MATRIXSYNTH: x0xb0x Bases Stand Alone Sequencer?


Monday, March 16, 2009

x0xb0x Bases Stand Alone Sequencer?

via Amos on the AH list:
"John Emond and I have been chatting recently about the possibility of taking the excellent analog sequencer found in the x0xb0x (q.v: http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x) and adapting it into a standalone x0x-style pattern sequencer.

This would be a simple affair, 1 octave of key-switches, 16 steps per pattern, control voltage and MIDI output, MIDI clock sync... the x0xb0x firmware would be used as a starting point, which means features like real-time or step-time pattern editing while the pattern is playing and synced to clock, pattern shift backwards or forwards by steps, on-the-fly transpose, realtime adjustment of pattern length.

Output is V/Octave by default, although John suggests adding a switchable Hz/V output option, which would certainly be a nice touch. He's also in favor of expanding the rather small output range of the x0xb0x to a range of 5 octaves.

So, before we get too deep into this project, it seems like a good idea to find out the general level of interest for such an animal. Who wants one?

I am presuming this would be offered as a PCB + bill of materials, source the parts and build it yourself kind of affair. At least, I'm not immediately volunteering to order and kit up a bunch of parts myself. Although, if a lot of people express an interest (as in, "I will definitely pay extra for a full kit") then it's definitely something to take into consideration.

So, please reply and let me know:

Do you definitely want a standalone, DIY sequencer like this?
Are you OK with a bare PCB and parts list, or is it important to get a
"complete kit?"
(note that a sequencer-only would not have any rare parts like the x0xb0x
uses - the rare bits are all in the synth section)
Has somebody already done this and we haven't noticed yet?

Tell me what you think. It's an exciting possibility, and I'm glad John has
stepped up to lend his enthusiasm to something I've been wanting to get
around to for a while...

Cheers,
Amos"

feel free to comment

13 comments:

  1. I do!

    I love the 303, but frankly its not the most versatile synth. I'd rather pay whatever for this and re-case a mopho or something with it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Are we suppose to tell we are interested here, or on the "AH list"?

    Anyways, I think I am interested and a few local friends too, if the price is right.

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  3. I really hope this comes to light. I'd buy one (or more) for sure! It's really one of the better hardware step sequencers out there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. i want one...ore two, depending on the price

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Me too, one or two (PCB and parts list).

    ReplyDelete
  7. hey, another thing,
    you can lower the costs, and improve expandability, by having two boards, one for logic and one for "grid", like people behind monome did, but you can use arduino as a logic board.
    this would help people who have trouble soldering to at least don't need to solder chips and stuff for processor (crystal, .22p caps, LM7805 and the specifically peculiar SMD ftdi's chip), and you add instant ability to connect it to usb, and connect it to anything, of coursethere should be regular MIDI connector there somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  8. fibra is working on something like this! see his flickr page -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/fibra/sets/72157612232544428/

    no details, but the pics looke nice

    btw, i'm in for one too if the price is reasonable

    ReplyDelete
  9. For kits you could probably include a Digikey listed kit so one button and they can order parts from a stored list.
    That saves the overhead of you stocking but still makes kitting easy.

    I'm also guessing that many people who would be interested in this don't have the soldering chops, especially for SMT parts.
    If you think you can sell 25-50 or more our friends up the street can probably help you with reasonable priced assembled PCBs.

    -- you know where to find me to discuss this...

    Hawker

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm definitely interested in the kit. Especially if it had MIDI and CV.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is exactly what I want. The full kit would be best, but I'll take what I can get.

    ReplyDelete

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