If the keytar has MIDI out, you can use it with ArduinoBoy + mGB. You could use LSDj as well, but it isn't really the preferred way of doing it in my opinion. (Instead use two cartridges and two 'boys.)
1,650 Jul 22, 2011 8:30 am
Re: DMG Backlight kit problem (13 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)
This happens when one of the display connectors, the flat "cables" soldered to the board, are broken or have come loose. It's embarrassing, but I can't make out in my head which connector is supposed to give those vertical lines. I suggest you do the following. I actually took these pictures just the other day for my latest blog post.
First look at the brown cable at the bottom of the LCD. Look for breaks in the plastic. That means you're basically screwed. Next step is to reflow the solder. You probably want to do this with a fine tip iron and a steady hand. Also, probably turn the power off while doing this in case you get an accidental shortcut. Now, go over the soldering points one by one and just touch each joint quickly. If everything looks ok, turn it on and see if the problem is gone.
If not, proceed to the green connector under the screen. (Actually, they're both, both brown and green on opposite sides.) That's in the lower right side of this image. This one is a little bit trickier since there's nothing to hold it in place. (The other connector is attached with a piece of metal and a screw near this piece of metal) Do something like hold down the connector to the board with your index finger, and hold the screen up with our middle finger and place the remaining finger on the other side of the screen. Be careful at all times. Now go through these solder joints as well. Actually, start with just the leftmost one, and try turning the 'boy on one time. Especially the leftmost one takes a lot of strain when lifting the display as you do in the backlighting procedure.
Good luck. You'll need it...
Also, as others have pointed out, it seems like you put the panel upside down, even though that has nothing to do with the other problem. It will just give you a darker screen filled with little dots. (Those are actually reflectors to distribute the light evenly across the panel.)
1,651 Jul 20, 2011 10:25 am
Re: FOR SALE: PROSOUND BACKLIT GAMEBOY WITH LSDJ CART (24 replies, posted in Trading Post)
Ok, let's look at the worst case prices for getting these things elsewhere:
"New" nofinite plain DMG with backlight: $90
New link cable: $5
New EMS 64M USB cartridge (even if that's not even what you're selling...) $40
Little Sound Dj license: $10 donation because you really like Johan Kotlinski
Carrying case: Erm... let's say $30 because the case is really that rad?
So, the privilege of owning stuff you have owned, $25?
1,652 Jul 19, 2011 6:20 pm
Re: EMS 64mb cart page switch (10 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)
ROMs: http://www.personal.triticom.com/~erm/GameBoy/
The way you do create them is by merging files together. In Windows:
copy /b menu.gb + 1.gb + 2.gb out.gb
In Linux etc.:
cat menu.gb 1.gb 2.gb > out.gb
You basically smack them together to one big file.
However, there are two issues when using this with LSDj.
1) ROMs must be aligned to their size because of how the logic chip handling thesethings is working. For example, if the ROM is 128 kBytes big, it must be placed on an multiple of that size, like 128 kBytes, 256 kBytes, 224 kBytes and so on. You can't place it 64 kBytes into the combited ROM image, for example. This creates a problem for LSDj as it has to be placed either at the very start, where the menu ROM is supposed to be, or at the 1 MByte, 2 MByte or 3 MByte marks. The latter option is problematic because the existing menu ROMs don't have a clue they should look so far into the ROM, unless you just happen to fill up exactly the right space. (They stop looking when they don't see any more ROMs.)
2) SRAM management. The existing menu ROMs rely on being able to save the SRAM contents to the upper portions (32 kByte+) of SRAM. This is fine for games, but for LSDj, it will interfere with LSDj's file system. I think I have a solution for that too.
1,653 Jul 19, 2011 11:19 am
Re: EMS 64mb cart page switch (10 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)
Actually, I don't have a fix for this. I think I recall someone managing to look it to one of the pages by removing that capacitor and maybe adding a resistor. Can't find the info on that now, though. If I had that info (or if I'll get time to sit down and investigate the cartridge) I could give you some more advice. You could just stick the same ROM onto both the pages and be done with it. That of course only gives you one ROM, unless...
Actually, the thing with EMS cartridges (buth these 64M ones and the earlier blue 32M) is that they have multi-ROM support. (The 64M cart is really just two 32M carts with a switch.) This means you can basically fill up the memory up to 32MBit with as many ROMs you can fit. For this you need a menu ROM which will do the switching.
There are already menu ROMs available, however these don't play well with LSDj for several reasons. I'm intending to make my own menu ROM to fix these problems. When/if I get that fixed, that will probably offset the fact that you only have one page available, since you're not limited to just one ROM anymore.
1,654 Jul 18, 2011 4:01 pm
Re: BBCode (Spoiler) (4 replies, posted in Bugs and Requests)
What? Random color? Why not just choose a random color and use the regular color tag?
1,655 Jul 13, 2011 6:41 pm
Topic: Digimancy - modular synth, meet random digital electronics (2 replies, posted in General Discussion)
1,656 Jul 13, 2011 3:35 am
Re: This is what I've been up to (6 replies, posted in General Discussion)
If that's you, then this is Nullsleep?
1,657 Jul 12, 2011 10:51 am
Re: Why so few new MOD/XM artists? (155 replies, posted in General Discussion)
4mat: The ready-made samples part is of course only for non-chip modules/non-chip samples. As Lazerbeat mentioned as an advantage, "Infinite range of sounds available."
Also, I draw my LSDj triangles, mainly because LSDj produces a bandlimited triangle that's not stepped in 1-step increments, and also because I want my triangle to start at the bottom of the range, not middle, so I don't get that big DC offset change at the beginning.
1,658 Jul 12, 2011 9:35 am
Re: Why so few new MOD/XM artists? (155 replies, posted in General Discussion)
cTrix: You're right in both the things you are saying, but you're missing my point. I wasn't trying to disprove Lazerbeat but answer the question why things ended up the way they are today, i.e. how the general populace perceives things.
1,659 Jul 12, 2011 6:29 am
Re: DMG linkable with SP? (14 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)
The link port is identical to that on GBA. It's compatible with the GBC link port. (It has a slightly different shape from GBC, but that's only so Nintendo could design GBA-only plugs if they wanted. No problem!)
What SP doesn't have is a direct headphone output. You need to plug a special adapter into the combined charging port/headphone for that. Prosound is probably a PITA unless your first name is Ralph and your last name is Tyler...
1,660 Jul 12, 2011 6:21 am
Re: Why so few new MOD/XM artists? (155 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Let me try to analyze the issue from an outside perspective. And since I'm looking at it, again, from an outside perspective, I will be swearing in church.
Let's say you're new to this whole business and want to get started. You are statistically likely to end up buying a Gameboy (or use the one of the literally 100 million units sold that ou own since childhood) and a flash cartridge. Why? Well, let's
I totally appreciate this is a very broad topic based on little to no hard research but MOD/XM seems to have quite a few inherent advantages
- You own the hardware
It's true that you own the hardware, but the same hardware can also be used to do so much more. What reason do you have (again, from an outside perspective) to use a program that requires samples, but imposes other limitations, such as no synthesis and no effects? You could just as well use another software (even Renoise) and voluntarily confine yourself to the same limits.
- The software is free
- Easy to install / Multiplatform
With software piracy being as ubiquitous as it is, price is not an issue for most people. And Win and Mac are the only platforms that matter for a wide audience, and most commercial vendors have those covered.
- Easy to share
- Easy to back up
I'd venture to say that no music documents are difficult to back up or share, given how big hard drives are and how easy it is to share even hundreds of MB of data today. As for sharing in particular, I think, rather, that anything that requires the other end to install new software, will be a nuisance. I.e., it's easy to share for what you and your friends are already using.
- High profile community MOD/XM composers / performers (syhpus/4mat/ctrix etc)
...which are unfortunately unknown for most n00bs today.
- Infinite range of sounds available.
Not as infinite as with added realtime DSP capabilities. What about chip consoles then? Aren't they even more limited? Well yes, but the premise there is that while you don't have DSP, you do have some sort of subjective charm or something like that. With MODs/XMs you constrain yourself to "just samples" while getting none of that presumed charm or whatever you want to call those subjective qualities.
- Huge number of resources for new people to learn from
Maybe. But call me crazy, but I think part of LSDj's success is the fact that the commands names are not numbers. Instead of 5 for slide to note, you have L, which you can use to create a mnemonic, like Legato or sLide. (S was taken, so...)
But it would seem the number of people new to the scene (by new I mean within the last few years or so), at least in our neck of the woods, who choose MOD/XM to compose / perform live seems vanishingly small.
Anyone have any thoughts as to why? The only thing I can think of is there aren't THAT many exciting options of things to do live with mods.
That's another big one, when comparing to LSDj in particular. The live manipulation capabilities are just about zero. But there's also something much more subjective. I think Beck's album art summarizes this nicely:
To the outsider, the Gameboy is something you (can) hold in your hands. It's something that gives the impression of being tactile. It's easy to imagine a close analogy to a "real" instrument. You just can't do that with a laptop or even an AMIGAAAAAAH!
1,661 Jul 11, 2011 3:50 pm
Re: LightScythe - mid-air light graffiti (12 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Since it relies on a long camera exposure time, it can only produce still images by nature. However, nothing would stop you from painstakingly making several frames and do a stop-motion kind of thing. Of course, every frame would be aligned slightly differently in each frame, if the rod is carried in your hand, since human motion isn't perfect. You can see this as a part of the craft, and live with it.
Of course you'd need to build the thing or convince the creator to record frames for you. (I'm not the creator and I haven't built one, so I'm not of much help.)
1,662 Jul 11, 2011 3:31 pm
Re: Expected features for a beginner-level synthesiser (18 replies, posted in Other Hardware)
I'm not too sure how I could interface an external controller other than via MIDI - and I have no clue how I could implement that.
Gate+CV (control voltage)! This is what an analog synth would be using internally, only that now it's coming from the outside through a couple of jacks. Many old synths will provide it.
1,663 Jul 11, 2011 3:27 pm
Re: Expected features for a beginner-level synthesiser (18 replies, posted in Other Hardware)
My £0.02:
Oscillator: You can either go analog, or use a microcontroller like an Arduino for the intelligence + the oscillator.
If you go digital, you can still do the waveforms you want, but possibly with NES/chip style bit reduction for the saw/triangle. What you want to do is probably to use a passive resistor ladder DAC, which allows you to oscillators with a few bits (as in binary bits of data) with only some microcontroller outputs and a few resistors. You will still likely want to use a 'duino if you're looking to implement MIDI. And the digital method has the added advantage of being in tune at all times without trimming.
If you go analog, I recommend a design built around the XR2206, like a simplified version of the XR-VCO by Thomas Henry. It can produce sine and/or triangle in its basic configuration. I recommend just going for triangle as sine always be approximated by using a low filter setting, but otherwise you can add a switch to choose between the two. But the interesting part is the skew function. It flips half of the waveform so you first get a triangle /\/\/\ which morphs into something like /-/-/- at medium settings and finally ////// at the highest setting.
As for controlling the synth, you basically have two options if you want to keep it analog and simple. Carbon strip or a resistor voltage divider ladder with a button for each note. Carbon strip is what the Gakken syntesizer is using for example, but I'm not sure whether this can be achieved by on a DIY level. The voltage divider ladder works like this: you have a bunch of resistors in series. One end is connected to a positive reference voltage and the other end to ground. In each step you're going to have a consecutively higher voltage. Each point is connected to a switch which in turn is connected to the voltage control input. Simple example:
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
+5V - |___| - o - |___| - o - |___| - o - |___| - o - |___| - Ground
| 4 V | 3 V | 2 V | 1 V
That way you get a number of evenly spaced voltage reference points that can be used as control voltages. This system fails as soon as you press two keys simultaneously, but hey you can't get everything...
A creative way to this approach is to use a printed circuit board where you use copper shapes as keys and play the thing with a "pen" attached with a wire. This is the approach Cheap, Fat and Open is using, even though it's using a different wiring of the electronics since it's a digital synth.
A nice trick you can use to almost detune the oscillator is a sawtooth phase shifter. There's a schematic for a really simple one here: http://rubidium.dyndns.org/~magnus/synths/schematics/ I think that one flipped the + and - of one of the opamps, however.
Here's a demonstration of this effect unit in my modular homebuilt modular system, with an oscilloscope view and annotations explaining what I'm twiddling with. Vhen modulated with an LFO, it fattens up the sound a bit compared to a simple sawtooth.
As for a sequencer, what are you hoping it will control? Pitch? Other parameters? Make sure this isn't shooting over the target and that it will actually be useful.
And then there's the envelope, VCA, filter and LFO design aspects. I don't really have time to write more about this right now, and I also have less useful advice on those parts of the synth. But before I conclude, let me warn you of feature creep, i.e. adding too much shit and not being able to finish the synth, especially if you're on a deadline, which you probably are since it's a course. With complexity, the number of things that can go wrong increases exponentially. I'm of the opinion that having to debug your stuff is the best, if not the only way to gain practical knowledge. However, respect deadlines and know your limits.
1,664 Jul 11, 2011 2:41 pm
Re: Chipmusic interpretation of Vivaldi's Four Seasons? (16 replies, posted in General Discussion)
I've edited the topic title as per the new rule.