[sdiy] DSP 808 new demo

[cheater00 .]

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 11:58 AM,  <rburnett at richieburnett.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi Nick,
>
>
>> Sorry if you already mentioned this, but...   Have you allowed for
>> automation of the sound parameters?  Are the sounds altered in menus
>> via the LCD?  Are you able to store different kits?
>>
>> Nick
>
>
> This is one of the things that's still kind of up in the air at the moment.
>
> All of the sound models are parameterised so you can theoretically adjust
> any cutoff frequency, decay, oscillator tuning, whatever...  But...
> At present I just put 6 analogue pots on the development board and have them
> hard-coded to edit six fixed parameters for demonstration purposes: Bass
> Drum decay, Snare Drum Tuning, Snare Drum Snappy Decay, Hand Clap Decay, Cow
> Bell filter cutoff and Tambourine tuning.  At the moment no information is
> displayed on the LCD when these parameters are edited, and no MIDI CC data
> is currently transmitted.  (MIDI note on/off and realtime clock is currently
> implemented on transmit though, so it will play an external MIDI drum module
> when the sequencer is playing.)
>
> I would ultimately like all parameter edits to transmit and receive midi
> CCs, and definitely to show briefly on the LCD.  No parameter automation
> will be done within this unit though.  i.e. You'd have to record your
> controller changes to an external sequencer.
>
> The question really is the age old one of how to arrange the user interface.
> I'm considering the following options:
>
> 1. Populate the panel with one analogue pot for ever adjustable parameter.
> Looks great and is instantly tweakable, but is very expensive and heavy.
> It's also quite a drain on the CPU scanning loads of pots, de-glitching the
> analogue levels, checking for changes and generating all the CCs etc.  Would
> probably need to add another low-cost micro to handle the UI.
>
> 2. Populate the panel with one pot for each of the original TR-808 sound
> editing pots, and have all of the new additional sound parameters edited
> from a menu.
>
> 3. Stick a handful of pots along the top numbered say 1-6, and have them
> edit up to six of the parameters of whatever instrument you select for
> editing.  Not as immediate as one pot per function, but much cheaper, and
> better than a single pot and a deep parameter menu!  It also seems to work
> alright for things like the microKORG.
>
> 4. A single analogue pot, (or rotary encoder) and a long list of parameters,
> (like the alpha-juno.)  Definitely not as immediate and limited to tweaking
> one thing at a time, but much cheaper, and lower CPU load.  Not sure it's
> the right vibe for an analogue modelling product though!?
>
> I'm happy to hear other's thought on this, either on list or via private
> email, as user interfaces tend to be something that people get passionate
> about!
>
> Also thank you to all those who've replied to this thread.  It's great to
> get valuable feedback and suggestions.  I appreciate you taking the time.
>
> Best regards,
>
> -Richie,

I hate anything that uses soft pots.

Reasons to hate them have been discussed on this list many many times.
Messing up muscle memory, kicking you out of the vibe when you have to
think what the pot is doing at THIS moment, being unable to tweak two
parameters together that share a single pot (e.g. Moog Phatty's inane
idea to use the same pot for resonance and cutoff), and so on.

In the long run, anyone who uses your box will be stuck with it for
the next 20 years, so what's the additional expense of say $100?
That's like $10/year. Think about it. It's nothing.

If you're thinking of allowing people to automate your synth I would
welcome a bus that is not midi. Anything else, really. Make it
high-bandwidth and make it so that there's a "commit" trigger which is
read at a very high rate so that you can send some slow messages and
commit them all at once, for precision in timing of parameters. MIDI
can be retrofitted onto such a system. There's no reason to limit
ourselves to bad ideas from the 80s. Yes, MIDI is another hot topic :)

Cheers,
D.