BTS
Offline
Ohio

http://mutable-instruments.net/node/77:

Thus, the kit will be distributed in 3 forms:

    * plain PCBs, source all the parts yourself.
    * PCBs + ATMega328p with firmware + CEM3379 + display (the other parts are fairly common for audio/synths projects and some of us already have most of them).
    * All the parts.

Oh and if you already have a CEM3379, arrangements will be possible smile

Prices will be announced shortly.

No case for now, but someone have started working on it and this might be available at a later stage.

Looks like we'll get some Shrutis here soon.

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan

Really rather interested in it. The CZ style filter looks loads of fun.

rumpelfilter
Offline
Italy
Lazerbeat wrote:

Really rather interested in it. The CZ style filter looks loads of fun.

yep... analogue power!

BTS
Offline
Ohio

http://mutable-instruments.net/shruti1/hardware

w00t! This is DEFINATELY close to kit release!


From the site:

The schematics and PCBs, in Eagle format, are available for download on github, on which the firmware source code is also hosted. Get the whole source tree from github by clicking on (Download Source). The board and schematics files are in hardware/shruti/hardware_design/pcb.

Plus a visual Bill of Materials here, though it looks like the CEM chip is going to be a bit difficult to get ahold of.  I'm not worried, I was hoping to get a kit anyways.  :-)

mutable.instruments
Offline

Hi all,

We're really getting closer to the release of the first kits! As you have read on the blog the PCB design has been validated and a small number of units have been ordered. I've switched to a different PCB manufacturing company that is cheaper for larger volumes - I had no idea what their validation process was - so I have ordered only 5 units to check that all went well and that their output is correct. This means, if all goes well, 5 kits ready shortly after the end of the Chinese new year festivals (during which many factories are closed), and more to come soon after. I will spend some time over the weekend flashing the firmware on all the chips I have stocked and testing the CEM3379s. Indeed, I have secured a small stock of them from various sources, and have a clearer view on the supply for this chip - it's rare but not going to be extinct tomorrow.

An example with the cz-like filter (the filter modulation is directly applied during the waveform generation, it doesn't come from the CEM3379):
http://soundcloud.com/mutable-instruments/pure-digital

rumpelfilter
Offline
Italy

This is great news!

BTS
Offline
Ohio

I will spend some time over the weekend flashing the firmware on all the chips I have stocked and testing the CEM3379s. Indeed, I have secured a small stock of them from various sources, and have a clearer view on the supply for this chip - it's rare but not going to be extinct tomorrow.

Still, all the more reason to get a kit early!  I don't want to end up trying to scrounge up bits and pieces at higher prices like some of the stuff needed for a x0xb0x. (If it can be found at all!)

Kuresuna
Offline
QLD, Australia

I'm so on this, its such a sweet project. Same here, might aswell get a CEM3379 sonner rather than later.

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan

Im following this fairly closely and spent a while listening to a few audio samples. Pretty excited, wondered if any time frame/price information is available?

mutable.instruments
Offline

Time frame: first 5 "beta" kits < 2 weeks ; next kits ~ 4 weeks, I have stocked parts for 20 complete kits. Afterwards, restocking for more units may take 3 extra weeks.

Prices are likely to be: PCBs only - 15€ ; PCBs + ATMega328p with bootloader/firmware + CEM3379 + display (all the non-standard parts) - 65€ ; Complete kit - 115€ + shipping. I'm paying fairly high custom taxes when ordering stuff from Digikey, so if we could find a way to organize the distribution of kits directly from somewhere else that would be awesome.

Last edited by mutable.instruments (Feb 22, 2010 5:36 pm)

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan

That sounds like a really good price, I liked the new jam you put up also.

http://soundcloud.com/mutable-instruments/fm-glass-jam

BTS
Offline
Ohio

I'm paying fairly high custom taxes when ordering stuff from Digikey, so if we could find a way to organize the distribution of kits directly from somewhere else that would be awesome

Are you talking about the full kit distribution?  I could see someone in a specific country (like the US) distributing kits in the US, but I don't know if it would be cheaper for them to send kits out of the country.  I think they would get hit with customs costs as well.

mutable.instruments
Offline
BTS wrote:

Are you talking about the full kit distribution?  I could see someone in a specific country (like the US) distributing kits in the US, but I don't know if it would be cheaper for them to send kits out of the country.  I think they would get hit with customs costs as well.

From Google Analytics, it seems that more than half of the people interested in the kit are in the US. The main distributors for most of the components (Digikey and Farnell for common parts + Sparkfun for the display) are in the US too, so it makes little sense to have stuff shipped to France (+ custom taxes) put in bags and sent back to the US (+ custom taxes). I don't think that at this small scale it's possible to have the custom taxes refunded just because everything is ultimately re-exported. There are electronic components distributors in France, but most of them end up being more expensive than directly ordering in the US.

I'm not making any profit on this (though I'd rather want to see the money I've invested on a small stock of parts come back big_smile) and would really appreciate if something could be organized to keep the cost as low as possible.

BLEO
Offline
Geneva, NY

Couldn't all the digikey stuff get lumped together as a csv BOM and anyone wishing to buy a kit could simply register w/ digikey, import the file and purchase, no?

Digikey website wrote:

# Convert a Quote, BOM, or Text File into an Order

    * Import a "comma or tab delimited" text file of your parts into an online order

mutable.instruments
Offline

Hi bleo,

I can create a csv file with the digikey references, but some other parts are available from other suppliers only, which makes the whole idea of a ready to use BOM less useful. The thing is, I didn't design this thing with the digikey or farnell or mouser catalogue under my eyes (I should have, my bad).

The culprits are:
- The extra pots for volume/input gain. If you know nice references in the digikey catalogue let me know!
- KLBRSS3-like audio connectors. I thought they were quite popular but they are not. Radiospares has the original Lumberg thing, gold-plated and expensive ; Farnell has the cheap variant I used. What's the most standard PCB-mounted 6.35 jack connector out there?
- The knobs.
- Ribbon cable + connector ; or pre-cabled molex connector. Or anything that will be less messy than having to solder 8 + 3 wild cables. Again, I ordered those pre-assembled cables with a molex connector from a components distributor in France and realized later that it was not available from other places.

Also, I haven't done the maths but I suspect that even with custom fees, it's still cheaper to order parts for 20 kits in one batch than have 20 person individually order parts for 1 kit...

mutable.instruments
Offline

Mini update...

I've sold a small run of kits around me to see if people had trouble building the kit or if things went wrong. Everything went fine, owners are happy and have started making tunes with it: http://soundcloud.com/mutable-instrumen … 6-ignition

The first batch of 20 kits should be ready to ship next week. I've reserved 3 kits for the chipmusic posse (doing the same for other boards I'm hanging on too...) ; the rest of the kits will go on a "first come first served" basis. After that, another batch of 20 mid april ; and a batch of 10 or 20 or more for those who already have a CEM3379 around ; and I might stop here and focus on something with a more modern filter design (unless stocks of CEM3379s are uncovered).

Pricing:
http://mutable-instruments.net/order

Kit comes without a case, so if I'd rather see this go to people with cool building skills big_smile. Assembly is easy, but if you want to learn soldering, learn soldering on something mass-produced that can be purchased again if something goes wrong. Assembling instruction: http://mutable-instruments.net/shruti1/assembly
Post here and contact me by private message if you are interested in buying one of the 3 full kits I have reserved.

I would also like to know how many people here are interested in the CEM3379s-less kits, or by the bare PCBs, so I can reorder accordingly.

Thanks!

Last edited by mutable.instruments (Mar 30, 2010 7:32 pm)