Hey --
I understand the annoyance of having to check back here all the time. I hate the idea of pre-ordering anything, but in this case it's probably OK. Worst thing that could happen is deciding to follow some pottery guru onto some mountaintop and making off with your $8.50. And not to diss pottery, but that seems unlikely.
Best,
TB

roflglitched

@glitched -- we may have to get you into some C programming, my friend :-)
I'm out of the loop for Turkey day and am slammed with work in general now (weird stuff, too -- Python programming and machining and shit like that) but things should lighten up significantly in December.
I PROMISE I WILL RELEASE V3 IN DECEMBER.

How's that? Before 2010 you will all have the goodies.

@Rodrigo --
Ode to Shipping:
Ugh. Oh how divisive and crappy thou art!
Just so you don't think I'm trying to be a d-bag, here's the breakdown. International shipping is USPS flat rate, which is $12 and change. Canada is the exception to this rule, and is less. Inside the US, UPS doesn't care much whether your package is 3oz or 1lb. Shipping to most places is in the neighborhood of $7.50. Some places are more, some less. Paypal won't do this calculation, so I made a flat rate. Then there's bubble wrap and tape and boxes and printer ink and recouping shipping FOR shipping materials and all that nonsense, and I don't charge for shipping time. I promise you I don't make any cheese at all on shipping. If I did, I would be better about shipping on time :-)

Also, FWIW, I don't much like selling programmed AVRs any more than most people like having to pay $20 to get an IC -- I always thought of shipping ICs as more of a courtesy for those who for some reason cannot flash an AVR. Kind of like how you CAN order linux installation DVD in the mail. If I only ship a single MCU in a week, say, I make maybe two bucks an hour, and a some gas gets used to move a really small thing. So while I am not willing to leave anybody out, and will always offer the programmed MCU, it certainly does get the gas face a lot.

So, I know that seems like a ripoff, but believe me, the champagne cellar here at Narrat1ve isn't built on the backs of the the postal system. One day, maybe I will half as good as adafruit about the shipping biz, but that day is not today.

Here's a question: if you could update via MIDI would you still order an AVR, those of you that would order an AVR?

Holler,
TB

Hey Todd, I would definitely be up for firmware updates via midi if it is possible :) But im thinking this can't be doable on the current WTPA.. Are you talking about implementing this feature for the new sampler you are working on?
I'll be honest, I have muchos respect for you Todd. Really I do. But.. $23 for a shipped chip to the UK does seem a bit wrong.. Anyone else would just sling it in an inexpensive padded envelope, use 1st class post/mail and be done with it. Slower perhaps, but likely half the cost all told.. Still, i'll spring for it anyway because this AVR shenanigans just looks like a big pain in the ass. Particularly as the programming widget is not something im ever going to get a whole lot of use out of. Sourcing parts, soldering and botching together my own cases is all good, but programming never jammed my donut..

Im not really complaining mind. So please don't take it as such. It's more of a slight grumble!

All the best! Paul

Smrl: I don't understand what you mean by Ableton not being able to "record 'record' events."
Edit: Yes I do. Ableton doesn't record CC# 0! Weird.

Todd, if you want to make "teh midis" more "standard", you have tons of generic CC's at your disposal:
3, 9, 14-37, etc.

Hey Todd, will my "Party" be even more "hype" by New Year's?

Have a good Holiday, if we don't hear from you!

I'm not sure if that means it's nearly done, or not nearly done, but looking forward to this. Nearly got my built-in mixer situation sorted, so itching to update it while it's out of the case and easy to update.

Sweet!

Now you mentioned something a while back about updating via midi, is that something doable with the current update or should I get to ordering a new IC?

Shucks.

Well sooner is better than later, and if it's not far off, I'm a happy camper either way. As soon as it's up, I'll be down.

Here's what I'm hoping. I'm going to Chicago next week to install a piece in a Childrens' Hospital (no joke! And making sick kids laugh pretty much wins the moral high ground by default). After that, I don't have any solid work lined up for any clients. Which is exciting. Hopefully I'll be back in Brooklyn by the last week in January, and then it's all WTPA all the time. God willing.

I mean, ideally, I like working on my own projects better than other peoples, too. But all that peanut butter doesn't buy itself.

I mean, REALLY ideally, I would tell all my clients to take a walk and concentrate on making personal projects full time. There's probably a way to make a living doing that, and one day perhaps I'll grow the nuts to do it.

Thanks again for the prodding,
TB

Ha! Better to get the leg humped than have you spilling the garbage all over the kitchen looking for chicken bones.
Srrsly, though -- it's cool. Knowing that people give a shit about this project is good. Deadlines are good.
If I had the scratch, I'd hire somebody to tell me I was late every morning :-)

Also, a career based on designing shit independently ain't gonna make itself. Dan's right. In some ways, WTPA and it's ilk_are_ a lot more important than being some artist/corporation's bitch. Now you'll excuse me while I put on my French maid outfit.

xo
TB

>Now you'll excuse me while I put on my French maid outfit.

can i haz a jpg?

Hah, that's a compelling post if I've ever seen one.

Yeehaw!

Hah, all it needs is a name like "Keep Ya Head Up" sampler.

We can have a whole east-coast/west-coast MCU 8-bit Sampler fued!

(assuming that's in the west coast, for the sake of humor)

I'm starting to think I might want to f* around with the code; maybe I can figure something out even though I've never touched C before. I don't wanna "brick" my WTPA though.
Have any of you guys taken a look at the code? Is it pretty logical?

So the next update had the start/stop point moving type thing, does anyone else remember what else has been mentioned?

W/r/t code:
It's all a big old state machine (or one big one and a couple little ones) which is a way to manage doing many things at the same time without a process manager or threads or any of that mess.
I imagine it would be hard to dive into from a cold intro.
All the audio stuff happens in the ISR and everything else is managing keeping the user happy and MIDI coming in.
A good place to start looking is in the main function in WTPA.c -- This is where the state calls happen and where the main "loop" of the program exists.

SetState(DoFruitcakeIntro) is the first time the state gets set. You can see the main loop (the while(1) part) running all the background functions and then calling the function pointed to by State (which is a defined as a void function pointer elsewhere).

Now, every time through the main loop, DoFruitcakeIntro is called. It handles blinking the lights at startup. It has a set of subStates (a global variable, just a number) and it ticks those off and moves to the next every time it finishes one. When it's done everything it is supposed to, it will set a new State and THAT state will then be called at the end of the main loop. In this case that state is DoStartupSelect().

It's not as hard as it sounds. It's still just a big old loop like you learn in CS101 but it has a little indirection with pointers.
I'd recommend anybody hacking on WTPA code to get a firm grasp of this before changing a lot or they'll break the shit out of something. Then again, you shouldn't be afraid to break firmware, since you can always just set it back.

Then again, I could always just do it for you :-)
xo
TB

"Oh it's on."

"No, it's not."

"It's on."

"No, I'm sorry, it's not."


"OH IT'S ON!".

I'd like to think that Omar would rock the shit out of WTPA.

I think we should share our "where were you when you realized that the v3 software wasn't going to be available mid way through March" stories.

I'll start.


So I was sitting at home, just minding my own business. Looking up stupid crap online, messing with my Tetrazzi when BOOM!, out of nowhere, I didn't download and install the v3 software!

It was crazy. One second, I was sitting there, not installing anything, then in the drop of a hat, the blink of an eye, a new york minute, I didn't install the software.

It's hard to even talk about it really. My wife told me I should talk about my feelings with regards to this, so here I am.

Hehe, I thought I was the only one that checked every day.

Don't worry guys, I think we'll make it through this together.

Today's my birthday....although it doesn't mean anything.........nothing matters anymore............