Announce Thread: Magpie Modular - uBraids - Braids in 8 HP.

From circuitbending to homebrew stompboxes & synths, keep the DIY spirit alive!

Moderators: luketeaford, Joe., lisa, Kent

Post Reply
User avatar
phidelity
Common Wiggler
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:12 pm

Announce Thread: Magpie Modular - uBraids - Braids in 8 HP.

Post by phidelity » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:36 pm

Hello Everyone
I'm happy to announce that I've managed to get this project in a decent enough shape to share it publicly.

It's a derivative of the Mutable Instruments Braids module where we shrunk down the footprint to half of the original (a miniature 8HP) and added a OLED and atmega chip to drive it. It functions, flashes, operates the same as a regular Braids so you can put whatever firmware you like on it including Tim Churches Bees in the Trees.

For now we are offering PCBs & Panels on our store page

Our Github Page for this project (which I am populating as I go) is at
uBraids Github
I will be uploading a complete BOM, a more fleshed out build guide, schematics and diptrace file in the near future.

Im using the project page & Github as the main repository for information but I will try to answer questions here.


Image
Top
User avatar
thelizard
in it for the money
Posts: 1395
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:27 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Post by thelizard » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:59 pm

Whoa! That's amazing. Awesome idea, and for sure something I'll look into building.
Top
User avatar
GryphonP3
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 1093
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:20 pm
Location: Los Angeles

Post by GryphonP3 » Fri Aug 26, 2016 4:00 pm

Wooooo been waiting for this for a while! Glad to see its finally happening :sb: 2x ordered
My cat can eat a whole watermelon ...
Top
DMR
Wiggling with Experience
Posts: 427
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 1:05 pm

Post by DMR » Fri Aug 26, 2016 4:32 pm

This is neat, should power consumption be the same / about the same?
Top
User avatar
phidelity
Common Wiggler
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:12 pm

Post by phidelity » Fri Aug 26, 2016 8:20 pm

DMR wrote:This is neat, should power consumption be the same / about the same?
It will be braids plus the draw of the OLED which according to adafruit is:

"Display current draw is completely dependent on your usage: each OLED LED draws current when on so the more pixels you have lit, the more current is used. They tend to draw ~15mA or so in practice but for precise numbers you must measure the current in your usage circuit."
Top
User avatar
EATyourGUITAR
has no life
Posts: 5394
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 12:24 am
Location: Providence, RI, USA

Post by EATyourGUITAR » Fri Aug 26, 2016 8:36 pm

adafruit can't give us specs for white screen!? pish posh this is a bugger
WWW.EATYOURGUITAR.COM <---- MY DIY STUFF
Top
User avatar
phidelity
Common Wiggler
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:12 pm

Post by phidelity » Fri Aug 26, 2016 10:13 pm

EATyourGUITAR wrote:adafruit can't give us specs for white screen!? pish posh this is a bugger
this is bad yelp review or write your senator worthy!
Top
User avatar
forbin
Common Wiggler
Posts: 120
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2010 8:29 am
Location: Fremantle, Western Australia

Post by forbin » Fri Aug 26, 2016 10:24 pm

Like the display and panel.

I did have a look at your display INO... is your plan to use the Braids code without modification and get the AVR to pretend to be LED displays?
Top
User avatar
ignatius
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 15492
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:03 pm
Location: oregon
Contact:
Contact ignatius

Post by ignatius » Fri Aug 26, 2016 11:20 pm

this looks great. saw it today. super excited. oleds are great.
Top
User avatar
phidelity
Common Wiggler
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:12 pm

Post by phidelity » Sat Aug 27, 2016 12:32 am

forbin wrote:Like the display and panel.

I did have a look at your display INO... is your plan to use the Braids code without modification and get the AVR to pretend to be LED displays?
yeah, it's a creative/primitive duct tape and efficient cutting of corners to achieve the end goal.

I can think of a number of better ideal situations but many of them require creating a non backwards compatiable fork of the braids code in order to make it happen. For now - its no worse than the original and Im open to improvements :razz:
Top
User avatar
Crashlander42
Common Wiggler
Posts: 206
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:20 pm
Location: Winter Park, FL
Contact:
Contact Crashlander42

Post by Crashlander42 » Sat Aug 27, 2016 1:16 am

I ordered two as soon as I saw you put these up, really looking forward to building these.
Top
User avatar
diablojoy
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 1617
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 9:03 pm
Location: melbourne

Post by diablojoy » Sat Aug 27, 2016 3:33 am

sorely tempted
:moneyburn:
It probably wont happen today but if it does it definitely wont go smoothly.
Top
emilio.pozzolini
1-Post Wiggler
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2016 8:45 pm
Location: Italy

Post by emilio.pozzolini » Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:48 am

Amazing!
I'm considering to swap my 2 braids for these!
Top
User avatar
a773
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 1718
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:21 am
Location: Copenhagen/Denmark
Contact:
Contact a773

Post by a773 » Sat Aug 27, 2016 11:29 am

That looks like fun, ordered a set :party:
Top
User avatar
ambrohski
Common Wiggler
Posts: 236
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:43 pm
Location: Salt lake City

Post by ambrohski » Sat Aug 27, 2016 11:30 am

Whoa, this looks great! :tu:

The first in a series of shrunken MI, I hope?
Top
halandorin
Learning to Wiggle
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 12:15 am
Location: Philadelphia

Post by halandorin » Sat Aug 27, 2016 12:48 pm

I'm definitely going to have to build this!
Top
User avatar
auxren
Veteran Wiggler
Posts: 570
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:05 pm
Location: San Francisco
Contact:
Contact auxren

Post by auxren » Sat Aug 27, 2016 7:06 pm

Any videos of how the menu diving looks?
Top
User avatar
Timmy
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 1236
Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 7:08 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by Timmy » Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:33 pm

auxren wrote:Any videos of how the menu diving looks?
Exactly the same as Braids - the OLED display is just emulating the 4 character LED display on Braids, at least as it stands. Firmware changes to make better use of the OLED would be possible if someone wants to take on the project.
Last edited by Timmy on Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Top
User avatar
auxren
Veteran Wiggler
Posts: 570
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:05 pm
Location: San Francisco
Contact:
Contact auxren

Post by auxren » Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:40 pm

Timmy wrote:
auxren wrote:Any videos of how the menu diving looks?
Exactly the same as Braids - the OLED display is just emulating the 4 character LED display on Braids.
Gotcha. That is just for now... I'll work on making it so the OLED shows more once I build up the modules.
Top
User avatar
Zymos
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 2558
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:14 pm
Location: ABQ,NM

Post by Zymos » Sun Aug 28, 2016 12:47 am

Next can you make micro Elements?
Top
User avatar
bpcmusic
Learning to Wiggle
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2014 3:10 pm

Post by bpcmusic » Sun Aug 28, 2016 1:25 am

Fantastic! Ordered a handful. Can't wait for the BOM; hopefully there are mouser part #s (or equiv) for everything to save hunting...

Love the creative use of the OLED replacement; it is perfect that you kept the core MI firmware AS-IS. Kudos for clever hackery! :)

b
Top
User avatar
diablojoy
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 1617
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 9:03 pm
Location: melbourne

Post by diablojoy » Sun Aug 28, 2016 2:13 am

Fantastic! Ordered a handful. Can't wait for the BOM; hopefully there are mouser part #s (or equiv) for everything to save hunting...
there is a mouser BOM on the magpie site near the bottom of the page don't know just how complete it is - does not include the OLED but that is hardly surprising

oh and yes I ordered one as well :deadbanana:
It probably wont happen today but if it does it definitely wont go smoothly.
Top
User avatar
a773
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 1718
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:21 am
Location: Copenhagen/Denmark
Contact:
Contact a773

Post by a773 » Sun Aug 28, 2016 2:47 am

Timmy wrote:
auxren wrote:Any videos of how the menu diving looks?
Exactly the same as Braids - the OLED display is just emulating the 4 character LED display on Braids, at least as it stands. Firmware changes to make better use of the OLED would be possible if someone wants to take on the project.
As far as I understand, the whole point of this is to not fork the firmware, but to have uBraids 100% compatible softwarwise to MI braids.
Top
User avatar
latigid on
Ultra Wiggler
Posts: 937
Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2013 11:05 am

Post by latigid on » Sun Aug 28, 2016 3:15 am

atte wrote:
Timmy wrote:
auxren wrote:Any videos of how the menu diving looks?
Exactly the same as Braids - the OLED display is just emulating the 4 character LED display on Braids, at least as it stands. Firmware changes to make better use of the OLED would be possible if someone wants to take on the project.
As far as I understand, the whole point of this is to not fork the firmware, but to have uBraids 100% compatible softwarwise to MI braids.
No problem, the OLED runs off its own MCU.
Top
User avatar
a773
Super Deluxe Wiggler
Posts: 1718
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:21 am
Location: Copenhagen/Denmark
Contact:
Contact a773

Post by a773 » Sun Aug 28, 2016 3:30 am

Ok, but wouldn't " make better use of the oled" imply changing things in the braids firmware, hence breaking compatibility?
Top
Post Reply

Return to “Music Tech DIY”