I wonder if an "all digital" modular synth setup would be interesting.
It seems like a lot of parts shortages are for analog components (ADCs, DACs, Op Amps).
The amodem stuff I'm doing is 8mbaud, which should be enough for 6x 44.1kbps 16-bit PCM signals, plus a ton of "CV".
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a puzzle that someone asked me once that I haven’t solved - is it possible to make hardware that feels like plugging modules together, but instead of control voltages it’s doing something smart to map which plugs are linked to each other, to build a digital map of the network
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Sure, you could have outputs that emit a digital pattern periodically and then inputs could read them to identify which output they are connected to.
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Yeah, I think that could work! I mention that a bit in this tweet: twitter.com/bitshiftmask/s.
Not what I'm looking for here, but definitely a thing that would be interesting!
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Replying to @tannewt and @theavalkyrie
Yeah! I'm thinking RS-485 for a couple reasons (rather than I2S), but sticking with digital signals node to node, so each still acts like a standalone module.
Having a "modular patchbay" that really is just a physical UI over something like PD on the backend could be interesting
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I think you could do all the DSP with one computer. ARM Cortex A are ridiculously powerful now, no need to send digital audio around just need to know what is patched where.
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's idea of capturing the connectivity crossed my mind before, basically using the panel only as a user interface
to run audio over the cables seems to be a lot of work with little extra benefit. digital audio needs synced streams when merging
The idea would be to just make a modular version of something like this