When the microprocessor was introduced to the synthesizer, it was pretty much used for
polyphony only. The use of microprocessors for complex control voltage generation is
largely unexplored territory.
Also, there is a wide base of inexpensive third party support for systems that can handle
CV speeds. The Basic Micro development software is quite full featured for being free.
The computer generation of control voltages is mostly an amusing pastime and has very
limited commercial value, that makes it more likely for people to freely share their
software and hardware on a hobby level.
It would be a public service to keep this accessible to grade school, high school and
college students. If it is fast and easy, it is fun, and people will do it. If it is difficult and
expensive, they will not.
Writing DSP apps on a DSP dev system is likely to produce very little result. Too expensive
and too much work.
Also the FPGA is rapidly replacing the DSP as the preferred platform for signal generation
and processing. The enormous resources and 1 nanosecond clock times make it very
powerful for this.
We tried to get a FPGA based audio group going, but the curb height was too high and it
flopped. I think the same thing would happen with a DSP platform.
--- In ComputerVoltageSources@yahoogroups.com, "drmabuce" <drmabuce@...> wrote:
>
> Goodness!
> this got interesting fast!!!!!
> Monday ain't over yet and there're already 62 members!
>
> --- In ComputerVoltageSources@yahoogroups.com, Eric Brombaugh
> <ebrombaugh@> wrote:
>
> > One thing that caught my eye in the earlier discussion
> > was the idea of using a fast CPU as not only a CV
> > source, but also for VCOs, VCFs, VCAs, and general
> > signal processing.
>
> This is a very signicant issue
> and i encourage all the members to weigh in on it because the group
> will be most useful if consesus on a 'topic' (or topicS) is achieved.
> Such consesus is a real courtesy to the moderators. It really makes
> their job easier because we police ourselves and it helps reduce OT
> squabbles. Good fences make good neighbors.
>
> This issue is also gonna be a slippery trout to get in the creel
> because the category of gadget (CVS) around which this group is
> centered is a "liminal entity" (i got that from the "Analog Days"
> book.... what a deliciously weird term! -liminal entity-).
> To save you all a link to dictionary.com, a liminal entity is a
> something that lives on a threshold between two realms....
> like a flying fish, an amphibious car, and that frequency range from
> 0.5 to 20 hz where a pulse train turns from clicks to a tone.
>
> a CVS is simply a programmable function geverator. Aaron Lanterman has
> pointed out that NI makes commercial 'data acquistion' gadgets with a
> couple of outputs for which there are numerous PC& MAC support
> packages and development environments. Eric Brombaugh posits that if
> we're going to be wiggling voltages around with code , why not wiggle
> them real fast and make audio with 'em too? DIY digital audio!
> it's simply a matter of scale....
>
> [This is a bit funny, because when i teach clases in electronic music,
> i stand on my poor pupils desks and exhort them to throw away their
> preconceptions about what a module does. A VCF is a (damped)
> oscillator, and LFO is just a cap-value from a VCO ...etc.
> i pout and tantrum until the poor browbeaten sprouts color outside the
> lines...]
>
> but in this case
>
> my vote is that we draw some lines and try to stay in 'em.
> Good fences make good neighbors.
>
> i'll proffer my postion this way:
>
> The attributes of the topic that i (and i speak only for MYSELF)
> intend to expose and exploit in this group are:
>
> -DIY
> or DIY-ish , kits, mods but not limited exclusively to one device
>
> -programmable
> at some point in its production
>
> -CV o r i e n t e d
> i'm not above driving an LFO into low audio but... i'm not sure that
> i'm prepared to discuss tweaking the tuning and scaling to 1/40th of a
> cent
>
> That's where my chalk lines are.... how 'bout y'all???
>
> If the moderators choose they could segregate this group structure
> into sub-topics (fast-wiggling/slow wiggling) or just hose down the
> corral and turn the varmints loose!
>
> But let's cut 'em a break folks....
> post a comment or two on what YOUR particular flavor of the fetish is
> so they can get a few pins in this map.
>
> and on that note....
> Thank you Eric for weighing in right off the bat and getting this
> issue on the table from the get-go
>
> carpe themam!
> -doc
>