People seem to be enjoying the Groovesizer project and I mentioned that I might want to print a pcb for it and make it into a kit. Along the way, I started playing with other synths and drumbox designs for the arduino, so I decided to design a pcb that would work not only with the Groovesizer, but a couple of other designs too. I hope to keep costs down and make it an interesting proposition for other DIYers out there Basically, the board has 32 tactile buttons, each with an LED, 6 potentiometers, an integrated hackduino, and the option to use either pwm with an amp for audio output, or an 8-bit dac . I sent the design off to China to have a couple of prototype pcb’s fabricated, and I’m very excited to see the result. Hopefully I didn’t mess up too badly somewhere along the way. I’ll keep you posted.

Enjoy Live Online #153: Offworld

Playlist: (1)Wyndham (2)Volatile (3)Uruguay (4)Taiwan (5)Spider Monkey (6)Reboant (7)Quadratura (8)Pablo

All tracks written, produced and performed by MoShang.

This recording was made at Ce Soir (Second Life) on March 7th, 2013.

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You’ve built a Groovesizer mk1? Awesome! Here are the operating instructions for firmware V0.19.

Pick-up:  The pots perform a number of different functions. To avoid sudden jumps to new values when the pots are turned, values will only change once the pot has passed through its currently stored value.

TONE CONTROLS

• pot 1 – grain 1 pitch
• pot 2 – grain 2 decay
• pot 3 – grain 1 decay
• pot 4 – grain 2 pitch

NOTE ENTRY

• but 1 + pot 1 – 4 – note entry for steps 1 – 4
• but 2 + pot 1 – 4 – note entry for steps 5 – 8
• but 3 + pot 1 – 4 – note entry for steps 9 – 12
• but 4 + pot 1 – 4 – note entry for steps 13 – 16
• rests – turn the pot all the way anti-clockwise
• ties – turn the pot all the way clockwise
• multiple notes can be edited at the same time by holding down more than one button

 CONTROL

• pattern length – adjust the length of the pattern (1 – 16 steps) with the control pot (no buttons pressed).
• tempo – adjust the tempo with shift + control.
• note duration –  adjust the duration of the notes with shift + pot 4.
• swing – adjust the amount of swing with shift + pot 3.
• tap tempo / retrigger – retrigger the pattern with shift + but 4. Multiple taps will adjust the tempo.
• reverse – reverse the playback direction with shift + but 3.
• transpose up – transpose the pattern up a semitone with shift + but 2.
• transpose down – transpose the pattern down a semitone with shift + but 1.

PATTERN MODE

• enter/exit pattern mode  – hold but 1 and press shift (not to be confused with transpose down – see above)
• bank select – choose a bank from 1 – 8 with the control pot (no buttons pressed)
• store – press and hold any one of but 1 – 4 until all the leds blink on and off. Press the same button again to store the current pattern to that location, or any button to exit .
• recall – press but 1 – 4 to recall any pattern saved in that location for that particular bank. By default, the selected pattern starts to play as soon as the end of the current pattern is reached (quantized).
• immediate recall – to start playback of a selected pattern immediately, hold down shift when selecting the pattern with but 1 – 4.

And that’s it – have fun!

Wife Em., Baby Louis and I are on our way to visit the family in South Africa next week. We’d better take our chance while Louis can fly relatively cheaply – from age 2 onwards he’ll have to pay full price and it’s unlikely we’ll be able to make a yearly visit as we’ve been doing thus far. I’m well on track to finishing my EdX programming course (CS50) before we leave. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I’ve learnt a whole bunch and I look foward to using my new found programming skills in a Groovesizer MKii once I’m back.

Enjoy Live Online #152: Portrait

Playlist: (1)Adagio (2)Nude (3)Guava (4)Manga (5)Orientalism (6)Pigment (7)Haddock (8)Orwell

All tracks written, produced and performed by MoShang.

This recording was made at Ce Soir (Second Life) on March 7th, 2013.

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I’m enjoying the last days couple of days of the Chinese New Year’s break – happy Year of the Snake to you! In this set, you’ll hear the Groovesizer featured twice. once in a supporting role in the Fattoush, and later more prominently in Eclair. Though I’m very happy with the instrument as is I still wish there was a way to sync it to my software – I definitely want to implement MIDI clock in a future version.

Thanks Emileigh for suggesting the title for this edition of the podcast.

Enjoy Live Online #151: Food For Thought

Playlist: (1)Peru (2)Oman (3)Fattoush (4)Yantra (5)Caelum (6)Eclair (7)Dionysus (8)Haiku

All tracks written, produced and performed by MoShang.

This recording was made at Ce Soir (Second Life) on February 14th, 2013.

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***UPDATE***

This project has evolved substantially – follow developments regarding the Groovesizer DIY kit at groovesizer.com. To distinguish this project from the kit, this one has been rechristened Groovesizer mk1.

I’ve attached a 16-step sequencer to the original Auduino lo-fi synth and have added 8 LEDs and 5 buttons to the original design, and thus the Groovesizer is born. You can download the Arduino sketch here Groovesizer Arduino Sketch (v0.19). And here’s a breadboard schematic:

You’ll see I’ve maxed out all the ins and outs of the Arduino. I feel I’ve pretty much reached the limit of features I can support with the buttons and knobs available. For a future version, I’ll get into multiplexing to add more buttons, maybe an LCD, and while I’m at it 8 more LEDs.

Here’s the current feature list:
– note entry for individual steps or groups of up to 4 steps at once
– rests & ties
– pattern length from 1 – 16 steps
– pattern retrigger
– tap tempo
– pattern reverse
– pattern transpose (up and down in semitones)
– variable note duration
– swing/shuffle
– MIDI out
PATTERN MODE
– save and recall up to 32 patterns
– trigger patterns quantised (Ableton live style) or immediately

Here’s the link to the MANUAL.

By the way, I wanted to reclaim my Arduino for future projects and make this one permanent, so I replaced the Arduino with a hackduino, following this recipe. It works a treat. I’m considering having Groovesizer PCBs made that incorporates the hackduino. Anyone besides me interested in something like that? Leave a comment.

Latest Firmware:
Groovesizer mk1 – v019 – incorporates DuaneB‘s volatile fix

UPDATE 2 (2013-12-08) – Frontpanel Design

Splendit bend it did a nice demo on his SoundCloud page and also designed this cool frontpanel. Thanks for sharing, Splendid!

Frontpanel – png