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 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 .> 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.
>