Is there such a thing as a VCA pedal or CV controlled volume?

[TEMAS]

Ok, in short, ideally what I'm after is a device which will run in line with my other pedals, that has a CV input for controlling the volume of the signal. The aim is to create complex tremolo fx by using external devices that I have which can send LFOs via MIDI, which can in turn be converted to CV. The device would have to be extremely accurate and responsive, so that it could, at times, switch the rate dramatically.

I know that the Goatkeeper has a CV input to control the rate of the tremolo and can switch speeds, but this is not really what I'm after. I'm more after the kind of CV controllable VCAs that you would expect to find on analogue synths, and although I haven't ruled out going down that route, I'd prefer to find a pedal or guitar level product if there is one.

The only other device I've found is http://www.geocities.com/customaudiojapan/gvca2.html but at $600 its not cheap.

Any ideas, most welcome. Thanks in advance.

[Kpound]

Just yesterday I discovered this in a pedal I already owned, the Peavey Delta stomp. I thought program 1, "Volume Swell" was either broken or useless until I plugged in an expression pedal. Voilá - CV controlled volume pedal. I don't know how available these things are, I got my from a friend back when I was 15.

I'm curious to know how you're planning on executing this complex tremolo system. I perform with a computer that sends a midi clock to my microkorg to do tempo synced arpeggios and trem type effects. I'd love to implement this with guitar as well.

Edit: There's one up on eBay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Peavey-Delta-Sto...QQcmdZViewItem

[Chrome Dinette]

It probably wouldn't be too hard to make something like this for yourself, or cobble together what you need from modular synth parts.

You can even do it with a tube:

[TEMAS]

Good call on the Peavey unit - but is it digital? I'm definitely planning to stay analogue and try to keep it really clean.

The tremolos / LFOs will be created with my Nord Modular G2 Engine. With the G2 you can build massive virtual modular synths with a vast range of modules. I could actually just send the sound into the G2 and back out (A>D D>A), but I thought a more pure way to do it with guitar would be to just use the G2 to send the CV data to an analogue device.

There's an article here about someone that did something similar except he did not incorporate guitar it was all synth based stuff. http://electro-music.com/article.php?t=9118

[TEMAS]

Thanks for posting a diagram of how to build it, but that is way out of my league. If someone else could do it, I'd be interested though.

[Kpound]

The Peavey is digital, but to my ears, it sounds squeaky clean, nothing particularly digital sounding about it. I also know that Rocktron made a rack unit called the DVC which does VCA. Not sure whether or not it's analog.

[guitbeef]

I've wondered this same thing. Once I get a few things done I'm planning on experimenting with this myself. I see a lot of cats on the road that run rack gear- usually pedals in a drawer along with a wireless receiver. Then they have to run a 20-30 ft cable to a volume pedal on a pedalboard, and then another 20-30 ft cable back to their head which is sitting under their rack. The VCA circuit would be the way to go.

+1 on the Rocktron. They also made the Rack Interface (which contained a stereo VCA), which a friend owned back in the day. I thought it was extremely useful.