Analogue-sequencer

Hello,

I'm new here; Just joined the group. 

I only discovered the P3 last evening. Since then I've been all over 
the net looking for info and have yet to find the Schematics and/or 
PCB layouts. I thought this was a DIY project?

I did find the firmware, and had a look at the owners manual. Saw the 
construction photos sequences at the "new"? website. So it seems this 
WAS a DIY that went commercial? What is the presemnt status re: 
schematics (I can design PCB's and the rest.)

Any help will be very much appreciated; I want to make one that looks 
old-school analog modular to go with my synths. (A wolf in sheeps 
clothing, so to speak!<G>) 

Thank you in advance,

Ballendo

> I only discovered the P3 last evening. Since then I've been all over 
> the net looking for info and have yet to find the Schematics and/or 
> PCB layouts. I thought this was a DIY project?

It used to be a DIY project, kits of PCBs are pre-programmed CPUs were
available for about 2 years.
The kit PCBs were the same as used in hand-assembled production units.
After the introduction of an EU ban on leaded solder, production of
ready-built units stopped largely because hand-assembly with unleaded solder
is like having teeth pulled.
I considered doing another run of kits recently, but was unable to source
the CPUs in lead-free form except in the surface mount version.
So selling a kit including the CPU would be illegal in Europe.

It's unlikely that kits will be available again, unless the code is ported
to another processor that can be sourced in lead-free form.

Alternative production units are still under development, but with the
introduction of yet more EU legislation to make small-scale electronic
manufacture even less viable, who knows whether that will happen...

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

Colin, 
 
Could you supply the non-lead parts, and lead it up to the end user to source the lead parts for themselves?
 
Maybee you could offer a programming service for the ICs that need code loaded?
 
Just a thought as to a way arround the restrictions.
 
Julian


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Or let non EU countries order them?

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Maybe sell the kits as the PCBs with the lead-free surface mount processor already soldered in place?
 
Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA

________________________________

From: Julian
Sent: Tue 17/04/2007 11:45 PM


Colin, 

Could you supply the non-lead parts, and lead it up to the end user to source the lead parts for themselves?

Maybee you could offer a programming service for the ICs that need code loaded?

Just a thought as to a way arround the restrictions.

Julian

.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> Could you supply the non-lead parts, and lead it up to the 
> end user to source the lead parts for themselves?

The one place I can find the leaded CPUs has them at a knock down price,
'while stocks last'.
If I ordered a load of boards, and they ran out of chips the next day, I'd
find it hard to move those boards.

> Or let non EU countries order them?

That knocks out over 50% of customers.

> Maybe sell the kits as the PCBs with the lead-free surface 
> mount processor already soldered in place?

That's the most likely future scenario for a Sequentix kit.
The question is, which CPU ?

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

Hi colin,
just short question if you are about to post a follow up to the  
easter seed of the latest P3 beta?
only very minor issues found so far:

- I had some problem with AUX events from 1 bar not working  
immediately in following bars, need to set manually
- some values like accumulator settings are at 0 by default (these  
were set to different values in old OS betas)

like to see this new beta progress to a full release, really dig the  
new layout of functions.

cheers,
henry

> just short question if you are about to post a follow up to the  
> easter seed of the latest P3 beta?

I'm implementing the sysex loading now. This is a fair bit more complicated
than last time, since a bank is a variable size depending on how many bars
are allocated to it. One big advantage is that you only need to change the
bank number in a header packet to load a save bank back into a different
location.
Expect a beta update in the next day or two.

> only very minor issues found so far:
> 
> - I had some problem with AUX events from 1 bar not working  
> immediately in following bars, need to set manually

Haven't noticed that myself, but I've not really been looking - I'm
concentrating more on internal things that need sorted.
Once those are done, I look into it.

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

Am 18.04.2007 um 01:29 schrieb Colin Fraser:

> I'm implementing the sysex loading now. This is a fair bit more  
> complicated
> than last time, since a bank is a variable size depending on how  
> many bars
> are allocated to it. One big advantage is that you only need to  
> change the
> bank number in a header packet to load a save bank back into a  
> different
> location.
> Expect a beta update in the next day or two.

cool I'll test and will try to sum the minor things to a list so it  
can be fixed when you sorted the big things

cheers,
henry





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I've uploaded the most recent beta build to
http://www.sequentix.com/v4beta.htm

This build includes sysex dump and receive.
P3Tools does not (yet) support the entirely new sysex dump format.
Banks are dumped as a bank header, part blocks, and variable number of bar
blocks, followed by a terminator.
The full set of bank blocks must be received. There is no roll-back
implemented yet, so you will leak bars if you stop a re-load halfway
through.

You might need to initialise your memory for this build, but possibly not -
you might get away with just resetting configuration data such as user
config, MIDI channels etc. 

Some stuff still needs fixed, such as de-allocation of patterns over-written
as a result of a part copy, and clearing of ghosts of patterns lost during a
partial bank init.
But it's a lot further on than the last beta release.

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

Colin,

Thank you for the reply.

So since the thing isn't being made anymore; what harm is there in 
allowing for DIY again?  

I am not in the UK. And while RoHS has invaded our shores too; it 
doesn't prevent me from making one for myself.  But the lack of a 
circuit to follow does (I Can layout and fab my own PCB's)...

Thank you in advance,

Ballendo


--- In analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com, "Colin Fraser" 
<colin@...> wrote:
>
>  
> > I only discovered the P3 last evening. Since then I've been all 
over 
> > the net looking for info and have yet to find the Schematics 
and/or 
> > PCB layouts. I thought this was a DIY project?
> 
> It used to be a DIY project, kits of PCBs are pre-programmed CPUs 
were
> available for about 2 years.
> The kit PCBs were the same as used in hand-assembled production 
units.
> After the introduction of an EU ban on leaded solder, production of
> ready-built units stopped largely because hand-assembly with 
unleaded solder
> is like having teeth pulled.
> I considered doing another run of kits recently, but was unable to 
source
> the CPUs in lead-free form except in the surface mount version.
> So selling a kit including the CPU would be illegal in Europe.
> 
> It's unlikely that kits will be available again, unless the code 
is ported
> to another processor that can be sourced in lead-free form.
> 
> Alternative production units are still under development, but with 
the
> introduction of yet more EU legislation to make small-scale 
electronic

> manufacture even less viable, who knows whether that will happen...
> 
> Best regards,
> Colin Fraser
> Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
> http://www.sequentix.com
>

If I had a circuit to look at...

I could probably advise. 

Without that; it's a pointless exercise in speculation...

Ballendo

>In analogue-sequencer, "Colin Fraser" <colin@...> >wrote:
> That's the most likely future scenario for a Sequentix kit.

>The question is, which CPU ?

Colin Fraser ha scritto:
>
>
> I've uploaded the most recent beta build to
> http://www.sequentix.com/v4beta.htm <http://www.sequentix.com/v4beta.htm>
>






hi!
I don't know if it's a bug with the latest beta,
but as soon as i turn on my p3,
it doesn't slave to midi clock,
i have to hit run (it plays) and then stop.
Just now it receives the midi clock correctly.
And goes fine until next time i turn it on.
I hope it isn't related to my machine only.
Btw i'm really enjoying v4, thanks Colin!
Bye
David

> I don't know if it's a bug with the latest beta,
> but as soon as i turn on my p3,
> it doesn't slave to midi clock,

It's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature ;-)
Fixed in a new beta I just posted.
http://www.sequentix.com/v4beta.htm

The new beta also changes the behaviour around ghosting of patterns a bit.

In v4 you can save patterns to other part and/or track locations as 'new' or
'ghost' patterns.
A new pattern is just that - a unique new pattern in the save location.

With a ghost pattern, a single instance of a pattern is used in two or more
locations.
Ghosting allows you to edit a pattern once, and have it change in all the
places that pattern is used, plus it saves on pattern storage.
It also allows you to very quickly layer the same pattern across multiple
instruments for complex composite sounds - an unexpected bonus I've been
having great fun with.

The changed behaviour in beta 6 relates to what happens when you over-write
a real pattern that has been ghosted.

Say you create a pattern on part 1/track 1, then ghost it to a few other
locations.
If you then edit another real pattern, and save it to part 1/track 1 as a
ghost, the previous behaviour was to have any ghosts of the pattern being
over-written re-directed to the new pattern being saved to part 1/track 1.

I decided that probably wasn't desirable - it made it too easy to
unexpectedly change a number of parts when you only intended to change one
pattern.

So the new behaviour is that if you over-write a pattern that has been
ghosted elsewhere with a ghost of another pattern, the first ghost of the
pattern being over-written becomes 'real', and any other ghosts point to the
new real pattern.

If you've been using ghosting of patterns, and that doesn't make sense to
you, let me know.

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

Hi Colin,

 

The new OS sounds very interesting!

When I try to update I get the BAD DATA! Message.

 

My bootloader is v3.3 and the current OS is v3.1.006.

 

Thanks,

Jesper. 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> The new OS sounds very interesting!
> When I try to update I get the BAD DATA! Message.

> My bootloader is v3.3 and the current OS is v3.1.006.

MIDI loop, maybe ?
Are you using P3Tools, or a generic sysex app ?

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

I was using MidiOX, but have just tried P3Tools with the same result ;(

I have tried with and without the midi out cable.

 

I bought a new cpu from you in August last year, could that have anything to
do with it?

 

Jesper.

From: analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Colin Fraser
Sent: 19. april 2007 22:12
To: analogue-sequencer@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [analogue-sequencer] easter beta follow up

 


> The new OS sounds very interesting!
> When I try to update I get the BAD DATA! Message.

> My bootloader is v3.3 and the current OS is v3.1.006.

MIDI loop, maybe ?
Are you using P3Tools, or a generic sysex app ?

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com

 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> I was using MidiOX, but have just tried P3Tools with the same 
> result ;(

Try re-loading the current release firmware, to check there isn't a problem
with your download of the beta file.

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com