SynthModules

hi folks,
I've been fooling around with the PSIM (rev1.0a) for a few days now and so I'll tear myself away and offer a few observations.
My last post included a disclaimer about my financial independence from Synthmodules.com (ie I get no compensation from them). I would like to add a few more remarks about myself because I think it helps to know something about the perspective of the person who renders an opinion. My assertion of independence should not mistaken as a claim to objectivity because it's not. 
    I don't believe in objectivity anyway. 
    I am a dyed-in-the-wool DIYer. Brice indulged me when I told him that one of his lovely panels would be wasted on a butcher like me. That's why he made an exception and allowed me to 'roll my own' from just the PSIM PCB. Also, I had already built  homemade digital/analog hybrid boxes. The last one , finished in 2002,  had 2 8-bit analog ins and 4 10-bit analog outs with a computer program in between. These experiences  color my view of the PSIM of course.  I will make reference to them throughout.

   I'll begin by telling you why I want a PSIM when I already have a box that does pretty much what I want. The increased resolution and channels are not sufficient enticements in and of themselves.              My homemade box is bulky (about the size of a small VCR - it was wired-wrapped) It requires that the PC be connected to work. The software had to be developed in C to execute fast enough to do CV's and it locks up mysteriously at least once every session.
   The PSIM is an improvement over my gadget on all these points.

    Most important to me, the PSIM's operation has been very robust. I made some wiring mistakes when I first hooked it up ( more on this later) . One of the effects was that I had wired the reset button shut - givng the effect of holding the reset button down  the whole time the PSIM was powered up, sometimes, for as much as an hour while I fiddled around looking for the problem!. After Brice straightened me out on that issue the PSIM just hopped up off the mats ready to go! That's good performance. So far , the PSIM has never locked up,  mysteriously or otherwise, while running a well-formed program. The appeal of a device like this for me  is it's 'Lego aspect' that is - if you can think of a procedure for doing something - it will do it. It's crucial that a software-driven device be robust when you are developing a program. Otherwise you never know if the hardware is the reason you're not getting the results you want or if it's your program. The PSIM makes this easy. Every time something unexpected happened the cause was MY instruction.

  The PSIM is small, certainly much smaller than my VCR-sized gadget. Better yet, it does not require that the PC be connected in order to run. You develop a program on the PC and load it into the PSIM. After that the PSIM can be disconnected , powered-down and carted off to a gig and when you power-up the last program loaded is still loaded in the PSIM and ready to run.

   I'm using a dialect of BASIC (called MBASIC) to program the PSIM and I like it better than C. I realize that this is VERY much a matter of taste, but I prefer BASIC for this kind of programming. In my day job I have to develop in C (plain old Bell Labs C, not Visual C or C++ etc) and not having to worry about build orders and precedents just makes the whole process more intuitive,  fun, and FASTER for me . I do have one caveat on this subject but I want to stress that this is not Synthmodules.com's fault. Basicmicro makes the processor on which the PSIM is based. Their downloadable documentation is an utterly inadequate REFERENCE much less a tutorial. I strongly recommend that anybody who write programs for the PSIM download a copy of Parallax's 'PBASIC' manual. - Of course - all of the BasicStamp product-specific info will not apply but that document contains a very complete and comprehensive BASIC reference manual that I found useful at every fork in the road.
(PS: i notice that Brice posted links to the Parallax manual in a previous post -DrM)


So it beats my box on 4 important counts:
It's ROBUST.
It's SMALL
It's PORTABLE and
It's fast enough  in BASIC

Now a word about support. First off, this can't be too germane because I got a prototype under special circumstances. I will say unequivocally that Brice has been positively INDULGENT with my hardware shenanigans and he held my hand over the phone with a truckload of helpful tips for getting the PC and the PSIM to interface politely. Thus it behooves me to report that Brice has supported my PSIM way above and beyond the call of duty.The grain of salt is that - In all reality, I must admit that I would have been surprised if, after arranging with me to 'field test' the PSIM, he would then abandon  me to twist in the wind and throw rocks at my house if I asked questions! But I will say that Brice really knows how the PSIM/PC system works and he can express himself succinctly and clearly on the subject.

So overall here's what I think so far. I like the PSIM A LOT. My application of it is as a CV-output device . I have no interest in it as an audio processor or signal source so I won't address that issue at all.  I like the PSIM in the way I like Legos!  The prospect of sitting down on a rainy Saturday afternoon and building a CV module according to my own whims and fancy on a screen with no solder, shaky alligator clips or mis-labeled parts has tremendous appeal for me. Now there is finally a straightforward, fast and reliable platform on which to do this thanks to  Synthmodules.com's design.

More to come as I discover it...