[sdiy] presets on a modular

[john mahoney]

> I think the interface is a side problem compared to the challenge of
> designing a patching system that can route anything to anything and
works
> reliably and accurately.

Well, there are sticky issues with the interface, too.

Anyway, the "anything to anything" approach is not always needed.
Nice, for sure! Don't get me wrong, it would be great.

But you don't need anything-to-anything routing in real life, most of
the time. For most of us, most patches are variations of  VCOs -->
mixers --> VCFs --> VCAs. Others laugh at this notion. ;-)

I reiterate that 16 or maybe 32 patches are enough to support the
performance needs of most synthesists, given that those patches can
have very different configurations.

One thing about the fairly dumb system that I drew up is that it's
expandable, so if you need more complex routing you can cascade the
router modules. No need for a 50MHz bus, no need for any signal to be
digitized, no need for new modules. It's "old school," for sure, but
then, analog synths are old school to begin with!


BTW, there's an interesting side effect to a complex system: The
greater the degree of routing and control flexibility, the fewer
modules are required.

An extreme case in point would be a Serge system, which contains
"unusual" modules that can serve a number of functions -- but those
modules must be set up differently to support each function. That's
not so great in a live setting. A sufficiently sophisticated preset
storage & recall system would eliminate the patching issues, though,
allowing one to get more features per square inch of front panel
(compared with a larger number of simpler modules).

A simpler, more obvious example: If you wanted LFOs to control PWM
*or* FM, you need either (a) 2 LFOs, one for PWM and one for FM, or
(b) 1 LFO plus a way to route it to either the PWM or FM inputs. Of
course we have option "b" on almost every synth with an LFO, but you
can see my point.

A better example: Few systems have voltage-controlled envelope
generators. Without VC EGs, you need at least a few different EGs set
to some "standard" ADSR settings. On the other hand, using a VC EG
(having what I called greater control flexibility) would reduce the
module count.
--
john