borfo

I bought 100 of these black Mouser 612-TAC-BK caps thinking I’d use them in my Seq V4, but wound up going with different caps. I’ll probably never use these. Anyone have any use for them? These fit the common TL1100 tact switches. (just to be clear, these are the caps. Switches not included.) They cost me $27 – $13.50 + shipping sound fair? I should be able to fit them in a regular envelope, so postage should be cheap. I’m in Toronto, Canada. http://ca.mouser.com/ProductDetail/E-Switch/TACBLK/?qs=6C6BR4UgC3MHZOSFIIAQsw==

That's awesome to hear, since I've already got two of them. The launchpad buttons are way nicer than tact switches, for sure. But the LEDs are duocolour, not RGB. They do have brightness settings though, so each LED has 16 states.

No worries - like I said, I was thinking I should send you something anyway, so really don't feel like you have to buy a launchpad with it. Obviously it'd be great for me if you did, since that would probably result in you eventually programming something awesome into the SEQ that I could also use. But you really have given the world a great gift with all the midibox stuff already. No pressure at all to buy a launchpad. edit: haha - just saw your last post. That's great news. I look forward to seeing what you do with them. I thought the extra column of round buttons on the right side when two controllers are used could be used to page up and down on the vertical axis to access 8x8 notes in grid view... If the LEDs in that column lit to indicate which "pages" had notes in them, that would make it pretty usable as a BLM even with only 8 rows of notes. Anyway, no pressure, and certainly no hurry.

Two launchpad minis arranged like this would make a great little BLM... Four of them would be a great 16x16, with 4x16 extra buttons. The button LEDs are bicolour and can be lit in 16 different colours/brightnesses. There are several other inexpensive commercial button grid controllers that would also work if it is technically feasible to send/receive messages fast enough. How many messages per second would it have to be able to handle? The old version of the launchpad only handles 400 messages per second, but the newer Launchpad S and mini are much faster - apparently something on the order of 40x faster. There's also a "rapid led update" mode that cuts the number of messages required to update the entire led grid in half, and a buffering feature, but those would be specific to the launchpad and wouldn't work on other controllers. Here's the programmer's reference - has all the details of the MIDI implementation - how to light the leds in different colours, etc: http://d19ulaff0trnck.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/novation/downloads/4700/launchpad-s-prm.pdf I just sent you some cash - buy a launchpad mini with it if you're interested in experimenting with it. Or just buy yourself a lot of beers. The SEQ and the whole array of devices you've invented and keep improving are incredible, and because you're so committed to open source/hardware they are an amazing gift to all the people who build and use them. I've been thinking I should send you something anyway as a thank you, so no pressure to spend it on a launchpad. Do whatever you want with it.

Cool... Where is that in the codebase? I wouldn't mind taking a look. The problem with sysex control is that most cheap commercially available controllers can't send be set up to send sysex messages. Again, the nanokontrol as an example: it can easily be set up to send CCs or noteon/noteoffs, not sysexes. So, in order to use a midibox remote control protocol based on sysex, you'd have to put a translator program in the middle somewhere, to convert sysexes to CCs and back again. But if the SEQ provided CCs and noteons/offs mapped directly to the frontpanel button functionality (maybe on a dedicated in/out MIDI port/channel so they wouldn't interfere with the existing CC implementation), users could easily configure commonly available controllers to send/receive those midi signals, and there would be no need for a sysex translator in the middle. And LED feedback would "just work" on many controllers if the SEQ sent LED feedback messages out on those CCs. Granted, there are only so many CCs and MIDI Notes available, but if you used a dedicated port/channel for remote control, there would be 256 controls available... That's more than enough to map all the frontpanel controls. With direct mappings to CCs and noteon/offs, the implementation on the user side would be trivial - the only documentation required would be a list of the CC/note assignments. I've looked at the BLM implementation, code and docs - I have a few ideas for BLM implementations that I may develop at some point. There's some complex stuff going on in the protocol that requires some processing on the controller side. (eg: signals from the SEQ light rows of leds, etc. - it's not a one-to-one button-cc mapping) - it's a little hard to figure out completely from the available docs and code, but I have a pretty good idea of how it works. I'm thinking that if you could have a straightforward one-to-one BLM button to CC/note mapping, then it would also be trivial to implement a BLM using, for example, novation launchpads. All the user would have to do is configure the device's buttons to match the desired SEQ CC's (or edit a config file on the SEQ for MIDI controllers that have fixed CC/note assignments), and the BLM with LED feedback would "just work". Currently, you'd have to write a translator program to sit between the SEQ and the external midi controller There are 256+x buttons on a 16x16 blm - this could be handled on a few midi channels on a dedicated control midi port. Although it may be a lot of midi traffic and might not be practically possible for technical reasons. I've got to go out for a bit and I haven't had a chance to check out the newest firmware much. At first glance I think it's less intuitive with the select button than with the GP+hold, and I'm not sure how the ALL functionality works yet. But I'll dig into it tonight and provide some comments once I've had a chance to really check it out.

I didn't mean to suggest the nanokontrol as anything other than an example of a controller that would work well, and which would respond to simple LED feedback signals from the SEQ. The seq would just be providing "edit currently selected step's parameter layer X" CC's - that would work with any controller. Anyway, you're right - it's a different topic. Seeing how easy it was to set CC values in the new step record mode just gave me the idea. ...and actually, that just gave me another idea: if the Seq provided external control CCs for each of the buttons and encoders available on the hardware frontpanel (and maybe the BLM buttons too), users could just build a core, wire up two LCDs, and use whatever midi controllers they have around as a control surface - I can think of a few controllers or combinations of controllers that would work well. That could make building a functioning seq v4, or extending the functionality of Seqs with the wilba frontpanel very easy and inexpensive. But that's a totally different idea and doesn't belong here right now, just figured I'd mention it so I don't forget it. The step recording thing is really useful. I'm having a lot of fun with it. Thanks again.

To replicate: Initialize a chord track with no contents. Switch to Layer view. All the note parameter layers are set to "---". Activate Force-to-scale. All the note layers now read "c#1" - they don't seem to actually be sending notes though. Deactivate force-to-scale and the note layers read "---" again. Totally minor bug, I don't think it affects anything other than the display, but I thought I'd point it out.

Cool - sounds good. I'm in Toronto too. Once you've had some time to find your way around the device, we should get together sometime for a SEQ jam. I've got it pretty well figured out now, but it's a complex device - I'm sure we could show each other some useful stuff.

I just flashed the last firmware this afternoon... haha. This is great! Thanks again for all the work you put into this device. Step recording is working great for me. A tip for other people who might be having trouble getting ccs to work - you have to leave the CC number unset on the event page in order for it to be learned/recorded. Does the ALL button work with this step recording thing? ie: use step select to select a set of steps, activate ALL button, hold a selected step to record the same values into all selected steps. (edit: just checked. It doesn't work.) ...or, maybe a better implementation would be: while the first step button is held, you could press other step buttons to toggle recording on those steps as well - like step select for the ALL button, but maybe more intuitive for step recording, since you're holding the first step button anyway. Also, while the ALL button is active, pressing step buttons selects/deselects the step, so pressing and holding for step recording while ALL is active would conflict with that functionality. Maybe Layer View should be automatically activated while the step is held for recording - that would allow you to see the changes you're making as you're recording them into the step. Then when the step button is released, the SEQ could switch back to the previous view. ################################ Here's an idea to extend this: It's really great to be able to quickly set CC values with a midi controller potentiometer. It's so quick and easy to get the value to where you want it - much faster than an encoder. It would be great if you could set all the parameter layers this way. If the SEQ provided external CC controller numbers that were assigned to "adjust parameter layer 1", "...2", "...3" ...16 for the currently held step, then you could use an external midi controller to easily adjust all parameter layers for the currently held step without having to wade through the menus. For example, you could set up a Korg nanokontrol (has 8 faders and 8 potentiometer knobs) so that each fader and knob controlled one parameter layer - so one fader would control velocity, one length, probability, etc... Depending on how you initialized your track. Hold a step, move some faders/knobs on the nanokontrol to quickly adjust parameter layers. Some users might not want external faders/knobs to be able to change values in note or chord parameter layers, so maybe an option could be provided to enable/disable external control of chord and note layers via CC ...and to extend the idea even further: The SEQ could also provide external control CCs for the trigger layers, so the trigger layers could also be quickly enabled and disabled from an external controller when a step button is held. You could even activate the LED indicators on the nanokontrol or other midi controllers with LED button indicators by sending MIDI values >0 (anything >= 1 works on most, 127 is required on some controllers, some controllers with multicolor leds require specific values to light certain colors - sending a 1 would be a good default for the "on" state) out from the SEQ on the CC #s for the trigger layers that are active, and sending 0's out to the CCs that are inactive. This would light the LEDs on a lot of commercial controllers without any further programming on the SEQ. So the LEDs would toggle on and off to indicate the state of the corresponding trigger layer. For the nanokontrol2, you have to use the korg software to set the LED control to external. Then, sending a 0 on the right channel to the MIDI CC assigned to a button will turn the LED on that button off, sending a 1 will turn it on. With USB Host working on the STM32f4 core and this feature implemented, a nanokontrol would be a really cheap way to extend the functionality of the SEQ - I can imagine a lot of other uses for a nanokontrol in other modes on the SEQ as well. Lots of buttons and faders on a nanokontrol for ~$60. Here's the Nanokontrol's midi implementation/ parameter guide - http://i.korg.com/uploads/Support/nanoKONTROL2_PG_E1_634479709631760000.pdf This could also work on a keyboard with CC-assignable knobs and faders, or any other MIDI controller with assignable controls, of course. ################ Edit: and a more general unrelated suggestion, but something that comes to mind because I've been switching views a lot to check this new feature out.: Currently, to select an edit view you have to activate edit by pressing the edit button, then press select to show the view menu, then select a view with the GP buttons. It might be more intuitive to show the view menu whenever the edit button is pressed and held - so, to select a view: press+hold edit button, then select a view with the GP buttons, then release the edit button. This would also leave the SELECT button available in edit mode for some other function you might want to add later.

Rather than totally destroying this board trying to pull the LED digits without a solder rework station, maybe the thing to do here is just get another PCB... Do you have PCBs or kits still available, Ilmenator? If so, I'll just build another one and maybe I'll pass this one along to someone who doesn't care too much about the digits. In other news, blowtorches don't make great substitutes for solder rework tools. haha.

I'll take a look and see what I'd have to reroute, but I suspect there would be a lot of rerouting involved. Probably easier to pull and replace them. Thanks a lot for your help, it's much appreciated. You may want to put a note in the Wiki page BOM that the common cathodes have to be on pins 3 and 8 - I haven't used LED digits for much before, it didn't occur to me that the common cathodes might be located on different pins.

Hm. Thanks - I was starting to wonder if that might be the problem... Is that something I can fix with the BPM_DIGITS_COMMONX_PIN settings in the config file, or am I going to have to pull these and install new ones? Argh... How dumb. I found the SC39-12's on Mouser, looked at the datasheet for the part at Reichelt, saw that the SC39-12s were listed, and just assumed they were the same without looking any more closely. I guess these are the right ones? http://ca.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Kingbright/SC39-11GWA/?qs=%2fha2pyFadujZZmhir7g8a4MDNifw%252bt1YLT0eP6qwECY%3d Mouser part #604-SC39-11GWA

I'm using the lemur BLM. I know you can't save patterns with the BLM, I mean that whatever slots are displayed on the BLM's pattern launcher view (I think 32 (edit: 64) slots are visible for each track group - I'm not sure which slots are displayed though, although they seem to start from 1:A1) should match the pattern slots available through a quicksave function - so you could easily save a pattern using the SEQ, then easily launch it using the BLM.

Thanks. Hardware loopback is an interesting idea - I'll have to try that. For now, the bus track running everything is working fine though.

Edit: I misunderstood the question - I agree both of these are good ideas.

...like, if I've got a track that's playing slow pads (a sequence of 8 whole notes), can I send that track to a synth, but also send the track through a bus to run an arpeggiator or transpose track on the Seq? I guess I could just make a bus track, and use that track to transpose two other tracks (one slow pad track and one faster arpeggio)... Is that the typical workflow?

Save button definitely works for me - that could pull up the same sort of 16-slot display as SONG page+SELECT does, and it could save the currently selected pattern into slot 1-16 when GP1-16 is pressed. Patterns for Track Group 1 could use 1:A1-16, TG2 could use 2:A1-16, etc. (Or maybe it should be 1:A17-32, etc. - that way these saves wouldn't overwrite the save-all-patterns slots available in SONG page+SELECT) What pattern slots are displayed on the BLM pattern screen? Is it 1:A1-32, 2:A1-32, etc? The pattern slots on the save screen should be available on the BLM.... ...I hope I'm not coming off as being really pushy here - this was just an idea I had that I thought would be useful. I'm not demanding that it be implemented or anything. This sequencer is really amazing just as it is.

That would be perfect (edit: although this could result in people who didn't mean to use the quick save function accidentally saving over things by unintentionally pressing GP9-16 - maybe there should be a confirmation page after selecting 1-8 (this would also allow quick save users to see whether there's anything in the slot they selected)). EDIT AGAIN: Actually, the "SAVE" button would have to be somewhere on the save page - maybe A-H and 1-8 could both be selected using GP9-16 Absolutely - just an idea I had, not thinking about RAM usage... If it's not easy, it's not worth doing. I'd wind up using the "quick save" function you describe above all the time anyway.

Hm... Just went over U1 and U2, as well as all the connected resistors and caps - they all look fine, no shorts between legs of the ICs, etc. Still getting the same pattern on the 7-segment LEDs.

OK - thanks. I'll take another look at the schematic - it's a bit of a complex schematic to read with all the leds, but I guess I'll take a second look and see if I can figure it out. ...or maybe I'll just go over all the U1 and U2 IC leg soldering again.

So, turns out the LED matrixes I ordered are too big - had to order more. In the meantime, I tried plugging my TPD module in without the LED matrixes. I set up the config file (the TPD is connected to my wilba frontpanel). The tempo encoder works, but the LED segment numbers don't seem to be working - two segments are lit on all the numbers, see the picture below. Could this be because the LED matrixes are not soldered on yet, or is this a symptom of a soldering problem? The 7-segment LED numbers are these ones: http://ca.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Kingbright/SC39-12GWA/?qs=JpELLRhtMc3ti3iuxtHgpw== I want to make sure I haven't screwed up any of the SMD soldering under the LED matrixes before I solder them on.

On the save page, you have to hit save twice to save a pattern - on the first screen you select the pattern and the target, then hit save. Then, on the second screen you name the saved pattern and hit save again. Trouble is, the save button is in a different spot on the two screens - on the first it's GP#8, on the second it's GP#16. If the save button was in the same place on both screens, it would be easier to quickly save patterns, especially when you don't want to bother naming the pattern - then you could just quickly hit the button twice. Could the save button on the first screen be moved to GP#16? Also, it would be great to have a button that would automatically select the first empty slot in the selected pattern bank as the save target (so you don't have to spin through all the slots with the encoder to find an empty one)... This button could go in GP#8 if the save button was moved to GP#16... It would also be cool to add an auto-name feature so you could get easy to remember names without having to program them in - you could implement this by having a long list of random words (eggplant, tree, horse, Brazil, lampshade) on the SD card, and having a button on the naming screen that randomly selects one of the words from the list to use as a name. Is it easy for users to add at least a few hundred words to the "PRESET" list without recompiling the firmware (like in a config file somewhere)? If so, this is already half-implemented... Maybe the button under the "PRESET" knob (GP#15) could be used to randomly select a word from the list of presets? Usability wise, it would be useful if pressing the <> button (GP#12) toggled cursor position between the first character of the category and the first character of the name.

@stuartm - That's really helpful - thanks. How does the "dump" work? Are all 16 mixer map colums (and all 12 pages of mixer map data per column) always dumped when you set up an automatic mixer map dump? Can you manually trigger a mixer map dump by pressing a button or something, or can you only trigger a dump by tying it to a pattern change, etc.? [EDIT: never mind - in Mixer Map mode, hold SELECT and choose the dump option to dump all 16 columns of mixer map data] Is there any way to send just one column of mixer map data?

The manual doesn't really explain what Mixer Maps are very clearly - I gather they're a way to reconfigure midi ports/channel routing internally on the Seq, and to send a bunch of MIDI signals from the Seq to any connected devices. And they can be setup to automatically send on pattern changes, etc. But the documentation isn't really clear on how exactly Mixer Maps work and what they're used for. I thought maybe some of you nice people might try explaining them a little more clearly, and maybe giving some examples of how you use them... Each mixer map has 16 columns - Am I right to think that each column corresponds to one Seq track - ie: column 3 configures track 3 and the synth attached to track 3? If you set the midi channel (or bus) in the Mixer Map, how does that relate to the midi channel (or bus) set for the track? I notice that changing the bus and midi channel for (eg:) track 2 in the mixer map doesn't seem to change the bus and channel settings on that track's event page. The manual says that mixer maps contain "64 free assignable CCs (4 for each port)" - how are the CC's related to the port? Does that mean you can set up 4 ccs for USB3 (and those CCs will apply to all tracks using USB3) and 4 different ccs for OUT1, etc.? Why do the CCs relate to the port instead of the track? Is this because it's assumed you'd have only one synth connected to each port? There seem to be references in the manual and in some of the videos to using the Mixer Maps as a way to send CC and prog change signals whenever the user wants - some of the videos say Mixer Maps are "like a midi controller" - could someone explain this? There are references to "dumping" maps - does this mean that the whole map must be sent at once - ie: you can't just use it to send one arbitrary CC value? Do you have to "dump" the map for all tracks at once, or can you just "dump" to one track? I'd guess one of the uses of Mixer Maps is to set up your synths with the sound you've chosen for a particular pattern by sending a prog change message, and maybe setting volume, panning, modulation, or other CCs. Could someone explain the steps required to do that though? For example, let's say I only wanted to send a prog change and a volume setting to the synth attached to track 3. How exactly would I do that? Any explanations would be greatly appreciated - In particular, I think it would be really useful to hear how you use the Mixer Maps feature. Also, does "panorama" mean "panning", as in panning a sound to the left or right speaker? Can Mixer Maps send sysex messages? ################ ...The more I dig into this Sequencer, the more amazing it gets. Having so much fun with this thing - thanks again, TK and everyone who put time into making this thing so great.