The Quilcom TERRORMIN: Music with your mouse!

[trogluddite]

I'm sorry to hear about your problem

Thankyou - but really, no "violins" necessary. My autistic traits are all things that I was born with, by definition. After four-decades-plus of not knowing what the hell was going on, it's been a breath of fresh air to finally understand why I'm the way that I am. And while there's not a lot of formal support available for autistic adults, finding a new "family" among autism support groups has done my self-esteem and mental health the world of good.

And being among my adopted "family" on the SM/FS forums has always been great "therapy" for me, too. The written form makes communication much easier for me than face-to-face, and my geeky interests have always been a huge comfort to me when life starts to get a bit too bewildering. Thanks everyone - you all have a far more positive impact on my life than you could ever imagine!

[RJHollins]

and YOU on US.

Thanks TROG !

[Spogg]

@kortezzzz
Your MIDI idea may well work, so I hope you can get there.

I can still “feel” an issue brewing with the speed and accuracy of using green prims to create the MIDI, at what could be very high rates of note on/off. Each time you trigger a note ON it must soon be followed by the note OFF, otherwise you’d quickly run out of voices in the connected synth. I’m sure you know that of course.
I was worried that even using the mouse signals and their processing, which is in the green world, would make the Terrormin idea unworkable, but I seem to have got away with it.
So, I think a Ruby solution would be the only possibility for creating the MIDI data.

@trog
Thank you so much for your nice comments. Very much appreciated.

Off topic now: We have a friend, who is retired, and has only now had confirmation that he is “on the spectrum” as they say. He and his family seem to be so relieved. It appeared to me that just being able to give a name to something can be a great help.
I often recall going to my Doctor many years ago, having worked out that I might be suffering from depression. When he agreed and also said “We should take this seriously” I was SO relieved. Just having that agreement was an important part of my recovery (I’m fine now BTW).

I have the impression that we Flowstoners are an odd bunch generally. I’ve had the honour of being taken into the confidence of several friends here (no names!) and it seems to me that the common thread is creativity. It’s great to be creative but it often comes with quite a price tag.

Take care one and all!

Spogg

[kortezzzz]

I think that creativity is a byproduct of some not very sympathetic experiences. Endless satisfaction doesn't motivate creation. Only some kind of shortages, physical or emotional. All in all, I'm glad to be at side of the creators It's much more interesting.

Spog, you are definitely right. There is no way to get over the "note off\note on" barrier without Ruby
Tried today a kinda flip-flop method that uses 2 green midi event modules. One of them is on while the other is off and vice versa, and they switch rolls every time a midi note changed; I think I saw a smoke coming out of those selectors They didn't last the fast on\off switches. However, the solution is with Ruby. And if we want the guys to help, we should open a general topic and describe there what we EXACTLY need. I would describe that like that:

A Ruby module with 4 inputs and one midi output:
inputs:
1) trigger - a trigger sent to this input every time a note is changed. when triggered, the last note gets "note off" message while the new one gets "note on".
2) pitch int - receives the notes value
3) velocity int - recieives the velocity value (amplitude converted to velocity)
4) boolian - receives the "hover" value and fires up the midi array or shuts it down.

What do you think?

[Spogg]

This sounds like a plan.
My guess is that our good friend trog will read this and he might be able to help.

What you seem to be describing is the guts of a Ruby MIDI keyboard but with inputs, instead of an on-screen keyboard and its associated mouse interactions. I have such a keyboard (by who knows?) and it’s great, so some of the works may be done already. But as I said, it’s off the scale for me.
I’ve attached a schematic with the keyboard. I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was made by trog!

The thing that I go back to though is the lack of a slide and glide facility, but if it’s acceptable to use discreet note events I guess the follow-on synth could use Portamento for a similar effect. Then you could make use of my scale quantisation system at least, and stay in tune. I do hope someone can make this Ruby monster and I’d really like to see, hear and play with it. Such a thing could be incorporated into other synths too, as an option, like you might have a sequencer or arpeggiator.

Personally I think it’s ok to keep the request here since it relates directly to the Terrormin, but if you think otherwise that’s fine. Maybe just link to this topic.

Here’s hoping!

Spogg

[kortezzzz]

This keyboard has been made by Nubeat7 few years a go. Great keyboard. Well, yes, the functionality is almost similar, just lack the simple "hover" mode that you've created there (which is most important for the situation we are discussing about).

I agree with you. Let's keep it here.

Glide and other functions would be depended then on the synth that the user will choose to play with. The controller it self will do it's simple job: controlling other synths with basic midi, unless it added to a different schematic

[Spogg]

The more we talk about this the more enthusiastic I become!

Another thought: In Hover mode you could send an ‘all notes off’ message when the mouse leaves the Play Area. That would kill any stuck notes that might occur.

I wish I was more skilled at Ruby

Cheers

Spogg

[trogluddite]

A Ruby module with 4 inputs and one midi output:

Here's a quick prototype of that. I've tested the basic functionality with a MIDI analyser, but it hasn't been checked for accuracy of timing etc.

MIDI_Note_Transition.fsm

(9.97 KiB) Downloaded 1382 times

It's always going to be a tricky problem to solve, of course. By its very nature, MIDI assumes discrete notes played from a bank of switches; hence, as with Terrormin, most theremin emulations rely on an internal synth engine. No doubt Bob Moog found the MIDI spec rather disappointing - famously, the Mini-Moog almost never happened, because he was so against the idea of synths being restricted by tying them to a keyboard. More expressive control methods were his life-long passion. Still, I think it will interesting to see what variations folks here can come up with!

Off Topic:

I think that creativity is a byproduct of some not very sympathetic experiences

"Adversity is the mother of invention", as the old saying goes! The number of autistic people that I meet who use music, art, photography, poetry, etc. as a release from the pressures of the world is really quite astonishing sometimes - as is the power of their creations.

Just having that agreement was an important part of my recovery

I couldn't agree more! Likewise being able to speak up without fear of stigma.

[kortezzzz]

Holly heavens, trog

Wow, you make it look so easy to the extent that it's just not fair
No, really, this is fantastic! and it works exactly as Imagined that.

I think that we should lock you every day in a room for 2 hours until you'll develop the VSTi that would break the market a part

Million thanks for that, pal. Wish we all could establish a little firm called "Flowstone gang" and release together those blazing gadgets that come up here from time to time. seriously.

[kortezzzz]

Just a one more comment, trog: the "keyboard" should work on "mouse hover" mode, without the additional need to click the "Ldown". Is it possible?

No doubt Bob Moog found the MIDI spec rather disappointing - famously, the Mini-Moog almost never happened, because he was so against the idea of synths being restricted by tying them to a keyboard

Yep. Wish midi protocol was based on float values instead of initial, so we could tune it to quarter tones (or any other fracture) straight from the protocol. glide was also an integral part of the protocol's abilities and pitchband could be seeded in some interesting way into the note keys.