audiocommander

lol ;D apropos "time to fix this": the mclock code has also been improved (as ACSyncronizer) in my latest ACSensorizer release (see wiki). Maybe this is of some use; It doesn't use any buffers though, just timing stuff, master/slave support & auto detection (that means it can also receice clock signals in contrast to the original mclock example), and I fixed some potential buffer overflows. cheers, Michael

Hi, I just released version 0.4.5: * sync start signal is now recognized (SLAVE & MASTER), * a continue signal is sent each bar (MASTER) * a start signal is sent on patch load (MASTER) * the harmonizer is now working as expected with base notes http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=acsensorizer_04#application_software thanks again for beta testing; I haven't recognized these things as I was running this version mostly stand-alone without any sequencers ;) best regards, Michael

looks good; I'd fix everything on a wood plate and maybe I would also think about turning the items; I can imagine it's more comfortly to weep along a SVHS tape than a guitar string? dunno :) Maybe there are more ways to construct this; the gap is surely a tricky mechanical thing. I know of some footswitches / dancemats that work with thin foam layers... Anyway, cool project! Best, Michael Edit: just because I read somewhere that it's important to use a SVHS tape: you were successful with a normal VHS tape, is that right? that would be cool...

done ;) Thanks mrmeana!

Indeed, the SpeakJet-Chip only supports the english (or more correctly: the North American English) phoneme range. It isn't for example possible to enunciate a german "r". If you listen to Rio's german example "Der Weltraum - unendliche Weiten" you can hear that "Weiten" - which would correctly be pronounced like "wighten" or "whiten" is pronounced like "weighten" or "waiten". There is also the TTS-SpeakJet Companion Chip; a Text-To-Speech Chip that can be connected in-between the serial connection to the SpeakJet and simply contains the (EN-to-Phonemes-) Dictionary that is also contained in the Magnevation PC-Application. Best regards, Michael

http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=hd44780_compatible

und wird einer der Chips heiß oder sind die beide kalt? Ich habe auch 'ne tote FM, aber ich vermute, dass es an einem defekten Chip (YMF oder YAC) liegt; wenn du das mehrmals ausgetauscht hast, klingt das eher nach einem Fehler auf dem Board. Hast du den Interconnection Test schon gemacht? Grüße, Michael

yeah, that's right. Sending a CONTINUE works with my Electribe, but it might not work with every sequencer. I just added a START signal whenever a patch is loaded. I don't think it's useful to send a START with every bpm change; I guess the best way for this is the load button. I see this is a bit tricky, maybe I get some ideas how to handle this later on; for the moment I think it's tolerateable... As the sensorizer is receiving START messages in both modes (and the forwarding is enabled anyway); it might work to send a START message from another connected device via ACSensorizer? Cheers, Michael

Hi Bosone, good point ;D Would it help to send a CONTINUE signal each bar when in MASTER mode? I don't know if your sequencer will behave correctly this way; I can't see how to implement a START/STOP handling because it's no sequencer. You're right with the slave-mode; I forgot to implement a start/stop receiver, that's because you notice a delay, because it simply does not recognize the right downbeat; I will correct this. Regarding the load/write buttons: I would really recommend to use green/red buttons and keep the recommended HUI-layout, else it's surely a bit more complicated to handle. thanks for beta-testing :) best, Michael Edit: I attached a quick fix with the sent continue (master & slave) and the recognition of a start signal, should work now... ACSensorizer_0.4.5_encType2.syx.zip ACSensorizer_0.4.5_encType2.syx.zip

You're right, I have to take a look at this; but it seems that you can just ignore the base note for now. the slowdown is from the time where there was no quantizer. it is true that values above 25 are somewhat unuseable, but I see no reason why to waste some bytes to restrict this; maybe it's useful for someone. I recommend not to use the slowdown at all, until you have a reason to. (also see below) Not sure what you mean? it says: "assignable (...) Controller-Number or Note_On generation" That means if "CC" is saying "NTE" (0) you are sending NOTEs; if "CC" is showing a number between 1 and 127 you are sending ControllerChanges! I chose this, because it's very unlikely that anyone wants to send CC#0 which is a bankSelect, and I really had to watch over the available space. Just connect two sensors, set NTE for the first one and CC#7 for the second one and see what happens :) If you're sending Notes from a connected Keyboard, the Sensorizer harmonizes the incoming events too and sends them to the output, regardless of sensor-specific settings. If you hear nothing, it may be probably connected wrong (?) Just increase the quantisation! I assume you have your signal sent with 32. or 48. or without any quantisation! Set it to 1/8. notes! After you have done that you could increase the gaps between the notes further with the Slowdown; that could be useful to trigger more random events. Thanks :) I plan to upload some vids too, but haven't also found no time yet. Cheers! Michael

you may find connectors like these on all kinds of computer and electronic pcbs; maybe you can cannibalize one; the size shouldn't be very rare.

Hi Bosone, congrats :) From what I read, I think you don't have no HUI yet, and probably no LCD either, right? An LCD is really required for this; except maybe youre swapping Banksticks with presetted patches. The pedal only works with certain pedal modes; so if no special pedal mode is set, you won't hear any difference. The modes are: Also see the "Pedal Modes" on the Onscreen-LCD-Menu Overview picture: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=acsensorizer_04#manuallcd-menu You can only setup the sensorizer with NRPN Messages' date= these are ordered sequences of Controller Messages. I think it's documented quite well in the Wiki; though I must admit this method is a pain in the arse, but it's just an emergency setup possibility in case no Encoders are available: A remote setup program emulating the HUI is included for Mac OS X. If you're on windows or linux, there are some MiniAudicle Scripts attached to make this process easier; though you have to adapt these scripts to your requirements and system. Therefor I definitely recommend building a Huser Interface Input with Encoders! So, to sum it up: - connect a LCD - connect a HUI module with Encoders and Buttons to be able to calibrate the sensors Yes, I tried many times, but always failed. The thing that annoyed me most is the requirement for a higher voltage. But anyway, that's exactly the reason why there's the sensorizer! You don't need no amplification circuits with the ACSensorizer, just connect the sensor to the AIN, calibrate: done! Yes. Just send a clock and it's automatically slave. Stop the clock and it switches to master. Agreed' date=' this would be nice, but this is no arpeggiator/sequencer, it's a sensorizer. I share the believe that a device/application should concentrate on it's main purpose and do this perfect, instead of the ability to do everything "a little bit". Afaik there are one or more MB-Arpeggiators available, just build one and hook it after the sensorizer. Besides, there is really nearly no more space available for additional features and I don't plan to swap the PIC type atm. Just connect your HUI and some more sensors and you see that you get arpeggiator/chord-like structures if you vary the quantisation values of the sensors! See the last step, "Sensor Calibration" in the step-by-step tutorial: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=acsensorizer_04#step-by-step_building_instructions I would have to look up some values first, but in v.0.4.4. the autosense-mode is really working beautiful, you should give that a try! (but you can only access this feature with a working LCD and a pedal). I'm using the sensors in quite different ways, but most times I have them covered with a red perspex (plexi) plate, like the small LED windows that can be found on the front of remote controls. You should experiment first, so no reflections can occur if you place something in front of the Sensors. keep me updated with your progress :) Best, Michael ps: I must admit that I have no clue about Optocupplers and such; but this is also more related to building a Core Module than something to be covered here in the ACSensorizer topic. Maybe you should open up a new topic for help on the Core and then return to specific questions on the sensorizer :-\

I just stumbled over a book I bought last week, that does seem like a good one for a very reasonable price: "C Programmieren von Anfang an" von Helmut Erlenkötter, rororo, 9.90 €, ISBN: 3-499-60074-9 http://www.erlenkoetter.de/html/c.htm What I like about it (besides the price) is that it's very clear structured and contains line-by-line explained examples for every entry; that makes it a valueable book not only to learn but also to look up things later. Regards, Michael

Man darf natürlich auch nicht vergessen, dass die zweieinhalb Euros die das u.U. mehr kostet, das auch eindeutig wert sind: SmashTVs Platinen sind von extrem guter Qualität; weil es beidseitige Platinen sind, braucht man keine Brücken löten und die Bedruckung lässt eine Assemblierung einer Platine und das spätere Arbeiten damit zur wahren Freude werden. Alle Löcher haben die passenden Größen und die interaktiven Grafiken auf Smashs Seite sind auch ziemlich fein. Nicht falsch verstehen, ich schätze den Service und die Leckerlis von Mike auch sehr :-* und freue mich, dass es ihn gibt (manches wie die Bankstick PCBs kriegt man auch nur bei Mike, und bei anderen Platinen sind die Unterscheide nur marginal); nur die Core/DIN/DOUT Platinen sind meiner Meinung nach bei SmashTV einfach unschlagbar. Fazit: Du kannst ja auch nur einige Platinen bei Smash kaufen und den Rest bei Mike, damit sind auch eventuell fällige Einfuhrsteuern zu verschmerzen :) Grüße, Michael

Hi Sasha, thanx again for your kind words :D well, that depends... The problem gets bigger the bigger the interaction area gets. Normally sensors must not be expensive. For example my skin-resistance sensor circuits: I started with buying premade circuits for 10 EURs, now I'm making my own circuit that's 1000% better and costs about 3 Cents ;D A nice source for sensors are homebrewed LEGO Minstorm sensors, you could do a search on google; also: our wiki where I placed some nice links (esp. the sensor-wiki: http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensors ) you can always go and spend 100$ on a super hitech tilt-sensor, but at the same time you could (just as an example) experiment with salted water and two electrodes... or some mechanical solutions (see the famous midi-sofa from seppoman)... possibilities are endless! especially for someone with your recycling skills :) best, Michael

Hi Sasha, thanks for your feedback - I love them all! ;D well, there are sensors that look amazing when being used, but the level of control depends on the purpose. That means, I love to let others operate with IR-Sensors, but when it comes to make music, I prefer the unspectacular ones with a bit finer haptic control, such as linear pots, pressure pads, lower range IRs. But with the new features like the fine output range tuning and the optimized auto-calibration, it's really fun to operate any sensor type. It can be even funny to make music with an analogue pot! I rather find that the quality of movement or interaction changes with the different types; so to say a cybernetic feedback mechanism :) Cheers, Michael ps: if I find some time, I will upload some tutorial videos, too

hooray, after I hopefully tilted out the last nasty bug, here is the first relatively stable BETA release ACSensorizer 0.4.4 I also updated the doku and added a step-by-step tutorial =) http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=acsensorizer_04 If you're on a mac, you can test the application super-easily: all you need is one core-module; the HUI can be simulated by a MAC OS X ACSensorizer HUI-Simulator via NRPN-Midi-Messages. I'd welcome any kind of feedback, because I really got the feeling this app has every potential to get quite popular. As far as I know it's the cheapest sensor box available – with features that can be found nowhere else! => very easy to setup, auto-calibration, quantisation & syncing, harmonisation & note-on triggering... I know of no other box that can do this. And there are lots of super-expensive sensorBoxes around =) Cheers, Michael

outch, sorry to hear that :-\ could it be some of them got too much voltage? dimmed LEDs often got too much power, eg. connected without resistor for some time or something like that... I once connected 72 LEDs (= 144 solderings) with wires after a faulty plan; had to resolder everything... :P Michael

yeh, see it like this: The basic C ist just the main grammar, like - variables - operators - loops & conditions - functions That's it. Basically. Every language has these basic syntax and grammar items; for objective oriented languages, there are some more things to learn, but with similar simple languages like C, PHP, JavaScript, Java, Perl... that's it. Once you got that, you can either: - write your own low level functions (that would be to re-invent the wheel) - or use existing low level functions (either in seperate files or bundled into libraries) In theory it's the same if you get your variable 'i' either from the console (with the stdin library): [tt]sscanf(stdio, "%i", i); // read input number from console[/tt] or from a MIOS function: [tt]i = MIOS_DIN_PinGet(pin); // read state of pin number[/tt] see, it's just a matter of reading the function reference, once you know where the "i", the "=" and the ";" belongs. So, to sum it up: Learning a language consists of three steps: 1. you have to learn and get the syntax! 2. you have to program by yourself. Don't start with a huge IDE, just take a notepad (with the ability to compile the textfile, so you can learn on simple "one-filers"). 3. you have to know how to look up: if you can manage the syntax, you just have to learn how and where to look up function and library references. Nobody can ever remember a thousand functions, it's normal to look these things up, so you don't have to "learn" all this complicated stuff. The main syntax is enough, for the rest you can search your preferred documentation. Regards, Michael

You can only use standard C that works without having to include any libraries at all - and the MIOS functions: http://www.ucapps.de/cmios_fun.html An exception to this roule is the SDCC-lib which was adapted for MIOS (required for multiplications and divisions), but it costs very much application space. Regards, Michael

jup, sounds right. I was astonished too, that I can save 256 patches on one (!) BS (1 patch uses 2 pages), this results in 16 Banks with 127 programs each for 8 BSs (= 2048 patches total, so your calculation is right). :) Regards, Michael

On a PC you have all kinds of standard libraries, for example <stdio.h> for in- and outputs, eg. reading the console-input with scanf() and using printf() to print chars to the console-output. Of course these libraries are not available on the PIC, so you have only to learn the C-basics like: Syntax, Grammar, Data-Tyes, Functions, etc... These topics are all handled quite well in this book. I found it's one of the least confusing books regarding this issue compared to others ;) Regards, Michael

yup, I recommend this book (german) : you can test the first chapters and if you're okay with it, order the printed version.

Hi Olivier, this sounds very much like the result of one (or more) sensors not connected properly. I discoverd that if you leave one pin unconnected, the signal of the neighboured pins "strays". This may be not as obvious as it sounds, 'cause the problem may also be the neighbour; esp. if you mix different types of analogue inputs. If it once worked, I'd say a broken or bridged connection sounds most probably. Maybe something got w(e)ired when you mounted it in the case? Is only a special type of sensors affected? If it's the IR Distance Sensors: I recently distroyed one cause I mixed up + and - and didn't notice that for some seconds :-\ Since I found connecting sensors to the AIN sometimes a pain in the arse, I use to solder extra 3-pin connectors on a seperate PCB. These pins allow quick grounding with a jumper or to switch the sensors easily to check for hardware errors: Regards, Michael