Modern Device Forum

I see that that there is no documentation specifically for the Fluxamasynth Shield yet. When can we expect it?

I found out that one has to power the Arduino via the power jack for the Fluxamasynth Shield to operate (just as does the Fluxamasynth board). It's nice to see that there is a red status LED on the shield that helped me determine this.

I really like the headers you used to make this shield stackable.

I'm curious as to what the 'Pressure Sensor MD0536' area on the shield is for. Is it for Pressure Sensor (MPXV) you sell?

Love this shield!

I see that that there is no documentation specifically for the Fluxamasynth Shield yet. When can we expect it?

Shawn says more docs are coming soon. I have (somewhat randomly) some awesome photos of him programming too, while wearing his electrified accordion.

I found out that one has to power the Arduino via the power jack for the Fluxamasynth Shield to operate (just as does the Fluxamasynth board). It's nice to see that there is a red status LED on the shield that helped me determine this.

Yes, power for the shield comes off the Vin line.

I really like the headers you used to make this shield stackable.

Yeah they're the std stacking headers everyone is selling. I have a buddy who claims he got 4UConn to make them - which I tend to believe since no one else was selling them before he sent me samples.

I'm curious as to what the 'Pressure Sensor MD0536' area on the shield is for. Is it for Pressure Sensor (MPXV) you sell?

Correct - I had a bit of question about that sensor being "the one" to put on the shield and Shawn just answered that it "was perfect" for the app. Just drill a hole in your accordion and you're ready to go. What, you don't have an accordion? Just drill a hole in your electric guitar - oh wait - maybe use a tube to your mouth. Next version we'll put an outline for the accelerometer on there too - but the accelerometer is great as an add-on on the present model - just plug it in to the analog block and you're good to go. (Get the pin assignments right)

Video coming soon of old guys rocking to electric accordion.

Paul

It took me a while to realize that it has to be powered by an external power supply. I would just add one sentence to the main product page to avoid confusion. Great product so far - i wish I had more time to experiment with it...

I am a new subscriber, Peter Hanlon from Australia. I have a Fluxamasynth shield rev 2.1, trying to connect it to a freetronics Arduino Diecimilia 328P lookalike. I get no sound, using Example files or my own sketch. I see information in the forum that it needs to run on external power, and I have been running in this mode, get a green LED at D2 on the shield. My Vin measured on the shield is 5.36V. There is also comment about a Red LED when everything is well?

Paul suggests that I measure the voltage at the 3.3V voltage regulator on the board, and I will do this in a couple of days.

I also asked about any status information in the synth structure that might indicate where the wheels are falling off...

And I asked about Serial.print and does it interfere with Shield operation.

hanlonpp

I also asked about any status information in the synth structure that might indicate where the wheels are falling off...
And I asked about Serial.print and does it interfere with Shield operation.

You definitely want to use the software serial methods used in the newer library (on Github). See the example in that library as a starting point.

I'll see if we can get some dead simple proveouts (with photos) going for you in the coming days. In the meantime though, feel free to call the shop and we'll see if we can talk you through a debug. We'll be in Wed before Thanksgiving but then not again till Monday.

Paul

Thanks for the helping hand. I measured the voltages at the 3.3V regulator. Imagining it a Y, 4.3 at lower branch, 3.3 at upper left and 0 at upper right.
So it looked good on that score.

I had downloaded the Fluxamasynth zip from Github previously and recently, but downloaded again anyway, and successfully ran the 4 examples. I am using Arduino 1.0 on a Mac Air, and it looks like there was a fair amount of change required to adjust to the Arduino changes.

The Fluxamasynth code that I was using as a base example contained a few extra subroutine calls, (TVSCutoff?) and perhaps I screwed up trying to edit these in.

I also read somewhere that the NewSoftSerial stuff is now supported as the official Arduino serial implementation.

So I have heard the example voices, which verifies the hardware, and the underlying software to a large extent. Thanks again for your great help.

Peter

Peter,

I'm glad to see you're up and running. You had good instincts on your troubleshooting.

Paul

I have been plugging along trying to get my app to work. I have heard the voices via the Fluxamasynth all voices Example, but can't get any joy yet from my own app. I am trying to set up a train of shift registers representing keys on an electronic organ, establish a test environment via initial ProgramChange calls, and then issue NoteOn and NoteOff as keys are struck. I have set up several momentary switches to simulate a few organ keys.

I am happy that the shift register hardware, and software detecting key changes is working OK. I am using digital pins 8,11,12,13 during this process. My code is an elaboration on Alex Davis' excellent stuff.

I have also gone to the standard SoftwareSerial library in Arduino 1.0, which is claimed to be the NewSoftSerial adopted into Arduino. In trying to debug this, I have used standard Serial.print traces, and have examined the insides of Fluxamasynth .h and .cpp.

I will first try to put a few noteOn and Off calls ahead of any of the shift register machinations, and see if some interaction with the digital pins might be involved. Next I might try to add a little circular buffer to the synth structure, and hold the actual flux writes I am generating.

If there are any traps for young older players, most happy to receive advice.

Also in PlayAllVoices example, a bank/voice parameter is transposed?

Elaborating upon my earlier post, the example contains synth.programChange(channel,0,voice) which should be (0,channel,voice)?

Doesn't seem to prevent it working though…

hanlonpp,

synth.programChange(bank, channel, voice); // is correct

Now I have to track down which docs are wrong. Can you point me to where we have it listed incorrectly?

Paul

Hi Paul.

Documentation is OK, but example below has parameters transposed in first call within loop()? Also Serial.begin(31250) probably misleading and probably should be removed?

I think I am on the way to solving my hassle. Is Volume/Velocity a 7-bit qty?
I was calling noteOn with 150. Changed to 127 as per the example and I got one of my base routines to sound. God knows how much time I put into this.

All the best for Christmas and New Year. May your flux never wane.

Peter

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
#include <Fluxamasynth.h>
#include <PgmChange.h>

/* FluxamasynthPlayAllVoices
* Plays all voices with a random algorithmic tune
* on the Modern Device Fluxamasynth Shield
* ModernDevice.com
*/
Fluxamasynth synth = Fluxamasynth();

int counter = 0;
int channel = 0;
int voice = 0;
int j = 0;

void setup() {
Serial.begin(31250);
synth.programChange(0, 9, 40);
synth.programChange(0, 1, 0);
}

void loop()
{

while(counter < 128)
{
if(voice >128)
{
voice = 0;
}

synth.programChange(channel, 0, voice);

for(int i=0; i<10; i++)
{

int note = int(random(36,100));

synth.noteOn(channel, note, 127);

int coinflip = int(random(0,20));

if(coinflip == 5)
{
while(j < 200)
{
synth.pitchBend(channel, j);
j+= 16;
delay(10);
}
j = 0;
}

delay(100);
synth.noteOff(channel, note);
}

voice++;

}
channel++;
counter++;
}

Peter,

All the params are 7 bit values (127 max). The bank param only responds to 0 and 127.

Happy fluxing,

Paul

Hi Paul

Thanks for helping with my problem with the volume specification.

I should be OK from here…

All the best from Canberra Australia for Christmas and the New Year.

Peter

That seems to be a telescope driver? You want to make sounds for telescope interface?
You'll need to be able send MIDI info which just involves serial information at the correct baud rate. The rest is picking the characters.