ginkosynthese grains as DIY soon available!

[snaper]

yeah i've done the sudo command listed in giko instructions in terminal and restarted in both osxs

all the vids ive looked at so far just seem to mention that same sudo command as the only instruction that isnt obvious. But unfortunately hasn't worked for me.

I see.
There is another method, where you restart the mac in recovery mode, then there, in Terminal

csrutil enable --without kext

It worked for me.

[Selektro]

signed driver:

https://tzapu.com/making-ch340-ch341-se ... itan-os-x/

hopefully will help save someone some time!

[Selektro]

thanks snaper, i did find that info but then found the signed driver before i tried that. Signed one is fine cheers[/quote]

[Selektro]

apart from a few mentions there isn't any much details or people tinkering with grains apart from those in this thread. And i guess there's lots of unanswered questions and info need relating to versions, bypassing, mods, codes etc all over the place. got me thinking if there is a wiki site or github somewhere ??

[Doublecoolbossman]

Here's a quick soundbite of grains as a bitcrusher type effect, using the grainsring code. I sent a sine wave into input 3 and twiddled knobs, then sent an LFO into input 2.

https://soundcloud.com/user438548283/grainsbitcrusher

[Devon Dumpling]

I’ve built one, and here is my experience. This was only my 2nd kit, plus, I’m a newcomer to the world of modular / synthesis in general / granular synthesis. So this kit might not have been the best choice to start with on reflection, given my knowledge! But I decided to go for it cos it’s a cheap source & I’m on a budget.

I thought the build went well, pretty easy, I took my time. I was quite proud of it tbh. I did have a bit of an issue with the big holes for the pots are, wasn’t quite sure how to solder them - when you put the pot in the PCB, the legs are close to or touching one side of the hole - do you put the iron against that side, or the other side? Took my 18-watt iron quite some time to heat the leg up, but anyway, the whole hole (!) has solder covering it, so I guess that is OK (though I wouldn’t mind seeing some pics of someone else’s Grains).

Cont.

[Devon Dumpling]

Downloading code was fine once I got the correct driver - the one linked to in the instructions and on the Ginko website is out of date, as you all know. I installed the Grains code for v2, powered it on with just the output connected … and I was mighty disappointed if I’m honest. I didn’t know what to expect but it seemed to be just a high-pitched whining. Turning the knobs made some difference but it didn’t seem that nice at all. But then I read earlier in this thread that if you didn’t have anything plugged into input 3 it wasn’t good. Plugged a cable in and it seemed better.

Cont.

[Devon Dumpling]

I saw the video with the Cereals code which I thought sounded great, so installed that instead. And the results were pretty good, quite similar to the video!

However… with Cereals installed, when I turn the pitch (knob 3) beyond about 1 o’clock, the sound just suddenly cuts off (apart from what sounds like static crackles), which doesn’t happen in the video - at the very end (about 55s) knob 3 is turned right the way up and back down, and it seems OK. This happens wherever my other two knobs are.

So has anyone else had this problem? What could it be, apart from shoddy soldering work? I’m doubting my ability to build any more expensive kits at the moment! I’m thinking of re-soldering pot 3 (if I can get the knobs off).

[Devon Dumpling]

I didn't solder C4 lying flat on the PCB like on the drawing but standing up like C6. Does anyone know how that would change things ?

Hi my friend, I must admit I didn't understand your post, because in the instructions I got with my kit (which I got from Thonk) it does not mention that. But when I looked at the manual on the Ginko site, I see that they are different, and you are indeed told to solder C4 lying down. That is definitely not in my instruction sheet. And so C4 is standing up on mine.

The other differences are that one pot does not "have no feet", and the diodes are different!

Seems like the Ginko site is in need of an update - post to latest drivers too. Hooray for Thonk.

[Devon Dumpling]

However… with Cereals installed, when I turn the pitch (knob 3) beyond about 1 o’clock, the sound just suddenly cuts off (apart from what sounds like static crackles), which doesn’t happen in the video - at the very end (about 55s) knob 3 is turned right the way up and back down, and it seems OK. This happens wherever my other two knobs are.

Comparing the video with mine, what seems to be happening is the "range" of pot 3 on my module is "compressed" up to the one o'clock position. So the highest frequency from the module on the vid is fully clockwise, but on mine it is at 1 o'clock, after which there is nothing. It's like the pot is allowing too much voltage through, if that is possible.

Anyone got any idea?

[Bamboombaps]

is it possible to get a pcb and panel only for this?

[milkyjoe]

I uploaded the RZ1 drums V2 firmware to my grains. There seems to be a slight problem: 75% of the time sound is triggered both on the rising and the falling slope of the trigger. Tried both with my BSP and a square from A147.

How to fix?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, i have 3 grains modules and they all have this same behavior. I can use a square wave lfo to trigger fine, but anything else(for instance, the grainsring sketch being clocked from that same square wave lfo) makes it randomly double trigger/flam, which makes it pretty useless.makes NO sense.... VERY strange and VERY disapointing because that sketch is main reason i bought grains....

Did you ever figure out a solution to the problem ?

[a773]

I'm not sure. I did the fix (pictures on previous page in this thread), but I didn't try with the rz drums firmware after applying the fix. My two grains are doing other things (one stock, slightly modified, the other my own clock div/multiple firmware)...

[SLNS]

Aloha!

So, I'm quite new to the modular world and soldering and have zero experience in programming. I guess it's not the best idea to order and build a GRAINS kit then, but I did it anyway

After some hours of careful soldering, triple checking solder joints and some breaks from time to time, it was finally finished, yay! BUT: I'm not able to upload any code to the Arduino. Every time I try to upload something, I get this error:

[...]avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x94

I already installed new drivers and used different USB-ports and cables. I also triple checked my settings in the Arduino environment - everything fine there. Googling didn't help me out so far either.

Next step would be order another cheap Arduino NANO from somewhere else to eliminate the possibility of a broken board. But, as you can imagine, I would love to get the module working without having to wait for another week or so
Simple user error? Broken board? Does anybody know what else I could try?


Cheers,
M

[Devon Dumpling]

Aloha!

So, I'm quite new to the modular world and soldering and have zero experience in programming. I guess it's not the best idea to order and build a GRAINS kit then, but I did it anyway

After some hours of careful soldering, triple checking solder joints and some breaks from time to time, it was finally finished, yay! BUT: I'm not able to upload any code to the Arduino. Every time I try to upload something, I get this error:

[...]avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x94

I already installed new drivers and used different USB-ports and cables. I also triple checked my settings in the Arduino environment - everything fine there. Googling didn't help me out so far either.

Next step would be order another cheap Arduino NANO from somewhere else to eliminate the possibility of a broken board. But, as you can imagine, I would love to get the module working without having to wait for another week or so
Simple user error? Broken board? Does anybody know what else I could try?


Cheers,
M

Hi, I'm pretty new to this too so this may be useless! Have you definitely got Arduino Nano, ATmega328 board & processor specified in the Arduino Tools menu? That's the only thing I can think of. Are you on a Mac? Can you see the device appearing at /dev when you plug it in?

[SLNS]

Hi, I'm pretty new to this too so this may be useless! Have you definitely got Arduino Nano, ATmega328 board & processor specified in the Arduino Tools menu? That's the only thing I can think of. Are you on a Mac? Can you see the device appearing at /dev when you plug it in?

Hi buddy, thanks for the answer! I'm running Windows 7 (64-bit) and made sure to choose the right board, processor and port. Also re-installed the Arduino IDE and drivers, tried different combinations of pressing/releasing the reset button at certain times - still nothing. Tried on another PC with no success either. Guess it's just a faulty board...
I ordered a second Nano from eBay which (hopefully) comes in tomorrow. Will try out and report!


/edit: Yup, the Nano was just faulty, the new one works like a charm - everything fine now
So, how do you guys use the Grains in your setup? Would love to hear some creative ideas in context of a song instead of the simple demos on Youtube/Soundcloud.

[Devon Dumpling]

/edit: Yup, the Nano was just faulty, the new one works like a charm - everything fine now
So, how do you guys use the Grains in your setup? Would love to hear some creative ideas in context of a song instead of the simple demos on Youtube/Soundcloud.

Good news indeed! Very glad to hear that :-) My own Grains is not working exactly as intended, sadly (see my posts above). I am not sure it was a good module to pick as my first proper bit of DIY. But... I really love the Cereals code though, and how it sounds with my semi-functional unit, ha!!

[SLNS]

Hmm. Did you check your soldering joints? I don't know much, but "It's like the pot is allowing too much voltage through" could mean that there is a resistor which actually isn't properly connected (aka soldered) to the circuit -> more voltage than meant to be.
Maybe you could post some hi-res pictures of your PCB to check the joints?

[Mrs_Audio_Boy]

Hello everybody!

I also would like to report about my experience. While I am by far no professional, I gained at least a rudimentary soldering and electronic skills by soldering a couple of training kits which I got from a local electronic retailer, prior to starting assembling DIY Eurorack modules. I already built the AT-AT-AT and the Modseq, which I ordered from Thonk.cu.uk, both of them I like very much. So far, I was enjoying DIYing Eurorack modules, as I am sure you all are.

But now, after getting the Grains (V2.5 1-2016) from Thonl.co.uk, I am kinda question myself. The built was as easy as the other two modules, I double-checked everything as I always did, and the programming the Arduino using the instructions from http://www.ginkosynthese.com/ was a breeze. The problem is: I can't get any sound out of the Grains, no matter what position the knobs are at, or if and what signals I put into any of the three input jacks. I tried to put low-impedance headphones into the out jack and also connected the out jack to the input jack of my Arturia Microbrute and the result is always the same: it's like the jack is dead. I tried to connect the headphones to the inputs 1, 2 and 3. I know you're not supposed to do that but I wanted to test if there is any detectable signals - yes, I hear a clicking noise using all these jacks. But no such luck with the output jack. I checked the soldering on this jack and everything seems to be fine. I tried to reprogram the Arduino several times using different codes without any improvement.

Before I desolder the kit in order to reassemble it again, I wanted to share my experience and ask, if anybody got similar negative results with this module. Maybe I am missing something essential?

If I get it to work, I'll post another message in this thread to report on the cause of the problem.

[daynehacks]

Is there anyway to get the clear panel in North America? I prefer it over the aluminum one!

[NiteEagle]

First post build test of the Ginko Synthese Grains. Great kit. Easy build. I will be having some fun writing code for this Arduino based module.

Anyone know of a good utility to convert wav data to list of integers to be put in the Arduino code?

[/img]

[SLNS]

Take a look here, I think this is exactly what you want. It's also used for encoding files for HRTL's "Cereals" firmware.
Note though that it only uses a 8kb/s MP3 at 8kHz sample rate instead of a high-quality WAV file but I guess that limitation comes from the small Arduino memory and/or the use of PWM output.

[Tropic Al]

There haven't been any new codes updated on the Ginko website for quite a while now.

Resonance-like feedback (coming soon)
Short-wave radio-like warbles and whistles (coming soon)

These two have been 'coming soon' for ages now!

Anyone got any they can share (that aren't already on the site)???

[Mrs_Audio_Boy]

After a couple of tests, I found out that my Grains module does in fact work and produces sound correctly, but only when I connect an USB cable to the Arduino, no matter if the Eurorack ribbon cable is attached to the module or not, and no matter what code I upload to the Arduino. On the Arduino, the "PWR" LED glows very dimly, when the ribbon cable is attached. However, when the USB cable is attached to the Arduino, the "PWR" LED glows brightly, as it should do, and the module seems to respong correctly to input signals an knob movement by producing appropriate sounds.

My questions are:

• Did any of you experience such a behaviour with the Grains?
  Is there a circuit diagram available, which might help me to debug the module by trying to track the electricity flow?

I appreciate any help or suggestions.

[Devon Dumpling]

After a couple of tests, I found out that my Grains module does in fact work and produces sound correctly, but only when I connect an USB cable to the Arduino, no matter if the Eurorack ribbon cable is attached to the module or not, and no matter what code I upload to the Arduino. On the Arduino, the "PWR" LED glows very dimly, when the ribbon cable is attached. However, when the USB cable is attached to the Arduino, the "PWR" LED glows brightly, as it should do, and the module seems to respong correctly to input signals an knob movement by producing appropriate sounds.

My questions are:

• Did any of you experience such a behaviour with the Grains?
  Is there a circuit diagram available, which might help me to debug the module by trying to track the electricity flow?

I appreciate any help or suggestions.

Hi there, that sounds very odd. I personally did not experience this behaviour. Have you emailed the info@ginkosynthese.com? You should be able to get help from them. Or did you try Thonk? They are very friendly & helpful! Best of luck anyway!