On board sounds

[spugnoid]

I know Dmitri has no plans to include on-board sounds as it really isn't the intent of the Megadrum project. But, what are the possibilities of using a 4Gb high-speed compact-flash(or whatever) card to store the sounds. It may require a separate Atmega for an interface. But this is way out of my field. I have no idea how hard this is to implement, what it would do to latency etc.

Could be made as an add-on board maybe? Don't know, just kind of thinking out loud here (no, I'm not trolling or trying to start a fight) as to the future possibilities.

I have yet to flash my Megadrum up as I'm too busy working on the house but hopefully in a week or so. My friend is getting antsy to use it in his home studio. Of course I will have to trigger his kit first.

Rod.

[Synthex]

This can be an another project like "MIDI to SOUND converter for MegaDrum".
Or buy a "first price" sampler on ebay ...

But, a little PC (less than 200 $), or a laptop (less than 400 $) enables the use of very good software like Fxpansion BFD or Toontrack DFH.
It allows for evolution and it's an incomparable sound.
Making something that sounded like Fxpansion BFD or Toontrack DFH seems quite difficult ...

[Beamtreetaker]

Why not simply reverse engineer e.g. EZDrummer and compile it for ATMega664 (apart from copyright issues)??

[Synthex]

:idea: Why not simply reverse engineer e.g. EZDrummer and compile it for ATMega664 (apart from copyright issues)??

... The Atmega664 is not a computer ...

[ohawker]

I seem to remember (a long long time ago) seeing IC's that literally store and play samples on demand, I will have a search! I mean, how do modern hardware samplers work? Sure, reverse enginneering EZDrummer wouldn't work, but I will do some background into sampling chips (for personal interest, unless anyone is particularly interested?)

Also, I have teamed up with PCTroll, and we are planning to start an opensource VST sample trigger. This would enable you to take your samples and trigger them at certain times, maybe with velocity layers/velocity tracking LP filters etc, but its still very very early stages! So anyway, in the distant yet forseeable future, there will be a free way to trigger your samples with megadrum! Will maybe have integrated MDController, I don't know, depends how much it leans towards seamless integration with megadrum, and how much we try to make it compatible with other drum triggers! (but megadrum is still the best )

[ohawker]

But yeah, I like the idea of a MIDI>Sound addon board for MegaDrum (no pressure meant by the way )

[Beamtreetaker]

:idea: Why not simply reverse engineer e.g. EZDrummer and compile it for ATMega664 (apart from copyright issues)??

... The Atmega664 is not a computer ...

Oh - no? What a pity! (Sorry, I was just joking in my last statement )

Has anyone come across this site : http://www.embedds.com/polyphonic-midi-expander-with-old-isa-bus-sound-card/. It's a PIC18F4320 based DIY project that uses an old ISA soundcard (i.e. ebay, ~1 EUR) for sampling - maybe with an onboard wavetable chip (AWE64 etc-) you could really get some nice results. I remember the old Sounblaster AWE64 could even be flashed with own sounds.

EDIT: It seems this project makes use only of the FM snythesizer of the card, which would eliminate any possibility of getting pleasing sounds.

[ohawker]

[Has anyone come across this site : http://www.embedds.com/polyphonic-midi-expander-with-old-isa-bus-sound-card/. It's a PIC18F4320 based DIY project that uses an old ISA soundcard (i.e. ebay, ~1 EUR) for sampling - maybe with an onboard wavetable chip (AWE64 etc-) you could really get some nice results. I remember the old Sounblaster AWE64 could even be flashed with own sounds.

Looks interesting, so is it basically a PIC controller that emulates a digital MIDI>CV module, as if in a traditional synth, which then controls a FM oscillator on the soundcard to produce the sound? If so, would be cool to emulate the 808

Wouldn't that be very model-specific? I mean, the soundcard would have to be that exact make and model, and with so many companies rebranding and manufacturing replicas, and constantly developing all products, would this be a hard project to simply 'download and build' like megadrum?

Slight alteration, anyone have the schematics for a decent VCO with FM? Just a thought; how about a PIC to take MIDI signals and act as a MIDI>CV module? Then have 16 VCO's with FM, that are controlled by another PIC that takes the gate and triggers from the CV module, and generates envelopes/levels to make each oscillator make a sound like an analog drum kit sound?

Sorry thats not very clear, will draw up a schematic basic idea is to create a retro analog synth similar to roland 808/909! Probably not something to integrate directly into megadrum, but could be interesting

[ohawker]

Well heres a rough idea of what I'm thinking of! Any comments appreciated

Drum thing.jpg

[Beamtreetaker]

Wouldn't that be very model-specific? I mean, the soundcard would have to be that exact make and model, and with so many companies rebranding and manufacturing replicas, and constantly developing all products, would this be a hard project to simply 'download and build' like megadrum?

On the site it says that they tested with two different soundcards which both worked. You must consider that ISA is a very out-to-date standard (386, 486 era), so there if there is any constant development then with constant factor 0 . I think compatibility is given because well-defined interfaces of the card are used (Adlib OPL3). But don't interpret my post as an interest to build one. I definitaly won't, I'm just too demanding in terms of sound quality.