Re: Looper development and production costs?

[jim palmer <jimp@pobox.com>]

excellent idea...
open source the software,
maybe use some subset of the linux os.
maybe even non-loopers would get in the game just as an
interesting problem to solve (student projects, etc)

you could do away with custom user interface; just use midi pedals and
such for control and use midi sysex and an editor/librarian for setup...

one problem i can think of right off is size.
if we made this a one rack space unit, cooling would
definitely be a problem.  remember our discussion about the
fans on these things.  fitting cards for i/o and midi is a bit difficult
(but possible) in a 1U.  i still haven't added a rack pc to my setup,
so i'm not sure how much of a problem this will be.   soon....

maybe with a celeron and a peltie you could avoid fans?

i would definitely be a contributor, though i have been programming
exclusively in windows for the last five years.  i keep thinking i will
get into linux at some point, but never have the time.
(as you know, i'm still way behind on my kyma progress...)


> 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 ?  (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.  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.
> 
> Some custom hardware would be probably required.  But probably not too 
>much.
> 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.  After all, it's the software that primarily makes a 
>looper.
> Excepting the user interface (like the EDP LED display) what is the
> hardware?  ADC, DAC, MIDI interface, memory, processor, supply, and 
>probably
> something like a NIC, USB, or SCSI.
> 
> Dennis Leas
> -------------------
> dennis@mdbs.com
>