of Microprocessors

standard scales or 8 user specified scales.
Notes latched in an arpeggiator is another option. When a zone is touched, the
corresponding note-on is generated. If contact is maintained and the player's
finger moves away from the initial contact point, a MIDI controller, like pitch
bend or modulation, is activated to modify the note. A different mode
continuously tracks finger movement through the virtual zones and plays their
notes as it passes through thus producing a variety of strumming and arpeggiation
effects. And one can have two or even three of these going on at once for those
with 3 hands.
Likely the biggest problem is that the feature set outgrew the user interface. There
are 135 general parameters and 16 arpeggiator parameters nearly all of which may
have different values in the 3 layers. That plus 21 global parameters, most of
which specify signal routing, is just too much to communicate via a 2x20
character display, a few LEDs, and 10 programming buttons.
A PC based editor would certainly help and the software "hooks" are there but
Windows software development is something we're really lacking in.
As for marketing, I understand its failure to become a hit product.
Jeff Cordero did a great job programming the "factory" setups but of necessity
they had to be generalized which means that a bit of programming is necessary for
any particular store display configuration. And its a fact of life now that if a new
instrument doesn't do great things, right out of the box with little initial skill
required, then its going to miss 90% of the market right off the bat. Perhaps if it
had a built-in synth too, like the Roland D-Beam and Alesis " "air" controllers, it
would have done better in stores.
Still I've some great ideas for V2!
SONIK : What is the story with the Kurzweil MASS chip?
HAL : The MASS chip (Multimedia Advanced Sample playback System I
believe) was developed in 1994-95 primarily to address the developing high-end
sound card market. It was marketed to other manufacturers for use in their own
non-keyboard products. If you remember, at that time a mainstream PC had a 486
processor so software synthesis was just a glimmer in a few programmers' eyes.
And the typical sound card had a Yamaha FM chip or if one was lucky, an
Ensoniq "wavetable" chip with a half-meg General Midi ROM. Unfortunately
MASS never made it into big time sound cards or got integrated into
motherboards as was hoped but the few products that did incorporate it were
highly regarded.
SONIK : What standard DSP chips that are currently available, do you think
would be worth looking at? (eg Motorola 56000, Coldfire etc.)