Received two bluemchen kits yesterday, built one this morning. Pots, encoder, OLED, SD card,audio ins/outs, CV ins work.
MIDI doesn’t appear to work. Cables and adapter (Type A) are known good. Will investigate this more after I put the second one together.
EDIT: Solved my MIDI problem. The hardware_test program had a bug (wasn’t calling bluemchen.midi.StartReceive() ). According to Github, this had already been fixed, but it hasn’t been fixed in either of the bluemchen respositories I found.
ALSO, important: the silkscreen label on the bluemchen board for the MIDI cable type is in error, it’s got types A and B reversed.
EDIT, again: I added a wire to ‘normal’ audio input 1 to input 2. Convenient, and harmless. A jumper, or a cuttable trace - would have been nice for this. But it’s trivial to add the wire.
Hi @teleplayer, I submitted a pull request to the Bluemchen repository for this fix a while ago, but it was never merged. I know @recursinging has been busy with other work and hasn’t had time to focus on Bluemchen in a long time. My fix was in a branch, as is common for pull requests to upstream repositories, but I have now merged it into the main branch of my kxmx_bluemchen fork. I will try to keep my fork up to date with new versions of libDaisy and can take PRs if you come up with anything cool.
I just build my Bluemchen module and flash the Kxmx template from Oopsy package.
Everithing works grate ! :))
But first question the rotary encoder is not “usable” like a knob or a CV in the maxMSP programation ? I thought so. Currently it is used to change the visuals (IN/OUT) of the LCD screen.
Can it also be used as a user interface for interacting with the embedded maxMSP ?
I wanted to chime in to send my appreciation for designing and open sourcing this incredible module!
I recently went through the process of successfully ordering the assembled PCBs and building a few modules, and I wanted to share my experience and updates in case it helps other folks.
The PCBA files on the GitHub repository seem to be designed for 5 units in a single file. But since JLCPCB requires a minimum of 5 units per order, that would mead I’d end up with 25 pcb sets! So I edited the BOM & POS files to only include entries for a single board.
Next, I noticed that some of the parts were no longer available in the JLC parts catalog, so I had to source them from other suppliers and solder them my self.
I have created updated BOM & POS spreadsheets others can use, which include links to the missing parts from other suppliers.
The cost of 5 assembled PCBs & panels came out to about $50 shipped! Shortly after I placed my order, JLC has started charging an additional $16.50 for black solder mask on aluminum panels, so be aware of that upcharge.
Since I had to source parts from different suppliers, including some additional components for the front board, which added about $100 more (not including the Daisy seeds).
Once all my parts arrived, I got to work soldering and assembling. This was a really fun project to build and I’ve been having a great time digging into all of the DaisySP documentation. I’m eager to get hacking on this module.
Thanks again for sharing your amazing work with us!
Are the two links supposed to point to two different files? They both look the same to me.
Bluemchen is a very handy device, and super easy to assemble, I’ve got two of them.
Hi everyone,
I´m new to “Daisy”. But I´m familiar to DIY. So building Bluemchen, is likely no problem. But, as I quite not yet have programming skills in this, I´m especially interessted to first try and learn from others creations to get an impression, if it something for me or not. I have quickly read (as a newbie) that it is “easily” possible to convert “patches” from other plattforms like Owl to Daisy/Bluemchen. As this module is already 3 years in the wilds, I would wonder, if there isn´t a library of useful “patches” done/converted by other users to just “drag&drop” to Bluemchen. Maybe anyone could point me to something like this, if existant. But if there are no nice “patches” to first play with as a “consumer” and to start with to get an impression of the programming possibilities of the module, would mean that I have to learn programming from the ground (C++, Max or similar), which I´m afraid of I can´t afford concerning time. But maybe programming little utilities and adjustments of already existing “patches”, I could imagine to be interessted in.
So can this also be a module for people, who are just like to use others “patches” as presets and maybe adjust things here and there in the programming to their preferences?
Or is Bluemchen mainly a “hardcore” programming module, which entrance skills are high to really have fun with the module?
Thank you for your rating and maybe links to interesting examples, which others already realized with it!
The special thing about Bluemchen is that it’s very small and affordable. There’s nothing particularly hardcore about it and in fact it’s got less features than most other Daisy based modules.
Other than that, native patches written for libDaisy are not portable without some tweaks to match specific device’s inputs/outputs/codec and various available peripherals. This ends up with extra fragmentation among user contributed patches as porting existing code to other hardware is only happening occasionally. This contrasts to what OWL does by creating an abstraction level in firmware that allows a single patch binary to run on different devices.
Thank you for your fast reply! Misunderstood this! Though it does not work right away, but nice to know. So I would just need to install Bluemchen.syx and after this any OWL patch I like to run on Bluemchen? Is there a library or can you recommend a forum of users, were I can search and download such OWL patches? Is it this: OWL Patch Library – Rebel Technology ? Does for exampel Befacos Lich`s Firmware also work?
I have been taking the SynthUX Academy Workshops, which teach simple DaisyDuino sketches such as Drone Synth, Sampler/Looper, Karplus-Strong DSP, and converting those over to the kxmx_bluemchen hardware. It’s been a good exercise in strengthening my C++ skills and vs code / GitHub integration. Hopefully this repo can give you some ideas for your own project: GitHub - awonak/synthux-bluemchen: SynthUX Academy workshops on kxmx_bluemchen hardware
Hi @recursinging! Just bought a Daisy Seed board, and found this great project!
I have quite a specific use-case for the board, which requires a certain number of CV and trigger/gate inputs.
Bluemchen doesn’t have the required trig/gate inputs, but I’m wondering if the stereo audio inputs could be repurposed for this use - ie as two independent trigger/gate inputs.
== Update:
I’m guessing from the comments about the alternative “Nehcmeulb” version that that the audio inputs of the original Bluemchen are AC-coupled, and therefore probably not suitable for use for gate/trig.
I think what I probably need is an amalgamation of the two versions, with the MIDI-in and two CV inputs of Bluemchen, but the DC-coupled audio input of Nehcmeulb, and preferably also DC, rather than AC-coupled audio outputs for greater flexibility.
Thanks for for getting back to me @tele_player. I’ll forget about DC-coupled output then, but DC-coupled audio input seems to be an option so I’ll look at remixing Bluemchen and Nehcmeulb if I get a chance.
I’m surprised Daisy went for AC-coupling on the Seed audio outputs, actually. I guess it’s not aimed as specifically at the modular DIY market as some of their other products.
Hi, I just dug out my bluemchen from my drawer to do something with it, I have flashed the hardware_test firmware and there is a problem with the screen - it’s extremenly dim. For a while I thought the whole thing was dead, but no, it is working but the diplay is so dim it’s almost impossible to see anything.
Any clues what might have broken?
It’s a very simple circuit. First thing I’d do is unplug and replug the Daisy Seed, and unplug and replug the Front and Back boards, to make sure they’re making goood contact. I’d also look closely at all solder joints, especially on the headers for the Daisy and the board connectors.
Next thing I’d do is check the voltage on the 3.3v input to the OLED, easily measured on the Daisy Seed. If 3.3v is correct, I’d replace the OLED. If 3.3v isn’t correct I’d try a different Daisy Seed.
