracing the circuit boards of competitors sorry but thats theft, admittedly the original should have protected themselves in some way to prove their design and it should be novel in some way but knock off and trading on someone else's system

ethics anyone ??

[Sam Jelfs]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

I guess it depends if they are literally copying the circuit board or designing their own? Given that the Bug Muff, for instance, is just 4 transistors, 4 diodes, and a handful of capacitors and resistors, it's not like there is much to them. The Big Muff "took inspiration" from previous designs from other manufacturers anyway...

[Joe W]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

Yeah, I guess "it depends". The Big Muff is a good example, due to your mentioned reasons...

[sedregj]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

"Big Muff"

... Fnarr!

[Rob Daglish]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

Yes, the people naming guitar pedals appear to be teenage boys. "Big Muff" barely raises an eyebrow, to be honest!

[HuBo]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

Just love 'em Ass Krack Fuzz and Double-down Boner Boost!

[Caffeinated Sponge]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

... And that's before you see the huge 'π' silkscreened onto the casing ....

[Joe W]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

Hm, having followed some discussions about this: It's complicated and depends on the jurisdiction (apparently) - hey, I'm a statistician with a software job, not a lawyer (and I own a soldering iron, making me eminently qualified, eh?). So, the board can be protected, i.e. the actual layout. The circuit itself? Not so much. Don't trace the board. Same thing: don't just copy and paste the source code to stuff without thinking about it (and the licenses that can be involved).

I built some effect-thingamajig a while ago, on veroboard, worked, sorta-kinda. I got the circuit from a book that had a collection of all sorts of audio stuff (mixers, amps, effects, etc.). Now I wonder where the book ended up!

[Headley_Grange]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

In my early days of electronics I designed and built a distortion pedal with a dual op amp, a couple of diodes and a few passives - on vero, of course. A few years ago I found the cct diag in the loft and the clipping section isn't much different from the distortion sections of most of today's solid state amps and pedals. There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

The article's "ubiquitous, cheap, and fun" description must be using a new definition of "cheap" that I'm not familiar with. Today's mass-produced pedals can only be considered cheap when compared with the mass-produced "boutique" pedals, which are stupidly overpriced, especially as many of them are built with off-the-shelf effects processor chips. Even worse is the reverence that old pedals are treated with because a 2020's op amp doesn't sound nearly as good as a 1980s one and they go for silly money on eBay.

[pinkmouse]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

"2020's op amp doesn't sound nearly as good as a 1980s one"

The problem is middle aged blokes with more money than sense trying to recapture their youth. And not actually wanting to practise, 'cos that's boring, just get a sound out of the box/es and instantly be a guitar hero. Ha.

The kids actually making music are quite happy with the cheap Amazon or Behringer pedals

[Headley_Grange]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

I read an article years ago about Dave Murray. I assumed that his mastery of legato came from lots of gain and compression. Turns out that it's mostly technique and he's very talented so I can't just buy a couple of effects and sound like him.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

There's actually rather a good article on new/old component differences on the AION site.

tl;dr - it's basically bollocks

[Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

if they are really tracing the circuit boards of competitors sorry but thats theft

Tell me you're unfamiliar with the world of guitar fx without telling me you're unfamiliar with the world of guitar fx.

The space is awash with clones and copies. Pretty much every builder starts with at least a Tubescreamer clone and a Klon clone before making their own original pedals. Some copies do add a little bit extra, like an extra band in the tone stack, but often the aim is to produce something which replicates the original circuit as closely as possible. The latter is especially prevalent in the case of Klon klones

[F. Frederick Skitty]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

The Klon is an excellent example.An unremarkable overdrive essentially, but scarcity, gooping of the board to hide the components and the strange obsessive of many guitarists seeking a "perfect tone" means an original can sell for $5,000. That's a pedal with a bill of materials closer to $30 that can be assembled in an hour. See also Dumble amplifiers (essentially a clone with a few tweaks) or the astonishing prices many battered "vintage" guitar can command.

[F. Frederick Skitty]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

With these clone pedal kits (and even fully built clones from the likes of JHS, Behringer or Mooer) they design their own board layouts. That's legal in every jurisdiction as far as I'm aware. Unless there's something truly novel about a circuit that can be patented then it's legal to copy the principles of a circuit.

[john.jones.name]

principles of circuit different from tracing the circuit

when you send a PCB to manufacture,

you send artwork, a mask.

If they copied the artwork by tracing the PCB.

thats a problem

first of all ethically you don't understand whats going on or why, second you literally copied an artwork.

I can understand that its going to be a problem legally even if both are grey areas

[F. Frederick Skitty]

Re: principles of circuit different from tracing the circuit

Since a lot of the clones are in an entirely different form factor (Mooer pedals are tiny compared to the ones they are based on) the PCB has to be different to the original. In fact it's so easy just to tweak a layout to make it substantially different to the original that a clone maker would be mad not to do it. For IT folks, this is more akin to the PC clones of yesteryear than some kind of knock off that's pretending to be the original. As for not understanding the way it works, the guitar pedals we're talking about here are simple - incredibly simple in the case of overdrive, fuzz, distortion or boost pedals. Even stuff based on delays (which includes things such as chorus or flangers) are based on a handful of bucket brigade ICs with very generic supporting circuits.

[the hatter]

Re: principles of circuit different from tracing the circuit

While copying and selling actual artwork without permission is a copyright offence, the word 'artwork' when referring to a circuit layout does not imbibe it with the quality of being. an artistic expression, it's just a trade term to distinguish it from other representations of the circuit. You'd likely have to go some length to demonstrate your physical layout schema deserved protection under that legislation. While there may be ethical considerations about such practices, you are most likely copying pretty much the most obvious way to physically manifest the circuitry idea, and as the component count is mostly countable on my hands, and those components often have a tiny number of connections, that's likely to be a pretty obvious implementation.

[cornetman]

Re: principles of circuit different from tracing the circuit

> If they copied the artwork by tracing the PCB. thats a problem

Honestly, this is starting to stray into recipe book territory. The word art is terribly misused in this context. PCBs are not art and so many circuits are now part of the common knowledge in electronics.

[klh]

Re: principles of circuit different from tracing the circuit

To be fair, some PCBs _are_ art :)

[Headley_Grange]

Re: principles of circuit different from tracing the circuit

They all look the bloody same when you've spent a few days with a red pencil checking the PCB layout drawing against a circuit diagram.

[david 12]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

sorry but thats theft

Which is double-plus bad. But, apart from the Orwellian doublespeak, copying hardware is illegal in some countries -- courts have held that it falls under their understanding of copyright laws -- but not illegal in the USA, nor, as far as I know, in the UK.

Electronics is built on a history of both expired patents and shared designs. One of the Maxim engineers I met used to note the copying and republication without attribution of Maxim design notes -- which he would have felt more angry about if the design notes themselves hadn't been copied from existing designs.

Historically English copyright is derived from the compensation system created for the censors when censorship was abolished -- they used to control and get paid for publication, they were well connected, and when censorship was abolished, they petitioned for replacement income. Ethics anyone?

[jason_derp]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

if they are really tracing the circuit boards of competitors sorry but thats theft,

Somebody better get on the phone with the literal thousands of pedal companies all building off of each others' and historical others' work for literal decades now and tell them that they're stealing. In reality, copyrighting an electronic circuit is so hard to do, that actual pedal companies often sue each other over things such as copying an enclosure design because that's literally an easier thing to do and causes more brand confusion. You are starkly wrong.

[Richard 12]

Re: Aion FX are they really tracing ?

It's more complicated than that.

Copying 'significant parts of' the board layout would be a copyright infringement.

Copying the schematic and producing something that works exactly the same using the same components and a 'sufficiently' different board layout is not.

While it could in theory be a patent infringement, there probably aren't any still in patent.

All of which means that RF circuits tend to be protected by copyright as the layout really matters. Anything as close to DC as an audio effects pedal can be laid out in an infinite variety of ways.

[Gene Cash]

Re: Aion FX

> Highly recommended, but I'd prefer if Linus just sent out a voucher or unfinished kit. Not as much fun if you don't build it.

Eh, it's more of the story behind it than anything, and it sits on the shelf as a conversation piece, right?

I hope he at least signs the case with a silver sharpie.

It's not like I actually wear my RedHat red hat.

[Reiki Shangle]

Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

Ahhh the 555 (and a shoutout to it’s cousin, the 741 op amp…yay)

https://curiousmotor.com/2020/06/04/simple-555-based-tremolo-effect/

#nostalgia #solderfumes #cheekburn #everydayelectronics

[K555]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

It might've formed part of my online identity for 25 years now...

People guess it might be related to Motorsport, but no, it's far far more nerdy than even that particular bobble hat.

[wolfetone]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

I've seen your Subaru in the car park.

It's the Blue one with Gold alloys, and it has a little circuit board dangling from the mirror with a green and red LED flashing alternately all the time

[Reiki Shangle]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

Bingo!

[phuzz]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

You can even build a CPU from enough 555's.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

Well, there goes the rest of my week!

[DJO]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

And you can build a NE555 from enough BC108s, a handful of resistors and a diode or two.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

Or you can create (emulate) an NE555 using one of the common 8-pin microcontrollers...

[blacksheep]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

Ah bc108s, been a while :-)

[blacksheep]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

Yeh iirc was a really useful circuit so they done an IC :-)

[that one in the corner]

Re: Nowt wrong with the 555 and blinky LEDs…

#caughtirononlap

[Bebu sa Ware]

There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

I assume someone has already used a Raspberry Pi micontroller ( Pico? 2020?) to cover the gamut of effects in software. The gpio and ADC should be more than enough to crappify the signal to any desired end, The pedal could use wifi or bt connect to the effects box (depending on the hardware.)

The idea of building a CPU from 555 chips is really inspired eccentricity. I recall from a logic design course 40+ years ago* that nand and nor gates can each be used to realise all Boolean functions. So I guess you could use (a lot more) 741 chips to build the same CPU.

_{* Karnaugh maps cause that sort of trauma. ;)}

[Lee D]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

Ironically, I believe either NAND - or - NOR gates can be used to build all Boolean functions.

You don't need both.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

I think the Apollo moon lander computer was entirely (apart from the rope memory) built from three-input NOR gates.

[Lee D]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

Makes sense. Only one component to design, build, test, certify, replace, and yet it can do everything you need to if you put it in the right arrangement.

If that's the case, I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a plan to take NOR chips from non-critical circuits to make the critical ones work in an emergency.

[David 132]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

Now I have a lovely vision of the Apollo circuits being entirely composed of interchangeable Denshi blocks :)

[Lee D]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

"Aw, man, come on.... who took the last NOR block? We need it to get the thrusters going. Everyone start looking for it."

[BenDwire]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

Wow! I'd forgotton all about my Denshi kit which I had as a kid in the 1970's. Good times, even if I did manage to blow up some of the transistors by 'tinkering'.

That one purchase by my parents ultimately led to a degree and career in electronics. Thankfully the Hornby train set and Mammod steam engine had less influence on my life ...

[Blue Pumpkin]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

Oh Denshi - I had forgotten about that too ... happy days

Same experience here - because of it decided chemicals were not for me and went off to do computer engineering ...

[Steve Graham]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

I repaired a (solid-state) Marshall once, and discovered that the clipping was done by a pair of LEDs, one red, one green. Apparently, LEDs saturate or overload smoothly?

I dunno. I'm a software person too.

[david 12]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

Apparently, LEDs saturate or overload smoothly?

Well, it's more the case that they aren't specifically designed to saturate sharply, but yes, compared to other diodes they aren't as good at turning on / off.

[Richard 12]

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

TBH, it's almost certainly more because the exact spec isn't easily discoverable during reverse engineering, so clones don't sound the same.

Downside is that it relies on unspecified behaviour, so the "real" one won't sound the same in five years either.

[trevorde]

Worthless

Unless it's signed with a certificate of authenticity from the man himself

[Forget It]

Re: Worthless

So nonfungible gift then?

As worthless as a non-flange-ible

bass pedal.

[that one in the corner]

Re: Worthless

Unless you would actually like a guitar effects pedal to, you know, use. And be a source for conversation with Linus and the kernel community. And ...

Oh, sorry, you are measuring "worth" purely on the basis of how much you could scalp it for on eBay.

[Lunatic Moonshiner]

"My favorite programming language is... solder"

-- Bob Pease

[Will Godfrey]

Hmmm

I've lost track of the number of pedals I've built for various people over the years - right back to fuzz boxes based on Germanium diodes. No two have been the same. Wah pedals got quite 'interesting' as did compressors. Digital reverb/echo units were a lot of fun - especially when you put the reverb time on a pedal pot.

Don't do any of that these days.

[blacksheep]

Re: Hmmm

Remember echo chambers the ones with springs

[Will Godfrey]

Re: Hmmm

Who could forget them!

Mind you, they're still popular in some circles.

[BenDwire]

Re: Hmmm

They're reverb units, rather than echo. Maplin used to sell the spring-lines separately, and I've still got an amp with one inside (somewhere)

[LionelB]

Re: Hmmm

Yep, my working amp is Fender Concert 60 tube amp with built-in spring reverb. Lovely sound (just be careful about jogging it - the springs are quite loose, and can rattle against the casing, unleashing an unspeakable and LOUD metallic whanging... this has occasionally happened during a gig).

[steviebuk]

Frantone

Fran from franlabs on YouTube made the Frantone many years ago which apparently is really popular. But unforunately she said its not viable to hand make them anymore as she used to do. Maybe she could do kits instead and everyone put them together themselves. But I think even that's not viable for her as she mentioned, a while ago now, hand making the circuitboard was expensive.

http://www.frantone.com/

for anyone interested.

[Melatonein]

He should make it a mute pedal and call it ALSA

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Guitar effects? Cue the music!

Linus extrolling the virtues of being a Software Person (and a call out for young talent to contribute to the Linux kernel)...

I am a Cider Drinker[Software person]

I drinks[writes] it all of the day

I am a Cider Drinker[Software person]

It soothes all me troubles away

Ooh arrh, ooh arrh ay, Ooh arrh, ooh arrh ay

(Proper Job! Wanna try some, young 'un? C'mon, young 'un! Get a couple o' pints[commits] down 'ee then.)

Original tune

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hQyVnMfOO9I

Original Lyrics

https://genius.com/The-wurzels-i-am-a-cider-drinker-lyrics

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Guitar effects? Cue the music!

I've got a brand new kernel github login, and I'll give you the ssh key...

[David 132]

Re: Guitar effects? Cue the music!

I saw the Wurzels perform live in the courtyard of a pub in Swindon about 14 years ago. Wonderful night, with cider & pork baps on sale as refreshment. They didn't perform The Combine Harvester in its original form - some mumbling about a performance rights issue or something - so we got the 2001 Remix version instead which has a charm all of its own.

A friend of mine stood there through the whole performance with an expression that said "is this what Humans refer to as 'fun'?" on his face - clearly puzzled as to why we'd dragged him along.

Proper job!