I'm still waiting for the parcel, I won't spend my holiday tomorrow building my LXR
My take about the syncing problem would be to have a "sync" parameter (yep, yet another parameter...), with 3 options :
"sync to x", "group with x", and "no sync"
- "no sync" mode is self-explanatory I guess - it allows any possible polyrythm and de-synchronisation
- "sync to x" : resets the current sequence when the x sequence restarts - would solve the aforementionned problem, as well as create kind of new sequences.
- "group with x" : when you change the length of track x, it also change the length of the current track, so that they stay synchronized.
I suppose that you can create cool effects if you group track 3 with track 2, and sync track 2 with track 1, then play with track 2 and track 1 length...
Modifying this parameter live would allow for virtually any cool polyrythmic combination, without being too difficult to edit or too conceptually complicated.
The problem may appear when the user would create syncing loops - i don't really know how you can prevent users from being dumb but that should be possible...
but I live at the 5th floor without elevator and without entry phone, and there was a week-end in between.
So, if the postman (or the postgirl) is a bit late or is a bit lazy (which I can understand, actually), he will just not take the chance of climbing 5 floors, ringing to my door, and he will just state that "i was not here", or that "there was no access" or whatever fake reason he can find, then the day after I get a notification in my mailbox that a parcel is waiting for me the following day at the post office. With a holiday and a week-end somewhere in between, it easily results in a week difference. It's just bad luck. A PCB will just slip into my mailbox and it's ok.
I had some possible bug in my unit that i was not really able to narrow down. Running step lights in voice mode stopped and start/stop did not work and the unit seemed somehow stuck. When i discovered, that it would get stuck saying "loading pattern" when trying to load, i exchanged my sd card (was microsd in adapter) to sandisk2gb. Since then the problem didn't occured again except once.
I'm working on fixing all the mod targets in the mod matrix. After that I will have a closer look at pattern loading. Did the freeze only occur during pattern load?
While loading the UI is not usable. If the UI is usable, but no chaselight and you can't set steps, the problem is on the mainboard.
@julian: it did not only happen during pattern load from sd card. not sure, what triggered it. it was hard to reproduce, but happened just every time i was starting to have fun jamming around. could be it happened when i switched through the patterns in performance mode.
on the load/save page you can -click the encoder -navigate tthe '>' to "sound" -click encoder again - '>' changes to '[]' - now you can select what to load/save
this way you can also load a second sound preset as morph destination for the performance page (the 2nd of the 4 buttons)
@julian: it did not only happen during pattern load from sd card. not sure, what triggered it. it was hard to reproduce, but happened just every time i was starting to have fun jamming around.
If you get any idea what is causing this please let me know!
Could you describe the error a bit more? So you are just jamming around, pushing buttons etc and suddenly, without being on the load save page, the UI locks up and shows "Loading pattern"?
I just re-read your post. So the UI was doing fine, but the chaselight stopped (start/stop not working) then, when you tried to load a pattern it got stuck on the loading screen.
That would make sense. The not running chaselight indicates there is a problem with the mainboard software. So when the mainboard is stuck, the UI will still do fine. Only there is no chaselight and you can not set/remove steps anymore.
If you try to send a pattern to the mainboard, the frontpanel is waiting for a response, so you will get stuck on the "loading pattern" page.
So it is unrelated to pattern loading, but there seems to be a problem in the mainboard code.
I'll try to play a bit more with my machine and see if i can somehow reproduce it. but it is hard without any further pointers
the problem seems to have gone with the new sd card. if i have enough time over the weekend i'll try to reproduce it with the old one and test when it happens exactly.
so I couldn't help but start soldering instead of going to bed... I've just finished all the resistors.
Just a few, very small, remarks :
- it's not clear whether we have to leave the R51 spot blank or put a jumper instead in the instructions
- I don't really like the 10k resistors provided with the kit. Their legs are very thin, you can easily mess up something while reversing the board to access the solder side. I prefer the 220 resistors by far, even if they require a bit more efforts, they stay well into place.
- i don't really like your diodes footprints. I always find it easier when you can bend the legs as close as possible to the components. The usual footprint for a 1n4148 is about 7.5mm
- you state it in the instructions, but when I first opened the bags and looked at the pcb, I instinctively started looking for 27k resistors and wasted like 2 minutes before understanding that I hadn't lost them somewhere. If you plan using 220 ohms resistors, please write 220 or 220R on the silkscreen
By the way, given the number of 10k and 220 resistors, I believe that you could easily replace them by some resistor arrays. Less parts, less work. Not sure it's cheaper though. But still, probably worth the effort.
I perfectly agree that those are only very minor remarks. But i think that we're here to make this kind of feedback as well.
Just finished my new LXR! Sounds great! Had a small issue with bad soldering on the atmel-chip but after fixing that everything worked perfectly.
Found one small bug. When in load page browsing for drum sets, if I select position [ 0]Pop its not possible to scoll to "the left" but if I am in position [ 2] its possible to scroll fast to "left" and end up in 250+ and then no way to scroll back to "the right". You have to go all the way from 250 down to [ 1] again.
@micmicman: my theory about the resistor values is that julian tried all kinds of leds and the ones that ended up looking best through translucent grey (and in general) needed other current limiting resistors.
Can confirm that the 27k Current Limiting Resistor is from a time before i infected julian with flat top LEDs - so its me to blame for all the hassle ;-) Maybe for the next revision there should be just a "CLR" marking....
so I couldn't help but start soldering instead of going to bed... I've just finished all the resistors.
Just a few, very small, remarks :
- it's not clear whether we have to leave the R51 spot blank or put a jumper instead in the instructions
ok - I will add this to the instructions. My girlfriend got confused about the LCD parts market with a '?' in the build instructions as well. So probably a 'leave r51 blank*' and a footnote explaining the extra parts for LCD users.
- I don't really like the 10k resistors provided with the kit. Their legs are very thin, you can easily mess up something while reversing the board to access the solder side. I prefer the 220 resistors by far, even if they require a bit more efforts, they stay well into place.
I'll try another brand next time. The problem with the 220 resistors is that they come in bulk paks, which is a much bigger hassel to count than the 10k type on a long 'strip'
- i don't really like your diodes footprints. I always find it easier when you can bend the legs as close as possible to the components. The usual footprint for a 1n4148 is about 7.5mm
yeah - same with the 47nF footprint! should be a combinded 2.5 + 5mm footprint like on the smr-mkII boards!
- you state it in the instructions, but when I first opened the bags and looked at the pcb, I instinctively started looking for 27k resistors and wasted like 2 minutes before understanding that I hadn't lost them somewhere. If you plan using 220 ohms resistors, please write 220 or 220R on the silkscreen
Stupid error from my side. Changing the LEDs was a last minute change. I had some true green LEDs first, which seem to be only availabe as a very bright version. Next batch will just read 'R-LED' or something similar on the silkscreen.
By the way, given the number of 10k and 220 resistors, I believe that you could easily replace them by some resistor arrays. Less parts, less work. Not sure it's cheaper though. But still, probably worth the effort.
I perfectly agree that those are only very minor remarks. But i think that we're here to make this kind of feedback as well.
every kind of feedback is very welcome! thanks a lot! I will have a look at resistor networks for v0.5 boards.
+1 for resistor network... What do the others think of the mixed orange yellow leds for the step sequencer? I sure like the colourful look of it but it somehow is a bit confusing too... You expect the orange one's to sound different or sosomething. And it also makes a bit of a preposition about your rhythm being in 4/4. While one of the stronger features of the LXR is its polyrhytmic nature
Funny tool. Still have to figure out how to use some functions but I quickly succeeded to setup a patern without even a look at the manual (actually I needed to go to the manual to find out where to adjust the tempo).
My very first impression regarding the build:
- some of the led are too close to the associated switch so not that straightforward to get in the right place (the instrument selection ones)
- I had a strange feeling when inserting the IC and having their name reversed except for the MCU (but this forced me to check twice)
- I do not really like having stuff on both side and the way to implement the Display
- except for those small things, everything is just straightforward and easy
My very first impression about the UI:
- most things are easy to find with a logical quick access layout
- I love the screensaver
- some of the parameters cannot be tweaked from the potis from time to time but work fine with the main encoder
My very first impression about the sound and sound design features:
- sounds quite good to me on first place but we definetly need a programmer expansion to get quicker access to the full set of parameters
- also wondering why you choose to have a differences sound engines between the drums, cymbal ... I would rather have set the very same parameters for all the instruments to allow different use, copy from one to the other ... a.s.o. As most of the parameters are common to all of them, I would have designed a full featured drum synth engine and duplicate it to every single instrument
- some rather nice features like drive, roll and probably many things to discover
And by the way the starter kit is only useful if you are building the unit.
Regarding the manual, it could be a good idea to check it while waiting for the parts but it is only a preliminary draft version so far (quite useful though).
I think it's reserved for the pioneer run... It's an unfinished manual. Julian is still working on it.
Im in the pioneer run.. finished it yesterday! But I didnt see any starter kit... is it a paper manual or download? I got candy and flammable liquid sticker!
edit
Ok, apparently my fellow builder-friend got the starter kit but didn't realize it until now!
Comments
damn post!
The complete kits were only send one day after the PCB only kits
I had some possible bug in my unit that i was not really able to narrow down.
Running step lights in voice mode stopped and start/stop did not work and the unit seemed somehow stuck. When i discovered, that it would get stuck saying "loading pattern" when trying to load, i exchanged my sd card (was microsd in adapter) to sandisk2gb. Since then the problem didn't occured again except once.
After that I will have a closer look at pattern loading.
Did the freeze only occur during pattern load?
While loading the UI is not usable.
If the UI is usable, but no chaselight and you can't set steps, the problem is on the mainboard.
could be it happened when i switched through the patterns in performance mode.
-click the encoder
-navigate tthe '>' to "sound"
-click encoder again
- '>' changes to '[]'
- now you can select what to load/save
this way you can also load a second sound preset as morph destination for the performance page (the 2nd of the 4 buttons)
Could you describe the error a bit more?
So you are just jamming around, pushing buttons etc and suddenly, without being on the load save page, the UI locks up and shows "Loading pattern"?
I just re-read your post.
So the UI was doing fine, but the chaselight stopped (start/stop not working)
then, when you tried to load a pattern it got stuck on the loading screen.
That would make sense.
The not running chaselight indicates there is a problem with the mainboard software.
So when the mainboard is stuck, the UI will still do fine. Only there is no chaselight and you can not set/remove steps anymore.
If you try to send a pattern to the mainboard, the frontpanel is waiting for a response, so you will get stuck on the "loading pattern" page.
So it is unrelated to pattern loading, but there seems to be a problem in the mainboard code.
I'll try to play a bit more with my machine and see if i can somehow reproduce it. but it is hard without any further pointers
the problem seems to have gone with the new sd card.
if i have enough time over the weekend i'll try to reproduce it with the old one and test when it happens exactly.
I will have a look at resistor networks for v0.5 boards.
What do the others think of the mixed orange yellow leds for the step sequencer?
I sure like the colourful look of it but it somehow is a bit confusing too... You expect the orange one's to sound different or sosomething.
And it also makes a bit of a preposition about your rhythm being in 4/4. While one of the stronger features of the LXR is its polyrhytmic nature