Emax

I am just wondering why people keep wanting to change the base underpinnings
of the Emax hardware.
If you aren't happy with what Emax does do, then maybe you need a different
piece of equipment or software to do this "other thing" you are looking to
do?

I certainly understand wanting to maximize the possible options of the Emax.
Heck if I could increase either the HD size / # of banks or Max sample
memory in an Emax 1 that would be great.

But to change out the CPU? What is the purpose of that?
And the Echip is a special purpose IC. You can't just blindly utilize it in
a circuit....

Without the Echip, the Emax is no longer an Emax, it would be something
different.
So I just don't get some of these comments.



On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 11:21 AM, jammie <jammie.emma@...>wrote:

>
>
> waste of time it would need to much hacking of motherboards to impliment
>
> if you read the thread on the dx group it is for programming of sysex
> strings so you change parameters on the fly but it only works on 1 parameter
> at a time and would need many more controls and code to impliment loads of
> controls at a time problem with sysex data it can soon overload the midi
> channel
>
> he designed it so you colud change a param with out looking at the panel
> lcd and buttons in real time
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: thenewyorkcowboy
> To: emax@yahoogroups.com <emax%40yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 5:59 PM
> Subject: [emax] Microcontroller
>
> I just saw this post on the Yamaha DX group and thought I would put it here
> for us to comment on as well. Don't know how it might apply but ideas are
> welcome. My initial thought is somehow using this to translate the EMAX
> source code into something that we could understand and modify, then we
> could write a new OS that would implement the new features of the extra
> stuff we put in, or possibly if the stars were aligned we could even replace
> the dated microprocessor of the EMAX with this one and write brand new
> code...
>
> Here is the Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmel_AVR
>
> Re: Editor Librarians for TX81Z
> Posted by: "Alan Probandt" alan_probandt at yahoo.com alan_probandt
> Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:18 am (PST)
>
> Hello,
> I have noticed the trend towards over-complication that was mentioned in
> your message and agree. However instead of resurrecting 1980s 8-bit home
> computers, I suggest looking into the modern microcontroller scene that is
> always improving in terms of performance for the price.
> I have been doing MIDI development with the Atmel AVR microcontroller a lot
> for the past five years or so. I don't have a lot to show for it, from a
> professional perspective, but what has been done is in open source and
> available. The AVR is almost a 1980s home computer on a inexpensive chip.
> There is a 20MHz CPU core running 130+ op-codes, two or three input/output
> ports, a serial port UART or two, a cluster of 10 bit analog/digital
> convertors, several timers, and a Flash ROM space of 4K bytes to 128K bytes.
> Lacking is big on-board RAM, video, and sound generators. Programs are
> written in free assemblers or C compilers and loaded into the flash ROM. No
> need for ultraviolet erasers any more. All programs are stored in the ROM.
> No program code runs from RAM, which makes AVRs different from home
> computers.
> Video can be done using attached LCD graphics modules that sell for about
> $20. Sound ICs have disappeared probably for good, but MP3 and MIDI are
> straightforward to implement. Massive data storage is done on small cheap SD
> Flash cards at a cost of about $10 per gigabyte.
> AVRs have the same programming 'feel' that the old home computers do, but
> they are much more widely available. There isn't any concern that a program
> written for DOS or Commodore 64 can't be shared because the hardware is
> unobtainable.
> The 10-year-old 8-bit 20MHz $8 AVR is on the verge of being replaced by the
> $4 50MHz 32bit ARM-family of microcontrollers, specifically the Cortex M3.
> This device is made by many companies, but it is much more difficult to
> program and is 'overkill' for MIDI applications.
>
> Just a brief update on the alternatives to using unprogrammable desktop PCs
> for MIDI applications.
>
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>  
>


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