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Recent progress
Some projects I’ve been working on of late:
- Made some progress on the MIDIbox SID – I did some more work on getting the enclosure(an old 2U satellite receiver) ready and figured out the next batch of parts necessary to get it completed.
- Did a serious revamp on the Arduino Sequencer last night – it now has a power switch, start/stop switch, and two indicator LEDs (built into the start/stop switch). I also attacked the code pretty extensively to account for these new features. It still needs some tweaks, but once they’re done I’ll post the code here.
- More-or-less finished the Arduinome I’ve been poking at since January (longer if you include parts accumulation- I got the unsped shield & MAX7219 over a year ago). It still needs a little mechanical work- it as yet has no base, and no hole for the USB cable, but it’s pretty much together and usable.
Still plenty of other backlog to clear, and reissues to reissue.
I leave you with a video of the Arduinome in action:
Restarting DIY Operations
Now that the album is finished, it’s time to get back to doing other stuff. Building gear, in particular.
A summary of things occuring in the near-term:
1) Website changes – I’ve changed the theme (yet again), and installed the BuddyPress plugin, so now everything’s all social and stuff. There will probably be some adjustments here and there as I get stuff the way I want it. Enjoy!
2) Modular Synth, Phase II
Phase II consists of the next 6U(or more?) of Frac modules going into the system. The first steps of this have begun, though I’m sure the hardcore DIY purists may give me grief for it- I’m buying some pre-built modules. I’ve been finding some amazing deals on used Blacet gear. The first of these (a Filthy Filtre) is already installed, replacing the Dual Filter. Coming soon will be an EG-1, mixer, dual VCA, rack enclosure, and a power supply. Step 2 of Phase II started a few nights ago when PAiA announced their new series of 9700 modules. I ordered their dual VCA, mixer, noise source, sample & hold, and two CV source/mixer/attenuators. A future order will probably include the mic preamp and envelope follower. Step 3 is to try to clear out some of my backlog – I’ve got a few things that just need panels, so they’re good candidates for that.
Somewhere in the middle of this, some of my existing modules will be getting some refurbishment (i.e. the “Taming of the Q” operation on the Dual Filter, adding additional inputs to theLPGs, adding a second Real Ring Mod to my existing one.)
3) Other gear
I’ve got loads of things in various states of done-ness, ranging from ‘just needs an enclosure’ (the FV-1 reverb I mostly finished Jan. 31st) to ‘almost finished’ (Arduinome, MIDIbox SID, dual tube mic pre) to ‘haven’t started yet’ (the 1176 compressor clone).
Well, before any serious work begins, I’ve gotta clean up the work room again. I’d better get cracking.
The modular is full!
Finished the XR2206 VCOs that I got the PCBs for earlier this week, so the rack is now full:
(click on it for details if you’re into that sort of thing)
It’s been a crazy four months or so since I started seriously working on this – the first module kits that went in were ordered August 24th. A few PCBs were ordered before then, as well as the rack. And now, four months and one-ish day later, it’s filled. All DIY. Crazy.
It’s hard to call it ‘done’ since there a few things left to do (knobs for the VCOs are enroute, half the bottom row needs labels, and I think a passive mixer’s going to go in the bottom half of the RRM panel…), and really, when is a modular ever really done? I’m already planning a bigger cabinet (the ‘studio’ cabinet, to compliment this, the ‘live’ cabinet), and have several modules on the bench or in the works coming soon.
Next, I’d like to thank everyone who has offered support, whether of a technical(providing modules/kits/PCBs/parts), logistical, or moral(encouragement, nudging) nature. You know who you are and what you’ve done. Thank You!
Lastly, there should be a brief announcement of some label-y things soon (plans for 2010) – certainly before the end of this year.
Arduino Trigger-to-MIDI converter
OK, the trigger-to-MIDI clock converter seems relatively happy (though I think the MIDI in on my AN200 isn’t? That’s going to require some more tests…).
I hacked on it a bit tonight trying to determine how drifty the generated MIDI clock was relative to the incoming trigger pulses from the DR-110. At first it was pretty ugly. I then added some compensation to the clocking to account for all of the work the Arduino is doing. After some trial-and-error, it’s relatively tight – total drift by my rough calculations was something like 10 milliseconds over a five minute period. Compare that to an earlier drift of 120 ms in a minute…
Here’s the code: trigger2midisync.pde
Hardware-wise, there’s a trigger input on pin 2 (use a zener if you’re worried about blowing stuff up…), and the MIDI out is the standard (TX, GND, and 5V through a 220 ohm resistor going to the pins of the MIDI port).
You may want to configure some of the #define statements in the code. STOP_TIMEOUT is the amount of time that needed without triggers needed for the converter to decide to stop. I’m using 2 seconds. Changing DIVIDE_SLICE would be important if your trigger source is something other than 4ppqn, and CODE_OVERHEAD_TIME is used to adjust drift in your deployment – 10 worked really well for me in my tests tonight, but it could be anything for others.
Once it’s hooked up and connected to your MIDI source and your trigger source, start sending a series of pulses to pin 2. On the first pulse, MIDI Clock start should get sent, and by the third pulse or so the sync will be “synced” – there will be an offset, but it should remain fairly constant. Now, once the pulses stop, clock will continue to be sent until STOP_TIMEOUT milliseconds have passed.
Next test will be syncing the DR-110 to the very-nearly-finished x0xb0x to see how well that keeps up – I did all my tests tonight with a Yamaha RY10, with both it and the DR110 just playing a “four on the floor” kick pattern.
Questions? Comments? Improvements?
Building building building…
Been a while since there was an update, so let’s see what’s on the bench of late:
- x0xb0x – Yeah, I took the plunge and self-sourced a kit (not that hard since there’s a guy on the forums selling the rare parts kit for a reasonably fair price). It’s soldered up and mostly working, except for an extremely weird intermittent problem I haven’t completely solved yet. It’s unclear what the actual problem is, but I think I have a pretty good workaround ready to go. I also had issues with the USB chip early on, and then pulled since it was highly suspect when I first started having trouble. Now I’ll have to try to re-solder it again…
- Haible varislope filter/phaser – Pretty much done! I think I need to reverse some of the pots and adjust some things, but it’s working reasonably well.
- A trigger-to-MIDI Sync converter – Decided to do this with an Arduino so that I could at least clumsily sync my DR-110 to other stuff (x0xb0x, AN200, etc.). Code will be posted soon, once I add in start/stop functionality and test it a bit more thoroughly.
- MIDIBox SID – I’ve got the CORE, SID, LCD, and a pair of Banksticks up and running. Worked great under computer/MIDI control, though I think a noise gate will be necessary for the bad 6581 VCA. Waiting for DINx4 and DOUTx4 boards, and then I’ll have to figure out the control surface – it will be more complicated than the basic one, but less complicated than the “full control surface”.
Whenever the PCBs show up, I also plan on building a pair of XR2206 VCO modules, as well as a few other modules on the horizon. Gotta start thinking about a new rack as well. I’ve got the first pair of Vector rails, but lining it all up is going to be careful work.
Also coming soon: A pair of PAiA Tube Mic preamps- the phantom on my mixer died (just as I got some condenser mics! curses!), so these are going to replace that functionality. I’m going to hotrod them a bit with better parts and some ECC83 tubes to replace the 12AX7s it ships with. Ordered some pedal PCBs as well – a Big Muff Pi clone, and a Rebote 2.5 delay.
I think I’m also going to have to move the electronics area to a bigger room with bigger tables, but that’s probably at least a month or two out.