A 4-chan Midi-to-CV sounds great!
Wish List:
1) 16-bit DACs if you please.
2) Gate LEDs and a Midi Clock LED would be very very helpful (as proven by
the Oakley MidiDAC2 and Expressionist breakout panel).
3) Add Trig out per voice for Attack-Decay enveloped drum sounds and
envelope retriggering.
4) Dedicated Arp Clock in and Midi Clock out jacks.
5) Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Mod Wheel, Pedal, Breath Control assignable to
AUXs.
6) Midi In, Out and Thru accessible on a header would be great.
7) Selectable polyphony level (1-Unison). You might also want to support an
interesting Unison mode (similar to the Jupiter I think?) where if one note
is held, all 4 voices are assigned to that note; if a second note is played,
two voices are assigned to each note; if three, then two-one-one: and
finally if four, each has one voice.
8) When polyphony set to 1, allow each voice to be assigned a different MIDI
chan, like four separate midi-to-cv units.
9) A 440Hz reference out might be a nice addition.
10) Hmm.. did I mention gate LEDs??
Suggestion:
How about a much less congested 3U or 4U layout? You could add Trig per
voice as well as separate Arp Clock in and Midi Clock out and have plenty of
room for those useful LEDs.
Questions:
1) Could you describe the Arpeggiator functionality?
2) Could you describe the note priority/assignment modes?
3) What power supply will be required?
For the reasonable sum of $229 I would definitely get one!
However, I would definitely prefer (and pay more for) a 3U (or 4U!) format
with more dedicated outs and gate LEDs. ;)
Cheers,
George
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Schreiber <synth1@...>
To: MOTM listserv <motm@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 9:46 AM
Subject: [motm] MOTM-650 4-ch MIDI-CV converter
> The behind-the-scenes R&D activity continues with the MOTM-650 4-ch
MIDI-CV converter.
>
> The design group for this is in the product definition stage. I'm asking
for your inputs/desires.
> Here is what I have sketched out as a first stab:
>
> a) fits in 2U panel
> b) has 4 character, LED alpha-numeric display ("British flag")
> c) 4 or 5 pushbuttons/LEDs for data entry (the menu is VERY shallow)
> d) 4 channels (ie 4 notes at a time polyphony) with multiple voice
assignments
> e) MIDI In on the front. There is a MIDI Out on the pcb that is used
∗only∗ if you SysEx a new OS
> (it's used to read back the SW checksums as you dump into it).
> f) I am thinking 4 rows of 4 jacks. Each horizontal row is a 'voice', with
CV/Gate/Velocity outs.
> There are 4 AUX outs, with Aux #4 also sharing Arpeggiator Clock In. The
AUX's are like on a
> Kenton Pro-2000, you can select from a FEW (not 45 different ones) MIDI
controllers to
> 'intercept' such as Aftertouch.
> g) AUX #3 can be programmed to be MIDI Clock out, and you can divide it
down, too. May be able to
> clock ∗multiply∗ it as well (not sure, it's a programming 'trick').
>
> The idea is to have a "mini Expressionist". Tony has graciously endorsed
the '650 (it's not his
> code), as it takes pressure off on him and onto me (like I need more
pressure). I'm NOT writing
> the code, so don't worry (it's generic 8051 assembly). I think that it can
be a ~$229 assembled
> module (sorry, all the DACs are SMT). When? "Next Spring" is about as
accurate as I can give. The
> idea is a prototype at NAMM.
>
> So, I guess what I'm asking is:
>
> a) what features do you want to see
> b) would you buy one?