[sdiy] webspace and ASM-1

[Andrew "Skippy" Martens]

Two questions:

(1) does anyone have an ASM-1 PCB (and assembly documentation) and/or Chris
Liste front panel that they're decided not to use?  Or if not, does anyone
know if Gene Stopp still has any boards?  I sent him an email about 3 weeks
ago, but I haven't heard back from him.  I'm hoping to do an ASM-1 as my
first modular.

(2) is there anyone who is providing small bits of webspace for DIY synth
projects?  I normally run my own webserver, but my old 486 server box
decided to go and die, and I haven't had the time to bother getting Apache
up and running on my normal machine.  I'm not even looking for a place to
put samples, just a basic page or two about the two projects I'm working on.
In case anyone's curious what they are, here you go:

(a) One's a digital monosynth based on the 6581 SID chip from the C64
(currently called the SIDgroove, probably going to be renamed HXR-SID when
it's done)... firmware has been written, circuit has been breadboarded, and
I'm about to hit the testing phase.  That's gonna be pretty painful, since
even firmware that behaves right in the simulator isn't necessarily going to
work in hardware.  Speaking of which, I should probably try and build a PCB
for this one.

(b) The other project, still in the design phase, is a digital (yeah, I
should do some analog stuff, but that's next on the list) MIDI pattern
sequencer.  Here's the basic idea:  16 banks of 16 patterns each, and you
can have 16 patterns active at one time (thanks to a bigass row of switches
on the front, preferably illuminated ones).  Bank selection and MIDI tempo
changes are via a few other buttons on the front (maybe a keypad, if I can
find a surplus one cheap enough), and the current bank/tempo/bar/beat are
displayed on a character LCD (either 16x2 or 20x4).

Oh yeah, here's the crappy part about it (at least in the current design).
The sequencer itself has zero editing functions.  Patterns have to be typed
in on a PC in a nifty little text format (it's very straightforward) and
then converted into binary with a script (already written, only took about
an hour).  You connect the sequencer to the PC via a null-modem (serial)
cable and then transfer the binary file over, where they are then stored in
a pair of 8 kB serial EEPROMs.  Yeah, yeah, I should probably do a MIDI
sysex implementation, but I'll have to think about that more.  It would
simplify the hardware layout (no MAX232 or DB9 connector), that's for sure.
And with such small EEPROMs (25LC640s), the patterns can't be all that big
(they're all a fixed size).  But I'm working a bit of flexibility into the
sequencer to allow for extended patterns (ie, pattern 1 can be twice as long
if you don't use pattern 2... that sort of thing).

So yeah, the design is a bit crufty, but I really wanted a MIDI pattern
sequencer for live performance without being tied to a PC or requiring
myself to buy a QY-100 or MPC2000.

(c) there's a few other projects on my list to accomplish afterwards, mostly
stuff people have done before... MIDI controller, drum machine with a
collection of my favourite samples (4 mbit flash, mmmm), etc.  Mind you,
those are things to do when I get the current batch done - in other words, a
lonnnnng time from now.

Well, this started off as two simple questions and turned into a long ramble
about my projects.  Oh well, maybe someone will think they're neat.  Oh
yeah, and I'm new here.  Hi!  :-)

Cheers,
Andrew "Skippy" Martens