Ming Mecca - Voltage Controlled Videogame Console

jbartee · Post by **jbartee** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:33 pm

Tutorial videos! Wormholes!

[video][/video]

[video][/video]

wcheeese · Post by **wcheeese** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 2:08 pm

As a relative newb to the whole Eurorack world (interested in dabbling in both audio and video), I've been slowly starting with a priority on building a connection in and out of my computer with Expert Sleepers stuff in addition to a few other open-ended modules. My next purchase will be ADDAC's Open Heart Surgery module.

I also picked up a Jones MVIP to dip my toe into some video fun and am thinking about getting a 3TrinsRGB+1c as a kit.

But this Ming Mecca ranks up there on my shortlist of hybrid fun right next to ADDAC's Open Heart Surgery! So damn original and full of such unique ways to engage it seems.

Glad I found out about this truly original Eurorack module!

lerba · Post by **lerba** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:39 am

This has great potential for live show visuals

johyde · Post by **johyde** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 5:23 pm

that really is a great trailer - hadn't seen if before. Good job!

jbartee · Post by **jbartee** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 12:30 pm

Hello! I know it's super short notice, but I wanted to let you folks know that I'm giving a talk + Ming Mecca demo at Oberlin's Playfest this Friday. Come check it out if you're in the area! there's gonna be lots of great stuff going on.

https://playfestivaloberlin.wordpress.c ... -schedule/

monads · Post by **monads** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 3:14 pm

jbartee wrote:We're hoping to add an optional 480i CVBS output mode to the World Core via a firmware update at some point down the road, which would make it TBC compatible. And obviously the expander, further down the road, would make integration much simpler.

Any development on the above, namely the expander???

jbartee · Post by **jbartee** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 4:11 pm

monads wrote:
jbartee wrote:We're hoping to add an optional 480i CVBS output mode to the World Core via a firmware update at some point down the road, which would make it TBC compatible. And obviously the expander, further down the road, would make integration much simpler.
Any development on the above, namely the expander???

It's still on the books, I was just discussing it with Liz a couple days ago actually.

We've both been really busy pushing through our production cycles (Liz with visual cortex and me finishing up Ming Mecca shipments) but it looks like there will be some time to dedicate to this soon.

Liz is taking the lead on it since she knows way more about analog video than I do. It will probably be released as an LZX module.

monads · Post by **monads** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:04 am

Thanks for the update Jordan! Liz is super busy with production (TBC, VWG, Visual Cortex, XY Series, etc.)......hope she can find some time to put the interface module on the table.

Sandrine · Post by **Sandrine** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:36 pm

daverj wrote:
brent wrote:Unreal. It looks like a fairly slender panel too. Is this just the magic of Arduino or something? Impressive regardless. I love how they've got a Commodore monitor in that one pic.
It uses a "Propeller" CPU from Parallax, which is basically a multi-core chip with 8 PIC clones in it.

That is one amazing chip! I came to this part of the forum to mention it after discovering it yesterday. Long live the Basic Stamp. (oops my age is showing!)

monads · Post by **monads** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:04 pm

jbartee wrote:
monads wrote:
jbartee wrote:We're hoping to add an optional 480i CVBS output mode to the World Core via a firmware update at some point down the road, which would make it TBC compatible. And obviously the expander, further down the road, would make integration much simpler.
Any development on the above, namely the expander???
It's still on the books, I was just discussing it with Liz a couple days ago actually.

We've both been really busy pushing through our production cycles (Liz with visual cortex and me finishing up Ming Mecca shipments) but it looks like there will be some time to dedicate to this soon.

Liz is taking the lead on it since she knows way more about analog video than I do. It will probably be released as an LZX module.

6mos later, any update progress on LZX compatibility or interfacing options??? Still curious about this.

cskonopka · Post by **cskonopka** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 1:54 pm

Same! I've been trying to investigate how to do it. Ultimately there should be a converter style module instead of an adapter. I'm wondering if the TBC would work or not with this. Does anyone know if the TBC would do it or you still need to fox with the sync?

Jasper · Post by **Jasper** » Sun Sep 13, 2015 2:28 pm

monads wrote:

6mos later, any update progress on LZX compatibility or interfacing options??? Still curious about this.

3rd'd

msegarra · Post by **msegarra** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 5:31 am

bump just to keep the dream alive, my ming mecca is lonely.

spacenoodle · Post by **spacenoodle** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 10:53 am

He has a Visual Cortex so I'm certain he's taking steps. And according to the FB and Twitter pages he's working on new Ming Mecca modules so maybe that's why he's been quiet here. Great things to come!

https://www.facebook.com/specialstagesystems?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/jpbartee

spacenoodle · Post by **spacenoodle** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 11:54 am

I've got it working with a Panasonic DMR-E85H DVD/hard disk recorder. The output is 480i component. Conveniently, it just passes the converted signal through when it's on. This will also work with a Philips DVDR-985, although they are considerably less reliable and more bulky than the Panasonic.

monads · Post by **monads** » Tue May 17, 2016 10:45 pm

jbartee wrote:I'm pretty confidant that the converters I'm testing are going to work. One is the Ambery composite to component converter. It can be a little fiddley, requiring disconnecting and reconnecting the composite video input 2 or 3 times when it first powers on before it will lock onto the Ming Mecca sync correctly, but once it locks it's rock solid 240p to 480i conversion and surprisingly high quality for such a cheap box. Just need to get the Visual Cortex in to make absolutely sure it's output is compatible with the module.

Well for those wondering....I tried the Ambery device and while it locks to Ming Mecca I can't get the Visual Cortex to lock to it. The image doesn't even display correctly so I wouldn't recommend anyone try. Another connection that's not compatible is connecting Ming Mecca directly to the Dave Jones MVIP. The image will display correctly, but it scrolls vertically. No lock.

Besides trying the mentioned Panasonic DMR-E85H DVD/hard disk recorder by spacenoodle, and without an expander module and/or firmware update...I'm thinking the last resort is to record Ming Mecca, save the video and use the HD Player module connected to the TBC which is then connected to the Visual Cortex for proper sync. I really don't want a bulky DVD/hard disk recorder for this to work.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd share my experiments to save time for others and not waste money on the Ambery device specifically for trying to sync Ming Mecca to Ambery to Visual Cortex.

cskonopka · Post by **cskonopka** » Wed May 18, 2016 12:13 am

monads wrote:
jbartee wrote:I'm pretty confidant that the converters I'm testing are going to work. One is the Ambery composite to component converter. It can be a little fiddley, requiring disconnecting and reconnecting the composite video input 2 or 3 times when it first powers on before it will lock onto the Ming Mecca sync correctly, but once it locks it's rock solid 240p to 480i conversion and surprisingly high quality for such a cheap box. Just need to get the Visual Cortex in to make absolutely sure it's output is compatible with the module.
Well for those wondering....I tried the Ambery device and while it locks to Ming Mecca I can't get the Visual Cortex to lock to it. The image doesn't even display correctly so I wouldn't recommend anyone try. Another connection that's not compatible is connecting Ming Mecca directly to the Dave Jones MVIP. The image will display correctly, but it scrolls vertically. No lock.

Besides trying the mentioned Panasonic DMR-E85H DVD/hard disk recorder by spacenoodle, and without an expander module and/or firmware update...I'm thinking the last resort is to record Ming Mecca, save the video and use the HD Player module connected to the TBC which is then connected to the Visual Cortex for proper sync. I really don't want a bulky DVD/hard disk recorder for this to work.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd share my experiments to save time for others and not waste money on the Ambery device specifically for trying to sync Ming Mecca to Ambery to Visual Cortex.

Woahhhhh friend, that is intense. I'm sorry you had to deal with that spiral, becomes so addictive!

Ok, so let's spin the wheel of madness ...

I assume you did but have you tried a rack mounted TBC outside of the system? Then take the out to the rig yet this is a bulky solution.

Off the wall solution is getting a simple USB capture and hook that up to either a Raspberry Pi (which I'm pretty definite there are a few distros doing this). There must be a way in Linux to do this. Or you could try a Kangaroo mini PC (windows : $100) + a USB capture. So run the software on the roo and full screen it, then take the HDMI out of the roo into an HDMI to composite (roughly $20 on amazon) and bring it back to your system. From there you could do all sorts of other bananas stuff. And this works with the LZX TBC, VSG and MVIP. Outside of that it's just a capture + a bigger computer or a VCR maybe? Would need a VCR with a TBC but you are entering the bulk zone.

Even more out there you could do it wireless but that gets even more absurd when you add venues/wifi/more human+phone influence. Some way using Node and streaming using WebRTC.

Could try to send it over antenna but you won't get the same definition but that's more of a studio thing. Then go from an RF modulator to VGA or composite.

Have you tried the 3Trins? This potentially could work, I did not have it at the time I started with the roo.

Outside of that, did you try many mixers?

Couldn't help myself

monads · Post by **monads** » Wed May 18, 2016 8:56 am

Didn't try the 3Trins, any mixers, or other bulky device (i.e. DVD disk recorder).

The simplest solution is the Expander module mentioned, that sadly doesn't exist

monads · Post by **monads** » Wed May 18, 2016 9:06 am

I was also wondering if maybe the new LZX Cadet I Sync Generator was an option with Ming Mecca? I don't want to take the chance and find out that it doesn't without some confirmation.

wednesdayayay · Post by **wednesdayayay** » Wed May 18, 2016 10:30 am

when I get my ming micro I'll send it through the V4 into the LZX

eth · Post by **eth** » Thu May 19, 2016 1:12 am

monads wrote:Didn't try the 3Trins, any mixers, or other bulky device (i.e. DVD disk recorder).

The simplest solution is the Expander module mentioned, that sadly doesn't exist

Did you try a broadcast/rackmount/external time base corrector? Curious if this worked for you.

monads · Post by **monads** » Thu May 19, 2016 9:34 am

eth wrote:Did you try a broadcast/rackmount/external time base corrector? Curious if this worked for you.

I didn't try since I don't own any of these types of devices. These can be expensive options! One of the cheapest external units I found was the AV Toolbox AVT-8710 at $200-230.

Dirty_Bill · Post by **Dirty_Bill** » Thu May 19, 2016 12:11 pm

monads wrote:
eth wrote:Did you try a broadcast/rackmount/external time base corrector? Curious if this worked for you.
I didn't try since I don't own any of these types of devices. These can be expensive options! One of the cheapest external units I found was the AV Toolbox AVT-8710 at $200-230.

Used Broadcast TBCs can be had for ~$50 on eBay. If you were a little closer I'd swing one over to test with.

One of the issues I see (from the literature) is that the MM outputs 160x192 60FPS progressive, making any cheap or old device unlikely to be able to accept the input (unless it's a CRT, which aren't very picky about signal as long as close to proper sync is present...

have you contacted Jordan at SSS about possible options?

eth · Post by **eth** » Thu May 19, 2016 11:36 pm

monads wrote:
eth wrote:Did you try a broadcast/rackmount/external time base corrector? Curious if this worked for you.
I didn't try since I don't own any of these types of devices. These can be expensive options! One of the cheapest external units I found was the AV Toolbox AVT-8710 at $200-230.

I feel your pain. I have two 1U broadcast TBCs from eBay that were $20-50 a pop. Useful, but really inconveniently large. A small, cheap TBC (not LZX format necessarily) is something I've been looking to prototype for a while, which is why I'm asking. Basically just a video decoder (TI has a chip which apparently locks to weak, noisy, unstable analog video signals), video frame buffer, and multi-format output encoder. Seems like it could be useful in situations like these where two separate devices don't want to play nice.

monads · Post by **monads** » Thu May 26, 2016 11:09 pm

spacenoodle wrote:I've got it working with a Panasonic DMR-E85H DVD/hard disk recorder. The output is 480i component. Conveniently, it just passes the converted signal through when it's on. This will also work with a Philips DVDR-985, although they are considerably less reliable and more bulky than the Panasonic.

I went ahead and tried as spacenoodle, but with a lower version model; Panasonic DMR-E80H DVD/hard disk recorder

It has the same component spec. It works fine as reported. I did notice the pass through signal (when static) has a noticeable, almost instantenous refresh rate. It's super minor, and you will not be able to tell/notice this with Ming Mecca being animated/CVd. I just thought I should point this out.

The below worked perfectly with the Panasonic model:

-Component connection connected to the Visual Cortex, locked fine.
-RCA Video Out to the LZX TBC, and the TBC to Visual Cortex. No problems.
-RCA Video Out to MVIP. No problems.

So..although I would've liked to have a module to avoid a bulky recorder to accomplish the above it's no big deal. I can also save modular space for other video modules!!! I grabbed a working player w/remote for $120. You can likely save money by going with a broken unit (optical drive). If a expander module is ever released, I'll still purchase one just to have on hand

MUFF WIGGLER

MUFF WIGGLER

Ming Mecca - Voltage Controlled Videogame Console