In short, the SSP's software now has VST hosting capability which is a pretty big deal: it's now possible to host VST plugins in an eurorack module, the Percussa SSP. The modules can function in the SSP's patcher grid, and you can use them (through the input and output jacks of the SSP) with your other favourite modules in your rack!
Besides that we also delivered the SSP SDK - it basically consists of a VST plugin example written in JUCE, a Quad VCA, which was also requested by SSP users in our forum. Full details in the above updates. If you are a developer you definately want to read up on this. The code is already on github ready to check out and modify.
The Quad VCA is included in the software update ready to use, and we even made a preset with this new module. So you don't have to be a developer to use it.
Finally we also have a new BitCrusher module, and a new module picker, which allows you to easily pick modules from our continuously expanding catalog.
We hope you enjoy this update and look forward to the next one! Thanks again for your support.
Bert & Celine"
This past week myself and Celine have been hard at work on the software. Like I wrote in our last update, we've been working on the SSP's menu system and fixing bugs in the graphical user interface.
We've also worked on adding support for the SSP's 16 inputs and 8 outputs in our software: the input and output modules, which are used in the module network editor to tie the jacks on the SSP to the internal modules, had to be updated to support all of the SSP's I/O.
One other important feature we added the past week is scaling the increase/decrease step size of the synthesis parameters using encoder speed/acceleration.
Besides that we took the opportunity to test the inputs and outputs with both AC and DC signals. As you already know from the kickstarter page, the SSP's 16 inputs and 8 outputs are DC coupled, and they all support up to 192kHz sample rate with 32 bit resolution (we use high end AKM DACs and ADCs, which are used for sampling both CVs and Audio signals). Below you can find six new videos we shot during our testing sessions."
"We’re very excited to share with you that we reached Stretch goal #2. Thanks so much to all our backers!
Besides MIDI MPE support, the SSP will now come with 5 extra modules:
1) sampler module with time stretching
2) granular processor
3) simple delay
4) bit crusher
5) physical modeling membrane
And we’re now on our way to Stretch goal #3: another 5 extra modules (2 advanced modules and 3 simple modules) will be added to the SSP when we reach the next goal at $55,000.
Please let us know what modules you’d like in this group!
"Front panel finishes, switch caps colours, menu system updates, demo case and more
Hi all!
It’s time for another update! This week the NAMM show is happening in Anaheim, CA, one of the main tradeshows for musical instruments and music technology. We are not exhibiting or going as we decided to focus on the development of the SSP. A lot has happend over the past 10 days, below is a summary of what’s new including lots of nice photos :-)
1) Ordering more parts for the upcoming production
We already bought most components with long lead times for the SSP right when the kickstarter finished (such as the CPU modules), and now we continue buying the rest of the parts, such as switches, switch caps, ADCs and DACs, etc. Our commodity components will be bought further down the line as we get closer to production. We already got our programmable logic ICs which we received last week from our parts supplier, which is one of the few lead time sensitive parts specific to our design that we wanted to have early on so we don’t have to delay the assembly and shipping later on. So planning wise everything looks good, we got our PCBs, front panels and most of our lead time sensitive components. We’ll continue buying over the coming weeks and keep you updated about the production of the SSP.
2) Further experiments with front panel customizations
Our initial idea for front panel customization was to do laser engraving, but we wanted to see what it would look like if we machined our logo (and potentially any customizations) into the front panel before anodization instead of doing laser engraving. Laser engraving looks like gray text on a black background while with machining you can have more subtle customizations. I did the machining for the prototype below on our own CNC router. We’ll make a decision about what process to use over the coming weeks.
Besides that we are thinking about cosmetic hardware features ways to make navigation as easy as possible in our software user interface, such as different colours of switch caps. Although originally we planned to use only black switch caps, we might group certain buttons together using a colour, for example red for the cursor keys and grey for the menu keys, while the function soft keys would remain black. Below you can see an example grouping. This might still change as we continue working on the software and see the need to group certain buttons together.
Exciting news - today we received the PCBs for the SSP. They arrived about an hour ago and I immediately checked the quality of the top and bottom side, paying attention to small details such as whether the vias are nicely drilled in the center of pads, whether copper has 'leaked' over other copper potentially causing a short, and of course whether the through-hole components of the PCB sit nicely in the holes of the footprints or not. One other important detail I wanted to check is whether I could reach the display connector on the PCB with the display flatcable, which needs to be fed through a rectangular slot in the PCB. I had already checked that a million times before I sent off the files for production, in my 3D modeling software, and I had also checked it with a paper print-out of the PCB layout, but it's always good to actually check it in reality when you get the PCBs back.
I'm happy to report that everything is looking good (at least with the naked eye). Tomorrow I'll be doing a final check using my microscope, and then I'll be kitting the parts and a couple of PCBs, and sending that off to our subcontractor so we can get a few prototypes built for testing. As always I'll keep you posted about the latest news. Thanks again for backing!
Bert"
Pictured in order:
"Inspecting PCB quality"
"Checking display FPC length with location of display connector"
"Inserting through hole components and checking footprints"
"Checking placement of rotary encoders and aluminium knobs"
You might have noticed the new Percussa Kickstarter Banner on top of the site! The banner will be on top during Percussa's Kickstarter campaign for their upcoming Super Signal Processor Eurorack module. You can keep track on the campaign by clicking through the banner. Of course any new announcements, including demos, will go up in individual posts. For those just catching up, Percussa has reached their funding goal and are now onto stretch goals for additional features. You can check out their Kickstarter campaign anytime to track progress.
"First of all happy holidays, and we wish you a healthy and succesful 2018! We received our SSP prototype PCBs the 22nd of December, together with the SSP front panel prototypes. The first thing we did was a quick visual inspection of the PCB to make sure there was nothing odd going on. I use a stereo microscope for that and just a careful look at each of the sections of the PCB. The PCBs look good!
After that I checked the mechanical fit of the PCB, front panels, display and display holders, and the mounting studs which mount the front panel to the PCB. I also checked the fit of the switches and encoders, as well as the 3.5mm eurorack jack connectors, and the microSD card slot. The display flat cable slips through a slot in the PCB to connect on the other side.
We were pretty lucky - all we had to do is add a standard M3 spacer between the studs and front panel, and everything fits together well, as you can see in the photos below. As you can see, the display is sandwiched in between the PCB and front panel and is held by display supports which I designed.
After mounting everything together it was time to install the system-on-module (SOM) onto the PCB, connect the display to the back of the PCB, and apply power (I'm using a meanwell power supply at the moment for my tests, and built a 10-pin eurorack style power cable to connect to the power connector on the back of the PCB).
I had not prepared a microSD card yet, so the system was not booting yet, but my first goal was to measure all the power supplies on the board (there are a lot of them!). Everything looked good so I built a serial cable so I could get access to the console, and a cable to program the programmable logic on the PCB. Finally I wrote a microSD card, and after a quick fix on the PCB (removing a pullup resistor which shouldn't have been there) the system booted up just fine! You can see the beautiful display in action below.
In the photo you can see I connected a USB hub to the high-speed port, which I've connected a USB-ethernet cable to so I can copy stuff to/from the SSP while I'm testing, or SSH into it. Finally I built our synthesis software with the SSP-specific GUI, and started that up to see how it looks on the screen. It's by no means finished, but it's nice to see it on the screen.
We still have to connect the encoders and switch matrix to the application. That will happen in the next weeks. I/O wise, I've tested the USB high and full speed ports (left and middle). I haven't tested the USB device port yet, I might get to that next week. The 8 channel audio output works and sounds great as well. I still have some work to do for the 16 audio inputs, and I'll be working on that over the next days, more news on the next update.
Keep in mind in the above photos the front panel has NOT been anodized or engraved yet. We'll get to that after the holidays (probably the week of Jan 10th). I am going to get a few panels processed, take some photos and then update you on that.
So overall it's looking really good! We're excited and look forward to updating you somewhere next week when we have more news. Thanks again for your patience and support!
"The Percussa SSP (Super Signal Processor) is a combi instrument/effects box that relies on some super powerful DSP under-the-hood - initially introduced via Kickstarter in 2017, we find out what's new on the platform and why this might be something you still need!"
"The demo was made by request from backers and eurorack enthousiasts, to show what can be done with the step sequencer module. If you have any demo requests send them our way! :-)
Some info on the demo: 2 sequencers, 1 Wavetable Osc, 2 LFOs, 1 EG (ADSR). The first LFO modulates the Z parameter of the wavetable osc, 1 sequencer modulates freq of the wavetable osc and triggers the ADSR while the other sequencer modulates freq/amp of the other (second) LFO. Manual tweaking of the first LFO frequency, sequencer pattern length, tempos, as well as live editing of sequencer steps. Also experimentation with cloud/spread feature of wavetable osc and manual tweaking of XY parameters of the wavetable oscillator. Sound passes through global delay and reverb section."
Synthor runs on Macs and PCs as a standalone audio application and communicates wirelessly with the AudioCubes hardware interface. When cubes are placed next to each other, new patch connections are created, and moving cubes closer and further away change parameters such as modulation depth. Synthor is a free download for all AudioCubes users! Learn more at http://www.percussa.com/"
Some additional info via the Percussa News Letter:
"You can see different synth cubes in action: red/orange cubes are wavetable oscillators, purple one is a step sequencer, green ones are LFOs (frequency and amplitude modulation) and the cyan one is a toggle noise cube (white noise with variable frequency). The wavetable oscillator cubes are set to do frequency modulation, the step sequencer does frequency modulation, as well as the noise cube. There is also a waveshaper and state-variable filter (SVF) which are not demo'ed in this video but will be in upcoming videos.
The Synthor synth runs inside MIDIBridge so there is no additional software needed beyond our MIDIBridge software. There is an audio settings control panel now in MIDIBridge which lets you select the sound card driver to use (CoreAudio, ASIO, etc) as well as the sample rate and buffer size to use. The processing in Synthor is all done at audio sample rate, so you have really fast and smooth modulation possibilities and low-latency.
In Synthor, you first assign a synthesizer module to a cube (oscillator, LFO, noise gererator, etc) and decide what other cubes it can modulate. As soon as you’ve done that, you can start putting cubes together to create a modular synth patch.
As soon as cubes are placed next to each other, a connection is made between the synthesizer modules linked to the cubes. So for example, if you configured two cubes to be oscillators, one oscillator will start to modulate the frequency of the other oscillator (you can also set it to modulate amplitude if you prefer). It works the same way when you place multiple cubes together: even if you are only placing one cube next to a group of cubes, you will be creating multiple connections! All without needing real hardware patch cords. Try doing that in a traditional hardware modular synthesizer with only two hands.
Synthor also automatically scales parameters as you move cubes closer together: If you have two oscillator cubes next to each other, the modulation depth will change depending on the distance between the cubes. This is done completely automatic without you having to configure anything. Parameters can also be set using sliders in the Synthor user interface if you need to set them to specific values.
Last but not least, the signal output of each of the synthesizer modules is automatically connected to the brightness of the colours of the cubes. This way you can see how fast your LFOs are running for example, or you can see the steps of the step sequencer as they play back.
I’ve also built a default patch into Synthor / MIDIBridge, such that when you start the software and connect your cubes, they are all set into Synthor mode and a synthesizer processor has been linked to each cube (oscillator, noise, etc). This way you can immediately start making sound with the cubes without having to configure anything (don’t forget to set up your sound card - you only need to do this once). If you customize the default setup of Synthor you can save your settings and load them using the LOAD/SAVE buttons in MIDIBridge.
Bonus tip: if you go play live with Synthor, you can load different settings files for different songs, and each of those settings files can assign the cubes to different synthesizer modules! This is like having 10 different modular synth setups with you which you can instantly switch to within a few seconds. Impossible to do with a traditional hardware modular synth.
I need your feedback on the above video
I’ll be adding more synthesizer modules to Synthor over the next month. I have plans for granular processors, mixers, delays, etc. It’s going to be super exciting working on this. Please reply to this email and send me your feedback about the above video!"
Via the Percussa Kickstarter where you'll find more pics. Note this one has a burgundy wine faceplate rather then the standard black we have seen up to this date, and it goes to Kuxaan-Sum, a backer of the Kickstarter campaign, who has been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH numerous times as well.
"Today was a special day - we shipped the first SSPs to 7 lucky backers :-) We shipped according the backer number starting with serial number one, low serial number and custom SSP tiers.
We'll send out an email with a tracking number this weekend to each of the backers we shipped. We'll also be posting some installation / release notes / getting started info.
We worked towards this moment for months, pushing several updates to the software over the past weeks such as the multi-channel recording capabilities of the SSP software.
Below you can see photos of our building process the past week as well as a sneak peak of the packaging. We'll leave the actual unboxing photos and videos to the backers :-)
"Very deep module, can be be used as an audio interface for your modular recording too! which is very handy. Comes with original packaging in excellent condition."
"We have a new software update for the SSP, featuring the following: 
