Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Stand alone prototype finished

The first fully functional MPG-200 prototype was finished and shipped yesterday. It features automatic switching between midi and pg-200 mode (with a small modification to the JX-3P), and tries to minimise the fact that switching cannot be done very quickly. In particular, it stores any note off messages received while in pg-200 mode and sends them as soon as it reverts back to midi mode.

The following features have been implemented:
  • all switches and pots from the PG-200 except for write and manual
  • midi passthrough - lets all midi messages not destined for the mpg-200 through
  • note off protection to prevent hanging notes
  • automatic switching between midi and pg-200 mode to allow full control of the JX-3p from a DAW or similar
  • three modes - pg-200 only (blocks midi but keeps delay to a minimum), safe mix (mixes midi and pg-200, but ensures that no message is interpreted as the wrong type by the jx-3p by introducing a "safe time" between modes), mix (switches instantly).
  • queueing of messages in case they arrive faster than the mpg200 can handle them.
  • default CC-to-pg200 mapping

Still to be implemented are
  • Config of CC-mapping and other parameters via sysex, stored to flash memory
  • Configurable midi channel
  • Autosensing of when the jx-3p has noticed a mode change
  • Configurable ranges for the potmeters
The mpg-400 prototype. The "production model" will be using an 8 leg microcontroller with a built in crystal, and will be using at least 7 parts fewer than the prototype.