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PROJECT: OpenStomp(TM) Coyote-1 (Guitar Effects Pedal) - Page 2 — Parallax Forums

PROJECT: OpenStomp(TM) Coyote-1 (Guitar Effects Pedal)

24

Comments

  • stevenmess2004stevenmess2004 Posts: 1,102
    edited 2008-03-13 06:49
    computer guy, there are some cheaper cad programs around. Check out iron works (still fairly expensive) and alibre designer(probably doesn't do as much as others but still good for basic stuff). You should this for less than $2000AUD compared to $10000AUD for solid works. Also check out what the people that make pro engineer offer. At one stage they were offering a free version of some of their software although I don't think its available anymore.

    Sorry, this is OT but its useful to know.
  • Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL) Posts: 1,720
    edited 2008-03-13 15:25
    You can use Google SketchUp for 3D modeling for free:

    From the program help section:
    "SketchUp is powerful yet easy-to-learn 3D software. We think of it as the pencil of digital design. This award-winning software combines a simple, yet robust tool-set that streamlines and simplifies 3D design inside your computer. SketchUp is being used by anyone with the desire to Dream, Design and Communicate in 3D!"

    www.sketchup.com/

    Our prop friend fletcher recommended it to me. I haven't had time to do much with it yet but it looks promising. yeah.gif

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    Aka: CosmicBob
  • yerpa58yerpa58 Posts: 25
    edited 2008-03-13 15:43
    Beauty! Purple?
  • computer guycomputer guy Posts: 1,113
    edited 2008-03-14 06:51
    I have used some of the cheaper programs before and they were not that great.
    I find that sketch up doesn't do what I want it to.

    Thank you anyway smile.gif

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  • computer guycomputer guy Posts: 1,113
    edited 2008-03-21 01:42
    It's been a week since the last update.
    Just wondering if there has been any progress. smile.gif

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  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-03-21 16:54
    One of the things I've been dying to do with this pedal is create a "KT Tunstall" type delay, which would allow you to layer parts atop one another. It wasn't practical to control until I got the board into a case, so I'd been putting it off. The way it works now is this:



    1) When the patch boots the left led is blinking, which means you are in "idle" mode.
    2) You stomp the left button, hold it down, and play. The light goes off. As you play you are recording a delay loop
    3) You release the left button. The light goes solid. Releasing ends the loop and the loop begins to playback repeatedly.
    4) Anything you play still passes through the pedal, but doesn't get added to the loop, so you can play along with what you recorded.
    5) You hold down the right button. The right light goes on for as long as the button is held, and anything you play gets ADDED to the loop, so you can layer parts.
    6) If you hold the left button the left light goes off, and the loop playback is SILENCED but NOT PAUSED, so you can do silent "breaks" in the song. Your live playing still passes through, so you can play over the silence.
    7) To reset the loop you press both buttons, and it goes back into "idle" waiting to acquire the next loop.


    Now, one of the cool things about the Holwer is that the middle jack can be used either as in input or as an output. For this effect I configured it as an input and mixed the two input channels together, which allows you to plug a guitar into one input and a microphone into the other. That way you can layer acoustic elements (drums, singing, percussion, etc.) over top the guitar

    Enough of all that; here's a demo. This was recorded live by first layering a bunch of parts into the loop and then soloing over it. I added some reverb in the recording software since I haven't written a Howler reverb yet; the rest is the pedal. In the loop there's a drum, cabasa, tambourine, and a couple guitar parts ·All the guitar parts were played on the same instrument (a Carvin acoustic). The breaks are performed live by stomping the left button to add a loop break and soloing over it.


    Hoping to finish the bulk of the PC side software this weekend. The first chassis order is still being bent up; they will go to the painters together when done. I am hand painting my personal unit just for fun; it needs another coat and then I'll transfer the electronics into it. Should have a picture later this weekend.



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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 6/30/2008 12:34:45 AM GMT
  • StarManStarMan Posts: 306
    edited 2008-03-21 17:28
    Have you considered powder coating instead of painting?· It's a much much more durable finish for something that gets stomped on.
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-03-21 18:29
    I've considered it but I don't know what they'll be able to do for me for color in a powder coat; my metal guy didn't think I'd be able to powder coat in a color. I'm used to powder coating units in black but I haven't ever done colors before myself. I haven't finalized the actual paint material yet; that will happen within the next few days so that I can hand those guys the first units as soon as they are bent up.

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 6/30/2008 12:35:01 AM GMT
  • kelvin jameskelvin james Posts: 531
    edited 2008-03-21 19:11
    We use powder-coat at my work, many colours available. The metallic finish looks really good. Check out this link for colour examples.


    www.nicindustries.com/prismatic_powders.php?gclid=CL74z-7ynpICFRsSQQodXHjn6w
  • Damien AllenDamien Allen Posts: 103
    edited 2008-03-21 19:25
    The workbench software looks really cool, is that developed in Visual C#? Is that application going to be open source as well?
    I would like to develop a similar GUI myself for a project I have in mind, is the drag and drop workspace a custom control developed by you or bought in?

    Sorry for all the questions, Its a great product by the way and it would be a good idea to send a unit off to some guitar mags.

    Damo
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-03-21 21:02
    Thanks Kelvin, I'll check it out.

    Damien, yes the workbench app is written in C#. The drag and drop area is just a standard picture box and all the drawing/dragging/zooming is done in code. I'm not sure if I'll open source the windows app or not. On the one hand there's nothing to hide really, but on the other hand the mechanism for effect loading / saving / configuration needs to stay consistent in order for the community to effectively share modules and patches, so there's not much point in opening up customizetion there. I might release it open source just so that the curious can poke about for fun.

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 6/30/2008 12:35:11 AM GMT
  • computer guycomputer guy Posts: 1,113
    edited 2008-03-23 08:03
    Thanks epmoyer.

    I like the loop idea and the demo certainly sounds fantastic. smile.gif

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Check out my robot using the propeller RECONAUTOR
    If you like my avatar then check this out Propeller Domed Stickers for sale
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-03-23 21:45
    Milestone: Excuse me, while I kiss the sky...

    metal_chassis_purple.jpg


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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 6/30/2008 12:35:23 AM GMT
  • Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL) Posts: 1,720
    edited 2008-03-23 22:50
    Wow!! looks great!!!!!!!!!!! That's quite an accomplishment. yeah.gif

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    Aka: CosmicBob
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2008-03-23 23:04
    Very nice. You mean it's not "Excuse me while I kiss this guy" ? [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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    jazzed·... about·living in·http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley

    Traffic is slow at times, but Parallax orders·always get here fast 8)
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-05 01:53
    A CALL FOR NEW PRODUCT NAMES! (and quickly!)

    As some of you know, Maven Peal announced a guitar pedal called "The Howler" early this year. As much as I hate to give up the name (it's been in my head for five years, on paper since last June, and is now peppered through a ton of documents and code) its going to be much easier to do now than after units are shipping. Rather than deal with the potential trademark overlap in the future, I am going to grit my teeth and rename the pedal now.

    The first round of chassis are in hand, I have the paint in hand, and I have a painter lined up. I need to submit artwork to the stencil guys, so before I can do that I need to rename the device and update the logo accordingly.

    If any on you have some cool ideas; fire away. I'm all ears.

    I'd love to be able to keep the wolf artwork, but it's not absolutely essential. Ideally the new name would be something less generic than "Howler" so that I don't land in this same boat again (i.e. bumping into someone else's trademark). A less generic name would also make Google searches easier.

    In other news, there's been lots of progress:

    The windows app is talking to the pedal (though not all functions are complete)
    As I said earlier, the first round of chassis are in.
    I have a PCB assembler / device assembler lined up.
    I have the production paint in hand; it's a super cool automotive purple with metallic flakes. The paint and clear coat are both automotive paints, so this thing is going to look like a shiny purple sports car. It's just awesome!
    (The paint in the picture a few posts back was just a purple spray paint I grabbed from Home Depot to demo the color for myself)
    I resolved a lingering problem in the combo serial/LCD driver which was dropping characters when receiving data on the pedal side. It's all done in the same cog to save cogs for effects, so the timing was tricky

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 6/30/2008 12:35:36 AM GMT
  • Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL) Posts: 1,720
    edited 2008-04-05 02:21
    epmoyer said...
    A CALL FOR NEW PRODUCT NAMES!

    Too bad that happened but as you say it's better to change it now than run into problems with the name later . How about another wolf name

    here's a list of other wolf names:
    www.20000-names.com/wolf_names.htm

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    Aka: CosmicBob
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-05 02:25
    Bob,

    That's a cool list; thanks for the link! I'll mull them over.

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 6/30/2008 12:35:51 AM GMT
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-05 02:30
    Bob,

    GoDaddy says that SHOEMOWETOCHAWCAWEWAHCATOWE.com is available! Hmm, so tempting. Just rolls of the tongue.

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 6/30/2008 12:36:01 AM GMT
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2008-04-05 03:49
    Well, it's open source and it howls ? OpenCoyote.com is available.

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    jazzed·... about·living in·http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley

    Traffic is slow at times, but Parallax orders·always get here fast 8)
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-05 08:24
    I have chosen a new name! Right now I'm doing some work to secure it; I'm not sure when it will be ready to announce. I'm actually quite thrilled with the new logo and with the new name's google-friendliness. Thank you Bob and 'jazzed' for throwing out ideas.

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 6/30/2008 12:36:14 AM GMT
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-06 01:04
    MILESTONE: A dramatic rebirth.....

    Fortune dealt me an unfortunate blow in the accidental trademark collision between my "Howler" guitar pedal and Maven Peal's "The Howler" guitar pedal. I have responded by renaming my company and my device. (Please queue the appropriate background music now: www.sonyclassical.com/sounds/47668_01.wav Is it playing? good, let's begin...)

    Howler Audio Research has become..... Open StompTM
    The Howler has become....... Coyote-1
    www.HowlerAudio.com has become...... www.OpenStomp.com

    Greet the new day:
    open_stomp_c1_medium.jpg

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 4/6/2008 1:12:17 AM GMT
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-06 01:27
    Here's a shot of the first chassis set. They should be through painting/stenciling by the end of the week

    pre_production_chassis.jpg

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2008-04-06 01:28
    Cool graphics, and the background music is a nice touch, too! How did you find out about the trademark conflict? Your own research or a lawyer letter?

    -Phil
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-06 01:49
    Phil,

    Thanks!

    I originally came across the name conflict doing Google searches for "Howler" just to find out my page ranking. Maven Peal's Howler didn't start showing up on the web until early this year, so I was well along by the time it popped up in any searches. Trademark in the US goes to first to use, not first to file, so even though Peal hasn't registered there trademark they could have tried to claim it based on entering the market earlier even though I have log books containing the name back to June of 07.

    Anyway, both of us appear to be small time manufacturers but I figured it was better to change it now than regret it later should either one of us go into large volumes and have some investor on either side start cracking down on trademark rights.

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2008-04-06 02:51
    OpenStomp [noparse]:)[/noparse] ... Got any tunes with your effects?

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    jazzed·... about·living in·http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley

    Traffic is slow at times, but Parallax orders·always get here fast 8)
  • Mike HuseltonMike Huselton Posts: 746
    edited 2008-04-06 03:53
    A nicely done sidestep the copyright issue.

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    JMH
  • stevenmess2004stevenmess2004 Posts: 1,102
    edited 2008-04-06 11:34
    Since it has plenty of ram and some nice ADCs will you make a cro mode smile.gif? Its even got the knobs for all the settings. How much work would it be to put in a higher frequency, lower resolution ADC for a cro or don't you want to go there?

    Looking good
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-06 17:48
    jazzed said...
    Got any tunes with your effects?
    There are two different demos posted in this thread if you search back.· I'm more in "design" mode right now than "marketing" mode.· Once production is cranking I'll create some nice polished demos and post them to the web site.
    Quantum said...
    A nicely done sidestep the copyright issue.
    Thanks.· When I first came across the conflict I wasn't ready to stomach the name change yet.· This thing has been a glimmer in my eye for a long time.· In the early days the name was like a magical invocation I would chant to myself to bring the device into existence.· It carried the "reality" when there wasn't anything to touch yet.· Once I had a purple box on my desk that could impose its own reality, I felt free to let go of the old name and find it a new one.· I'm very pleased with the way things turned out in the end, even though the transition was a big pain.
    stevenmess2004 said...
    How much work would it be to put in a higher frequency, lower resolution ADC for a cro or don't you want to go there?
    I have written a very cheap and dirty "oscilloscope-ish" program for the Coyote-1 which lets me monitor input/output signals on screen.· I used it for doing a lot of the original debug work on the ADC and for debugging some early effects.

    I have a laundry list of reasons I wouldn't re-engineer the design into a proper oscilloscope:
    1)··· A huge number of things would need to change.· Its just about a complete re-design.· If you want to do it right, you don't want the same connectors I'm using or the same case, or almost anything that I've got.
    2)··· My inputs are capacitively coupled.· You'd want to design a different analog front end to be able to handle multiple voltage ranges and to be able to measure DC components.· Lots of work to do it right.
    3)··· I don't personally feel like it's a problem worth solving, so it wouldn't be enough to get me out of bed to work on it.· One could certainly do it, but personally I just wouldn't bother.
    4)··· The ADC's I use output their data serially.· The prop has to run full guns to keep up with 2 input channels and 2 output channels.· You'd have to design a bunch of dedicated DMA hardware and go to a parallel ADC to get a high sample rate scope.

    Now, having said all that, would I write polish the software I've got into a more oscilloscope-ish user interface that runs on the existing Coyote-1 platform and lets you capture audio waveforms at up to 44kHz?· Yeah, sure!· Why?· Mostly because I just think its fun [noparse]:)[/noparse].·· Having an audio oscilloscope around is kind of a cool tool, and if you're going to be writing audio effects its useful to be able to see and understand what your waves really look like.

    My intent is that a later version of the Open Stomp (TM) Workbench will include the ability to place a "virtual" scope probe at any point in the internal effects chain so that you can get a look at what's happening there (the data would display in a sub-window of the Workbench app; rather than on an externally attached screen).· I've got it working today for internal debug only, but there won't be a way for users to access that capability in the first release; it needs better GUI integration to make it a viable general purpose tool.

    Here's an old·shot of a very early version of the NTSC based debug tool:

    scope_wave.jpg

    Now, what's really fun is that I have a version of pong running on the device.· I figured since I had the knobs and I hand the scree, why not?· [noparse]:)[/noparse]


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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com

    Post Edited (epmoyer) : 4/6/2008 5:54:09 PM GMT
  • epmoyerepmoyer Posts: 314
    edited 2008-04-10 21:30
    MILESTONE: Chassis at painters

    graphics_transfers.jpg

    The logo transfers came in (they look great!) and the chassis are at the painters. If all goes well they'll be finished Monday the 14th just in time for....

    H3_ESC08.jpg

    Road trip! I'm heading up to the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose next week. Parallax has very graciously invited me to hang out in their booth, display the Coyote-1, and help show the world how awesome the Propeller is. I'll be there opening day (the 15th) for sure, and as long as work doesn't drag me away I'll stick around for all 3 days. If you're going to be at the show please stop in; I'd love to say hi.

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    The World's First Open Source Guitar Pedal:··http://www.OpenStomp.com
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