Hi!
I’m happy to finally present the fruit of the last six months of work, my first foray into both C++ programming and embedded systems: Repetita Versio, a looper for the Versio platform with a few tricks up its sleeves.
Features:
- 80 seconds stereo buffer @ 48KHz
- independent control for the left and right channels of loop start, loop length, speed, freeze amount and recording
- three trigger modes (triggered recording, free-running, one-shot) with input
- looper and delay mode
- variable decay with multi-mode filter and degradation in the feedback path
- loop start control with loop wrapping to maintain a fixed length
- loop length and playback direction in a single control
- reading speed control, from 0.02x to 4x, with controllable slew up to 10 seconds
- “note” mode with 4 octaves tracking
- instantaneous buffer freezing
- crossfading of frozen and unfrozen signals
- stereo width control
- feedback filter amount control
- input gain control
- settings are persisted between power cycles
I took inspiration from both DaisySP’s looper and Monome’s Softcut, but in the end it’s its own engine, that despite weeks of beta-testing most probably still suffers from some minor (hopefully) issues. That being said, it’s a quite solid and fun instrument to use.
The firmware is available here, along with a README, while the source code will come soon!
I’ve put together a YouTube playlist with short-ish videos focused on different aspects of the firmware. It’s my first time doing these kind of things so bear with me:
Here’s a quick start:
- flash the firmware with the Programmer
- the UI labels depends on which Versio module you have, but using the Antri Versio names these are the controls and their suggested default:
- Knob 1 > Blend (dry/wet), to taste
- Knob 2 > Loop start point, 0%
- Knob 3 > Filter, 0%
- Knob 4 > Loop size, 100%
- Knob 5 > Decay, to taste
- Knob 6 > Playback speed, 50% (noon)
- Knob 7 > Freeze, 0%
- ABC > Channel selector, middle
- XYZ > Trigger mode, middle
- once the module turns on the looper begins to buffer the incoming signal up to the limit of 80 seconds, after that the reproduction starts. If you want a shorter buffer, just press the button to stop buffering and start the reproduction right away
- the size knob acts on both the loop size and the playback direction, like this:
- at 100% is max size (the whole buffer) and forward direction
- from 100% to 50% the loop gets shorter
- at 50% is min size (little less than 1ms) and forward
- from 50% to 0% the loop gets longer but now the playback is backwards
- at 0% is max size again, but backwards
- the speed knob goes from 0.02x to 4x, at 50% is 1x
- if you prefer a somewhat standard looper behavior with start/stop recording, place it in trigger recording mode (bottom switch to the left), where a click of the button - or positive voltage at the relative input - starts the recording and another one stops it.
There are a bunch of advanced features and also a settings page, so make sure to read the README.
Please, let me know of any bug you may find, any corrections to the README (English is not my first language) or help you may need.
I hope you enjoy it!
Roberto
