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At 07:19 AM 10/11/2001, Dennis Leas wrote: >If we're brainstorming, here's some thoughts... > >Why design all custom hardware? Why not use the Alesis ADAT model (i.e., >their use of stock VCR tape transports) and use as much off-the-shelf >hardware as possible ? It's not like they bought VCRs at BestBuy and stuck a different ROM in it. They just use commonly available off the shelf components and designed them into their fully custom system level hardware, which is what everybody does in just about all electronic products. Whether it is a VCR transport or an audio IC it is the same concept. Nobody is designing their own custom asics or anything like that. >(I realize Alesis is *probably* a bad example to >use...) Use a commonly available PC motherboard but *don't* use the >"standard" software. It boots only looper-ware. that would mean re-writing all software for a different processor and system, which would be far more complicated and expensive than designing new hardware to match the 10 years worth of software development we've already done. >Sure the motherboard >would have far too much hardware than you need but it might be cheaper in >production and certainly would not require as much R&D. The problem with >looping on a stock PC is not the hardware so much as the non-real-time >(bloated) OS. and hardware not designed for real-time either. Or designed for pro music applications and extended environmental conditions. So it wouldn't fit the application hardly at all, and performance would be lousy. Then there would be all sorts of useless stuff on there taking up space, using power, and generating heat. >Some custom hardware would be probably required. But probably not too >much. no, it would take a lot. the user interface is what makes the whole thing. That is a big part of the hardware. Plus a lot of special audio circuits for specific routing needs of looping, designed to pro-audio standards. Special sync circuits, etc. Very quickly you would be wondering, "why are we spending such tremendous effor to customize this existing board that hardly does anything we need to begin with? It would just be easier to build our own hardware from scratch." and you would be 100% correct. >You could probably get by with all off-the-shelf hardware except for the >user interface. I'm just not sure if complete off-the-shelf hardware is >cost effective. it would actually cost you far more. you would be into several hundred dollars just on these off the shelf pc parts, before you even got to the custom electronics, custom chassis, controls etc. A lot of that money would be spent on stuff that would be completely useless in the application. Also remember, you can't use the cheap stuff because people demand better quality standards than what most PC hardware is designed to. >After all, it's the software that primarily makes a looper. yes and no. It is the software plus the user interface. In the case of a musical instrument that you play, much of the user interface is hardware. The better this interface matches the way the user wants to control the specific application and the environment they use it in, the better the experience. General purpose hardware interfaces can never be as usable for a given application as a custom designed one. Would you rather control drum sounds in a performance with an actual drum-like device as the interface, or by tapping keys on a notebook? kim ______________________________________________________________________ Kim Flint | Looper's Delight kflint@loopers-delight.com | http://www.loopers-delight.com