Wiardgroup

Hi Mark,

I mean in the sense of drawing them on a computer screen.

To make your own custom software, you will need a $200 PROM programmer.

Let's compare the only two devices on the market that are Arbitrary Function Generators.

Device                                         Price             No. Channels           Steps per channel
Buchla Model 250e                      $1700                   3                                16
Wiard Envelooper MARF               $499                     4                             1024

As you can see, even if you buy a PROM programmer and lifetime supply of PROMs, it still 
adds up to only half the cost of a 250e, and the Envelooper has several technical 
improvements.

I have posted a picture of the working faceplate design in the pictures section. The module 
is a 6 inch wide Frac-Rac module.



--- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, Mark Griffiths <mark@...> wrote:
>
> Grant, this looks really interesting! One thing I'm not quite clear on, you talk about the 
ability to draw visually..do you mean as on a PC or contained somehow on the module 
itself?
>    
>   regards, Mark
> 
> Grant Richter <grichter@...> wrote:
>           After years of design and months of work I have a kind of working prototype of 
the 
> Envelooper MARF. It works, but not perfectly yet. I am still getting the bugs out. This is 
> targeted to the Frac-Rac format.
> 
> MARF stands for "Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator". One of the shortcomings of 
> modular synthesis is the lack of complex controllers for modules. To generate a 
complex 
> control function now, you have to sum together multiple envelopes and LFOs. The 
> Envelooper allows you to draw complex control functions visually, with enough points to 
> reproduce the effect of summing multiple envelopes and LFOs. It also stores pitches like 
a 
> sequencer, and you can draw an envelope in channel 4 for each pitch.
> 
> The Envelooper is designed to support true "gestural" synthesis where a single key press 
> or button push can produce control signals for a complete musical gesture. Multiple 
> gestures are stored in different Banks and can be selected by voltage control. Using a 
> black and white keyboard, you can select and trigger gestures with just the keyboard. 
The 
> Envelooper also has a "Loop" switch that sets it to free running loop without needing a 
> gate or trigger.
> 
> The Envelooper is modeled after an ADSR envelope generator. For the Envelooper, each 
> segment of the A, D, S and R is four 256 byte pages stored in a PROM, for a total of 
1024 
> bytes for each envelope. Four 8 bit outputs are produced simultaneously with a channel 
to 
> channel skew of an inaudible 1 microsecond.
> 
> Each ADSR segment has an independent "playback" time control from 1 millisecond to 
20 
> seconds. The shortest total envelope time is 4 milliseconds and the longest is 80 
seconds. 
> The ouputs are calibrated like the Mini-Wave to 1 volt per octave. Two steps = 83.3 
> millivolts = a semitone. So the table programmer in Wave 256 can be used to program 
> pitch information using actual note names.
> 
> The Wave256 software used to program the Waveform City and Mini-Wave is also used 
to 
> program the Envelooper. The waveforms in a "Wave" are set up like this for the 
> enveloopers four outputs; A1, A2, A3, A4, D1, D2, D3, D4, S1, S2, S3, S4, R1, R2, R3, 
R4. 
> The programming rules are as follows; A(ttack) pages start at -128 and end at +128, D
> (ecay) pages start at +128 and end at 0, S(ustain) pages start and end at zero, Release 
> pages start at 0 and end at -128. Following these programing rules produce envelopes 
> with no audible "splice" when the device switches from one segment to another.
> 
> The four outputs are mapped two different ways for East Coast and West Coast patches. 
> For East Coast use, output 1 controls the pitch of the VCO, output 2 controls the 
> waveform, output 3 controls the VCF (Boogie) and output 4 controls the VCA (Borg 2). 
For 
> West Coast use, output 1 controls the pitch of the VCO, output 2 controls the waveform 
X, 
> output 3 controls the waveform Y and output 4 controls the lowpass gate.
> 
> 8 bits has a fair amount of zipper noise, for pitches we want this quantization, but it is a 
> problem for VCAs and other inputs. One of the little known things about Vactrols is that 
> they remove zipper noise. So running an 8 bit signal through a Vactrol smooths out the 
> steps into continuous function. The VCO will have Vactrols or the equivalent on the 
> waveform X and Y inputs to remove zipper noise. The Borg and Boogie filters are based 
on 
> Vactrols and already remove zipper noise.
> 
> I just wanted to post a little note to let everyone know that Wiard R&D will continue to 
> produce ground breaking designs not available anywhere else. For those REALLY 
> interested I have posted the test PROM file in the files section called adsr4.256 Use the 
> Wave256 software to view the segment designs. Please note this is just an experimental 
> file to test ideas, NOT the final file which will ship with the module.
>