All posts by moshang

New hosting – less downtime (holding thumbs)

General

My apologies if you found the groovesizer.com website down lately. I changed hosts to Arvixe less than two months ago – my other sites are happily hosted by Exabytes, but adding this website to my current hosting plan proved a bridge too far.

I’d read good things about Arvixe, so I thought I’d give them a try. Unfortunately, I’ve suffered outages lasting more than 5 hours at least 3 times in my short time with them. I was on a shared hosting plan with Arvixe, but my Exabytes account is also a shared one with nowhere near the same amount of downtime. Support has been helpful and polite, but I’d rather not have to use support at all.

I moved this site to a standard VPS hosting plan with Bluehost yesterday. It’s really hard to find solid unbiased reviews of web hosts, but at least Bluehost is recommended by WordPress.

I’ve been worrying that someone has set aside time to build a kit, only to find the website and building instructions unavailable. Hopefully that won’t happen now.

UPDATE:

Arvixe support has been great again – my request for cancellation was treated very politely and a refund for my pre-paid hosting was made without a struggle. I hope my hosting experience with them was the exception, not the rule.

Delta firmware v.122

Delta, ,

Hot on the heels of v.120, here’s v.122 with the following changes:

  • fixed an issue where no ties were not created with random pattern creation if the note density was set to full
  • not as many accents are created with random pattern creation
  • optimized some functions to save space
  • on the Preferences Page, ThruOn now has three settings: 0 = off, 1 = full, 2 = partial (no note data is echoed, but things like clock, stop & start are)

Delta firmware v.120

Delta, ,

Here’s another update to the Delta firmware. It features a number of bug-fixes for using the Delta when slaved to MIDI clock, and also updates the code to use V4.0 of the MIDI Library. The complete list of fixes are as follows:

  • code now uses MIDI Library V4.0
  • accent levels no longer static when sending MIDI notes out, but adjustable with  Pot 2 in Pot-Shift Mode
  • Start/Stop enabled whilst receiving MIDI clock (F1 in Edit Mode)
  • Clear All enabled whilst receiving MIDI clock( hold Shift L and press Shift R)
  • adjusting note duration is now enabled for MIDI notes whilst receiving MIDI clock
  • sending automation is enabled whilst receiving MIDI clock
  • Play Mode is reset to Forward after Clear All
  • accents are cleared on Clear All
  • automation persists when using random pattern generators

Delta firmware v.115

Delta, ,

I’ve uploaded an update to the Delta firmware. The current version (v.115) is available here.

New features are Play Modes (toggle between them with F1 in Pattern Mode)

  1. Forward – from step 1 to 16 and jump back to 1.
  2. Reverse – from step 16 to 1 and jump back to 16.
  3. Pendulum – from step 1 to 16, and down again from 16 to 1.
  4. Random interval – play, for example, every  3rd step (1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 3, 6, etc) until step 1 is reached again, then choose a new interval (between 1 and 16).
  5. Drunk – decide at random whether the next step will be the one after or the one before this one.
  6. Random – the next step will be randomly chosen (from 1 to 16)

The transpose via MIDI feature has been greatly improved. The current pattern can be transposed by sending notes from an attached MIDI keyboard or from sequencing software (Ableton Live, Cakewalk Sonar, etc.). Unlike in v.112, transposition is now centered around C3 – so, to transpose up by a semitone, press C#3 on the keyboard. To transpose down by an octave, press C2. To return to the original key, press C3 again.

The Delta no longer responds to MIDI messages on any MIDI channel, but only to the channel selected in the preferences for Note Out (whether Note Out is currently turned on or not). I’ve also replaced the Note Entry preference  (F4 on the preferences page) with the more useful Thru On option, so you can now turn MIDI Thru on and off.

For further bug fixes, please see this forum post.

RED – automation (VIDEO)

RED, ,


This video demonstrates automation on the Groovesizer RED. Record the movements of Pot 1 whilst holding Shift. It corresponds to Grain 1 Pitch on the internal synth. The recorded automation can also be sent out as MIDI cc data on one of 16 preset cc numbers (selected in Preferences Mode). The presets correspond to the 16 cc numbers that the Korg Volca Keys responds to (for more details, please consult the manual). In the video, the automation controls filter cutoff on the Volca Keys (cc44 – RED’s default).

Groovesizer RED – bank modes (VIDEO)

RED

This video demonstrates the 4 modes for the Groovesizer RED’s user banks.

The Groovesizer RED’s 32 user locations are arranged in 8 banks of 4 patterns. There are 4 different modes for each bank:
Mode 1 – Loop 1: each pattern is looped.
Mode 2 – Loop 2: triggering pattern 1 loops patterns 1 and 2, triggering pattern 3 loops patterns 3 and 4
Mode 3 – Loop 4: triggering pattern 1 loops pattern 1, 2, 3 and 4
Mode 4 – Random: the next pattern is selected at random (1, 2, 3 or 4)

Groovesizer RED – play modes (VIDEO)

RED, , , , , , , ,

Here’s a video showing off the play modes of the Groovesizer RED – if all goes to plan we’ll be releasing the RED in the coming week. The kit will be priced at US$80 – postage included.

The Groovesizer RED is a DIY 16-step sequencer and granular synth. It’s based on the original Groovesizer mk1 Arduino project. It features 16 LEDs (one per step), 5 potentiometers, and 5 buttons, MIDI input and ouput on 5-pin DINs, MIDI sync in and out, and audio out (mono) on an 1/8″ jack. There are 32 user locations for saving patterns and patches. Up to 4 patterns can be chained together to create a 4 bar pattern. Note entry can be quantized to one of 12 pre-defined scales. Patterns can be triggered and transposed via MIDI. Notes can also be entered via an attached MIDI keyboard.

Groovesizer [RED] – (Mk1 Kit) prototype

Mk1 Kit, , , , , , ,

So here’s what the first kit-built Groovesizer mk1 looks like – hmmm, managed to mess up the design on this one a little, but that’s what prototypes are for. The finished kits will look 99% like this.

UPDATE:
These are VERY close to release now! To prevent confusion, I’ve decided to rename this little box Groovesizer [RED], or just “Red” will do. Though it’s based on the mk1 it’s got enough tricks up its sleeve to deserve its own name.

Delta V111 Demo

Delta, , , , , , , ,

Here’s a demo of the Delta V111 firmware.

Drums are from Cakewalk Sonar and a touch of reverb, delay, and stereo chorus have been added.

With the exception of a couple of hitches, it was pretty straightforward to replace the DAC-based sound engine of the Groovesizer Alpha with the PWM-based granular one of Peter Knight’s Auduino. It positively drips with character and squelchy goodness. All the sequencer features of the Alpha firmware have been retained. These include:
– 32 step sequencer
– step ties, rests, and slides
– MIDI sync (in and out)
– 112 save locations for patterns
– saved patterns are chainable
– record movements of pot 1 with the option to send recorded automation out as MIDI cc data
– random pattern creation (chromatic, major, minor, pentatonic)
– accents