ChipKit MIDI-Sequencer

Created Sun, 22 Sep 2013 09:22:22 +0000 by MarioV

MarioV

Sun, 22 Sep 2013 09:22:22 +0000

...heres my latest project:

Basically its a MIDI-Sequencer based on the FubarinoSD. At the moment it plays up to 64-MIDI-Tracks. Thanks to the FubarinoSD data can be saved on MicroSD-Card. LCD-Screen is KS0108 compatible with 128x64 resolution. Currently working on some Boards for the User-Interface-Elements... :)

Jacob Christ

Sat, 26 Oct 2013 10:05:56 +0000

Wicked cool... Do you have any more info posted anywhere?

Jacob

MarioV

Sat, 26 Oct 2013 17:17:08 +0000

No sorry. Havent posted anything more yet. but i have built a few extension boards for the mainboard, u can see in the above picture. will take a few more photos tomorrow and post them together with some more info asap...

EmbeddedMan

Sat, 26 Oct 2013 23:40:39 +0000

MarioV-

OH SO COOL!!! That is a wonderful project. I'd love to know more - and I know it would be a great project to put up on chipkit.net if you have the time.

Sweet!

*Brian (Fubarino SD co-creator)

MarioV

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 11:50:35 +0000

...there we go then...

as requested here are some more infos about my midi-sequencer-project along with photos of the extension-boards, that i have built so far.

first of all it is supposed to be a midi-step-sequencer, which means it can trigger midi-steps (notes) as it plays. basically it is the hardware-version of an old amiga-program called "MITRIS" (MIDI-TRIGGER-SEQUENCER), which i wrote back in the last century. :geek: for that purpose i have decided to go for a rather unusual design, compared to other devices of that type. it uses a modular design for the various input-elements instead of a fixed one. so the user can decide, which modules to built, depending on the money he/she wants to spend. 8-)

the first module is for entering the steps into the current sequence. it contains 16 buttons with built-in red/green-led. for a 16-step-sequencer u would need at least 4 of them:

i have decided to built 8 of them, which gives me a total of 8 tracks by 16 steps. another much cheaper version of this board is in progress...

also it is nice to have encoders/potentiometers for adjusting the pitch of the steps. additionally i have included a switch to transpose the steps, another red/green-led and a very nice rotary-switch with 12 (!) positions to select the pitch of the step. this switch is also used to select different chord types, because it is not just a simple single track-sequencer. in fact it is an 8-track sequencer where every track can play up to 8 notes at once. so there is a total of 64 tracks, which run completely independent, but perfectly in sync, of each other. here is a photo of the board, from which i have built 4:

to control all the functionality of the "machine" a seperate control-board is needed. here u can select the different menus/options, mute/select tracks,...

there is only a prototype version so far:

and finally here is a photo of my system. the total size is 40cm x 43cm, which will fit nicely into my 19inch-rack:

the speed of the fubarinosd is sufficient to build up even bigger systems. i am currently working on the software and hope to get this done by the end of the year. if somebody has ideas to improve something on my "little" project, feel free to leave a comment in this thread or just send me a pm... :roll:

MarioV