SynthBoost Project #4 - Flow Through Experiment

As I try and look through what I will be doing, it might be nice to get a general flow through experiment up and going. What I envision is to have all of the vintage gear hooked into the 4x4 midi interface, then through the powered usb hub, through the RPi, and then in turn hook it to the iPad. The RPi would provide a number of virtual midi connections to the iPad. Each of the vintage gear would be tethered through the RPi and the virtual connections. This would form the baseline and could be used to measure overall lag through the setup.

SynthBoost Project #2 - A Midi Router - Translator - Patcher

It occurred to me that I might be approaching the SynthBoost project the wrong way.  I have been exploring the possibility of augmenting my DW-8000 synthesizer with a Raspberry Pi to do various new things.  But what I think I really want is something in the middle that performs a whole bunch of functions.  If I use the RPi as a midi router, then I might have a better shot at success.  I have thoughts about setting up my equipment as shown in the following diagram:

In order to do this I would need the Raspberry Pi to act as a midi-router.  First of all I wanted to see if plugging in the 4x4 midi switch and the iRig would show up separately.  In order to see if the new iRig Pads would work on the RPi, I ran a python program after plugging the USB cable into one of the ports.

pygame.init()
pygame.midi.init()

for id in range(pygame.midi.get_count()):
print pygame.midi.get_device_info(id)

This gave me the following sequence:

('ALSA', 'Midi Through Port-0', 0, 1, 0)
('ALSA', 'Midi Through Port-0', 1, 0, 0)
('ALSA', 'iRig PADS MIDI 1', 0, 1, 0)
('ALSA', 'iRig PADS MIDI 1', 1, 0, 0)

This tells me that it is possible to interface to the iRig Pads device from my Raspberry Pi.  This shows that the ALSA is capable of accessing the midi interfaces.  When I plugged in the 4x4 midi switch and the 1x1 midi adapter, the items also showed up after running this same python program.  Now I am in a better position to figure out a solution.  I have been looking a a number of software solutions, most notably mididings.  Mididings is python based and uses the ALSA and JACK to its advantage.  I have not setup mididings on the RPi yet, but I hope to do that this week.

More information later.

SynthBoost Project #1 - Idea for Augmenting a Vintage Synthesizer

So I have this Korg DW8000 synthesizer in my room downstairs that is gathering some dust.  I was thinking that I might want to augment its functionality with a Raspberry Pi.  This would allow me to get back into music, and midi, and related programming efforts.  Right now the biggest need is for a Midi Patch Editor.  I have sorta one on my iPad, but to do the same thing on an RPi2 would be neat.

So what would such an augmenting tool do? It depends on what I have access to within the synthesizer itself. If I can interface to the inside, I would have better capabilities, maybe even adding things that the DW8000 synthesizer cannot do in its present form. Let's list the possibilities:

1. A Midi Patch editor that has a user interface that will allow custom changes to the voices
2. SysEx capabilities, including loading patches during live performance; grabbing individual voices from multiple patches to form a different patch
3. A midi recorder/player
4. A midi translator (assumes internal connections); translation of key signature up/down, voice/channel mix, etc.
-- Midi event processor
-- Midi patchbay/merger/router/filter
5. Keyboard shift, multiple voices across keyboard sections (assumes internal connections)
6. Midi foot controller "brain"

More thoughts later.

Just Got In A Midi Shield for the Arduino

I ordered a Sparkfun Midi Shield the other day along with some appliance lights that needed modification.  The midi shield came in last night.  I was a little disappointed when I saw the baggie and noticed that it did not contain any Arduino headers.  Fortunately, I have a Micro Center close by that carries the headers so it shouldn't be any issue with getting some to get the midi shield built.
What do I have in mind for this device?  I am planning on making a midi swiss army knife to use with my existing midi equipment.  Among the things that it should be able to do is swap channels, integrate well with the midi foot controller, etc.  I haven't really thought of all the applications just yet.  Some possibilities include the following:

1. Midi Thru


2. Midi Channel Translation


3. Arpeggiator


4. Midi Channel Merge

The Midi Shield is next to a Sparkfun Power Supply which obtains power from an old ATX computer power supply; neat concept.

Music via midi?

Maybe I have added too many things that I am interested in pursuing with the RPis in my possession. However in one of the conversations with people that I work with, I now have become interested I working with the RPi in developing some midi applications, or at least using some already developed applications on the RPi.  I do posses some vintage midi gear that would come in handy here.  I have a DW8000 synthesizer, a Ground Control midi foot controller, a GMan sound module, a SQD-8 midi recorder, a TR-505 drum machine, a smaller midi controller keyboard, and a TR-1 midi thru repeater plus assorted midi cables to make it all work together.  Anyway, this shows that I have made some investment in midi gear and probably means that I should try and resurrect my keyboard abilities which if I remember correctly were sadly lacking back in the day.

I also have some midi related apps on my iPad which could be useful.  I already have a handle on the use of some Linux based midi applications including Jack and some decent sequencers.  I need to figure this one out.  Then again, maybe I should just stick to what I have been planning with the robot.

Maybe a pitch to midi converter via the RPi?  That would be an interesting use of the RPi technology.  Then you could use the RPi to interface to a guitar and play it through a midi setup or sound module. It would only take some fancy FFT processing and some comb filtering to accomplish.  Off turnings could be a problem though.