Sequentix P3 Sequencer
March 30, 2006
Ooh, so the Sequentix P3 kits are still available. Well, not kit, just boards + a few parts… But still…
I wonder if this would be a better solution for my 9090 than making my own… Hmm…
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Maybe, though it’s still very much intended as a note/CC sequencer. It might be OK at drums though.
I think if I’m willing to go the P3 route, I may as well just go the MIDIbox SEQ route. At least that has a per-hit level display and such…
Well, I don’t know how many simultaneous tracks the p3 can do, but the midibox can only do a couple at a time while editing, a couple more by layering, but not while editing.
Hrm, I hadn’t realized that… I read the 16 track bit and thought… Well… You know.
I’m really starting to understand why you are saying there’s just no good percussion sequencer really availble.
I’m tempted to buy a TR-626 and play with it, as there is one on eBay listed as needing a bit of work (something involving powering it) which I’d imagine will go for about $50.
Also, with one of the newer threads in the ladyada boards with limor talking about how little memory is left in the PIC, I’m really thinking that we wouldn’t be able to hold a whole 8 (or 16) tracks of 16 notes.
Here’s a tutorial on using a midibox seq in drum mode. That’s the way I read it, anyhow. I could be wrong, in fact, in re-reading it, I think I may be, if they are talking about pattern chaining rather than pattern layering.
Even so, it’s still not nearly as immediate as an 808 style seq, but it is usable. It’s just that I’d prefer something where the drum functionality wasn’t such an afterthought.
Did you see this yet: MR-9090
Ooh, perfect! Now we find someone to do a run of boards, preprogrammed pics… ;0)
For what it’s worth, I’ve got a programmer for those PICs… We’d need the boards laid out, but that’s probably none too hard. I’ll take a look into it a little later.
The hardest part is, if the switches are going to be board mount, getting the footprints for the switches drawn. :\
Yeah, that could be tricky.
Also, we might not want to get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s pretty clear from the site that his design is still being ironed out.
Yep, I agree… I’ve got a few other things to work on before I get to making either a sequencer or the 9090, but then after that time…
Yeah, I need to finish up my stuff, too.
I’ve been ranting about drum seqs because my current project is a monster drum rack.
I’ve got a Tama TS306, a Simmons SDS1000, a few Concussor modules, and a DR110 I’m modding. There’s two midi2sds2s on their way as soon as the last part arrives so I can midi it all up… a mr9090 would be the perfect add-on to all of that!
Ooh, that’s nice… You know, it may be possible to build that MR9090 on a small home-etched PCB. After all, there’s really not a lot of hardware there.
I just wish the schematic was in Eagle format. :\
Sure, and you could build it on perfboard just like he is, too.
I haven’t gone that extra step of keeping noxious developing chemicals in my house. I have cats, I’d prefer they didn’t die.
Actually, there’s no fumes at all. It’s really quite nice… I just use a lye solution for developing the photoresist, and the etchant is ferric chloride. The tin plating is something else, but it too has no vapor, and mostly percipitates out at room temperature. No smell off of any of them. The closest stinky things I’ve had to use in the etching process is a bit of acetone (nail polish remover) to take off the photo resist after the board is etched, and ammonia to polish the tin plating.
The only smell that bothers me is the ammonia, because for some reason I cannot tolerate this smell.
It’s more a boring process, honestly.
Oh, and when I build a mr9090, I’d probably break out the panel hardware to my own panel board and lay the main board flat to fit the thing into a 2u or 3u rack format… I sense more homemade ribbon cables in my future…
Hm, counting my channels, I’m going to need a third midi2sds2. Ah, when I have money, I guess.
Also, with one of the newer threads in the ladyada boards with limor talking about how little memory is left in the PIC, I’m really thinking that we wouldn’t be able to hold a whole 8 (or 16) tracks of 16 notes.
I think this depends on the data structures involved. I don’t know how the note data is stored in the current track, but certainly a drum seq would only need at most two bits per step ( one for on/off one for accent) for step state, the current seq needs on/off, note number, accent, slide.
Oh, and octave up/down as well.
So 8 might be doable, depending on how efficient the current data is stored.
It’s just something that needs to be investigated, really.