MIOS idea: Oberheim Cyclone remake

[Guest nickca]

I had an idea for an MIOS project last night. What I want to do is make a clone/remake of the Oberheim Cyclone. This was a MIDI arpeggiator that came out in 1988 and was supposed to offer user-editable arpeggios which you can transpose, clone, randomize/morph, etc., output different steps of the arpeggio to different MIDI channels, send different controller data (cutoff/resonance/etc) with each step, etc. It would have been an awesome device if it ever worked right - it's infamous for being a complete piece of crap and crashing at a moment's notice. So what I want to do is make a device that has at least some of the Cyclone's features using MBHP/MIOS.

It sounds like the "Magic MIDI Delay" already does a lot of this, at least the outputting to different channels and sending controller data. What I want to know is, how much programming would I have to do to modify the Magic MIDI Delay to do something like this? First of all, what exactly would the difference be between a "MIDI delay" and a MIDI arpeggiator? They sound kind of like the same thing. If they are pretty much the same thing, what I would want to do is extend the number of "delayed" notes from 4 to 8, and add the ability to edit arpeggios, like say the user could define:

ORIGINAL NOTE

DELAY NOTE 1 - up one octave from original

DELAY NOTE 2 - up two octaves

DELAY NOTE 3 - same as original

DELAY NOTE 4 - up 5 steps

and so forth. So somewhat like a cross between the Magic MIDI Delay and the MB64Seq. How difficult would this be? Any pointers on where to begin modifying the Magic MIDI Delay code? I don't know much about assembly, but I'm willing to learn.

[TK.]

Hi Nickca,

a lot of programming effort is required to change the Magic MIDI Delay into an arpeggiator - however, this isn't really necessary. Just wait some days until the MIOS based MB64SEQ will be released (it's currently in beta state) - it already provides an arpeggiator function for up to 4 tracks, and every track can control any MIDI event (Notes, Controllers, etc...) or analog output. I've added a note stack handler to improve live playing - it really rocks once you understand how it works :)

You don't need a box with 64 pots/faders/rotary encoders and a lot of buttons to get use of MB64SEQ, the sequencer data can also be controlled via SysEx. Similar to the MIDIbox SID you can store a single pattern in EEPROM (minimal solution for the guys who are planning to store/restore patterns with their PC) and 127 additional patterns in every BankStick (prefered solution). This means in other words, that you could also configure the setup from a PC and send the ready-made pattern to the sequencer. Realtime-editing is supported! (nice possibility: the arpeggiator-pattern can be modified on-the-fly during playing from Cubase/Logic :-) )

I've also planned to implement a jsynth based editor (similar to MIDIbox SID), but it can take some weeks until I will find the time for this.

Best Regards, Thorsten.