Ratcheteer - Semi-Automatic MIDI Pattern Generator

midierror

"The Ratcheteer is a semi-automatic MIDI pattern generator for performing instead of programming notes. https://gumroad.com/l/ratcheteer

The RATCHETEER is designed to generate hi-hat - or any MIDI note - patterns easily, saving you the time consuming task of making repetitive MIDI edits! It works in sync with Ableton Live's transport with options for numerous time divisions and the ability to be performed using external MIDI controllers. Hurrah!

Assign a MIDI Note to ratchet, set the velocity and choose from 5 types of time division to hear the note re-triggered from a steady pace to rapid fire mayhem. Select from all time divisions combined, triplets, whole notes, dotted notes and free (unclocked).

Turn the knob to make the ratchet faster or slower and set it to 0 to stop all notes. The device will output your MIDI notes which can be recorded as clips and stored in your track.

Use the MIDI Map function to change the ratchet using MIDI controller movements, from knobs, faders, mod wheels or pitchbend. You can also automate it in the track, but why the heck would you do that?!

Send ratcheted MIDI notes to VSTs, Drum Racks or external MIDI Hardware using Ableton's extensive MIDI routings. Say goodbye to meticulous MIDI finessing and start performing hi-octane hi-hat patterns!

This is Version 1.0 and I am going to implement speed changes from MIDI notes, as requested by some users.

Please Note: Ableton Live 10 Suite is required to run this device.

I cannot offer refunds on software downloads, so please ask any questions you have before buying."

8BitM8 - Hardware Bit Crusher with Arcade Button

Published on Jun 4, 2020 midierror
Update: Re-Published on Jun 5, 2020

via tindie

"The 8BitM8 is a brand new bit-crusher pedal inspired by the tonal qualities of vintage samplers, MPCs and the love of lo-fi sounds. It comes hand made in a rugged metal enclosure packed with high quality components which include a genuine arcade button.

Hardware bit crushers are hard to come by and are often simply 'sample rate reducers' without any effect on the number of bits. The 8BitM8 is a fully digital bit crusher with settings for 4, 6 and 8-Bit - meaning the sounds of early samplers, lofi keyboards and digital effect units at your fingertips.

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Sonic TALK 575 - A Load Of Clap

Published on May 2, 2019 sonicstate

00:05:20 Moog Matriarch
00:16:50 Super Smash Button
00:25:15 iZotope RX7 Competition
00:28:00 Soma Laboratory Pular 23 Drum machine
00:38:00 Softube Parallels
00:39:15 Yamaha CS80 remake?
00:51:20 GForce Mtron Pro v 3
00:56:20 CL4P Hand clap synth and claps in general

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I enjoyed the CS80 talk in this one with the "CS80 Twins". What makes the CS80, CS60, and CS50 is the interface. Those pivot sliders... I do think Yamaha could slim it down though. Have the exact same front panel interface and keyboard in size but in a slimmer case. In lieu of the the manual preset panel have digital preset and sequencer/arp section.

SUPER SMASH BUTTON - Arcade Audio Gate

Published on Apr 25, 2019 midierror

"The Super Smash Button is an audio gate controlled by an arcade button! It works with anything you plug into it - synths, drum machines, radios, vocals, effects and more.

Available from Tindie here.

The Super Smash Button is an audio gate which allows you to pass any signal at the bash of the big arcade button! Trigger musical elements, vocals, synths, noise and drones through it for rhythmic stutters, jittered melodies and chopped up beats.

It works incredibly well with drones, circuit bent keyboards and weird effects machines - bringing a new dimension rhythm and melody combined. Plug in a radio or play some foley recordings for randomly accessed nuggets of sound to add unpredictability and serendipitous synchronicity to the proceedings.

It has a toggle switch to allow the signal to pass completely, for when your Track and Field skills have come a cropper. Use external effects after the pedal to expand its impact - a delay or loop pedal is the ideal output for an innovative way of making new textures, tones and soundscapes.

This is a hand-made, hard-wearing device in a strong aluminum enclosure, with a tried-and-tested arcade button for years of trigger finger raising. It ships from the UK with either Green, Blue or Yellow buttons and four rubber feet to grip to and protect your surfaces.

The Super Smash Button is 111mm x 31mm (47mm including switch) x 60mm and weights around 150g."

The Deluxe Chipshop by midierror

"Welcome to midi error’s Deluxe ChipShop! A unique collection of over 1000 samples recorded from the Commodore 64, Atari ST, Original Gameboy and Pocket Operator Arcade!

Get it here

Re-released and remastered, this expanded deluxe version features the all original content, plus loads more from the archives and some brand new additions!

The Deluxe Chipshop comes with 590MB of sounds, recorded, prepared and organised for instant deep-fried retro goodness. Feast upon a huge number of One Shots, Loops and Multi Samples, created using original chiptune hardware running CynthCart, MESSIAH, Retroskoi, Nanoloop, LSDJ and the Atari Sound Effects Generator and more!

Step inside the ChipShop to see midierror cooking up over 700 one hit samples including Synths, Leads, Chords, Basses and Arps to fry-up some solid melodies, including 308 Drum Hits, with Cymbals, Snares, Rides, Kicks, Hats, Percussion and Toms neatly organised to bring big beats to the street. In excess of 190 sound effects are included with 31 white noise samples and 16 digital vocal samples to mix things up.

There are over 130 Loops to shake up the plaice, with Drum Loops, Synth Loops, Combo Loops, Percussion Loops and FX Loops to start throwing in the deep fat fryer. Each one has been key-labelled and comes at 120, 140 and 175 BPM.

You’ll hear why the Commodore 64 SID chip is so legendary, with its warm and punchy sound - alongside the Atari ST YM2149 Chip, delivering a cleaner, more digital tone and the DMG Gameboy sound chip pumping out warm lows and ASMR inducing highs! This Deluxe Chipshop now features the Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator Arcade, a faithful modern-day Chiptune machine, which delivers a frantic pace to the proceedings!

This gigantic collection has been organised for ease of use, with all files categorised, named and optimised to aid your workflow - ensuring you’ll find chiptune magic to inspire Electro, Synthwave, House, Techno, Drum & Bass, Electronica, Cinematic productions.

There are more freebies on the horizon, follow midierror on twitter for the latest announcements - and check out his youtube and soundcloud channels for other musical adventures!"

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Sync Tab for ARPIE

Published on Sep 13, 2017 midierror

"A neat device to sync your pulse clock devices to the ARPIE and an external clock. Works with Pocket Operators, Monotribes, Volcas and more!"

The synchtab for arpie was introduced in 2015. Note it's spelled both synchtab with an h as you can see here, and synctab minus the h here where you can order one.

Setting up your Sync Tab

Published on Sep 13, 2017

"This video shows how to set up your Sync Tab and ARPIE with external Pulse clock devices! Works with Pocket Operators, Monotribes, Volcas and more!"

Le Strum - Chord & Strumming Midi Controller Demo

Published on Apr 2, 2017 Dual Shaman

"Putting the rather obscure and underrated Le Strum chord MIDI controller to the test by playing a selection of pads, sound effects, soulful keys, Chicago House chords and piano.

This petite fella is one of our composing and song starting secrets, it’s very easy and fast to get some good melodic ideas going, albeit as an instrument, it can be a bit more difficult to master due to it’s small size.

Nonetheless, a must have at such a small price. Especially useful for those who need brushing up on their music theory.

Get ShamanStems sounds : http://bit.ly/2nYyRB5
Dual Shaman on Soundcloud: http://bit.ly/2nYfW9w"

See this post for details on Le Strum, and one more here.

New PC-2 Clone - Analog Percussion Synthesizer from midierror

Published on Dec 20, 2016 midierror

"A little demo of the analog Percussion Synth from sxityfourpixels! Available as a kit here: https://www.tindie.com/products/hotch...

Triggered by a built in Piezo, or by external CV. Space on the PCB for mods...and a eurorack version on the way!"

Details:

"A clone of the Boss PC-2 / Amdek PCK-100 for bleeps and bloops galore!


PCLONE2 is a recreation of the (now rare) PC-2 percussion synthesizer which was made by Boss during the 1980s (and also released in DIY kit form under the Amdek brand name as the PCK-100)

The PCLONE2 kit is based on the original schematic (with a couple of changes due to the scarcity of some now obsolete components).

The kit includes all the parts neccessary for the build; printed circuit board, electronic components, wire for internal connections, potentiometers, knobs, switches, sockets, fitting screws etc. It includes a custom designed, laser-cut, case (made from 3mm acrylic sheet with 5mm acrylic side cheeks) and a laser etched acrylic laminate fascia.

Assembly by soldering is required! I would describe this as an intermediate complexity kit for experienced solderers, if you are a novice I would recommend getting some experience on simpler kits before you build this one.

This is a completely analog synthesizer with a single VCO. There is a pitch sweep function, a decay envelope and an LFO with rate, depth and wave shape (triangle/square) control. Unusually for a percussion synth there is no noise source, but you'll soon realise this isn't your typical percussion synth!

Sounds are triggered by an input pulse (5V-9V works fine) or by tapping on a piezo sensor which is mounted behind a pad on the front panel.

There are three unconnected 3.5mm sockets labelled CV1, CV2, CV3. These, together with a prototyping area on the PCB, are to make the box easily mod-able. I will be documenting some simple mods I have already found (including a pitch CV input using a single resistor), and plan to get a growing list of mods together.

The box has the following controls:

TRIG LEVEL - Sets the sensitivity of the trigger input. The voice circuit responds differently depending on the intensity of the trigger pulse (this is especially nice when tapping it with a finger). The TRIG LEVEL knob controls this response.

PITCH - Sets the basic pitch of the oscillator. This works alongside the SWEEP controls.

DECAY - Controls the decay of the volume envelope (so how long the sound takes to fade out after it is triggered) and also controls the sweep time. Sweep, pitch and decay interact in ways that reward experimentation.

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midierror Fundraising for Youth Music with new EP

midierror who has been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH numerous times, has a new fundraiser EP out to benefit Youth Music. The following are some details on the project:

"midierror has been going without alcohol for the whole of 2016 in order to raise money for Youth Music, who fund valuable workshops with youngsters who would otherwise have no access to musical expression. From organising, running and evaluating music workshops - he cannot emphasise enough the incredible impact that these music sessions can have on young peoples lives.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/midi-error

But he has raised a pitiful amount of money so far! So he decided to create an EP featuring four tracks which he's enjoyed making and playing live over the past year. Described as dark and sort of cinematic, he says they loosely based around the idea of the human race moving out into space. Expect to hear some electronica, jungle and idm..BUT if those aren’t to your taste there is a secret, more poppy bonus track for people the rest of you!

https://midierror.bandcamp.com/

The EP has four tracks and a bonus chemical brothers cover, with Emma Harrop on vocals. Please name your own price (above £2), and give generously!"

OP-A FM Synth Demo

www.kickstarter.com/projects/130448…eld-for-arduino

New demo of the OP-A FM synth. See this previous post for details.

LE STRUM - MIDI Chord Controller

Published on Jan 13, 2016 midierror

"A unique control surface designed by uber-human Jason Hotchkiss. Le Strum functions something like a cross between a Stylophone and an Omnichord.

Available here: https://www.tindie.com/products/midie..."

An interesting side note is that I own an Oberheim Strummer. It might have been the first if not only piece of kit you could use to generate guitar like cords with your synth. The problem with it was that it wasn't super intuitive to use. It didn't have any strum controls but was rather just a desktop box with a button based menu system where you selected what chords you wanted to use. LE STRUM looks like it would not only easily replace it, but can be used more as a physical controller for your synths. Very, very cool.

"A unique control surface that functions something like a cross between a Stylophone and an Omnichord. Comes FULLY CONSTRUCTED!

Connect LE STRUM to your MIDI synthesizer or computer running synth software, hold down a combination of buttons to select a chord, then use the stylus to play MIDI notes by touching the contact pads on the top right of the board. As the name suggests, you can strum across chords using the stylus, providing an unique and expressive MIDI controller.

LE STRUM's 36 chord buttons give you immediate access to 84 different chords (maj, min, dom7, maj7, min7, aug, dim for 12 root notes). You can also play sus4, add6 and add9 chord variations. It is great for learning about chord progressions and can be a helpful songwriting tool.

LE STRUM has several performance modes which are accessed by holding the MODE button while pressing one of the top row of chord buttons:

Mode+C : Basic mode - Stacked triads mapped across all 16 pads
Mode+D : Guitar strum mode - 6-string guitar open chords used (maj/min/7)
Mode+E : Guitar sustain mode - as above, but chord held after buttons released
Mode+F : Organ buttons - As Basic mode but chord triad plays on MIDI channel 2 as soon as button is pressed
Mode+G : Organ buttons with additions - as above but with sus4/add6/add9 options
Mode+A : Organ buttons with retrig - as above but chord buttons retrigger
Mode+B : Load User Patch
Mode+Bm : Save User Patch
Mode+B7 : MIDI Panic - All notes off
Mode+Strum Pad: Set MIDI velocity (16 levels)

User patch can combine settings for: play on make/break, damp on make/break, guitar voicing /stacked triads, additional guitar octave, enable added 4/6/9 notes, enable guitar chord bass notes, keep chord selection after chord button release, common note sustain on chord change, map chromatic/diatonic/pentatonic scale to pads, enable organ buttons on midi channel 2

LE STRUM has a special 6 string guitar mode, which knows basic major, minor and seven open chord fingerings for guitar. It can be used to lay down strummed guitar MIDI tracks without a MIDI guitar, and in a more convincing way that you could get from a keyboard. It's more than a toy, yessiree!

Designed for hackability (e.g. solder wires to the provided holes on the pads to make proper "strings" to pluck)
Transmits on MIDI Channel 1 for stylus activity and MIDI Channel 2 for Chord Buttons.
Output is to a standard MIDI 5-pin DIN socket.
A PP3 battery is required
Size 98mm x 75mm x 45mm (incl MIDI socket) Weight approx 120g with battery

An optional stand is available, please contact me for more information.

Please note that synthesizer hardware or software is required to make sound. LE STRUM is a MIDI controller and does not make any sound by itself!"

Note: I created a new midierror channel label for midierror moving forward. You can find previous posts by doing s a search on midierror. The creator of LE STRUM is Jason Hotchkiss.

LE STRUM - MIDI Strummed Chord Controller Kit

Published on Jun 16, 2013

"If you could breed an Omnichord with a Stylophone you might end up with some of these babies.... [or the Oberheim Strummer]

Use combinations of the buttons to select a chord type (maj, min, 7, maj7, min7, dim, aug) and root note. The chord is then mapped across the pads, which you play with a wired stylus, sending output by MIDI.

This is an old idea of mine that I've now turned into an open hardware kit, so anyone can make one. The updated firmware has some new goodies like guitar open chord fingerings, chord variations (sus4, add6, add9), two channel lead + chord drone and control over velocity.

Kit is available for purchase on Tindie at https://www.tindie.com/products/hotch... and the firmware/hardware source code is on GitHub at https://github.com/hotchk155/Voici-Le..."