MIDIbox FM simple Control Surface?

[sebiiksbcs]

I have been working on something that is a MB64, SID and FM in one case. I want to program the buttons of the MB64 like the axis 64 controller by c-thru music to play with an innovative keyboard align. The SID and FM each have own control surfaces.

Hey, anyone, could you help me with the Midibox FM part?

I want to make a control surface like the SID's, with a 2x20 display, some buttons and an encoder. Is it possible? Did someone do something similar before?

Thanks

[dj3nk]

http://ucapps.de/midibox_fm.html

MB FM already has a control surface.

greetz

[sebiiksbcs]

Yes of course it has, and it's actually a really cool one.

But my question is if there is someone who built a simpler CS than the standard one, comparable to the MB SID's (an encoder and 6 buttons), or if that kind of CS would not be useful because of the advanced functions of the FM engine?

[TK.]

In difference to MBSID, MBFM uses 5 characters per menu item. The main page, which displays the instruments, allocates all 2x40 characters, and you definitely want to see them all.

So, there is no way to use exactly the same CS like MBSID, mainly because MBFM is a different synth (e.g. 4 FM operators instead of 3 SID oscillators...)!

Only the right side of the CS (4 encoders, LED matrix and selection buttons) can be omitted, everything else is not only "nice-to-have", it's a strong requirement.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[AndrewMartens]

I can see how something like this could be useful.  A very minimal CS (a la SID) that could conceivably be used for patch editing (for a masochist), but more useful for just calling up patches;  several buttons, an encoder, and a 2x20 LCD.  One could cram this into a 1U rack with perhaps a few other front panel controls for other $COOL_STUFF in the same rack.

Looking through the code and config for MIDIbox FM, it looks like it should be possible, even if would be very annoying to edit patches with.  And as TK mentioned, the main page that displays the patch/ensemble information would be truncated - this might require a bit of additional custom work from the user to ensure that the most relevant info is displayed in the first 20 chars.

I'm embarking upon this kind of adventure myself, and will be sure to post some notes about my successes (and failures)...

[sebiiksbcs]

My main interest is having a display and switching patches on the unit. That should be easy with a simple SID-like CS.