The original vision of the MeeBlip was to make something affordable, something open and hackable, something anyone could get, something that could tell a story, and something we’d use to make some music. And since those are all goals of Create Digital Music, too, it’s a perfect physical compliment to what we do. For me, personally, it means putting my money where my (blogging) mouth is. It’s a chance to learn.

So that makes this a really special week. It hasn’t been easy getting here, but now the MeeBlip begins its second chapter.

This week, we’re announcing availability of the MeeBlip SE. US$139 (intro price) buys you a version you can put together in a few minutes with just a screwdriver, a complete, MIDI-capable digital hardware synth. (We ship most places worldwide – and we’re shipping now.) Through incredible work by the MeeBlip’s principal designer, Canadian James Grahame, the SE revises our original design:

• It’s more playable. With lots of feedback from users (and extended chats with Francis Preve of Keyboard Magazine and Academik Records), we made the control layout more logical and more fun to play.
• It’s got a greater sonic range. Anti-aliasing on/off, and a variable pulse width knob combine with more unusual features like its digital distortion and intentionally-quirky digital filter.
• Everything responds to MIDI. If there’s a knob or switch on the front panel, there’s a MIDI parameter – and vice versa. Whether you use your hand or a MIDI message, everything is accessible.
• It stores patches. 16 patch slots accessible from the front panel mean you can use your favorite sounds live, and you can store them somewhere other than your brain.

And you can get one right now. (MeeBlip SE, and for DIYers, either the SE Build Everything version or the compact micro board.)

But, of course, as we learned how to make the synth better, we learned a lot more about how to make the business of making a synth better. Learning is wonderful: I’ve been floored by seeing what people have done with these instruments, by seeing them pop up in unexpected places and making brilliant, unexpected sounds. Learning is also painful. We made some mistakes, as demand for the MeeBlip went beyond what we expected, and the limitations of the chip we chose made developing our more ambitious ideas take longer than we wanted.

In other words, users have been incredibly inspiring – reality has sometimes been incredibly challenging – and those are the two things that have moved us forward.

So, it’s now a daily task to work on ways of making the MeeBlip more accessible, more available, and better.

While we work on that, you can now find all of our schematics and code – including many, many hours of James’ work, in particular – on GitHub. Axel Werner, a programmer in our community, has already contributed to making that code better, so when you play a MeeBlip, you’re playing some of his work, too. (The lesson of open source: if just one person does something with what you share, it’s already worth it. And Axel’s not alone.)

I’m working mainly on documentation – both for users just wanting to make music (even if this is their first synth), and developers who want to learn about code and sound.

You can learn about the MeeBlip, read those new docs as they’re added, keep up with the latest, and – if you like – buy the new MeeBlip SE as a kit or quick-build synth – at the synth’s site:

http://meeblip.com

Let’s Get Some Music in Here

I can’t talk about the MeeBlip nearly as well as its users can show it.

Case in point: we didn’t know one Jeremy Leaird-Koch until the video above popped in our inbox. It’s a demo video of the MeeBlip SE, and it shows off all the new sonic features of the instrument, and demonstrates the PWM width functionality, and shows how to make music, and does a timelapse of building the kit from scratch. Here’s the funny part: we didn’t ask him to do this. His demo video puts anything we’d make to shame.

Jeremy’s story behind this, and the reason there are two MeeBlips in there, was even more amazing. He wrote us about a month ago:

My boyfriend and I had put off exchanging Christmas gifts because I was waiting for the MeeBlip kit (his present) to arrive. Finally, about a week or so after XMAS, it came, I wrapped it up, and gave it to him. I unwrap his present to me, and it’s in a Canada Post box, too. Turns out we got each other the exact same thing. Two MeeBlip kits. Absolutely hilarious.

Anyways, the next day we built them up and played around with them. We also made this little video documenting one of the builds and our first explorations of what it could do. Damn, what a fun little box.

I nearly cried – well, for two reasons. One was, it was a clear explanation of why you go nuts trying to make a synth. The other was, we really screwed up shipping in 2011, and if anything told me to never let that happen again, this story did. We’ve changed the way we source parts, the way we assemble the MeeBlip, and the way we distribute it, and it’s one of the things I think about every morning when I wake up. But thanks, Jeremy and your boyfriend; you’ve absolutely inspired us.

And most importantly, I want to hear more music, made on whatever thing you choose, because I really enjoyed it. And that’s what this is all about.

Side note: if you like soldering, you want the MeeBlip Build Everything kit for intro US$119, which is what he has here. If you don’t, don’t let this scare you; you can get the Quick Build and just use a screwdriver, and it doesn’t take a whole lot longer than this does in fast-forward timelapse time.

http://meeblip.com/get-one/

Speaking of Android and mobile, when it comes to reliable multi-touch on inexpensive devices, iOS has really been the only game in town. As I’ve noted previously, competing requires a usable multi-touch chipset. It seems one such chipset is making its way to a shipping product. Matt Gallant points us to our friends at Engadget:
Atmel confirms the Samsung Galaxy Tab uses its maXTouch touchscreen controller

Atmel, for their part, claim their technology is more responsive than competitors like Apple, offering both support for stylus input and faster response times – the latter interesting for music applications. Given how complex touch technology is, in terms of hardware and software alike, I’ll believe it once I test it – but that may be soon.

Update – this chip is also on the Droid Incredible and Evo4, says alien8 in comments. So we do have devices to test. The Tab has a bigger screen area, different hardware, and because this is Android and not made by one company, a different vendor software implementation, so it’ll be interesting to try it, as well.

The news is certainly relevant not only to Android fans, but anyone hoping multi-touch will start to appear in more platforms. And for music input applications, it could be great both for something like TouchOSC for Android (as well as potentially prompting other apps), and perhaps browser-based multi-touch control that could work across operating systems.

For the record, a few specs on the Galaxy Tab; thanks, Samsung PR.

Android 2.2 (Froyo)
7.0 inch TFT-LCD, WSVGA (1024 x 600)
Cortex A8 1.0GHz Application Processor with PowerVR SGX540
3 MP Camera with Auto-Focus and LED Flash
1.3MP front camera for Video Telephony
30 pin connector
WiFi 802.11n / Bluetooth® 3.0
Gyroscope sensor, Geo-magnetic sensor, Accelerometer, Light sensor
16G / 32G internal memory with up to 32G external memory slot
RAM: 512 MB

I’m no fan of proprietary connectors, but the other specs look good. Correction: it’s actually a standard connector — it just wasn’t identified as such. See Matt in comments — it’s a PDMI connector, which could be the answer to all our problems. (Think break-out connection to standard USB3 and USB2, plus video out, among other things.) That is, provided we get any developer support for it; otherwise, it doesn’t matter what those 30 pins can do.

Anyone know if Bluetooth 3 is any better at real-time applications than previous implementations? Side note: a lead engineer from Sony Ericsson last night assured me over dinner I’m reading too much into the spec, so I’m going to shut my mouth and do some actual testing with Bluetooth and MIDI, with some help, to see what happens.

Forget NAMM — one of a handful of hardware I’m most excited about in 2009 is all DIY, the 8-step GorF step sequencer. (I’m hoping for follow-ups like a Forg or Grof. Kermit (Muppet) fans know what I’m talking about.)

With four sequences with parameters, steps with pitch, gate, and Control Change, sequencing controls, legato mode, and the planned ability to both send and receive clock, this is one useful-looking device. And from the video above, it looks like it’s progressing really nicely.

In fact, if you think about it, it’s kind of puzzling that there isn’t a simple, cheap, commercial device that does this. As a kit, though, people could hack in features others might not imagine, it could be combined with other DIY and open source synth and music projects, and it makes a great kit and learning tool — meaning it’s more fun, anyway. And if you want a pink case, you can do that, too, but you can decide whether you want it more salmon or fuchsia.

Paul, do keep us posted!

Via musatkl / nostromo.

Here’s something I’d very much like to see: a hackable, kit step sequencer.

nostromo tips us off to a blog item on his site on the project. The creation of Monowave maker Paul Maddox, the 8-step sequencer is based on an Atmel Mega16 micro chip. The whole thing is looking very compact, which could make a nice little unit or might integrate well with other projects (like a synth).

The other good news to me: new DIY hardware could be a great way to run clock into software. Previously, that job has fallen to somewhat dull consumer drum machines. With DIY projects, even software lovers may soon be hacking new features into hardware and manipulating software sequences with that.

Planned features include “rock-solid timing” (sounds good), plus:

• 4 sequences with parameters
• Steps with pitch, velocity, gate on/off, and two Control Change messages (CC1/CC2) on a selectable channel
• Adjust tempo, base note (including via MIDI), sequence and step length
• Legato mode
• Send MIDI clock out, MIDI sync in (currently input isn’t done – input is usually trickier than output, but output may actually be more interesting to people)

nostromo already has some ideas for how to make this interesting when combined with chip trackers like LSDJ and LPGT, so worth reading his original post (thanks!):

Meet Gorf [mustakl]
GorF Project Page at Paul’s site Vaco Loco

Anyone out there worked on a similar project? (I’d sure love to have a DIY sequencer or two at our Handmade Music events in NYC!)