News

ZEIT Version 02-10 was released into the wild earlier this month. We expected one or two issues but so far, so good, as they say. Quietly pleased.

19-May-24 : Zyra : New Product Announcement

We're delighted to announce a new product, Zyra.

Zyra is a combination of step sequencer, drum machine, sample playback engine, rompler, polyphonic synthesiser, USB audio interface and a whole lot more. This is an early prototype of what is, rather obviously, a very capable system. We're still in the process of figuring out exactly what it will do.

We'll be posting videos of work-in-progress on our YouTube channel over the summer. The target release date is Christmas 2024.

I'm presently going through each and every step in the new software, version 02-10, hunting for code that isn't to specification or just doesn't work. It's been an interesting journey. For instance...

In verison 02-10, you can change the way the knobs behave. Originally, the routing was fixed - row one was for note pitch, row two and row three were for the controllers one and two respectively. In the new system, you can send any of the rows to any of the following:

1. Note Pitch
2. Note Velocity
3. Gate Length
4. Repeat Count
5. Step Probability
6. Controller One
7. Controller Two

That change is now in place and working as it should. Similarly, the File Renaming Scheme has been reworked in the last week so that it's more intuitive.

The Scene Manager isn't quite right yet. I'll sort that next week.

ATEM support - I now have all of the boards required to build the ATEM test unit. See? I said you hadn't been forgotten!

14-Mar-24 : Software Release 02-10 Part One

Software version 02-10 is nearing release. Whilst this update will be fairly complete, it won't be the final version for the new CPU boards. I've updated the list of those features that won't appear in the 02-10. Don't worry. It's not that big...

1. The Composer
2. Edit Hold

See! I said it wasn't all that big...

09-Mar-24 : i/o boards IV

I built up four of the new i/o boards - two switch boards and two potentiometer boards - and they worked perfectly first time. I'm pleased. We can now offer a replacement service should any of the boards fail in the field. We'll also offer an upgrade service especially for the potentiometer boards. Fitted with the Thonk 10K potentiometers, the feel is amazing and exactly what it should have been twenty years ago.

04-Mar-24 : i/o boards III

The re-worked i/o boards for the re-engineered ZEIT sequencers arrived last week. They're a perfect fit. Even better, I tested these boards against a couple of Thonk's 9mm pots. They're also a perfect fit and they feel very solid and very reliable.

This resolves a long-standing quality issue with these sequencers in that the only potentiometers available at the time (2003) and at a resonable cost were made by ALPS, and they never, ever felt right. We could have used more expensive alternatives but that would pushed the cost of the sequencer to the point where it was no longer viable i.e. £5 per pot x 48 pots = £240!!!!

Pleased.

09-Mar-24 : i/o boards II

I built up four of the new i/o boards - two switch boards and two potentiometer boards - and they worked perfectly first time. I'm pleased. We can now offer a replacement service should any of the boards fail in the field. We'll also offer an upgrade service especially for the potentiometer boards. Fitted with the Thonk 10K potentiometers, the feel is amazing and exactly what it should have been twenty years ago.

27-Feb-24 : i/o boards I

The new i/o boards arrived yesterday. They fit perfectly and I'm optimistic that they'll work exactly as intended.

This is good news. It means that we'll be in a position to begin building a small batch of products that were shelved roughly fifteen years ago when supplier problems crippled the company.

Fingers crossed.