SamIAm

Some important changes have come up. Button detection Currently Tramps runs one thread per physical button; this periodically reads the physical button state (checking and debouncing the I/O pin it is connected to) and then takes the appropriate action. I've been pondering how best to detect pressing of adjacent buttons which I intend to use to switch up. and down configuration banks for instance, but I could not think of a elegant way of expressing this in the design. Then I had a lightbuld moment. I'm going to add a layer of logic just above the physical button I/O that checks (with debounce) ALL the physical button inputs. Once these inputs have stabilised it will update the state of a virtual button and this is what the existing button code will process. So at present, with 4 physical buttons (pB), the code will map to vitural buttons (vB) as follows: pB1 -> vB1 pB2 -> vB2 pB3 -> vB3 pB4 -> vB4 pB1+pB2 -> vB5 pB2+pB3 -> vB6 pB3+pB4 -> vB7 Taking this approach requires but a small change to the code base, but then allows me to treat a virtual button press in the same way as I currently treat a physical button press ... suddenly the functionality of handling adjacent button presses is already there! Storage of settings I had been intending to use an EEPROM chip to add memory for storing configuration of which buttons do what (And I have one in my box of bits) but I've realised it is not a lot better in terms of speeds or number of supported updates than the built in memory the Pico uses to store the firmware. The Pico flash memory is rated at 100,000 write/erase cycles (which would be about 10 updates a day for over 25 years!) totally good enough I think. I've found some example code that allows one to use the tail end of the Pico memory for data storage without erasing the formware program so I'm going to have a go at getting this running. The end result, will be about the same code complexity but lower hardware complexity and cost (Tho only about £5 lower lol). Both of these things are on the back burner these past couple of weeks as I've been focussing on crafting an application for a clinical research nurse role that would be spot on for me ... real world has to take priority at times S'manth x

I think it is the Softstep 2 usb midi pedalboard that claims to be able to survive a 2 story drop onto concrete and being run over by a car. S'manth x

Not sure yet, but I can add extra internal supports. My previous Trampa enclosure was sturdy enough to cope with stomping (tho perhaps not a car!) S'manth x

Progress on the h/w side. The rendered 3D model of the Trampa enclosure looks like this Patty managed to print it and I'm nearly there with the assembly. Searching around for the 4th OLED display (which is in hiding!). The unsightly wires are there to allow me to use it with the development system to get the code running as desired, when this is complete the wires will be contained in the enclosure. On the right hand side are a USB-C connector (for midi and power) and the jack for an expression pedal. Now ... to get back to the s/w coding side! S'manth x

Just one. S'manth x

Rob ... you are a saint! Helping me get Patty (My 3D printer) up and running again, offering insightful suggestions regarding Trampa (My midi pedal build) ... you're a wonderful member of BC! S'manth x

Brilliant idea! S'manth x

I've done some digging and wonder if any of these might be suitable, they all seem to be able to be powered from 12v and have a suitable frequency range. Cebek 20W Mono "Roadpower" Amplifier https://esr.co.uk/cebek/e-11.htm Cebek 2-Channel 20W Amplifier https://esr.co.uk/cebek/e-14.htm Cebek 30W Mono "Roadpower" Amplifier https://esr.co.uk/cebek/e-12.htm S'manth x

There is a tweak/setting in DAWs that can be used to vary timing a bit to sound more natural, I've seen it called "humanize". S'manth x

T&G is an option, peg and hole another. Tho I might just bolt them together using M3 bolts. 3D modelling only ever fell into place when I started playing with 3D printing. I've found it requires loads of patience, viewing existing designs to learn approaches, loads of youtubing a good ruler and calipers and many, many iterations. It is a magical experience to model something up and then see it appear on the printer! I started with FreeCad, whcih was OK but a bit buggy when I got to complex designs but then fell in love with Fusion 360 ... praise be to Autodesk for providing a free (For non-commercial use) licence! S'manth x

Well, much to my delight Patty is up and running! I am now in the process of modelling all the bits and bobs that will go into the enclosure so I can make holes of the right sizes in the right places as well as maximising its ability to stand up to being stomped upon! I am toying with the idea of having one "module" (which will be on the right of Trampa) which houses a footswitch, OLED panel, expression socket, Pico (The brains) and the USB midi/power socket ... and then a second "module" that would house a footswitch and OLED panel. The idea would be that one could add as many second modules as desired to result in as many footswitches as desired. Having smaller individual modules would improve physical strength of each ... I just need to figure out a simple and robust way of connecting them together (I suspect superglue will form part of this!). But so far ... S'manth x

I do indeed, a BOSS DUAL CUBE BASS LX. It is a twin 5 inch with 2x5watt output. I do run it with the super flat mode selected, but am still not sure how close this comes to FRFR. Something that was really FRFR with a bit more umph (30w into 1x10 perhaps) woulld be nice. I might look at building one of the BC cabs but not sure how I would amp it up ... but for me I fear "Here there be monsters" lol

OK, so FRFR. I've a pedalboard based on a MOD Dwarf, which has numerous amp/speaker sims/IRs. My understanding (Which is very limited!) is that in general cabs/amp will add a colour/tone to signals. Am I correct in thinking that an FRFR cab/speaker might be best suited, giving a flat response and letting me tweak the sound from the f/x device? Does anyone know of battery powered device in this space? S'manth x

Wlecome to BC @MikeTheMisfit A great family of bass players! S'manth x

I find myself unable to resist naming my babies. Five string fretless uke bass is ʻelima (Hawaiian for five). Ibanez GSRM25 is Ibby. Harley Benton 5 string fretless is Quinn S'manth x

Totally fair points. But to see if a smaller fret spacing helped my fretting hand (and it did) I found it a useful, easy and cheap approach. S'manth x

Trampa codebase now reliably will react to button presses and raise events in the multi-threaded mode. I'm now trying to figure out the best way to setup the mapping of button/expression actions to MIDI messages. From an enclosure perspective, I've made some progress ... using a 3D printer at my makerspace I've printed parts to get Patty (My Prusa 3D printer that melted in the fire) up and running again. Resulta over the past couple of days have been very promising ... Patty fires up and I have been able to move all the axes, which shows the electronics/motors are still operational. The biggest step is getting the extruder (The equivalent of a print head) working and today I've been successful in stripping down the melted bits. Next activity is to rebuild it with the new parts S'manth x (And HUGE thanks to @rwillett who is kindly printing some parts for me to help!)

I look forward to you sharing how you use your Dwarf! S'manth x

The plugins can be seen here, but sadly not the beta ones ... and there are more than a few that are excellent! I'm diggin into how to see these without a MOD device. S'manth x

Anyone else remember Zorland C (I first cut my teeth on C with this) ... later Zortech C? S'manth x

Many years ago I built a system (TUI! … yes this was DOS based) using turbo pascal to “wrap” a huge library of various Fortran functionality in the materials behaviour space to make it more accessible to clients. Never took the opportunity to learn Fortran tho (all I/O was text file based)

A large amount of the codebase for the MOD ecosystem is open source, there are several other projects that use it on other hardware to provide a very similar capability for those who like to tinker, I have no doubt this would be very well supported in the community as it has been for some time now. Part of the MOD system is closed source, this is the low level firmware for the Dwarf (and their other products). If MOD Audio were to go under it is unclear what would happen to this, I presume it's intellectual property value would form a part of any financial stuff that would need to be sorted. Were it to never be released I'd be quite surprised if a group of folks did not produce an alternative that was OSS (And I'd most certainly join this effort) S'manth x

An approach that worked for me in determining if a shorter scale helped was to pop a capo on at the third fret and retuning. Depending on your string gauge you may find things feel a touch floppy, but it should allow you to see if the shorter fret spacing helps your fretting hand or not. S'manth x

So some progress with the codebase to add a task to act as an eventManager. This will be sent Button/Expression and MIDI events (via a thread safe queue) and then decide what needs doing, such as sending a MIDI message, updating a display (eventually), changing the button configuration bank etc. Off work today and I'm taking the opportunity to do some design for the enclosure for the Trampa. I was finally inducted on my makerspace 3D printers and I am using them to: Print replacement parts for my own 3D printer which melted in the fire. Hopefully when I get these done (Many more hours of printing sadly) I will be able to get Patty the Printer running again ... the drive to the makerspace, trying to find a place to park in Brighton and the drive home all consume time that I could actually be printing! lol Produce some Trampa test prints to hone the enclosure design. A fun day with a working 3D printer (two in this case) and other bits of techie joy. S'manth x

Nice one! How are you using it in your pedalboard? Worth checking out the MOD forum (If you haven't already) S'manth x