I did some research online for international shipping rates lower than the $50-$100 range, and decided to go with Pirate Ship. It’s still not cheap, but at least it’s reasonable. So, if you’re outside the US and have been hoping to get your hands on something from the Tindie store – check it out now!
I took some time to add and properly adjust a bunch of modulators in the ModSynth font. Now one has easy access to most of the useful synth parameters via CC messages – set your controller’s knobs/sliders to CC’s 71-90 and you can control the filter cutoff/resonance, volume and modulation envelopes, and modulation and vibrato … Read More
I just realized bank files are designed wrong! Right now, keywords like router_rules, cc, and cc_links can be used within individual patches or at bank level (i.e. zero indent). Bank-level keywords are applied first, then keywords in individual patches. This works to create defaults for all patches, like sending volume and reverb CC’s to all … Read More
I devoted a couple days to some bash programming and wrote a script for Raspberry Pi that can install/configure everything for the SquishBox or headless Pi synth. The user selects some options, and the script can then install/update fluidpatcher, configure audio and startup settings, compile and install the latest FluidSynth, set up tinyfilemanager for uploading … Read More
Stickers arrived today! Now I feel like I can show finished images of the MidiFoot and StompByte, and work on getting build instructions for the kits up on Hackaday and building the Tindie store pages. Coming soon!
Putting together lessons and videos for Fluidsynth has been instructive, as these things always are. Nothing exposes the mistakes in my code or errors in my thinking like trying to teach to someone else, which something I’ve always found in my more traditional teaching role as well. It’s useful but also a humbling yet comforting … Read More
I posted the first of a series of lessons on using FluidPatcher on YouTube! I’ve been meaning to get these up for a while, hopefully they show people the amazing versatility of this software in making your own perfect DIY synth module!
I sold out of my first batch of SquishBoxes that I built using standard perfboard, so I decided to get serious and print some PCBs. This will make the next batch of SquishBoxes a bit sturdier (and less expensive, since I can put them together more quickly and with less parts), and also lets me … Read More
A few years ago I cobbled together a quick build of a digital stompbox using the PCMAudio code running on an ATMega328p to play 8-bit audio samples off one of the PWM pins. I built it into a cheap plastic sustain pedal, used it for a duo gig with a friend, then stuck it in … Read More
FluidPatcher has had the wxpython-powered desktop implementation wxfluidpatcher.pyw for a bit, but I’ve added a couple things to make it more complete (e.g. settings menu) and written a simple implementation of Python’s socket library so it can remotely connect to a SquishBox or headless RPi synth – this means you can use it on Windows, … Read More