Telex: Teletype expanders

[a773]

Thanks for getting back to me!

I’m really saddened to hear that. Please if you find a pair of ins/outs in a drawer, let me know, no matter their state.

I really, really have to expand my TT…

[xenus_dad]

They come up for sale with some frequency.

[a773]

Where? Here? I’m new…

[xenus_dad]

Will DM you with at least 20 characters.

[BKCP]

Im having a difficult time trying to get accurate cv tracking using Kria cv out of ansible into telexi to control the pitch of telexo as an oscillator. I have tried remapping the telexi input to 0 - 16384 to get 0 -10v volts instead of -10v -10v. This helps the telexo have audible values but trying to get accurate tracking as i play with the notes/octaves of kria is puzzling me. I have also tried to calibrate the telexi input, setting 0v to the lowest note available on kria, and 10v to the highest. Im new to all this, so i feel this is surely some novice error Im making.
Im setting telexo to telexi values in my metro script using:
TO.OSC A TI.IN A

Has anyone been successful at sequencing Telexo via Ansible? If so, would you care to share your process?

[bpcmusic]

How fast is your metro script? The values are sampled at that rate - which is not necessarily at the rate that your notes change. Even at its fastest experimental metro rates ( M! - which may overload i2c - RTM for more info), there will still be some delta (though you may not ultimately hear it). You can smooth it out with a little slew if your musical scenario calls for it.

I’d leave the voltages unmapped - it gets trickier when you start shifting things around. You see, you are mapping the whole range (-10V to +10V) to positive voltage (0V-10V). This means that -10V will output the value for 0V.

The TXi’s quantizers can also help if you are doing note-based music. Rather than taking the voltage and passing it on - you can let the TXi’s processor identify the note number:

TO.OSC.N 1 TI.IN.N 1

…or the quantized voltage:

TO.OSC 1 TI.IN.QT 1

Finally - have you calibrated your TXi? If I made it, I calibrated it here - but differences in power could affect it so it would probably be worth running the procedure in the manual.

(edit)

You should also try the TT’s in jack to see if you are getting the same behavior. That will help isolate the issue for you.

[csboling]

Has anyone been successful at sequencing Telexo via Ansible?

I don’t have a TXi but I do a “Kria plays TXo” thing a lot. I put Ansible on the I2C bus, patch the first gate output from Ansible to the script 1 trigger on Teletype, and then put something like

TO.OSC 1 + N 60 KR.CV 1
TO.ENV.TRIG 1

in script 1. The + N 60 is because Kria’s CV output starts at 0, so this transposes the base frequency of the TXo up to middle C. Lots of fun to be had doing arithmetic to combine the CV values from multiple Kria tracks and all sorts of things. I pretty much always have some stackcables patched from Ansible gate outputs to the first couple TT script triggers at this point.

[BKCP]

I have been aware that the metro script rate is the sample rate of the TXi input and have compensated for the most part, I usually use ansible to trigger a script that reads the TXi’s input and sets it to the TXo’s output. This is working as I would expect.

I didn’t realize I was compressing -10v to 10v when I was mapping to positive voltage tho, thank you @bpcmusic for the clarification. The goal I was hoping to achieve was to offset the incoming cv to a higher octave.

Thank you @csboling Thats exactly the offset I was trying to create. Kria now plays a more comfortable range when using the Txo!
I was warping my calibrations and believe everything is working correctly now.

If I run:

TO.OSC 1 + N 60 TI.IN 1

swapping the Telexi input instead of reading kria ops directly, the note being played and the lights of the grid become out of sync. The note is one step behind the grid. I assume this has to do with the time it takes to sample the input of Telexi. Is there a way to compensate for this?

[bpcmusic]

Is there a way to compensate for this?

Yes; try putting a very slight delay on the triggered read using the DEL operator. You shouldn’t need much.

[BKCP]

Awesome.
Thanks @bpcmusic

[adrianf]

Would it be possible to get value from the TO.CV outputs similar to the TELETYPE CVs?

CV 4 V 5

> CV 4
8192

TO.CV 4 V 5

> TO.CV 4
NOT ENOUGH PARAMS: TO.CV

Similarly the TO.TR values?

I could very well be missing a command.

[bpcmusic]

I could very well be missing a command.

You aren’t. the TXo don’t currently implement reads for output values.

That isn’t to say they couldn’t; though it has some design and (potential) performance implications. i2c reads are expensive compared to lookups of local variables. It is a better practice to store and forward a local value in a variable or pattern.

In short, the framework is there to implement them. I’ve just restrained myself to avoid the proliferation of design patterns that use the values like they are local variables. They aren’t.

Make sense?

(edit)

Should also note that it was considered to store the values locally on the TT in shadow variables. But, with the TXo’s ability to self-modify local state (oscillation, clock divider, etc.), it seemed just too confusing as that state wouldn’t be reflected on the TT. Also, it seemed wasteful to allocate the memory for a module/feature lots of people didn’t have/use.

[atomboyd]

@a773 & @xenus_dad I’m sort of in the same boat!

I’d love to snag any expansions that @a773 doesn’t need.

[jonsimon]

I bought a second hand txi from someone online used and it arrived in many pieces. The teensy is minorly bent and all prongs to attach the back board (euro one) are broke off or bent.
Mostly it looks fixable? But I haven’t built a txi. I’m super bummed.
Any ideas anyone on a repair? I built a radio music module and some of the parts look similar.

Ps I got a full refund. Supposedly the txi I got is a newer one. How do I check this?

[desolationjones]

Supposedly the txi I got is a newer one. How do I check this?

There hasn’t been a revision to the TXi, just TXo.

Your module looks repairable by someone of modest soldering skills. Frustrating, but easy. If it were my job I would start by snipping all the black plastic off the damaged headers to expose the pins. Then probably pull them out one at a time, clean up the holes with a solder sucker, and install new ones.

[Duksos]

Hello
I am having problems with my I2c stability
It’s crashing a lot nowadays
I am trying to connect 1 teletype, 1 txo, 1 txi,
1 just friends, 2 w/s, 1 txb, and 1 Faderbank to the txb
It has always been finicky but since I added my Faderbank last weekend it’s horrible
Even without it plugged in
The whole system hangs now after any command
I am contemplating re-wiring My I2c bus. I guess I’m asking where do I buy the wires and what order should I connect it?
Does anyone still suggest jumping the I2c from one unit to the next ?

[bpcmusic]

Does anyone still suggest jumping the I2c from one unit to the next ?

I absolutely do. Keep all of the cabling as short as possible - especially the stereo cable going to the 16n. I usually put all of my modules next to each other and use super-short jumpers between them.

The little fellow at the top is the one I use - 10cm; the bottom one is 20cm, for reference.

I’ve also played with adding additional pull-up to a big bus, but I have to say this is a “do at your own risk” kind of thing. It may put too much strain on the microprocessors in the chain. I’ve only experimented with it and have been able to cable up some weird things, like this:

Bus includes:

Teletype
TXo
TXi
3 x TXb
2 x w/
ER-301

In getting this stable, I connected more than one TXb to power. And it was stable - just fussy about boot order.

AGAIN - do this at your own risk. This is voodoo science land with potential harsh repercussions.

[Duksos]

Thanks for the reply
3 more questions
Do you know where I can get the components to make the cables?
Does everything connect to the teletype or txb?
And on the back of some modules they have 6 pins 3 for in
3 for out?

[bpcmusic]

components to make the cables

They are jumpers; I buy them on Amazon, but most electronic hobbyist sites should carry them too (Adafruit/Sparkfun). You want to get female to female. I use a little shrink wrap to bind the ends, but you could use electrical tape or something similar.

Does everything connect to the teletype or txb?

It can, but I don’t recommend that for large setups like yours. Connect each piece to its neighbor. (See below.)

And on the back of some modules they have 6 pins 3 for in 3 for out

There is no “in” or “out” designation with i2c. Most modules have two rows of pins. You can use the columns interchangeably (or bridge them using a ribbon cable with 2x3 connectors).

I personally break off three jumper wires and bind the ends. I also mark the orientation to identify my ground wire. Then, I just jump from module to module until they are all connected to each other (again, making sure the ground wire is in the proper place for the module in question).

Lots more tips here: A user's guide to i2c

[Duksos]

You are the bees knees thank you