| From:
Cihan Kaan
Sent: Monday, June 28, 1999 2:03 PM
Subject: Tracker-Rack
Hello:
I am not an audio electronics developer but I do make electronic music and basically
understand the process. The reason for this mail to you is simply to get some
advice on what I must do to get the following idea into tangible form, any response
would be greatly appreciated. I have been sequencing sounds utilising the pc amiga
based "tracker" type software Octamed. There are many versions of "trackers";
fasttracker and protracker are some others. In case you may not know how they
function, there are columns and rows of 4x64 on the screen. Each column is a dedicated
track (1,3 Stereo Right/ 2,4 Stereo Left). Each row represents a moment in time.
The user enters "notes" and other midi instances ("events") into these rows and
when played back the rows move and play back the events. Each column and row is
called a block. The layering of these blocks builds songs. Of the "events" the
user can enter they may be of two kinds; internal sounds (thus played back from
the computers audio outs) or external ones (thus played back from a MIDI compliant
device). My project is to make a rackmountable inexpensive standalone unit that
does this without the clunkiness of a traditional computer and monitor set-up.
Since I use the pc amiga computer my first birth pangs were of simply rackmounting
the computer installed with instant startup of the software. However this idea
requires the use of a monitor and could not be created if an amiga was not present
(in the case that I may go into business producing these devices I could not sell
another companies chip structure). I would like to create a processor based tracker/sequencer
with buttons and an LED screen (much like todays popular rackmountable sound modules)
where the user can navigate through the aforementioned type of GUI to produce
a peice of "tracked" music. The device would also be equipped with 8Bit sound
playback (like the early 68000 machines) through stereo RCA's and have the ability
to sample at that bit rate as well. There would have to be full MIDI support as
well. I have no idea how this idea sounds to you but I know very well that it
would be a hit with the already global base of tracker/electronic music enthusiasts.
I know the methods and the needed elements but I do not have the circuit building/engineering
knowledge to build such a thing from scratch. Any help, whether it be someone
elses email or a simple, 'No way', would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Kindly,
Cihan Kaan
interactive mmedia
http://www.eightbit.com
From: Ryckebusch@aol.com
Wow, intersting project. Hmmm. Part of it sounds like the old Alesis MMT-8
sequencer with a built in sampler type thing. I think you could do it with a 68000
type machine but I am really not a programmer type person (Well, I have done some
machine code on MCU's) I am mostly an analog kinda guy. I LOVED my Amiga and had
a 500 from 1987 to 1993 when I sucked it up and got an apple mac. I really can't
help you with this except to tell you it is a good idea. The only problem I see
is that it sounds like you are sort of making a "groove box" aka Roland, Yamaha
etc. And, they have lotsa money for development.
Best of Luck!
Jules
From: Barry L Klein [Barry.L.Klein@wdc.com]
I had one of these up and running long ago on a sound card made in
Canada (I can't remember what the manufacturer was....). I didn't use it long
enough to remember much about it....
From what I remember it played digital
audio samples as well as sent MIDI control data, in a sequential manner. So you
have to have a "database" of audio samples in some form of memory - say one of
those digital memory cards used in digital cameras. Each sound would have a start
and stop address that you'd then read through with your control program. Additional
parameters would control loudness, L&R placement, and effects. You'd also probably
want a MIDI interface to control external modules in tandem. I think to do this
in product form would be too expensive as you can do this with a very cheap used
laptop and a copy of the dos/windows version of the software (http://www.2xtreme.net/starlord/octamed/what.html).
Having the laptop interface is much better than anything you might come up with
in LED form. You could have a very raw sequencer designed with say an embedded
pc microboard that you program for the application but it will end up costing
more than a laptop.
If you want to learn microcontroller code or maybe just
basic and give it go that way take a look at a copy of Circuit Cellar INK magazine.
In it there are several boards that you can learn to program on and implement
a sequencer with midi, one or more 8+ bit a/d, and even disk storage if you want.
Even if you get that far, realize that the feds want you to FCC test/qualify
your product and that alone can cost several thousand dollars.
There are
also several hardware MIDI sequencers already out there that might be able to
do what you're thinking of. The Frontal Lobe was one but they are scarce as hell.
Maybe think of using a PDA to do what you want too - they use the WindowsCE operating
system and there are seveal wizards out there that can program them for a price
to do whatever you want. They'd still cost more than a cheap used laptop though.
Do some websearching on PDA's and take a look at one of those Portable Computing
magazines for alternatives.
Barry
From: Anderton@aol.com
You
might want to check out some of the "DJ" oriented samplers, such as those from
Roland and Yamaha, as it sounds like they do very much what you want to do, even
though not with the exact same method. Also check out the Ensoniq ASR-X and Akai
MPC2000, which let you program MIDI and digital audio events. You should be able
to find these at most large music stores. Let me know if these do what you want
to do, otherwise, perhaps there is a market for what you are proposing.
Or
maybe I'm just not getting exactly what it is you want to do ...
Craig
From: Fraser, Colin J [Colin.Fraser@scottishpower.plc.uk]
I have owned an Amiga myself for several years, so I am familiar
with tracker modules, although I have never really been interested in programming
tracks this way because of my dislike for the interface.
My own sequencer
is very close to the way trackers operate in that there are groups of patterns
(8) of a fixed number of steps (16), with the obvious difference that it is geared
towards live selection and muting/unmuting of patterns, rather than creating patterns
then chaining them into complete songs. This is not the way I work, and doesn't
really suit the kind of music I try to make. It would however be simple enough
to add these features if required. My sequencer will output midi, so it would
be simple enough to send triggers to a midi sampler.
I think it is a better
idea to separate the pattern based sequencing and the sampling/sample playback
functions. If you build a unit that includes sampling feature like the Amiga,
you will appeal to only a narrow section of potential users. There will be people
who would like a pattern based sequencer who will not be prepared to pay the extra
money for rudimentary sampling features. I also suspect many people would not
like the 'analogue sequencer' type interface of my unit where notes are selected
by a knob.
The big question is, is a separate pattern sequencer and sampling
unit too far removed from an Amiga with tracker software to appeal to the same
users.
64 steps per pattern might equate to a *lot* of hardware. I have
16 steps per pattern, and with 2 pots, a LED and switch per step, it is already
quite expensive and labour intensive to build this sort of thing. I don't think
a 64 step unit would be very practical, and it would certainly be very wide!
I got a lot of the inspiration for my sequencer from Doepfer - a German company.
Have a look at the sequencers on their website ( http://www.doepfer.de
) - Regelwerk and Schaltwerk
Schaltwerk may already be very close to
the sequencer you imagine.
Colin f
From:
Micali, Chris All
you need is zt http://ztracker.sourceforge.net,
a laptop, and a sampler |
