Digital Effects

[aremesnik]

I considering developing a cheap re-programable digital effect pedal. would anyone be intrested in my progress on this project

adam remesnik

[Ge_Whiz]

Despite the heated debate over analogue vs. digital that we sometimes have, I'll bet we're all interested to hear about your progress.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Absolutely.
Even for the most doctrinaire analog purist, there is plenty of stuff that could be done by digital control.
Plus, I can see possible scope for hacking commercial digital stuff by replacing the processor, like people do with electronic ignition controls in cars.

[Peter Snowberg]

Absolutely!

I have a few DSP based designs in development right now based around http://www.wavefrontsemi.com processors.

If you haven't seen it, there is also the Axoris Miss Parker..... http://www.axoris.be/

Digital DIY is pretty close to happening.

What chips are you designing around?

[Gilles C]

Of course!

Since I saw the Axoris Miss Parker, I've been dreaming of this kind of designs...

And I'm curious to see how much it can cost to make a workable circuit.  :roll:

Gilles

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

be sure to leave sound clips about your findings! long soundclips, with lots of knob turning and button pushing  

[Rob Strand]

At least with digital you can have an LCD display for the levels, and then you can make the controls go to 11 instead of 10 -maybe even 12.  I suppose that makes digital pretty good.

I quite like the idea of using a PC for digital effects.

[Ge_Whiz]

A PRIZE for the first ALL-TUBE digital effect processor!    :lol:

[Gilles C]

This is the kind of projects that goes well with it.

http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30559/article.html

[JimRayden]

I like the idea of learning how to program effects and stuffing them into a stompbox. Though my principals and rules force me to object.

Come on! DIY is one of the few hopes for rock n' roll. Don't ruin that with the 11010001010010000 stuff. I mean, you can stick music into digital stuff (like CD-players, mp3 players), but please, don't stick the digital stuff into music. That's what started disco, trance, techno and all that. I'm a musical purist. That's why I mostly listen to the stuff that's straight from the 60-s and 70's. Then I can be sure it's not digitally screwed with. Although if we wanted to make some really natural music, we should all use acoustics, I can't deny the great feeling a mad overdriven guitar solo gives (as a musician). I love the overdrive.
Human kind had come to the perfect invention - a valve. But then came along the transistor. At first it was a harmless little creature used in guitar pedals and radios. Then it started to ruin and corrupt the music slowly. Music got colder and colder and soon came Metal and Punk and all the digital music styles (techno, etc). The leadership of the warm overdrive of rock n' roll was falling. Unfortunately the transistors started to go smaller and smaller and soon they were made to only understand if the signal is off or on (110001010). That was the end of music. Though one breed of musicians still existed - the DIY community. They still stick with the valves and the analogue transistor systems to keep the rock alive. They shall bring rock n' roll back to its leading position and they shall destroy MTV and they shall destroy digital devices.


Other than that, a great idea.

These are my personal feelings and I hope I didn't ruin your appetite for a digital project.

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Jimbo

[aremesnik]

Think for the info on the Miss Parker, Gilles. Almost not worth reinventing the wheel, but I think i'm going to tinker with this, maybe build one and see where i goes from there.

[Gilles C]

The good, the bad, and the ugly... DSP  :roll:

http://www.gweep.net/~shifty/death/

from

http://www.dsperado.com/chiclet/

I personally would like a dsp effect having a tube inside to warm the thing up...

[Gilles C]

Think for the info on the Miss Parker, Gilles. Almost not worth reinventing the wheel, but I think i'm going to tinker with this, maybe build one and see where i goes from there.

Heu... Peter mentionned Miss Parker first  :oops:

Btw, it's ok to go ahead with your design. That's what diy is for.  :wink:

I also would prefer to build one than buy one for example. (Even if I already bought a Berhinger dsd+tube preamp, even if people don't seem to like Berhinger...)

Gilles

[Peter Snowberg]

I personally would like a dsp effect having a tube inside to warm the thing up...

Back in 1995 I was working on a rack DSP unit and one of the "add-in" boards was a D/A followed by a programmable gain amp, followed by a tube, followed by an A/D. I had a lunch meeeting with the assembly house that would have been producing them and they just about flipped out (in a good way) about any new electronic device with a tube it.  :shock: They still make tubes?  :shock: ...... Yes..... they do.... :twisted:

Adam, I don't want to curb your enthusiam in the slightest. The more DIY people start looking into this technology, the more options we'll all have here.

Just to fill you in on my plans.... I have several designs based on the Wavefront chips in different configurations. They all share a common "host interface" which consists of an Atmel ATmega CPU running a very basic scripting language which is used to adjust the effect parameters. The scripts take a control input value (analog pot, digital preset, MIDI input), scale it, bias it, reference a look-up table value if desired, and finally integrate the value with a DSP instruction & store it in the DSP program RAM. Algorithms are all storred in FLASH and parameters are in E2PROM. A serial port provides connection to a host PC.

The biggest shot in the arm my projects have received lately is that the Axoris software is written to be able to talk to other hardware besides Miss Parker!

My goal is open-source effects development. If I can provide this community with hardware, there's no end to the creativity around here.

If you haven't done so, download all the Axoris code and install it on your machine. They have lots of great examples!

[bwanasonic]

That's what started disco, trance, techno and all that. I'm a musical purist. That's why I mostly listen to the stuff that's straight from the 60-s and 70's.

If you were a true musical purist, you wouldn't care what method was used to create the music. Being a musical purist has nothing to do with being narrow minded.  Analog vs. Digital is not a musical criteria, it is a technical one. Musical criteria involve melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, etc. The above mentioned genres all fit musical criteria. I'm sorry you feel music has been ruined and corrupted. Maybe you just have crappy radio stations in your area. Music is alive, well and uncorrupt. Open your ears.

Kerry M

PS - Punk was the epitome of DIY rock and roll.

[JimRayden]

naah don't take it too seriously. I was just expressing myself. Maybe i used some of the terms wrong. English isn't my native. I'm a music-creating-method purist.

As to those "computer boom" music styles, they might have a tempo and a rythm and a basic melody with harmony and sure lots of timbres but that's it. Too sterile for me. I believe that music needs to have certain impurities in dynamics and rythm to sound great. That is achieved by human hand playing the instrument and, in some cases, tubes "impuring" the tone further. I don't find that musical element in computer generated stuff. It's the supersharp accuracy of 11000101010. I've tried making midi sampling drums for some of my recordings. I must say, I don't like them much. It lacks the dynamics and it's too accurate. Maybe a tiny bit of volume and placement randomizer would of helped here.
It is a widely known fact that thrugh the history, instruments have been built to capture the human voice nuances, it's capabilities and such. I don't think computer can match that with the buzz it generates.

And I have nothing against metal. It is just too angry for me. People do angry stuff and yell and sing about satanistic stuff and I think only a deep deep depression would bring me to metal. I'm too happy for that kinda stuff. Punk is actually kinda fun but it's a bit immature.

And I'm not going into the lyrics in the computer buzz songs. You know the song "You touch my shalala" or whatever it was? Then you know what I mean. Ouch.

I know that there is a lot of good music out there still being made. I was just talking about the stuff I don't like. I admit it, I got carried away but it was fun.

And I'm not narrow minded. I like rock n' roll... and... umm....brit beat too. And blues. And all sorts of undigital rock. Well I love everything from Oasis to Hendrix to Howlin Wolf. And I think there's a bit too big gap between them to be a homogeneous taste.

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Jimbo

[JimRayden]

I just understood this is getting off the topic and am returning to the original one.

Go ahead and build it. I think I'll build it too when you give out a tutorial. Good luck! On the bright side, digital is a really good for portable practice amps since a whole studio can be programmed into a small space and it doesn't draw much current either (I think so).


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Jimbo

[puretube]

funny thing happened to me the other day:
I was standing at the counter of my homey`s record store,
when a customer asked him about the latest craze in Funk;
he replied: T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M. (yes, it`s a while back... ),
by George Clinton & the P.F.A.;
customer replied: "naw, I don`t like their electronic drum machines";
Me had just gotten back from Amsterdam Drum`n`Rhythm festival
the day before, and had a fun evening with the guys & Frank "Kash" Waddy,
Bootsy`s & Parliaments & George Clinton`s`drummer: he`s able
to play an organic, though tight rhythm for over 4 hours in a row
(and he was the "machine" playing on above mentioned CD).

Well, customer said he`ll listen to it again un-pre-occupied...
...he ended up buying the disk enthusiasticly - knowing it was real
musician, now.

I love the P-FUNK attitude: play good ole time & brand new trendsetting
R`n`B (the most-sampled...), and use everything they can get
(never more than 6 guitarists at the same time on stage, though  :lol: ),
be it the latest digital modeling gadget fed from an LPB1 buffered guitar, or an old Hohner clavinet thru vintage talking pedal into real estate Leslie, whatnotever comes to your mind - and then record it with 192khz/96bit,
and release it as a vinyl album too...

P.S.: -yes, a little offtopic...-

[object88]

It's not stompbox form, but perhaps the Sound Arts Chameleon might be of interest?

[JimRayden]

Look what I found when looking around n diyguitarist page.

http://happybob.com/marc/digital_sucks/index.htm

I know, I'm nasty and getting people angry and stuff... Just making my point clear.  :roll:

Viva la resistance!!  :twisted:  

lol

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Jimbo