DX7 controls. (Programmer)

[Martin Fay]

John wrote:
> But I DO agree with you.  I think a good middle ground can be
> achieved in the design of a hardware programmer.  My vision is a
> device that you connect to your PC.  The device has maybe 20 knobs
> with an LCD display beneath each knob.  On the PC is a program
> running that interfaces to the 20 knob programmer (using MIDI maybe)
> and also to the synth you want to program (also using MIDI).  The PC
> program would allow you configure the programmer and assign the
> knobs to 20 parameters that you'd want to edit at that time.  The
> LCDs would display the name of the parameters that the knob
> controls.  It's flexible in that it could be used for any synth with
> sysex editing.  All you'd need to change is the PC program.

The hardware for this sort of exists in the form of the 
(much-mentioned) PC1600, and other more obscure devices like the 
Roland CF10 I possess and greatly underuse. Another recent box of 
interest is the Kawai programmer for the K5000 series machines...16 
knobs at a price of 180 uk pounds if I remember correctly.

Would card overlays be an acceptable (read: cheap) alternative to 
custom hardware with lots of lcds? The hardware you talk of would be 
mightily flash though :)

In terms of software, the coding for this would not present me with a 
problem as it is very similar to much of my present code (Marion 
ProSynth/MSR2 editor, editor for Turtle Beach wavefront cards, 
for which I did put CF10 support in, virtual synth stuff...).


Martin

Curious Yellow / 3 track demo now available on mp3
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