Thats really shaping up to be really kickass
ALSO: Noticed in the original code a couple omissions:
No call to pinMode for STEPBUTTON7 and STEPBUTTON8 Never mind! Just found out pins A6 and A7 can’t be used as digital inputs, so they’re read as analog instead.
old_vals1 through old_vals8 are never assigned, presumably should be:
old_vals1 = vals1
etc. around line 226.
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Setup my rotary and uploaded your code @analogoutput. Got my voltages set.
Ended up being 430R’s between each pole.
This is badass! Really like having random and 4 and 2 step length!
I’m thinking I need a 5cm panel to sit next to the sequencer to hold the rotary with room for something else. Maybe that buffered multiple I was working on or a simple quantizer
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Excellent, nice to know this software I’ve been working on in a near vacuum actually works with real, non breadboard electronics!
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The only thing I’ve noticed is it doesn’t like to come out of random mode
Anyone try to build this thing with 1n914 diodes instead of 1n4148s? i have a massive supply of 1n914s, and would really like to use them, but dont know if the “potentially” larger leakage currents in the 1n914 will mess up the sequencer? I dont think it should matter…
Any small signal diode should work just fine.
(1N914 and 1N4148 are usually considered “electrically equivalent” by modern manufacturers, so depending on when/where you bought them, it might just be different labels on the same thing).
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Thanks. After posting this question, I saw that below the 8-step sequencer BOM, Sam says that the diodes can be left out if you dont have any. Now, I really dont think it matters.
SOME of the diodes can be left out. The ones connected to the gate out are important.
Hey @CTorp, I was thinking the exclusive rotate mode with all 8 sequencer stages gives a 14 step pattern which might be less useful than an 8 step pattern using just the first 5 stages (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2 repeat). What do you think? It’d be a trivial change in the code.
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Yeah I supposed 14 steps isn’t too useful musically. Unless you wanted that kind of rotating effect when lined up with a 16 step drum sequence or whatever, in which case you could just use one of the odd step selections instead. To be honest I’ve had it on inclusive mode most the time cause I don’t have a permanent home for the knob (building mfos voltage quantizer to go with it most likely, as it has two inputs u can quantize).
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14 steps can be very musical indeed. 8 and six, 4 4 4 and 2 etc. But a straight 14 has so much potential for progression. It’s your synth! Enjoy.
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Im just getting into the world of understanding what going and i was wondering what the jacks above the buttons are? What are some things that they can be used for?
Thanks
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They’re labelled as “STEP OUT # GATE” in the layout, and are just the raw sequencer gates (via a small resistor and isolating diode). They turn on when that step is active (same as the LEDs), and you can use them to gate/trigger something at a certain step.
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Thank you, not sure why I didn’t realize that.
My favorite use for them is in combination with the reset jack, quickly shortening a longer sequence into a shorter one and back
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Hi everyone. I’m looking into building the 8 step sequencer incorporating some of the tweaks described here. I’ve been breadboarding parts of it and I’ve stumbled at a point that I can’t figure out. My knowledge of electronics is somewhat basic,I have built several kits and my own Arduino projects in the past.
Currently I have the 8 LED’s for the steps wired up and the whole thing connected to an external clock, the LEDS light up sequentially as expected. I’ve incorporated the pot for step 8 only. If I now test the CV output coming from step 8 WITHOUT the diode, everything works as expected, I get an output between 0-5v. Once I incorporate a diode to the CV out of the step, the voltage coming out never goes down to 0. The voltage increases as I turn the pot, but when it’s completely closed there’s always a minimum of 1.5 v coming out.
I’ve tested the circuit adding the pot to step 7 too. In this case if the diodes are not in place, as expected, the CV out never reaches 5v but when I incorporate the diodes the CV out never falls below 1.5v.
I’ve been messing around with this for a while and the diode appears to create this 1.5V out of nothing as I’ve measured the voltage before and after it and it does change from 0v to 1.5v
I don’t know if I’m missing something obvious but I find this behaviour strange to say the least! Any suggestions welcome.
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That’s very strange. When you turn the pot all the way down, the anode of the diode is essentially connected to ground, so how can there be 1.5V at the cathode?
It IS connected to ground, right? Pot terminal 3 (connected to the green wire in the diagram) is connected to ground on the stripboard?
Question for you all, pretty sure I know but just checking: As long as the Arduino is only activating at most one output at a time, is there any reason the 8 1k resistors connected between the Arduino and the LED anodes could not be replaced with a single 1k resistor connected between their cathodes and ground?
It is strange indeed. The pot’s terminal 3 is indeed connected to ground. The more I look into it the less I understand!