About Tree Fall Sound

Tree Fall Sound exists to bring multi-effects projects to DIY musicians.

Randall Reichenbach

My day jobs have been in electrical and software engineering, but my main passion has always been music. I've been building effects pedals and other musical gadgets since the 1980s. I've always been obsessed with tone, usability, and clever features.

How cool would it be to create a do-everything open expandable effects platform, easily modifiable by anyone not too afraid of Linux and Python? That's the idea that got me rolling on this project. Raspberry Pi and high-def sound cards along with open-source software like LV2 and MOD have finally made such an endeavor possible.

I created this project because I know there are others like me that would be way more excited playing with a piece of gear they built and can modify by getting under the hood of the hardware and software. I spend well over 20 hours on it every week and will continue to as long as there is new functionality and features to explore. I'm hoping others will join us in this endeavor and take their creations to places we've not even imagined.

Stream some of my original music: artists.landr.com/055120649103

An extensive interview and more pi-Stomp background: Blokas Reads

Cam Gorrie

I'm a software developer based out of Canada and play a lot of bass guitar. Open-source pedals like the pi-Stomp have a special place in my heart; they make it possible to dial in incredible, reproducible sounds without paying a heavy cost (in time) whenever you want to change something structural.

The environment

We love the Earth and hope you do too. Electronics are inherently not good for our planet. Our hope is that by building something yourself that can be upgraded, you'll be able to make use of it longer than you would have a commercial product, and that you might be able to reuse or recycle many of the components when its life is truly over.

The PCBs, their solder, and all board components are RoHS compliant. The TFT colour LCD and the audio card are the only parts in the current design that aren't.

When you're done with your pi-Stomp, consider reusing the Raspberry Pi, LCD, and other components in another project or donating them to a local Makerspace. If you do dispose of it, follow your local guidelines, and pull the two non-RoHS parts out to handle separately.

treefallsound.com is hosted by GreenGeeks, who match every amp they draw from the grid with three times that in renewable energy through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. That reduces the carbon footprint rather than offsetting it.