I like the project ethos! If the sequencer code isn't too complicated I might be inclined to hack on it to make the frankly insane sequencer I've been wanting. Or to simply learn from it to make my own bonkers midi kit.
That sounds sweet! Very excited to see what you come up with. The sequencer "app" is genuinely quite simple (though I'm adding a couple playback modes to it right now, they don't overly complicate things) The base of the source code that the sequencer operates in is a bit more complicated but its nothing toooo crazy. I'm more of a visual artist rather than a programmer (instagram is @snoophuman if your interested) so my code shouldn't be too hard to interpret. On top of the source code being made available Ill have a chopped down version of it available with zero apps so people can have a simplified view of the flow of logic and some tutorial videos on how to write a simple app or two for it when midi goblin ships. another goal is having stripped down versions of the code available for each individual app. Each one takes up a surprisingly small amount of program memory.
If it can respond to Midi control change messages midi goblin can transmit them. Its pretty handy - but there are limitations! A lot of analog synths cannot respond to midi control change messages (simplified reason: their knobs and switches are physically connected to the guts of the tone generator) Checking your synths midi implementation chart should confirm weather or not it'll work. This rules out most of the Behringer synths that have come out over the years....but there is a surprising number of synths that have no midi output and can respond to midi control change messages out there. When in doubt - check your synths midi implementation chart. I have a couple pretty in-depth videos on my channel covering the process with the volca keys and nts-1. There are some creative work arounds for feeding the synth and midi goblin the parameter values to be saved. The NTS-1 video is pretty fun because the midi controller process gives you hands on control over every parameter.
curious to the application of this for the reface CS, does it override the front panel settings? and if it does, when I modify the settings after loading a patch, will it jump to the value that I changed?
good questions! The reface cs is my favorite synth and a lot of time was spent testing midi goblin with it so I've got the answers. When you load a patch it overrides the values on the reface's panel. Your reface's Local control needs to be turned off for MIDI Goblin to load patches on to it, but you can still play your keys and make changes to the panel with it off (sounds counter intuitive but it works very nicely) This raises the question - how do I switch back to whats on the panel? MIDI Goblin automatically saves values for the panel in a patch file called "panel" which will be at the top of the patch list, or you can assign it to one of the user buttons. So you don't have to worry about restarting your synth after you load a patch in order to go back to whats on the panel. If you change a value on the panel after you've loaded a patch the value will indeed jump(There currently isnt any smoothing logic in place for that change) With that being said, The changes you make to a loaded patch are also tracked, so if you load a patch then modify it by changing some values and think it sounds nice and want to save it as a new patch - you can - and the value changes youve made will automatically be made to the panel patch when you save your new patch
@@tziirkq It would definitely be annoying if recording depending on the parameter that is being changed. For example, an oscillator's pitch would be jarring if its a major change to the value. With that being said a jump should only occur to potentiometers - encoders on the other hand shouldn't have this issue since the value of a parameter determined by an encoder doesn't rely on dividing a voltage with a twirly resistor. Still some sort of smoothing logic could be nice...Ill have to brainstorm that one a bit more before attempting to implement it. Unfortunately its a one-man operation at this point and there are a few fairly big features I'm working on right now (genuinely excited about them so smmmash that subscribe button or something)
@@midigoblin I'd definitely be interested. All my music is recorded as performed, so all my equipment has been selected specifically for that purpose. I'm keeping an eye on your project.
Sorry 5 pin midi-out only....technically... Haven't experimented with transmitting midi over the usb c connection - though there is definitely a usb MIDI library that should be compatible - midi goblin is powered through its usb connection and thats where midi over usb gets tricky for microcontrollers like esp32. Youd need a device that could power the midi goblin through usb and sometimes devices dont really put out enough juice. with that being said there are midi 5 pin to usb cables....I know most of them are usb type-A (male) connections and most synths have usb type b connections...if you can find a 5 pin midi to usb type B cable or even some sort of usb type a to b adapter it miiight work. Untested though. I havnt tried this yet. Powering midi goblin though that daisychained connection might not work and I have not tried a midi solutions power adapter (my R&D budget is limited to say the least right now....if kickstarter takes off ill defintiely be trying one out though)
@@midigoblin damn, then its a no go for me... I need an all in one. Really a missed opportunity since theres so many usb midi only devices the last years (the small roland & behringer stuff among others)
@@boimesa8190 ah good point. 5 pin is indeed a bit limited. There's a market for it but usb will definitely be something heavily incorporated in the next project.
@@boimesa8190 check the videos for the nts-1 and volca keys. You do it by feeding the midi cc values through the midi goblin using a midi controller or pc. As a free bit of advertising for the company momo - check their programs out. if you cant afford a midi goblin, theyre a low cost solution to the problem (as long as youre okay with using a pc or laptop for saving and loading patches). funny enough their programs can also transmit midi cc values via usb to the midi goblin and are way more intuitive than using a daw....i basically refuse to touch my nts-1 without using a midi controller to change midi cc values
It has a few meanings in Spanish - all applicable! Our other cat is the same breed and has one eye. Their name is pazuzu. Pazuzu will be in other videos soon
i found this at just the right time, its exactly what i need for my pedal board. and then i could probably also use it to control almost anything else as well.
@@midigoblin i'm running a couple of chase bliss pedals, the 2 stone deaf that have midi capablities. i'll be adding a buzz electronics switcher, obne mtet (convert midi data into cv expression), midi expression (wish it had a better name, uses cv expression pedals to control midi data). it would be really slick if the lfo could send data to multiple midi channels simultaneously, but i'm not going to get my hopes up. i've heard of lighting engineers who use midi to control their stage show, i feel like this would be amazing for them.
@@LuvBiteFGC Ive heard of lighting techs doing this as well. Wonder if its worth investigating.... Sounds like a rabbit hole. I'm fiddling with sending batches of program changes and patches at the same time and assigning individual midi channels to patches. No promises on these features right now but they seem quite possible and would probably be useful for people who use multiple synths or pedals. really need to get my hands on some sort of midi routing device....
@@midigoblin i'm planning on using disaster area designs midi box 4 for my needs, they also have a device called qconnect which looks promising, and then cme does the midi thru5 and other similar things.
Quite right. There are actually quite a few great bits of librarian software out there. The ones made by momo are amazing. There are other companies that have made pretty versatile apps for computers and laptops as well and of course the synth manufactures themselves often make librarian software too. With that being said, desk space can be limited. I prefer to have my computer area dedicated to my work in animation. Having a small box that just does the things I need it to is nice and to be honest, I get distracted easily so hooking up my synths to a computer usually results in falling into a youtube hole rather than practicing which is why I prefer to play at my kitchen table. I also really like to fiddle with programming projects that require oleds, buttons, sd cards and sometimes midi so having MIDI Goblin handy as a breadboard free prototyping unit is genuinely really handy.
patch saving will not work for poly D or most other Behringer products. They are typically fully analogue and will not respond to midi cc messages to edit parameter values. The only way to change values is by physically twisting those knobs. Sequencer and arpeggiator and chord generator should work if it can transmit and respond to midi note on/off messages though.
A little bit sad that the cat wasn't the midi goblin, but pleased that it is an awesome and useful thing.
Good luck with the kick starter!
What a great idea. Especially love the usefulness of a little box that has patch names for synths that only have a digit display.
A way to arpeggio & sequence with a Reface CS - It's like you read my mind!! Looking forward to checking this out!
I like the project ethos! If the sequencer code isn't too complicated I might be inclined to hack on it to make the frankly insane sequencer I've been wanting. Or to simply learn from it to make my own bonkers midi kit.
That sounds sweet! Very excited to see what you come up with.
The sequencer "app" is genuinely quite simple (though I'm adding a couple playback modes to it right now, they don't overly complicate things)
The base of the source code that the sequencer operates in is a bit more complicated but its nothing toooo crazy. I'm more of a visual artist rather than a programmer (instagram is @snoophuman if your interested) so my code shouldn't be too hard to interpret.
On top of the source code being made available Ill have a chopped down version of it available with zero apps so people can have a simplified view of the flow of logic and some tutorial videos on how to write a simple app or two for it when midi goblin ships.
another goal is having stripped down versions of the code available for each individual app. Each one takes up a surprisingly small amount of program memory.
Love it! Great idea!
Great idea and love to see a hardware solution these days
This thing is awesome! So basically anything with a Midi in but no patch memory becomes a patch-saveable synth
If it can respond to Midi control change messages midi goblin can transmit them. Its pretty handy - but there are limitations!
A lot of analog synths cannot respond to midi control change messages (simplified reason: their knobs and switches are physically connected to the guts of the tone generator) Checking your synths midi implementation chart should confirm weather or not it'll work. This rules out most of the Behringer synths that have come out over the years....but there is a surprising number of synths that have no midi output and can respond to midi control change messages out there. When in doubt - check your synths midi implementation chart.
I have a couple pretty in-depth videos on my channel covering the process with the volca keys and nts-1. There are some creative work arounds for feeding the synth and midi goblin the parameter values to be saved. The NTS-1 video is pretty fun because the midi controller process gives you hands on control over every parameter.
This is bloody badass
Thought he was talking about the other synth Goblin from the Argento films.
suspiria rules
THANK YOU!!! New subscriber ✌🏻
curious to the application of this for the reface CS, does it override the front panel settings? and if it does, when I modify the settings after loading a patch, will it jump to the value that I changed?
good questions! The reface cs is my favorite synth and a lot of time was spent testing midi goblin with it so I've got the answers.
When you load a patch it overrides the values on the reface's panel. Your reface's Local control needs to be turned off for MIDI Goblin to load patches on to it, but you can still play your keys and make changes to the panel with it off (sounds counter intuitive but it works very nicely)
This raises the question - how do I switch back to whats on the panel? MIDI Goblin automatically saves values for the panel in a patch file called "panel" which will be at the top of the patch list, or you can assign it to one of the user buttons. So you don't have to worry about restarting your synth after you load a patch in order to go back to whats on the panel.
If you change a value on the panel after you've loaded a patch the value will indeed jump(There currently isnt any smoothing logic in place for that change)
With that being said, The changes you make to a loaded patch are also tracked, so if you load a patch then modify it by changing some values and think it sounds nice and want to save it as a new patch - you can - and the value changes youve made will automatically be made to the panel patch when you save your new patch
Man, the jump is a killer, this thing is handy and would be perfect apart from that.
@@tziirkq It would definitely be annoying if recording depending on the parameter that is being changed. For example, an oscillator's pitch would be jarring if its a major change to the value.
With that being said a jump should only occur to potentiometers - encoders on the other hand shouldn't have this issue since the value of a parameter determined by an encoder doesn't rely on dividing a voltage with a twirly resistor.
Still some sort of smoothing logic could be nice...Ill have to brainstorm that one a bit more before attempting to implement it. Unfortunately its a one-man operation at this point and there are a few fairly big features I'm working on right now (genuinely excited about them so smmmash that subscribe button or something)
@@midigoblin I'd definitely be interested. All my music is recorded as performed, so all my equipment has been selected specifically for that purpose. I'm keeping an eye on your project.
Question??? how buy midi goblin
Wow dude! Awesome! Does this also have a usb midi out for all usb devices that only have midi via usb?
Sorry 5 pin midi-out only....technically... Haven't experimented with transmitting midi over the usb c connection - though there is definitely a usb MIDI library that should be compatible - midi goblin is powered through its usb connection and thats where midi over usb gets tricky for microcontrollers like esp32. Youd need a device that could power the midi goblin through usb and sometimes devices dont really put out enough juice.
with that being said there are midi 5 pin to usb cables....I know most of them are usb type-A (male) connections and most synths have usb type b connections...if you can find a 5 pin midi to usb type B cable or even some sort of usb type a to b adapter it miiight work. Untested though. I havnt tried this yet. Powering midi goblin though that daisychained connection might not work and I have not tried a midi solutions power adapter (my R&D budget is limited to say the least right now....if kickstarter takes off ill defintiely be trying one out though)
@@midigoblin damn, then its a no go for me... I need an all in one. Really a missed opportunity since theres so many usb midi only devices the last years (the small roland & behringer stuff among others)
@@boimesa8190 ah good point. 5 pin is indeed a bit limited. There's a market for it but usb will definitely be something heavily incorporated in the next project.
@@midigoblinhey btw how do u save presets on the midi Goblin for devices that don't have midi out? U said it could in this trailer
@@boimesa8190 check the videos for the nts-1 and volca keys. You do it by feeding the midi cc values through the midi goblin using a midi controller or pc. As a free bit of advertising for the company momo - check their programs out. if you cant afford a midi goblin, theyre a low cost solution to the problem (as long as youre okay with using a pc or laptop for saving and loading patches). funny enough their programs can also transmit midi cc values via usb to the midi goblin and are way more intuitive than using a daw....i basically refuse to touch my nts-1 without using a midi controller to change midi cc values
Nice for all mi reface ca limitation
Sick idea, whats the price going to be like, and what microcontroller is it running on?
Somewhere between $60-$80 USD. And it's running esp32. Current firmware only takes up about 30% of the program memory. Lots of headroom to grow
@andrewcrawford8297 nice, thats a very fair price. I'll probably back the kickstarter then
HOLD ON, My cat's name (was) also pingo. I need to know how you came up with the name, too!
It has a few meanings in Spanish - all applicable!
Our other cat is the same breed and has one eye. Their name is pazuzu. Pazuzu will be in other videos soon
Midi Goblin.
i found this at just the right time, its exactly what i need for my pedal board. and then i could probably also use it to control almost anything else as well.
Interesting. What kind of pedals are you using?
@@midigoblin i'm running a couple of chase bliss pedals, the 2 stone deaf that have midi capablities. i'll be adding a buzz electronics switcher, obne mtet (convert midi data into cv expression), midi expression (wish it had a better name, uses cv expression pedals to control midi data).
it would be really slick if the lfo could send data to multiple midi channels simultaneously, but i'm not going to get my hopes up.
i've heard of lighting engineers who use midi to control their stage show, i feel like this would be amazing for them.
@@LuvBiteFGC Ive heard of lighting techs doing this as well. Wonder if its worth investigating.... Sounds like a rabbit hole. I'm fiddling with sending batches of program changes and patches at the same time and assigning individual midi channels to patches. No promises on these features right now but they seem quite possible and would probably be useful for people who use multiple synths or pedals. really need to get my hands on some sort of midi routing device....
@@midigoblin i'm planning on using disaster area designs midi box 4 for my needs, they also have a device called qconnect which looks promising, and then cme does the midi thru5 and other similar things.
Nice, but could have been an app and a midi to usp cable.
Quite right. There are actually quite a few great bits of librarian software out there. The ones made by momo are amazing. There are other companies that have made pretty versatile apps for computers and laptops as well and of course the synth manufactures themselves often make librarian software too.
With that being said, desk space can be limited. I prefer to have my computer area dedicated to my work in animation. Having a small box that just does the things I need it to is nice and to be honest, I get distracted easily so hooking up my synths to a computer usually results in falling into a youtube hole rather than practicing which is why I prefer to play at my kitchen table.
I also really like to fiddle with programming projects that require oleds, buttons, sd cards and sometimes midi so having MIDI Goblin handy as a breadboard free prototyping unit is genuinely really handy.
@@midigoblin fair enough
Would it work with behringer poly d??
patch saving will not work for poly D or most other Behringer products. They are typically fully analogue and will not respond to midi cc messages to edit parameter values. The only way to change values is by physically twisting those knobs.
Sequencer and arpeggiator and chord generator should work if it can transmit and respond to midi note on/off messages though.
I've been looking for a product that can protect my music production environment from the constant menace of my adorable Siamese cat.
this project started with me finding our cat sleeping on my reface CS and screaming "THERES GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY!"
What? =)