Jump to content

First steps taken..


enron_hubbard
 Share

Recommended Posts

Orders placed with SmashTV for CORE and SEQ_CS PCBs, as well as a pair of MIDI_IO PCBs and an AOUT_NG. Also ordered the 74HC165 and 74HC595 chips necessary for the front panel since I couldn't find them on Mouser. BOM for all the other parts necessary for the panel and CORE are getting ordered in a day or two, including the LCDs and ST module. Got on the bulk order list for the BLM PCB, hopefully that'll come up soon.

I didn't order anything for cases because I'm planning on a custom, single-piece panel for the entire control surface. Luckily, I'm getting involved with a local makerspace, so I'll have access to a laser cutter, CNC mill, and 3D printer. Attached is a (very) rough idea of the layout I'm looking to do. The harmonic table keyboard and knob/fader bank will likely need a dedicated minicore (DIN/DOUT and AINSER modules), and I haven't quite sussed out how that will interface to my main core, but that's a something that's on the back burner. For now, I'm focusing on getting the SEQ's core module with panel up and running, then moving on to the BLM section.

For ins & outs, I'm planning on 2x MIDI In, 6x MIDI out, and 8x CV/Gate coming from the AOUT_NG. Basically, I want to be able to have a central sequencing/performance box that can control everything I could possibly throw at it.

Thoughts?

Screenshot 2016-02-22 at 8.32.30 AM.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i am plaing something like this, but with a custom Sequencer software and hardware instead of Wilbas Frontpanel

in my case the Frontplates are individual Plates for the different devices, mounted on trusses...in order to be modular in the future...

the trusses are mounted in a road-Case, which i will order from Thoman.de

 

i am interested in your Harmonic Table!!! good idea! If the Buttons can be illuminated - and you plan to order a PCB for that? (illumination to show currently played MelodySequence &or harmonic fitting Notes)  - i am possibly in for that, or @ least interesting @ the way you going it on....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Phatline said:

i am interested in your Harmonic Table!!! good idea! If the Buttons can be illuminated - and you plan to order a PCB for that? (illumination to show currently played MelodySequence &or harmonic fitting Notes)  - i am possibly in for that, or @ least interesting @ the way you going it on....

There are a couple forum posts about a harmonic table/isomorphic keyboard - for instance, here has a few videos embedded the approach the isomorphic idea. And here is a video of someone's design with a really clever hack to use velocity sensitivity, where there are two PCBs sandwiched together. The upper PCB has a bunch of Cherry MX switches on it, and each switch has the bottom cut out of it so the plunger goes all the way through the switch and down to hit a tactile switch on teh lower pcb. It measures the time between the two keypresses to calculate the velocity level.

One way I'd like to approach it would be to fab a PCB, and use the Sparkfun button pads. Latigid On posted his variation on a PCB for 4x4 button pads, each using a through-hole RGB led - the core concept would use something like that, but each column would be vertically offset by 50%, the same way the velocity sensitive version has the keys staggered (image attached). It would have to be a single PCB (probably 8 rows by 12 columns) but using 1x4 strips of the Sparkfun buttons. The one thing that's giving me pause with implementing it this way would be the loss of velocity sensitivity, but I think it's worth the gain with the illuminated buttons. 

You could probably set it up so the way each button is lit differs based on the mode it's set to. For example, say you want to force it to follow a keyscale for a specific track - just select the track in SEQ, and the buttons on the harmonic table corresponding to that key light up in blue. If you want a different keyscale, use a rudimentary input method (buttons/encoder) to select the root and scale, and the right buttons light up in green. If you want to use the full chromatic scale with a harmonic layout, the whole thing lights up with blue for natural notes and green for sharps/flats. Or you could change the layout so one row is naturals, and the row above it is sharps/flats. And there's probably a bunch more you could do with it that I'm not even thinking of yet.

I'm more of a tinkerer than an engineer, so I'd have to stumble through a PCB design for this. I'll probably end up doing a perfboard version for prototyping with a bunch of tactile switches to get it off the ground.

Looks like I should pick up a DIN/DOUT board and all the parts to go with it.. :)

Screenshot 2016-02-22 at 10.56.31 AM.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Phatline said:

in my case the Frontplates are individual Plates for the different devices, mounted on trusses...in order to be modular in the future...

the trusses are mounted in a road-Case, which i will order from Thoman.de

 

Woah, I never even thought about doing it that way! ::facepalm for idiocy:: that would be so much easier than having one massive panel! I guess I can fab the front panels for all the control surfaces for each module as I go, and then build the case once it's all done - thank you so much for the idea!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

for me i dont need Velocity on the Harmonic table... since in my concept the melody-velocity is overruled from the Drum-Sequence-Velocity (in fact they only sound when a drumtrigger comes in).... but for the Drumsequence (remoted from BLM) i will need 16x Velocity-sense Pads, to trigger the Drumsequence in,

in my concept the DrumTriggerpads are next to the BLMs Tracks, like your picture only in 2 rows...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, I see what you're looking to do. I've always thought about drum sequences as a grid-based affair, with velocities coming from some external formula (expression pedal or CC changes) so velocity sensitivity hasn't mattered to me when sequencing. For playing on velocity sensitive pads, my KMI QuNeo has always been the go-to. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, enron_hubbard said:

Orders placed with SmashTV for CORE and SEQ_CS PCBs, as well as a pair of MIDI_IO PCBs and an AOUT_NG.

For ins & outs, I'm planning on 2x MIDI In, 6x MIDI out, and 8x CV/Gate coming from the AOUT_NG. Basically, I want to be able to have a central sequencing/performance box that can control everything I could possibly throw at it.

With a pair of MIDI_IO PCBs you get 4x MIDI In and 4x MIDI Out. For more MIDI Outs you need the Quad IIC MIDI Module (for four additional MIDI Outs).

The AOUT_NG is only for the 8 CV-Outs. For the Gate-Outs you need a DOUT(X4) module (for up to 32 Gate-outs).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, CJ55 said:

With a pair of MIDI_IO PCBs you get 4x MIDI In and 4x MIDI Out. For more MIDI Outs you need the Quad IIC MIDI Module (for four additional MIDI Outs).

The AOUT_NG is only for the 8 CV-Outs. For the Gate-Outs you need a DOUT(X4) module (for up to 32 Gate-outs).

I must've been mistaken about the IO module - I was under the impression that I could set each interface to be either an in or an out. In which case, I guess I'll just have to use a Quad IIC as well, giving me 4x in and 8x out total. More ports isn't a bad thing.

With the AOUT, I was thinking of using each out as either CV or gate, but I might as well use a DOUT for complimentary gates. I don't think I can chain another DOUT with Wilba's frontpanel, so that might have to be a something that gets added to the minicore driving the harmonic keyboard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, latigid on said:

With the isomorphic keyboard, it seems quite similar to the Linnstrument

I had totally forgotten about the Linnstrument - looks like it does do a harmonic table layout if it's set up that way. It was the C-Thru Axis controllers that got me thinking about harmonic tables again, and those used hexagonal keys, but it might make more sense to either do another BLM grid, or implement the harmonic table layout on the existing BLM, instead. The reason behind the hexagonal keys on the C-Thru, and the staggered button layout, was so the player could easily play a major/minor triad with just one finger - which wouldn't be nearly as easy to do with the button pads. So if I could get the same functionality out of the existing BLM, it would free up that space on the control surface for other stuff.

In which case.. how far can I go with a DIN/DOUT chain? Example - BLM has its own dedicated pinout on different ports on the CORE, but for the DIN/DOUT chain on J8/9, can i do 4xDIN, 4xDOUT, and add Wilba's frontpanel to the end of the chain?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, enron_hubbard said:

In which case.. how far can I go with a DIN/DOUT chain? Example - BLM has its own dedicated pinout on different ports on the CORE, but for the DIN/DOUT chain on J8/9, can i do 4xDIN, 4xDOUT, and add Wilba's frontpanel to the end of the chain?

No problem! In total, you should not use more than 16 input shift registers and not more than 16 output shift registers... so adding a DINx4 and a DOUTx4 module in front of or after the CS board works well.

Many greets,

Peter

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Hawkeye - If I'm looking at the BOM for the CS panel and understanding this right, it uses a total of 6 shift registers on the DIN chain and 2 on the DOUT, correct? That would leave me with a total of 10 available registers on the DIN chain and 14 on the DOUT side, so I could feasibly add two DINx4 and three DOUTx4 and still not exceed the maximum of 16 shift registers on each chain - that make sense?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, enron_hubbard said:

@Hawkeye - That would leave me with a total of 10 available registers on the DIN chain and 14 on the DOUT side, so I could feasibly add two DINx4 and three DOUTx4 and still not exceed the maximum of 16 shift registers on each chain - that make sense?

Totally! If you add the DINs and DOUTs ahead of the CS, you will have to renumber the CS buttons in the hardware config file (on the SD card). If you add it behind the CS, you can keep the original Wilba hardware configuration file mostly as is and just add mapping for your new buttons and status LEDs connected to your additional DINs and DOUTs.

Many greets and enjoy!

Peter

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, enron_hubbard said:

I had totally forgotten about the Linnstrument - looks like it does do a harmonic table layout if it's set up that way. It was the C-Thru Axis controllers that got me thinking about harmonic tables again, and those used hexagonal keys, but it might make more sense to either do another BLM grid, or implement the harmonic table layout on the existing BLM, instead. The reason behind the hexagonal keys on the C-Thru, and the staggered button layout, was so the player could easily play a major/minor triad with just one finger - which wouldn't be nearly as easy to do with the button pads. So if I could get the same functionality out of the existing BLM, it would free up that space on the control surface for other stuff.

well then build the BLM first, and then Touch/feel the buttons, what do the feel for you

... for me it dont have the feel/touch to play melodys on it, i mean you have to play precisely o..., and touch it the right way in order to activate the right.. ... i am no keyboarder yet, i stell play the last year from time to time, and as techno musican it gets wild... being in beat, hitting in beat -its then

a.  good to have this big white and black keys to hit the right note... (i talk about size not, the arrangement off keys)

&

b. the feeling the instrument is built for that so you can really punch it.... with the BLM i ever have the feeling of "not touching it to much" ... i even thougt about it, to exclude my 16 ROLL buttons (which i use most and hard) from the BLM-XY-ExtraBtns and take some more robust one (i havnt found them yet), i have thougt about DIY optical ones with Diodes/fototransistors, and AIN moduels...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...