[sdiy] learning from early drum machines?

[Andre Majorel]

On 2009-01-11 17:11 +0000, Tom Wiltshire wrote:
> On 11 Jan 2009, at 15:58, Dave Manley wrote:
>> Dan Snazelle wrote:
>>
>>> but with the jacks, i dont know how they all connect (unless
>>> each  indiidual drum hit has its own cord which would get
>>> MESSY! lets say i wanted a four on the florr kick...well that
>>> would be 4 cables multed to the kick..
>>>
>> I think he intended the jacks to be used as 'shorting' plugs
>> with a  diode built into the body of the jack - sort of like
>> the shorting pins used on a VCS3 - no cables are attached to
>> the jacks.
>
> I don't see any advantage to using jacks and plugs over using a
> grid of latching switches. Ideally, you'd want to find a big bag
> of surplus switches for not much money. Then you could arrange a
> row of switches for each sound, and just press down the ones
> where you want a beat. I think Dan has definitely got the right
> idea.

Or, instead of 16 x 4 switches, 16 x 4 LEDs and 16 + 4 switches
(one for each row and one for each column). Pressing a row button
while a column button is pressed (or vice versa) toggles the
intersection.

This probably requires a microcontroller. Side benefits of using a
microcontroller :
- light one LED a time and rely on persistence of vision, using 10 mA
  regardless of how many switches are on,
- store/recall patterns,
- "clear all" button,
- "clear row/col" button (to be used at the same time as a row or
  column button).

Saving on electronics probably doesn't make sense here as the
time & money cost is in the front panel.

-- 
André Majorel <URL:http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/>