pedalscience

An open-source effects unit for guitar, bass and vocals

Code and designs under the MIT licence.
Made by Rik Hemsley.

Code and designs on GitHub

An effects unit you can build.

  • For guitar, bass and vocals
  • Optimised Neural Amp Models (NAM) and IRs
  • Open source code and designs
Design render of the pedal: a black sloped console with a wide touchscreen above a row of five footswitches.

Features

  • 8 NAM A2 Full simultaneously on a Pi 5
  • Extremely low latency switching, no glitches
  • Open designs, standard parts

Hardware

Prices are approximate, in pounds sterling.
ComponentDescriptionExamplePrice
CoreThe processing unit. Its job is to handle the effects. It doesn’t need much RAM, but it does need a little processing power.Raspberry Pi 5 with 1GB RAM£40
CodecThe bridge between digital and analogue audio. It needs to support at least one input and one output, 24bit 48kHz.A WM8960-based breakout board£5
Analogue input and outputSockets, wires, basic circuitsVarious small parts£40
ControlThe interface with hardware controls, plus some buttons, dials, switches.Raspberry Pi Pico and your choice of controls£10
ScreenoptionalTouchscreen for direct control (or you can use the app), or something more basic if you don’t want to edit on the pedal itself.8.8″ wide touchscreen£55
2.4″ LCD£8
CaseLots of options. The components aren’t huge, but letting Core breathe is a good idea.Hammond 1456RH3£55
1590DD£10
Exploded design render: the console cover with footswitches and controls, the touchscreen, the Raspberry Pi 5, Pico 2, codec, input board and output boards, above the case base.

Sources

  • pedal.projectHardware design, schematics, the plan, Pico firmware
  • namchainThe real-time engine that runs the rigs
  • ljossA rig design and live control app, for Mac, iPhone and iPad
  • rigpaThe pedal’s own touchscreen UI
  • rtpiThe configuration and deployment manager for the real-time Linux kernel
  • NAMBenchNAM and IR optimisation research and benchmarks