#51

It’s an interesting topic to me as I’m slowly learning Max and have a few ideas i’d like to try combining it with my small eurorack, but I can’t afford an ES-8 right now and I’m also a bit reluctant to the aggregate audio device thing, I used it before for other projects with various success.

A few days ago a friend just told me about this arduino CV/Gate I/O shield called Synapse and he sent me a PCB to build one.

It features 2 CVs in (0-5v) 2 CVs out (-5/+5v or 0-10v) and 2 gates in & out.
I’m gonna build one and try to use it as an interface for Max , i’ll report back if it’s working :slight_smile:

8 Likes
#52

This looks great. my only point is that with a Eurorack power, you would need to power this from your rack, as opposed to it being standalone?

I’d rather this was a little self contained box that could be used with various gear…

1 Like
#53

Yes that is the main downside, if it works for what I have in mind i’ll put it in a standalone box (or mini-skiff with a few modules) with a DC-DC converter to power it from 5V.
I still have to order a few missing ICs & headers then I’ll be ready to build it.

#55

Bump from the dead!

Did you get this working w/ Max?

#56

I also clicked this the other day: CTRL. Don’t know more than is on the webpage, but looks promising for gates / CV output…

2 Likes
#57

Max + modular is extremely interesting. I’ve been starting to experiment with Max, but only as a controller/composing tool. My initial attempts were using the Endorphin Shuttle Control. Very flexible, but I struggled to eliminate latency problems. Since then I have switched to using the Polyend Poly as the primary Max/DAW to modular interface.

The module is physically large, but simpler to use. The Poly was immediately recognized by Max. Here’s a quick sketch using a simple probability patch/sequencer from Max to multiple voices in the modular.

1 Like
#58

This video is incredibly cool. I really wish I could watch the whole thing. Anyone have any ideas where or how one could?

So many cool topics here. The idea of setting up a live performance instrument that strikes the balance between improvisation and “playing the hits”, building a hybrid modular // computer setup and that amazing karplus-strong physical modeling feedback patch. all these things have been the center of my focus for the last few months so clearly I was thrilled when I came across this video.

is that max he’s using? what is that spring he’s using to excite the karplus-strong engine? at first i thought it may be meng qi’s lines module but at second glance it looks like its a single spring as opposed to 4. anyway, figured i’d share.

7 Likes
#59

The humans following each other’s errors thing is great. And that sequencer with the pattern rotating/variations is brilliant. Yeah, I’d love to see the whole thing.

2 Likes
#60

Yes he has built his own devices. Spoke to him a couple of times last summer. He’s got some complex stuff going on. Hope he eventually shares some of his max patches.

1 Like
#61

I took a note of that to play around with it in maxmsp :slight_smile:

#62

yet another reason I want to get back into learning max one of these days: idea = reality (wherein equals means work and experimentation)

3 Likes
#63

If I’m only looking to get CV from my computer (via max) is es-3 the more cost efficient way to go?

#64

If the interface you already own is DC-coupled, that could be a cheaper option

#65

I don’t think it is, I only have a Scarlett interface

#66

If you have an audio interface with an adat output then the ES3 is a great way to do that and they can be found fairly cheaply these days, especially if you look for one of the slightly earlier versions.

True, although a DC coupled interface may be more limited in terms of the voltage range it can output compared to the ES3.

2 Likes
#67

so gosh darn much of this part yes. worth it in the end though.

5 Likes
#68

Maybe some of the fine people here can help me out.

What are the pros/cons (differences?) of a DC-coupled interface vs a MIDI-to-CV interface for getting CV out of Max?

I’m pretty confident in the following, but correct me if I’m wrong:

  • MIDI-to-CV is -5/+5 pp; DC coupled can be up to -10/+10pp
  • MIDI-to-CV would likely require some slewing to avoid “steppiness” (the Polyend Poly has some built in slewing)

Am I missing anything else? Obviously, something like the ES-8 is great because it also works well with audio, but it’s also considerably more $$$ than some MIDI interfaces that could solve my needs.

#69

There’s no reason why midi -> cv conversion would limit you to -5/+5v. That is a design decision on the conversion module you use. There’s of course somewhat limited resolution depending on what you do (e.g. 127 steps for normal midi-cc), but there’s nothing stopping a module from mapping that to -10v/10v

Slewing may be required, but it depends a lot on what you’re slewing. You can use things like pitch bend to send messages with a relatively high resolution via midi, so again it depends on your midi interface, especially on how configurable it is regarding what outputs respond to which midi message.

I think it’s a bit easier to use a DC-coupled audio interface since you don’t have to think about the conversion/mapping from signal -> midi -> signal (with ES-8, you just send your max signals straight out and it works just fine), but other than that, it’s not a big difference for the “CV out of Max” use case.

#70

Good to know, and I’ll thank Reddit for that misinformation about pp voltage limitations :slight_smile:

Thanks!

#71

I have both - a Doepfer midi-cv interface and a Motu DC coupled interface.

The main challenge with the midi interface was midi clock; I couldn’t get this to work consistently at all, even adjusting for monitoring latency etc in my use case. And you might have want to clock something in your case (like a sequencer). You could always make your own clock using midi notes, of course, but then you lose a gate channel for your interface (and I only had one),