[HN Gopher] Korg makes music with Raspberry Pi ___________________________________________________________________ Korg makes music with Raspberry Pi Author : sohkamyung Score : 60 points Date : 2022-12-07 08:29 UTC (2 days ago) (HTM) web link (www.raspberrypi.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.raspberrypi.com) | TonyTrapp wrote: | Korg always seem to have been a bit pragmatic with using ready- | made hardware where other manufacturers go at great lengths to | come up with their own solution. | | Look at the inside of this Korg M3: https://www.personal- | view.com/talks/uploads/FileUpload/37/98... | | It seems like the operating system comes on an SD card (makes | upgrades easy, I guess), and the power supply looks like a | standard laptop power supply. | FeistySkink wrote: | Some details about the insides would be useful. This is barely a | marketing blurb. | | Edit: the success story is also thin on details. | mikko-apo wrote: | I disagree, the success story has details that reveal lots on | what's going on. | | > The team uses software to prototype their instruments before | implementing hardware designs. With the basic software platform | already functional, developing the wavestate using Compute | Module 3 took a fairly modest year | | From that I would assume that software is developed on regular | PCs and it took a year for them to get the software running on | CM3 and hook up the CM3 to the two circuit boards and various | systems. Which is super fast. | | > The setup has two circuit boards. The main panel board | contains all of the user interface elements, including display, | buttons, knobs, wheels, and other synth-specific controls, | along with MCU microprocessors to support them and communicate | with the CM3. | | Main board has all the physical buttons, knobs wheels, displays | etc and MCUs are used to communicate with CM3 | | > The other circuit board has subsystems for audio, MIDI, the | musical keyboard, and power, plus the socket for the CM3 | | The 2nd circuit board has D/A converters, midi connectors, keys | and power and the CM3. | | The CM3 is basically responsible for all the computations on | the device. It gets inputs from various sources and outputs | constantly digital audio to the DAC, midi to the midi out, data | to the display etc. | | I guess this would be the part where details would have been | nice, but there's probably lots going on. How they ensure low | latency function of the synth platform, how does the | development process go, how does the CM3 integrate with the | various systems. Each of those would be very indepth stuff, but | imo the HN relevant part how they sped up the overall | development of the platform and that is covered by the article. | | Anyways, the cool part is how the three devices use the same | hardware, so Korg can basically recycle both hardware designs, | components and software from synth to synth. This speeds up | development and reduces costs. Super cool. | | Comparing that to how synths were made in the 80s, where you | had to have a separate board per voice and replicate all the | analog components between voices and keep their power usage and | heat in control. | | Thomann has nice pictures of the synths. The reuse is very | obvious: | | https://www.thomann.de/fi/korg_wavestate.htm | | https://www.thomann.de/fi/korg_opsix.htm | | https://www.thomann.de/fi/korg_modwave.htm | | The insides of Yamaha CS-80 from 1977 (weight: 82kg) look a bit | different | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_poihkLM5Go | | Of course, with modern components a CS-80 clone (Black | Corporation Deckard's Dream mk2) fits in to rack format and | weighs only 4.5kg: | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNf0kpidGc4 | | but the assembly of the DIY kit looks pretty painful: | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk-pM2OBU1o | cammikebrown wrote: | It would be cool if they actually mentioned which synths use the | Raspberry Pi, but it appears they don't. | valdiorn wrote: | It's the modwave, wavestate and the opsix. | | They all share the same core hardware and physical layout and | enclosure but have customised front panels. | | Actually really good products, well designed, I love the opsix | :) | jscheel wrote: | Everything but the keys, right? I've got my opsix right | behind me, and I just can't believe how bad the keys are. | TBF, it's right above my Moog Matriarch, so that might be a | bit of an unfair comparison. | mortenjorck wrote: | This is more or less a meme on music gear forums, and in my | view it's a bit overstated. It's no Fatar to be sure, but | it's still in line with what I'd expect from a sub-$1k | keyboard. The critical thing they got right is the velocity | sensitivity: Especially on an FM synth, you need that | expressive range, and the Opsix keys deliver there. | homarp wrote: | "In early 2020, Korg R&D announced the wavestate, a successor | to its 30-year-old Wavestation and its first instrument to use | Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3." | | so https://www.korg.com/products/synthesizers/wavestate/ | walrus01 wrote: | Also unusual music related things: Moog | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_synthesizer | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_Inc. | | The cousin of the guy who made the Moog synthesizer created that | company, which makes all sorts of technical/industrial/defense | industry things. | anigbrowl wrote: | Korg also makes their digital and analog ecosystem fairly open at | the lower end; analog devices are designed to be easily hackable | and they facilitate sideloading of DSP applications; code that | runs on this device can also be loaded onto several of their | consumer models: https://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/nts_1/ | | This has a lot to do with why they've been eating Roland's lunch | for the last several years, while that latter company keeps | trying to convince buyers that completely locked down circuit | simulation of classic devices at fancy prices is what the people | want. | | At the cheaper end of the scale, companies like Sonicware are | exploiting commodity-priced microcontrollers for their 12-bit | synthesis and processing capabilities. While their own offerings | are not open-source, abundant resources exist for anyone | interested in processing audio on crunchy chips and you can get | into it for about $20 in hardware costs (years of your life not | refundable; synthesizers are nerd crack). | KerrAvon wrote: | Korg is really amazing; they're also doing faithful classic | analog synth reproductions like the ARP instruments and their | own MS-20 line: https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/ | worldmerge wrote: | That's so cool! Thanks for sharing that! | | Do you know how they're making the synth sounds on the pi? Like | are they going full pure-data/MaxMSP/SuperCollider with it or | are they still using discrete sound chips? | blub wrote: | Open source or open synths is a pretty arbitrary category that | few are rushing to compete in because most musicians don't care | how hackable their instrument is. | | According to their financials, Roland are doing fine: profit's | down for 2022, but this seems partly related to a very | profitable 2021. Can't find any financials for Korg on their | website, oddly enough, but when it comes to synths at least | they seem to be competing only in the mid (Minilogue vs e.g. | Boutiques) and low (volca vs new Aira trio) range. Korg doesn't | have any flagships any more and have few products in the | DJ/production category. They're apparently also 1/10th of | Roland's size... | Jedd wrote: | There's a bunch of people doing some pretty amazing synth builds | with the Raspberry Pi -- the Zynthian crew [0] springs to mind. | | Basically bring your own USB midi keyboard / controller - these | tend to be _cheap_ , but also engender very strong opinions, so | there's some distinct advantages to having them as separate | components, but with the synth box being much more portable than | a laptop or desktop. | | As to the Korg Wavestate - on this side of the pond (AU) it has | an RRP of A$1500, though street pricing is around A$1000. | | [0] https://zynthian.org/ | zxcb1 wrote: | Raspberry Pi - Enterprise Edition | WorldPeas wrote: | You'd be surprised how much of your medical data is generated | by pis! Many medical OEMs I work with encourage their clients | to integrate such chips into their machines. I just can't wait | until they're cycled thru so I can play quake 3 on a centrifuge | [deleted] | worldmerge wrote: | How do you break into the sound world? It looks like a really fun | space to be a programmer. I love hardware and tactile stuff. | ruleforty wrote: | I came across the LMN 3: there's a lot to unpack but it might | be the most mature project in terms of both hardware and | software out there. It's as close to having the right tools, | PCBs, etc. for an open source Teenage Engineering OP-1: | | https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2022/06/25/the-lmn-3-an-o... | throw_m239339 wrote: | InMusic/Akai/Alesis/Numark are hiring. Just learn C/C++ and | JUCE and read a few digital signal processing book, you're good | to go. | | The market for synthesizers/grooveboxes has literally exploded | in the last 10 years. | type0 wrote: | Look at Bela and Electro-smith Daisy, there are a bunch of | simple diy synths made with teensy and some minimal components | | https://bela.io/ https://www.electro-smith.com/daisy | monkmartinez wrote: | The shortage of Raspberry Pi's is going to be their undoing. | Everyone in the circles I travel (3D printing, Hobby CNC, Self- | hosting, cyberdeck, plotters, etc.) are looking for replacements. | There are quite a few contenders, and more recently lots of folks | are grabbing thin clients (then installing Linux). | | My thought process; In a silo, the raspberry pi isn't all that | spectacular and needs a lot of do-dads/thing-i-majigs for even | basic functionality. Power supplies and real HDD/SSD's for Rpi's | can be a pain point. There are cheaper and better alternatives | imo. What makes the Raspberry Pi so cool is the community and | ease of use due to said community effort. If that community | coalesce around another platform, the rpi foundation will be in | big trouble. | Uehreka wrote: | At the moment some of those competitors may have spare supply | because people weren't interested in them before. But once that | runs out, I don't see a reason they won't all run into the same | problems as the RPi Foundation as they get in line behind them | for the limited-available time at the fabs. | nimbius wrote: | the average pi costs about $200 these days (if you can find one) | wwweston wrote: | Yeah, I went looking for one about two months ago and decided | it wasn't worth it. | | The value calculation has always been a bit iffy vs "let's see | what small-factor desktop machines people are dumping in the | local classifieds" if what you want is a cheap PC to mess with. | That's probably very much true for software instrument / | sequencing stuff. | | Because of the ecosystem, the value calculation has been better | for the Pi if you're building projects that are a small | computer built into a larger electronic setup. But at the | current price & availability I'm definitely trying to figure | out what other single board options are easy enough or | considering learning more about the microcontroller space. | VTimofeenko wrote: | Check out rpilocator.com. I was able to get 4 different pis at | MSRP over the course of this year. | jchw wrote: | I'm jealous. Every time I see adafruit get restocked, it's | all gone less than 10 minutes later. I've basically given up | on Raspberry Pi at this point. | mhzsh wrote: | Recently, though? This worked earlier this year, but one | vendor had at least 90x RPI4-8B in stock yesterday and they | were gone in seconds. rpilocator didn't even see it. | mindcrime wrote: | I've bought 2 or 3 Pi's this year at the regular price, | thanks to rpilocator. The most recent was a couple of | months ago. | | You do have to kinda watch it a bit obsessively if you're | really serious about finding one, but it can be done. Or | you could also just constantly refresh the page(s) of a | couple of vendors that you know to get stock on some | regular / semi-regular basis. Adafruit is one, and Elektor | seems to get stock now and then as well. | deathanatos wrote: | ... they are _perpetually_ out of stock, even in brick and | mortar retail. | | Which makes it all the much odder for RPi to write what amounts | to a press piece about their hardware. You don't need more | marketing, you need the price to not be $[?] due to supply | issues. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-12-09 23:00 UTC)