Paul, it's great to hear you have renewed energy ready to put into the 5U
MOTM format. Although I did most of my ordering back in 2001 thru 2004,
I've always been up for any new modules you've had in the MOTM 5U format.
There have been many discussions over the last 10 years of interesting
modules that unfortunately have never come to fruition, in fact back in 2009
I posted a giant list of them here. As for my top 5 interests:
MOTM-130 Dual Pan/Fade VCA (please??)
MOTM-520/521 Cloud Gen (ordered back in 2004 but you canceled on 6/17/2006)
MOTM-102 Noise/ASR (with a quantizer sounds perfect)
E350 Morphing Terrarium 5U conversion
MOTM-475 Crow's GX-1 BP-VCF
I definitely look forward to the opportunity to order any new MOTM 5U
modules - I just hope you have time to make them happen at some point!
-George
On 1/18/2011 12:58 AM, Paul Schreiber wrote:
> Back from NAMM (had fun, but tiring) and have started thinking about what to
> do for 5U MOTM furture plans. This is independent from shipping current
> backlog, I'm speaking of 5U plans in general.
>
> These are not in order of execution. I'm not committing to any time per se.
> Comments welcome, that's why I'm posting. If you agree or disagree, let me
> know.
>
> MOTM-650 replacement
> ==================
>
> The current MOTM-650 is not going to be offered, except under special
> conditions. I don't have jacks for it until the end of March (then, I'll
> have 800 extra...oh boy....). I might have parts to make 2 or 3 more than
> currently ordered, but not really going to focus there. Rather, I spent most
> of today looking at current ICs/processors/displays/etc and have decided
> that I can 'start over' and still offer a 4ch MIDI-CV with some reduction in
> the firmware ∗features∗ and not increase the price. It will still be 2U
> wide, but be slightly different in appearance.
>
> a) the LCD is going to a 2 x 12 versus current 2 x 8 (cheaper, oddly enough)
> b) instead of the 4-button interface, the up/down buttons are replaced with
> a rotary encoder
> c) CLK IN goes away
>
> As far as major features, that is not decided (I am ∗really∗ interested in
> hearing from users what features/modes are not used/rarely used). So far:
>
> a) no tuning tables, but there is a volts/Hz mode (so, there are 2 tuning
> tables I suppose).
> b) simplify the # of options for things like voltage range on AUX
> c) CCs will all be implemented as expected
> d) not yet sure if keeping arpeggiator #2.
>
> We are looking hard at having firmware updates via SD card. The SD card
> socket is in the rear (pcb mounted) to you would power down, stick in the
> card, power up and hit a button. Uses standard FAT file system, so no more
> PC/Mac issues. In order to do this "properly", we have to get the FAT system
> in the CPU to < 8K (which is the boot-block protected area). We should know
> this in a few weeks.
>
> I am not doing all this work soley for the MOTM-650 replacement, I want to
> offer it in other formats as well.
>
> Offering current Euro modules in 'true' 5U
> ============================
>
> In terms of time-to-market and to spur sales, I will be seriouly looking
> into having the 4 Euro modules (E340 Cloud, E350 Morphing Terrarium, E560
> Deflector Shield and E580 Resampling Mini-Delay) redesigned and re-layed out
> for 2U wide 5U MOTM/.com MU (dual power connectors, heck toss in Modcan B as
> well). This is not a "repanel" but a true, dedicated set of new panels and
> pc boards. I would put all 4 designs up on a pc fab panel (so the SMT
> machine stuffs 1 of each per pass). The current '520 panels would be
> scrapped, and the 521 CGX Expander is a memory. This is a decision that
> immediately will "cost" me $7000 (what I paid 5 years ago for the panels +
> parts). But the reality is my time is limited more now than ever (and is
> about to get even tighter due to day job pressures) and I can do this work
> for 4 modules in the same time it would take to do ∗just∗ the FPGA-based
> '520 (not even looking at the '521).
>
> Yes, the '520 Cloud had more bells and whistles BUT the Euro Cloud has
> gotten me many rave reviews by the users. And, it will be $100 or so cheaper
> than the '520.
>
> In this manner, I can have 4 new and 1 re-designed modules in 5U this year.
> There will be NO LONG WAITS as the modules take < 12 minutes to make,
> program and ca (what is amazing to an old fart like me that used to watch
> Data I/O 29Bs take 32 MINUTES to program a 64K EPROM, is that these new
> FLASH CPUS program 128K in under 4 seconds.). The SMT machine can happily,
> in 1 4-hour run, make 100 of ∗each∗ module's pc board. The jacks will be
> vertical mounted and wave soldered in 1 pass. All I do is screw 2 boards
> into the panel, pop in 1 short ribbon cable and I'm done.
>
> And, as a last thought.....
>
> MOTM-101 Replacement
> ==================
>
> I could take some of the parts left from the '520 and make a 1U wide
> noise/Cascaded S&H module. The '101 is tedious to make, a low seller and has
> hard-to-get parts. The new '102 has zero-droop S&H, "correct" clocking edges
> and maybe even a quantizer thrown in for fun.
>
> Well, this is what I'm thinking about. Thoughts? Comments?
>
> Paul S.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>