theskyis256k
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hey guys! i'm finding the lack of proper documentation of each mode and what it does and how to set it up and make it work very hard and confusing.....

I've just built my arduinoboy yesterday and it works with mGB flawlessly (however my midi output port on it needs a small rewiring, but that's not an issue since i dont need midi out for now)

i'd probably end up making a video (or series of videos) showing exactly each mode in action with explanations of how it gets set up and what channel and all of that... but right now i'm still trying to gather information to get a clear image, apart from mGB, everything seems very muddy and blurry.

I've tried to search on google for a while now for some more detailed explanations of other modes besides mGB but finding the results less than satisfying... does anyone know where i could find better explanations? if now, would you kind folk with arduinoboy experience care to share your knowledge.... id gladly take a day to shoot clear videos on each mode and will be forever grateful for your help smile

thanks!
and here's a lil jam i did this morning with my new (ghetto as fudge) arduinoboy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tON7VnGWs9w

Some of the topics id love to clarify:
>how come there are supposedly 7 modes as of the last update but there are only 6 LEDs? how are the LEDs reflecting the modes?
>each mode and it's corresponding LED number.
>how to set up and run LSDJ keyboard mode.
>what midi channel is each mode set to


i currently have an mGB cart running 1.3.3 (latest as of writing this) and an lsdj cart running 4.7.5 (which i'll be updating later today to 4.8.4 (which i believe is the latest version that i grabbed this morning from the lsdj repository)

thanks! and i hope i get some awesome feedback as usual big_smile

PS t's good to be back into the chip world. big_smile

herr_prof
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Its all here:
https://github.com/trash80/Arduinoboy

theskyis256k
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herr_prof wrote:

Its all here:
https://github.com/trash80/Arduinoboy

well... i know where the github is and the readme i've read it a few times but i still find it confusing... perhaps it's just my limited brain... i'm more of a visual earner than with text. have a hard time concentrating when it's just white on black text. so i was hoping someone could help me by further explaining it and dumbing it down for me perhaps....

catskull
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I started a thread here hoping to improve the documentation. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted walking people through using LSDJ in keyboard mode. It is confusing and not straight forward. My goal was to write a little manual and distribute it under a GPL license just like the arduinoboy code is. Here's the thread: http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/18179 … mentation/

I think I'll make a few posts in that thread that answer your questions. All of your questions are totally good and valid questions though. I forgot how confusing the LED's are when you don't have a nice PCB with text next to each one.

herr_prof
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If you do the manual. be sure to document the maxpat editor. It allows you to set the midi channels the various modes respond to:

To answer your questions: the 7th mode came after the hardware was set, and is indicated by a special LED lit modes.
You can set the modes using the maxpat, to run it you have to install the demo for max '7 and hook it up to a midi interface. You can set it to start on the keyboard mode by default when it boots as well.

theskyis256k
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catskull wrote:

I started a thread here hoping to improve the documentation. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted walking people through using LSDJ in keyboard mode. It is confusing and not straight forward. My goal was to write a little manual and distribute it under a GPL license just like the arduinoboy code is. Here's the thread: http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/18179 … mentation/

I think I'll make a few posts in that thread that answer your questions. All of your questions are totally good and valid questions though. I forgot how confusing the LED's are when you don't have a nice PCB with text next to each one.

awesome! i'll def check that out right now and try to get as much info as i can from it... thank you for understanding my frustration... having such a lack of results when searching made me almost think i was the problem! but it IS confusing! at least at first. i understand that people get frustrated at first but when it all makes sense eventually they take it for granted.

theskyis256k
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herr_prof wrote:

If you do the manual. be sure to document the maxpat editor. It allows you to set the midi channels the various modes respond to:

To answer your questions: the 7th mode came after the hardware was set, and is indicated by a special LED lit modes.
You can set the modes using the maxpat, to run it you have to install the demo for max '7 and hook it up to a midi interface. You can set it to start on the keyboard mode by default when it boots as well.

yes! i already opened up the max editor even before building it just to see what it was all about! it's def handy but curently due to my malwiring on the midi out port i can't use it... i have to go in and fix it first... my box is a wire forest inside so i'm kinda worried about that haha... next build will have a much nicer protoboard instead of 4 diff ones floating in a wire stew!

herr_prof
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You can use the maxpat with the FTDI cable too, if you have that connected.

theskyis256k
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okay so i'm going to write the diff LED behaviours and if anyone could fill in the mode that would be great:
(when the button is pressed:)
LED1 flashing:
LED2 flashing:
LED3 flashing:
LED4 flashing: LSDJ Keyboard mode (finally got it working) - edit-
LED5 flashing: nanoloop (assuming? i dont have a cart) -edit-
LED6 flashing: mGB
LED 1-2-3 flashing:
ALL LEDs flashing:

As explained, the only mode i know is mGB and from my tests. when LED6 flashes, it means it's in mGB mode coz it works. other than that i can't get anything to work.

EDIT:
Found this floating online.... i really don't understand why a simple image like that isn't listed in the github readme.

Last edited by theskyis256k (May 3, 2016 5:55 pm)

theskyis256k
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herr_prof wrote:

You can use the maxpat with the FTDI cable too, if you have that connected.

i did not know that.... makes sense!

catskull
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Oh so the maxpat editor allows you basically to reprogram the arduinoboy using only the midi cables? That's super cool! You can even change presets for everything? I'm going to have to play with that!

herr_prof
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yep! Its just over sysex.

gilhelm
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Hey! Hopefully, someone is still paying attention to this thread. I just got mgb and an arduinoboy from catskull (hi catskull!). It seems to work fine until I go into poly mode with MIDI channel 5. Say that I'm on poly mode and I press a single key on my synth. A note in mgb will sound on voice 1. If I press that same note again, voice 2 plays and the cursor moves to that voice. When I hit the same key a third time, voice 3 sounds and the cursor moves again. It doesn't matter what keys I hit or in what order. Every key pressed cycles to the next voice. First I though that it might just be how mgb is supposed to work but then I watched a video by Trash80 and all his notes sound the same. Maybe it's cycling and all three voices sound that same? But I couldn't reproduce that. So I tried another synth thinking maybe that it's transmitting some weird CCs. Same issue.

Am I missing something? Is this just how mgb works?

catskull
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NUMBSKULL

You have to set up the sounds to all be the same. So the first two are just square waves, the 3rd is the wave channel which also needs to be set to a square wave (it's a triangle by default). highlight the wavefrom, the hold a and go left/right to change the waveform.

gilhelm
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Ok, so it's only poly with square wave? The issue I'm experiencing isn't an issue - mgb is working as intended?

catskull
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Yep, that's correct. Again, the first two channels (PU1 and PU2) can only make square waves. So to have all the sounds the same, channel 3 (WAV) must be set to a square wave.