SynthModules

Hey, folks! I'm new to this group, and I'm "on the list" to get a 
future PSIM-1. :-) This module should be capable of some really cool 
stuff because it's got a lot of CPU power. There are some question 
marks regarding the "surprises" that Brice has in store for us, 
though, so we can only guess at its full potential.

Scott Stites and Woody had good suggestions: shift registers, 
quantizers, sequencers, rhythm generators, envelope generators...

Sequencers are to be expected, although it remains to be seen 
(surprise!?) how we will load a sequence. Will the PSIM-1 ever have a 
MIDI or USB port? If so, many control options would be available.

Back to CPU power for a sec: Up to 100,000 instructions per second is 
pretty fast. That's 100 per millisecond, or hundreds of instructions 
in just a few msec. That's more than sufficient for many, many 
purposes.

You want quantizers? Sure! Now, how about a quantizer that 
simultaneously generates one or more harmony lines?

Shift registers? You can have a normal one, or you can make some 
outputs do unusual things, like delay things by a different length of 
time, skip steps, do some AND/OR logic with other outputs, etc, 
etc... There is a lot of RAM to play with, so a shift register output 
could delay a sequence by an arbitrary number of steps. Heck, you 
could play a sequence forward, backward and in random order at the 
same time.

Logic functions will be child's play to implement: AND, XOR, etc. 
Gate delays and repeaters (echo) are simple, too.

Woody also suggested a "Non-linear transform processor: a single 
inuput produces multiple outputs. May not be fast enough for audio, 
but useful for unusual morphing LFO shapes." This is a cool idea, but 
you probably wouldn't bother using it on an LFO since you could 
simply generate the whole mess -- including the LFO -- inside the 
PSIM. But, sure, you may want to bring in an external LFO. In any 
case, there are plenty of uses for transform functions.

One idea along these lines is a programmable portamento generator. A 
non-linear example would be an "equal time" mode, where the PSIM 
calculates a smooth glide for a set number of milliseconds; no matter 
the pitch (voltage) interval, the glide time would be constant. You 
could do some interesting polyphonic portamento things, too.

Well, I'm sure that we've all got potential applications on the 
brain. Thanks for listening to mine, and let's hear some more ideas.
--
john