bosone

i was wondering... is it possible to record a complete sequence performance, meaning: to MIDI record what you are doing on the sequencer itself? today i was tring to improve my seq understanding and use... and i was recording on sonar the seq MIDI output (notes, cc, and so on). but as i was recording the patterns, i was also playing with track mutes and sometimes changing patterns content (notes positions, track direction...etc). this is maybe just an idea for future improvements: it could be interesting implementing an option in which you can MIDI record what are you actually doing on the sequencer while it is playing, so that for example, if you mute a track, the SEQ outputs an appropriate MIDI message to tell that the particular track was muted. the midi CC implementation already exist, so you can contol pattern, scales, and with remote functions you can remotely press GP buttons in order to activate or deactivate notes gates and so on. the idea i had is an option to activate a "reverse" midi CC implementation and remote functions, so that, for example, if you press GP1, the midi events: C-7 | 0x60 | MIDI Remote Key C-2 | 0x24 | GP Button #1 (from mbseqv3_remote_functions.txt files) are generated and can be stored in sonar, cubase or other sequencer. when you playback the sonar files, the midibox sequencer is remotely controlled by sonar, and the exact performace you did is repeated (and can be changed, edited...) maybe this can be considered a sort of advanced song mode in which a sequencer (sonar) controls another sequencer (midibox). for example you start from 4 muted patterns (A1, B1,C1,D1), start record on sonar and press play on the sequencer. now you can unmute and mute tracks, change patterns, modify events, act on every seq parameter which is already automated or remotely controlled. every change is recorded by sonar with the CC automation and remote functions already existing. when you have finished improvising on your track, you can recall the first 4 patterns (A1, B1,C1,D1), mute them press play on sonar, and the exact performance you made on the sequencer is repeated automatically, can be offline edited etc etc... the idea is simple, but i bet the implementation could very complicated or even impossible!! :P

glad too that it's not just me!!! :P :P what about delaying the metronome audio signal while recording?! i can achieve it via software in my soundcard... i'll try and let you know!

i don't know if it's me or if it's the sequencer... i'm tring to record some phrase with my keyboard into the sequencer using the "record" function (NOT the STEP mode). i turn of the seq metronome and i try to play in time (damn.. i think i'm able to play in time.. at least when i record on sonar the events lay down well into the grid! :P) the problem is that the notes that i record are always out of time!!! often before the beat... is a quantization of the midi event possible? ??? or really it's me who is having problem?!?! :-[ another idea: is it possible an "undo" or "delete" function right inside the record menu, to delete the sequence just recorded, just to speed up the recording process?

could a layout like this be used with SID 2.0? are the code modification for the control surface still (more or less) the same for the 2.0?

great! exactly what i was looking for! ;D

hI! i was thinking about "Upgrading" the control surface of my SID, after moving to ver. 2.0 now i have step A CS, with only a rotary and buttons. the whole thing is mounted on a c64 case (new type), and the main "problem" is that i don't have a lot of space inside the case (very different from the "old biscuit case"), so installing everything will be very problematic so, i was wondering if there is a way to mount less things (so less PCB boards and cables inside...) and having a smaller, but usable, CS. for sure, i want to install the mod matrix some rotary, maybe 5-6, and some button. the question: is there someone who constructed a "custom" control surface with a single rotary/button preposed to control very different things? (example: rotary for ADSR control which control both the OSC envelope the filter, and the mod envelope...)

if your LCD are not backlighted it should be sufficient...

well... i didnt noticed this. anyway... what about just rotating the pad 45 degres?!? :-) somelike odd to use, but... i will try!!! thanks! PS: what is midibox ORB !?

yes! i solved the flickering problem!! preamble: i checked now with a tester and between ground and the string wire (signal) at rest (so when the string is not touched) i read 0.21V. i added a diode with threshold voltage of about 0.15V (i had it a home, i was lucky). the diode reads: 1N5180 between ground and signal. in this way flickering was reduce but not deleted. then i had the idea of adding a small cap. it was a cap spared from the sid filter or from the midibox power supply i think, so it should be in the 1-100 nF range, i don't know... anyway, by doing these two operations, the flickering was totally eliminated!! :-) to CIMO: i don't think the tape length is a problem, since ACSensorizer can interpolate any signales between 0 and 5 V. i think it is more a matter of having a good resolution... edit: i feel the diode is completely useless... but now since it's not broken i will not fix it!! :-)

yes! i solved the flickering problem!! preamble: i checked now with a tester and between ground and the string wire (signal) at rest (so when the string is not touched) i read 0.21V. i added a diode with threshold voltage of about 0.15V (i had it a home, i was lucky). the diode reads: 1N5180 between ground and signal. in this way flickering was reduce but not deleted. then i had the idea of adding a small cap. it was a cap spared from the sid filter or from the midibox power supply i think, so it should be in the 1-100 nF range, i don't know... anyway, by doing these two operations, the flickering was totally eliminated!! :-) edit: i feel the diode is completely useless... but now since it's not broken i will not fix it!! :-)

this could be a wise solution, but honestly i'm not able to design a custom circuit to achieve this!!! and you have also to read the signal by precise timing... :( i suggest you to use it as a "standard" linear touchpad... if i remember well, connect 0-5 to left right, solder together the up/down connector and pick up the signal from this latter two pins. you should have a linear pot! i tought that, by having an appropriate software like NI traktor, you can use it for Scratching mp3 like a dj with turntable. but i don't have tracktor and i didn find any free-software with this function! (if you know just tell me!)

se ho capito bene... secondo me non funziona... la resistenza variabile è quella tra i due capi della corda sospesa sopra il nastro. avere un tape lungo un metro ma con una corsa della corda (l'elemento che poi vai a toccare) di 10 cm non cambia le cose... io l'ho fatto lungo per avere più risoluzione e perchè avevo in mente che avere una corsa lunga sia più comodo in fase di utilizzo... un ribbon di 5 cm sinceramente non lo vedo così utile... :-) (ma neanche di un metro!!!) se fai il conto, 127 step in risoluzione MIDI di Control change in 30 cm sono circa 1 step di CC ogni 4 mm, che secondo me non è male e lascia molto margine di azione...

i dont think it will change anything if the tape is recorded... also because i'm using the backside of the tape itself. give a look here http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=8401.msg73154#msg73154 where i discuss the flickering problem i have when the circuit is open...

why it does flicker?? i built a ribbon controller, and it behaves good, but it flicker with an high range when i don't touch it (so when it should be at minimum value). look at my project here: http://www.alchemystudio.it/Strumenti/ACSensorizer/ACSensorizer_en.html if i don't touch the wire (so the "circuit is open") and i measure the voltage, it reads 0.35 V and it's pretty stable. it maybe reads +/- 0.01 V but on the ACSensorizer, when i use autosense, the values read flicker in the 0-70 range (out of 255 scale), very fastly if i touch the the ribbon, the voltage remains stable as before, and the ACSensorizer values become stable, and the minimum value that i can achieve is around 35. of course i could set the minimum value to 80 or 90, but i'd lose a significant part of the ribbon... what should be the reason of this flickering at minimum values on the ACSEnsorizer?? i tried to change PIC AIN channel, but nothing happens. and why the voltage read seems stable and the acsensorizer input is not? beside this, the two distance sensors doesnt show this problem. an idea i had: if i short circuit one of the two side of the guitar string with the tape, i would obtain a definite and fixed value (for example the minimum) when i dont touch the string. but, even if this is working and i could use the "release detect" function, this changes the behaviour of the ribbon from linear to something logaritmic (or parabolic or so on...), so it's not so usable... you have for example the first half of the ribbon which changes from 1 to 30 (in MIDI CC steps) and the other half from 31 to 127 (and if you consider the half of this half the behaviour is practically the same!)... so this is not option i would like to consider...

i recorded another video using a ribbon controller the details about the ribbon: http://www.alchemystudio.it/Strumenti/ACSensorizer/ACSensorizer_en.html

finally i completed my project. it seems to work pretty well... but i have to find out a way to avoid flickering at minimum value when i don't press it, the AC Sensorizer reads values between 0 and 60 (out of 127), while the minimum touch is at 30.... i think i will try to make a contact so that if i don't press anything it stays at maximum value look in my site: http://www.alchemystudio.it/Strumenti/ACSensorizer/ACSensorizer_en.html

honestly, i didnt created a lot of presets... but i would like to set up a preset exchange or a preset library for the SEQ3, expecially for bass and arpeggiator patterns. for SID there was a "public library", for SEQ no... is there a reason? perhaps you don't want to share your entire songs (i never created one, since i create the patterns and record them on sonar for further editing), and limiting the sharing to single patterns... what do you think about this?

it depends on what you want to do. it doesnt transmit velocity, only CC, so you have to program well your sounds...

for people who lives in northern italy. on next saturday (8 september) there will be a nice electronic fleamarket in Marzaglia, near modena, in which you can find, exchange, buy, sell, components and "old" electronic apparatus. i foudn there a lot of stuff for my midiboxes!

no, the app was exactly the one provided by audiocommander. i'm not accustomed to C.... so i don't know how to start to customize things!! the only customization i made was actually an hardware one... since i had only three encoder at home (and box needed 4 encoders...) i connected one encoder to a switch, in oder to "double" it... so with the 2 position switch and one encoder i can handle both the menu selection and the sensor selection... i miss one button because i planned to use an external pedal (the pedal is absolutely necessary for autosensing) the third button you see is the "panic" one but actually i never used it, so i think i will change it to "pedal"...

i posted this in the appropriate section of the "midibox user projects" sectino, but i'd like to repeat the announcement here... ;D after some days of work in august i finally terminated my AC Sensorized box based on audiocommander software (http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/acsensorizer_04) It mounts two distance sensors Sharp GP2D12 (D-BEAM like) and two external plug to connect different sensor... i tried with a breath controller and with a custom built ribbon controller, but i have to make a better design of this... more photos of the construction can be found on my page http://www.alchemystudio.it/Strumenti/ACSensorizer/ACSensorizer_en.html and you can watch a video here of me using the distance sensor.

i just uploaded this video on youtube of me using acsensorizer with a solo violin of garritan personal orchestra and added some photos on my website http://www.alchemystudio.it/Strumenti/ACSensorizer/ACSensorizer_en.html i also have a quick question... when you set the mix-max sensor value (for example with autosense) what happens to the values below and above the min / max ? i sometimes have the feeling that they are somewhat interpolated depending on the sense factor.... because it happens sometimes to me that if the sensor output is below the minimum, it behaves strangely... i mean, i would have written some lines of code like: if AIN_value > max_sense_factor then AIN_value=max_sense_factor if AIN_value < min_sense_factor then AIN_value=min_sense_factor where AIN_value is the output from the sensor min_sense_factor / max_sense_factor are the values set with autosense (for example) i didnt look at the code so i don't know how are the variables and how they are handled...

just pay attention to the fact that whatever "standard" midibox project you will made, it will not support something like a musical keyboard with midi-velocity notes...

yes, i too read about SVHS tapes. mine was a common VHS for commond TV videorecorder... but i had to try several of my "collection" at home in order to find a good one (where "good" means: with the backside of the tape that show some resistivity - in the order of 100koh - most of them were totally insulating...)

after the building of the AC sensorizer i'm wondering how to achieve a sort of ribbon controller... these are my first steps, after searching for thru the net... i used a piece of a common VHS videotape to make the base of the ribbon contrller. its resistivity is a function of length. i tried different brands before finding a good one: several where not conductive on both sides. the right one had only one side conductive. i assembled everything on a piece of hard paper, for now, and i used a "suspended" guitar string to make a contact between the finger and the VHS tape. the string doesnt touch the tape, the contact comes only when i press the finger... this is a little tricky but feasible... the problem is the string tension which maybe will tend to loose... maybe it will be necessary some other method to fix it... for now it's just "tied" to some hard adhesive... i also used some "conductiver tape" to achieve contacts between all the parts. when i apply 0-5 V at the edge of the vhs tape, press the guitar string somewhere in between, i read a varying voltage... exaclty as expected! :-) now i have to think how to fix everything and, moreover, i have to find a way so solder wires... it's not as strightforward as it seems... maybe i will use some little of piece of PCB boards to fix the string, the tape and the wires... DSCF3587.JPG