ComputerVoltageSources

uh... yeah, what he said...

first, welcome to all, make yourselves at home.  glad to be yr 'umble 
servant here, and thrilled to have an opportunity to support the 
community in some way.  

um... liminal... i read a great levi strauss essay on that... 
something about lentils and lintels and beans and doorways... i'm a 
big fan of beans.  i probably still have the book up in the attic...

speaking of which, yes: multiplicity & focus.  first order of bidness 
here was to address some concerns about code written for the PSIM... 
GPL licenses, open source, blah blah blah.  the files section is set 
up for you to post your own code to... feel free to share your 
creation, and please respect the individual author's wishes (whatever 
they may be) if you use or modify their code.  discussion of 
programs "in process" is on-topic, for sure. 

next on the agenda, a home for the development and programming of a 
diy "next generation" module along the lines of the PSIM... immediate 
goal is an open-source hardware design (schematic, layout, gerbers, 
panels).  there's already been some discussion on SDIY, and a 
tentative consensus (i think) to stay in the CV rather than Audio 
range and aim for some backward-compatibility with existing PSIM 
code.  that will continue to unfold in the next few weeks, i'm 
thinkin'...

and then.  more is better.  audio modules, single-purpose modules, 
modules with basil/peanut pesto... yum.  the possibilities are indeed 
endless.  from my perspective, i think there's value in a series of 
projects which actually get completed... as compared to endless 
iterations of plans, each one grander than the last, none of which 
get off the drawing board.  and for once i'm speaking from experience 
on this.  but striking that balance between dreaming & doing is up to 
you. 

again, welcome

bbob drake
(moderator in title only....i know very very little about 
moderation)   




--- In ComputerVoltageSources@yahoogroups.com, "drmabuce" 
<drmabuce@...> wrote:
>
> Goodness!
> this got interesting fast!!!!!
> Monday ain't over yet and there're already 62 members!
> 
> --- In ComputerVoltageSources@yahoogroups.com, Eric Brombaugh
> <ebrombaugh@> wrote:
> 
> > One thing that caught my eye in the earlier discussion
> > was the idea of using a fast CPU as not only a CV
> > source, but also for VCOs, VCFs, VCAs, and general
> > signal processing. 
> 
> This is a very signicant issue
> and i encourage all the members to weigh in on it because the group
> will be most useful if consesus on a 'topic' (or topicS)  is 
achieved.
> Such consesus is a real courtesy to the moderators. It really makes
> their job easier because we police ourselves and it helps reduce OT
> squabbles. Good fences make good neighbors.
> 
> This issue is also gonna be a slippery trout to get in the creel
> because the category of gadget (CVS) around which this group is
> centered is a "liminal entity" (i got that from the "Analog Days"
> book.... what a deliciously weird term! -liminal entity-).
> To save you all a link to dictionary.com, a liminal entity is a
> something that lives on a threshold between two realms....
> like a flying fish, an amphibious car, and that frequency range from
> 0.5 to 20 hz where a pulse train turns from clicks to a tone.
> 
> a CVS is simply a programmable function geverator. Aaron Lanterman 
has
> pointed out that NI makes commercial 'data acquistion' gadgets with 
a
> couple of outputs for which there are numerous PC& MAC support
> packages and development environments. Eric Brombaugh posits that if
> we're going to be wiggling voltages around with code , why not 
wiggle
> them real fast and make audio with 'em too? DIY digital audio!
> it's simply a matter of scale....
> 
> [This is a bit funny, because when i teach clases in electronic 
music,
> i stand on my poor pupils desks and exhort them to throw away their
> preconceptions about what a module does. A VCF is a (damped)
> oscillator, and LFO is just a cap-value from a VCO ...etc.
> i pout and tantrum until the poor browbeaten sprouts color outside 
the
> lines...]
> 
> but in this case
> 
> my vote is that we draw some lines and try to stay in 'em.
> Good fences make good neighbors.
> 
> i'll proffer my postion this way:
> 
> The attributes of the topic that i (and i speak only for MYSELF)
> intend to expose and exploit in this group are:
> 
> -DIY 
> or DIY-ish , kits, mods but not limited exclusively to one device
> 
> -programmable 
> at some point in its production
> 
> -CV  o r i e n t e d     
> i'm not above driving an LFO into low audio but... i'm not sure that
> i'm prepared to discuss tweaking the tuning and scaling to 1/40th 
of a
> cent
> 
> That's where my chalk lines are.... how 'bout y'all???
> 
> If the moderators choose they could segregate this group structure 
> into sub-topics (fast-wiggling/slow wiggling) or just hose down the
> corral and turn the varmints loose! 
> 
> But let's cut 'em a break folks....
> post a comment or two on what YOUR particular flavor of the fetish 
is
> so they can get a few pins in this map.
> 
> and on that note....
> Thank you Eric for weighing in right off the bat and getting this
> issue on the table from the get-go
> 
> carpe themam!
> -doc
>