Hardware audio sampler based on Raspberry Pi 3 B, running on linux
It's an audio sampler with bunch of knobs and oldschool LED segment screen, giving analog feeling, dedicated to live-edit samples stored in a usb key. It's easily linked to other instruments using usb-midi.
Features
- 8 knobs, 5 buttons, 1 parameters 3P switch, 3 leds, mini jack output
- stereo & polyphonic, up to 8 voices
- 44100Hz 16bits realtime playback & editing
- WAV support through the usb key, with live-plug support
- usb midi input, supporting multiple devices
- one shot, loop and instrument play modes
- per-sample time & loop selection, stereo amplifier, formant, distortion & bitcrusher filters
- global equalizer, low pass moog, high pass, resonance & noises filters
Known issues
- latency, when using load of midi & samples/effects you will experience some delay, just deal with it. I have added the "silence" parameter which allow to resync things a bit...
- some glitches / cracks, there is no auto smoothing, so you hear exactly whats going on, there are parameters to avoid it (like the envelop), this requires just a bit of mastering the whole thing
- when playing midi full instrument you need to lower the sample volume else it mays saturate
Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR3fEFrejnU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFAxQr971z0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87chFwOwE38
Manual
(0) display current edited value
Bank :
(1) select bank, basically a folder full of wavs in the main samples/ directory
The bank 0 is the global bank : first sample contains the global parameters, main volume, filters, ... next samples are the current used samples (attached to midi), note this list is updated when switching bank so you can detach/re-attach used samples.
(2) lights up if bank is loaded
(3) load or unload the bank - if on global bank : stop all samples
(4) save the bank (all parameters & midi settings) - if on global bank : detach all samples
Sample :
(5) select sample, a 16bits 44100Hz WAV file inside the bank folder
(6) switch mode :
- one shot : just play it til the end (default)
- loop : one press to start the loop, one press to stop it
- instrument : use whole midi device, pitch linked to notes
(7) midi attach/detach :
- tap it one time, then the next received midi key is attached. Note: a sample has a single attachment. If you switch another control before a note is received, it just cancel the tap.
- tap it two time to detach it
The LED displays if the sample is attached.
(8) play the sample, the LED displays if the sample is playing
(9) select parameters to assign to the (10) knobs :
Global params:
0. Volume Pan Stereo EQ Low EQ Medium EQ High
1. LP CutOff LP Resonance HP CutOff HP Resonance Dry/Wet Resonance
2. Noise Noise Texture Clicks Clicks Texture Clicks Pitch Noise Mixer
Sample params:
0. Volume Pan Stereo Formant Distortion BitCrusher
1. Start Env Attack Env Release Stop Pitch Semi-Tone Pitch Fine-Tune
2. Loop Start Loop Attack Loop Release Loop Stop Silence Legato
Hardware parts :
- Raspberry 3 Model B V1.2
- 16GB micro SD card HC
- USB key to store samples
- noise free USB audio card PCM2704
- Adafruit T-Cobbler+ (for soldering safety & case design)
- 7-segment LED HT16K33 Backpack
- x8 rotary encoder (Electronics AB 9302540010), remove the guts on the parameters knobs (smoother)
- 1 switch - 3 positions
- 3 led
- 5 buttons
- cables, tools, ...
USB Key
It should contains a root folder named samples, and some folders (banks) containing the 44100Hz 16bits wav files. I use FAT32.
SD Card
It requires a 16GB micro SDHC card, the image is here : https://downloads.kstorm.org/2020-06-03_ksamp.img Just put it using kind of :
dd bs=4M if=ksamp.img of=/dev/sdx
root filesystem is mounted as read-only, so no worry about brutals/usuals power off.
Developer Manual
You can either modify things right on the raspberry (textmode only) or use your laptop with code::blocks via SSH & Samba. It's based on a custom Gentoo kernel, using openrc, alsalibs, bcm2835, ... (note: you may use windows since we build on the Pi using SSH...)
Steps :
- pi is power off
- move the sdcard into your laptop and mount it :
mount /dev/sdcx /mnt/usb
- remove the read-only protection:
vi /mnt/usb/etc/fstab
remove the ",ro" flag on the root filesystem
- put the sdcard into the pi
- plug a network cable from pi to your box
- connect alim, it powers on
- grab its IP (should be 192.168.1.45), either by connecting to hdmi tv or your box
- connect using ssh:
ssh -l root 192.168.1.45
password: sampler
- stop sampler running
mv ~/.bash_profile ~/.bash_profile.old
- reboot the pi
- reconnect ssh
- mount the sampler on your laptop using samba :
mount //192.168.1.45/sampler sampler/ -o guest
-> then you have sampler the binary, sources/ containing src & code::blocks project so you can modify, and build/run from the ssh window.
git is installed so you may pull updates/push things.
- when finished :
add the ",ro" flag in /etc/fstab (mmcblk0p3)
mv ~/.bash_profile.old ~/.bash_profile
reboot
- enjoy!
Board
I build the case in wood, got the oldschool chrome buttons from my father. I could make a full plan of the case but it all depends on the components you choose. For the choosen encoders I needed 3mm wood, the panel is 6mm wood, had/have a stock of wood but I have all made with what I have, total price is already high. I wanted to keep the thing tight, so the panel brokes, dont forget to buy some good paintable wood-glue... Maybe I'll make a 3d print version in the future, but wont be that fun !
300ppi.
If you need more details about how to fit all those, send mail/pm.