version v3

 

14th October 2016

  #76

Casey

Lives for gear

 
What a long slow trip it has been.

V3 has two levels of service initially. The first item will be the M200.

We will have this for the next AES. It is old school rock and roll in every sense. Analog only. Crazy analog processing including full RMS compression leading to soft saturation then on to hard clipping. Low frequency harmonics before compression from class A fet based circuit. Front panel input/mix/output sets the gain staging for clean to crunch. Zero latency dry path. Analog Abbey Road filter at the push of a button on any preset.

An eight voice varispeed section using old 16 bit SAR ADCs with arbitrary clock gen on each one.

Independent V3 reverb and Delay settings on chunky red old school 7 segment displays.

Three channels of IO including independent mono out for creative use or driving mono arrays at the back of a live setup with stereos up front. Independent mono in can be used along with stereo ins or stand alone and can drive all three outs or just the mono out for an over the top mono reverb or as an insert to your Mesa Boogie amp.

The V3 algorithm will light up the M200 in new ways that will shape new uses of the effect.

But, the real incarnation of V3 will come in the form of the M7 upgrade board. It will be after the M200 because we are tailoring a huge FPGA to work with a SHARC array that will just end the need for new reverbs in my life time. Can't even begin to describe the sonics that will be available. Suffice to say I don't imagine even seeing the bar this will set.

So, the M200 by next US AES, The M7 upgrade just after that by 3 to 6 months

The plan is that the M7 upgrade will be a user installable DSP board replacement that will be for cost. We will raise the price of the V3 M7s to match the cost of today's M7 plus the cost of the upgrade, so that all of our customers who have made us are financially protected.

Now I am off to a fundraiser for a low power FM radio station in Belfast Maine that needs to get off the ground before the end of January in order to keep the FCC license. Anybody with experience in this area please pm me, as this is all new to me!



-Casey

 We are developing two new products. One will be a lower cost product that we are calling the M200, while the other will be our flagship M7 upgrade.

The M200 will have about 5x the computing resource of a 3 ghhz I7 processor while the M7 upgrade will have about 15x the computing resource of a 3 ghz I7 processor.

The M200 will be a rock and roll all out analog only never heard before effects reverb, while the M7 upgrade will include the digital version of the M200 and a never to be proceeded real space emulation.

The M200 uses a unique pitch algorithm for dozens of voices of delay slash reverb that will never be duplicated.

The M7 upgrade provides all of that but also takes the M200 basis and uses it in reverse to create time delay modulation without pitch modulation to create the most realistic space emulation that will likely ever be created

 The V3 upgrade includes a tremendous amount of new DSP hardware relative to either the V2 M7 or certainly the M200. It is required for the full implementation of the V3 Reverb algorithms. V3 for the M7 will of course include all of V1 and V2.

 

We will be doing another plugin with Exponential Audio that will likely be the same price as their M7 Control plugin. It will run directly over USB though, so no midi adapter is required.

Software updates to the M200 will be delivered digitally and will be fed to the unit also via USB.

We are building the M200 like a rock so it can be put on the road without worries. We are putting in some AC wall diagnostics so that you will know right away if the venue has any AC power issues.

After the M7 upgrade is out. We will come back with a full USB and Midi implementation update for the M200 to gain integration into existing live control systems/pedal boards.

One of the things I am working on in the V3 algorithm is sound source directionality. It is cool for Reverb duties, but one of the things I want to go back to for a second M200 release is a "Leslie in a Road House" preset since the Reverb handles the spinning horn correctly.

I love working on the M200 because it is exactly opposite my M7 philosophy. Effects and grit.

Also remember the M200 has only analog audio IO so it will need an analog home within your setup. This won't change no matter the number of folks chiming in that "If only it had digital IO then..."



-Casey