[sdiy] CC-Modular

[Seb Francis]

jbv wrote:

> two things :
>
> - from an ergonomics point of view, it's quite dificult to
> have the same controls dedicated to various functions...
> Even if you display the current function & value...
> I already faced this problem when brainstorming on a
> DSP-based multi-function module. Besides, it becomes
> even more difficult when you want to tweak controls
> from different modules at once...
>

yeah, it's not so nice as having a big rack of dedicated modules with their own pots.

but actually there shouldn't be too much switching.  my original design of 4 banks of 16 encoders could be changed to 2 banks of 32 encoders without too much cost - just the cost of the encoders really, since you can still use a reasonably fast single uController to "scan" the encoder outputs.

>
> - I understand that data exchange between controls and
> PC are made via MIDI, but as for the sound circuitry
> itself, why not try to squeeze everything on a PCI board ?
> Communication from/to your PC software should be much
> faster...

I'm not sure that data communication would be a bottleneck.  Typically I don't think it would be necessary to modulate more than say 2 controls at the same time.  Using 14 bit resolution, it's possible to send approx 500 ticks per second down a dedicated MIDI port.  And things like LFOs and envelopes are generated by the uController, not on the PC.

It's also important that a normal sequencer can be used to record parameter changes, so MIDI seems the obvious choice.

Cheers,
Seb