Time Manipulator Is an Arduino-Based DIY Time Delay Guitar Pedal

Guitar effects pedals are extremely popular, and help create the unique sounds you associate with specific songs. The most common type of guitar effects pedal is distortion, which lets a guitarist add a bit of dirt to the sound of their guitar. Another popular type, particularly for classic rock, is the wah-wah pedal that alters the tone of the guitar. There are also many effects that are based around time delays, and the open source Time Manipulator guitar effects pedal will let you experiment with those.

Time Manipulator was designed by ElectroSmash, and is combination of many effects that rely on time delays, including: short delay, delay, echo, reverb, tap echo, chorus, telegraph, accelerator, and psycho. It’s based on the Microchip ATmega328P microcontroller that is best known as the chip used in the Arduino Uno board. Two PT2399 delay IC chips are used to create the effects. Each chip can delay an analog signal by 30 to 300 milliseconds, and the various effects are generated by adjusting those delays with the chips either in a serial or parallel configuration.

If you want to build your own Time Manipulator guitar effects pedal, the design is completely open source and DIY-friendly. You will need the custom PCB, but that can be ordered from ElectroSmash or you can have it fabricated yourself. All of the components are through-hole and easy to solder. Once you have the board built, you can put it into a standard off-the-shelf enclosure, or 3D-print your own. Three knobs are used to adjust the settings, and two foot switches are used to activate the effects. If you want a lot of time delay-based guitar effects in one pedal, the Time Manipulator is a great option.