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Author: dach on February 22 2007 Viewed 3718 times. 16 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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Hey all,
I've been working on the sequencer in the picture for a while now, and now I am stuck and need your help and suggestions.
When I started working on this, I wanted a reasonably straightforward midi sequencer. I intended to hook it up to computer, and use it for drum programming, controlling ableton live, and some max/msp experiments. But since I started working on it, my requirements have changed. I don't want a computer on stage with me. I want to sequence a lot of circuit bent gear instead!
This thing has been sitting on my desk, untouched and unloved for a LONG time. So I am asking you guys now for some suggestions and perhaps some motivation. Hopefully I will get enthusiastic enough to complete it...
A quick tour of the interface:
Each panel is made of a transparent plexiglass, and if you look closely, there is a hole in each. This is where the RGB LED goes. When the LED is on, the edges of the plexiglass light up quite brightly. As they are RGB; I can fade and blend the colours of each panel. This is a really sexy touch, and can be used for showing modes, controller values, or just Bling factor. It's possible to control the leds by internal functions, or incoming midi data.
On the top left are 6 knobs, 6 leds and 6 switches. On the top right are 8 endless rotary encoders. Below that is a green 3 digit display, 8 buttons and LEDs (red), and two holes where I can put two big buttons or two knobs, and two more leds. On the mid left, are the two 'main' buttons, useful for alternative function s(like a shift key) or something else. Then there are 4 more smaller buttons, each with a led, and a knob.
Along the bottom are 16 step switches. Each has a red led above the button, and a while led linked via a fibre optic cable into a tiny pinhole spot directly on the button itself. This is also really sexy.
It's got 32k of ram, which is enough for several patterns of drum info, some melody and some controller data.
The hardware is pretty much done (couple of bugs, a few missing leds) and the program code is there to drive all the features. I just need to finalise some things and create the circuit board. The big problem i have is that I have no fucking clue what all the buttons and knobs should do!! I am completely at a loss as to how the damn thing can be used, and especially in a live context, and controlling circuit bent gear. If i started off from scratch, I'd create a totally different type of thing for the bent gear.
One idea I am entertaining is to continue with the midi drum type orientation, and send only midi signals out of it, perhaps into a computer, but perhaps into a future device that controls the circuit bent gear...
I'd totally love it if some of you creative folk can look at the picture for a bit and imagine _playing it as an instrument_, and then suggesting what sort of functionality I could assign to the different things. I need this info so I can proceed with making the circuit board permanent.
Please help and KICK MY ASS into finishing this thing!!
thanks a lot 
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02/23/07
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bla
you need to be able to edit any parameter on any step while its playing
a master midi velocity knob (like a master volume)- in fact have a minimum velocity aswell so it can be kind of like midi compression
put some trigger outs on it (for going into footswitch sockets)- be able to put these triggers on each step
mute buttons for different kinds of midi data (eg- mute all pitch bends)
a knob to control all note lengths
errrr dunno... ill think of more....
02/23/07
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dach
Some great ideas there
I havn't thought much about programming in melodies into it, mostly considered just note on/off msgs for triggering drum samples. How are note lengths generally entered into these kinda sequencers? Hold an edit button, press a step button and then twist a knob for pitch, length and one for velocity? It might be worth the trouble to add a live midi in record feature...
Can you explain more about the footswitches, that's quite interesting but I'm not sure I followed.. you mean the sequencer should record when the footswitch is up and down?
02/23/07
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bla
i mean it should be able to send out pulses to other gear- going into their footswitch sockets so you could program a sequence of 'pedal presses'
02/24/07
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bla
dach said: " How are note lengths generally entered into these kinda sequencers? Hold an edit button, press a step button and then twist a knob for pitch, length and one for velocity? "
yeah thats pretty much how it is on the korg electribe ea1
02/26/07
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dach
Ok, I did some further work on it and wanna write an update. Posting about my work is motivational
I got the colored LED module running on breadboard, the panels light up andcycle through lots of colors. It's absolutely gorgeous looking. I took a video and will upload it to YouTube soon ish. The step leds light up and do stuff, but they sit on circuit boards that are not yet installed inside the case. The fibre optic stuff is delicate and I'll leave that till later.
As it looks now, Im not gonna have enough space to get the PCB in there, so I'm starting to think about putting two layers of PCB, with connections in between them, and laying it out so the chips dont collide. It's getting complicated as fuck now!
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