open skinnerbox

mono lancet control

2012-01-19T04:28:00.000-08:00

nu m4l patch to control the midi attributes of the vermona mono-lancet synth.
also includes a simple lfo -> pwm

get it here

2 years

2011-10-09T04:29:00.001-07:00

listen to our whole debut album from 2009 free online!!

king of spades and marmalades by skinnerbox

impro takes from 2005

2011-08-30T05:41:00.001-07:00

Skinnerbox - the ill sessions (2005) by Skinnerbox on Mixcloud

it´s ready!!!

2011-05-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

the sbx spaceship is ready! cliplauncher on the right monome, mlr clone + realtime step recording drums on the left monome, and on the middle an arduino based self built controller(still missing some caps for the potentiometers tho!). this is a very early demo, all done with live + max4live.

14bit pitchbend to cv

2011-03-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

this simple patch takes 14bit pitchbend data and use it to send cv to control the VCA/VCF of the jupiter6. will probably work with other synths as well. note that this will work only with soundcards that has DC-coupled outputs, such as "motu".
help file included in the patch.

get it here!

new performance setup on the way

2011-02-28T06:24:00.003-08:00

just a tease - details to follow...

nu mix for electronic beats online!

2011-02-03T06:27:00.000-08:00

check out our nu exclusive mix for electronic beats!

sbx CubicDegrade

2011-01-25T13:21:00.001-08:00

CubicDegrade is actually a downsampling device but with a twist.

It performs regular downsampling when you decrease the "Degrade" value.
Then a 4-point (cubic) interpolation on the last four samples recreates a continuos signal curve.
This "flattens" the steps/ jumps that occur when a signal is downsampled.

Practically it´s a hi-cut filter with a strong harmonic distortion.
Unlike usual hi-cut filters the parts of the signal above the cutoff-frequency are not diminished in amplitude. Instead they are "reflected" at the cutoff-freqency and fold back onto the remaining spectrum. This is because downsampling is performed here. So this is substantially a brickwall filter.

Because of the foldover it also creates remarkeble sub(non)harmonic content the more you downsample. So with low values of "Degrade" it´s a quite powerful subbass generator also.

get it here!

very old untitled analog stuff

2011-01-08T14:56:00.000-08:00

3 very old one shot hardware tracks, kind of a follow up to the pre skinnerbox times,
get them here!

shape of things to come

2011-01-08T13:16:00.001-08:00

mixing a bunch of nu stuff for a forthcoming release, big news will be revealed soon, stay tuned!

before we were skinnerbox

2010-11-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

before we became skinnerbox- the quatro-successful teen idols we are, or in other words - before everything went wrong, we have been making improvised electro-acoustic music using everything from prepared pianos to chainsaws + reverb tail of at least 7 min(sorry for that) .
as our successful musical marriage is turning 8 years old this november we decided to put some of the old stuff online for free download

the link contains a zip file with two folders. the first is excerpts from 2002/3 and the second is a complete one hour piece for electric guitar , mobile phone and a minimoog named "constellation#1" (2003).

download here

2049!

2010-06-24T04:01:00.000-07:00

the sbx 2049 fm based drum machine is out! watch the movie and grab it here!

sbx parameter sidechain

2010-06-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

and yet another m4l patch this week.. this time, the "sbx_prmtr_schain" which let you take an incoming signal and use it to modulate parameters of any device or plugin inside live. it has some cool features such as envelope, modulation range, eq and offset. click on "help" for further info....

grab it here!

memoryBOX

2010-06-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

here´s a tiny helpful m4l patch we wrote to store playing clips in ableton live and come back to them later.
as we dont work we scenes but rather improvise with a huge sound pool
its very handy to be able to come back to a certain musical idea from 2 minutes ago just by pressing a button ;)

pressing cue will keep the current clips in a "buffer" and pressing call will launch them. the random button will randomly trigger samples in the session. currently only for 6 channels, but should be no problem to expand.

get it here!

credits to Vayner for his "M4L.api.observe64tracks" abstraction

new code for the 16x4x3

2010-02-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

an improved code,written by olaf. the main virtue of this one against the old one is that the multiplexing section is now "outputing" a string of input+i.d, so you could easily tag your inputs. there is however some decoding to be done on the max/msp side as shown on the foto below.
the 595 part is still credited to sebastian tomczak aka little scale.


// 16x4x3 www.openskinnerbox.blogspot.com , 2010



//Pin connected to ST_CP of 74HC595

int latchPin = 8;

//Pin connected to SH_CP of 74HC595

int clockPin = 12;

////Pin connected to DS of 74HC595

int dataPin = 11;

byte data1;

byte data2;

byte data3;

// ----------------------------- MUXES -------------------------------

const byte APin = 2;            // Pins for 4051-Control

const byte BPin = 3;            // ...

const byte CPin = 4;            // ...

byte row = 0;            // store bin code

byte r0 = 0;             // Input selection value...

byte r1 = 0;

byte r2 = 0;

byte count = 0;          // just a count

// -------------------------------------------------------------------

const byte numControls = 40;     // Amount of Knobs

const byte ctrlOffset = 1;      // start scanning at this Controller (min 1 !!!)

const byte hysteresis = 10;      // Hysteresis (0 = off)

byte analogInputPin;            // Pin for analog Input

int value;                      // read analog Input to here

int oldValue  [numControls];    // Value read last time

int lowerLimit[numControls];    // Hysteresis window

int upperLimit[numControls];    // ...

const byte startbyte = 254;     // data block indicators...

const byte stopbyte = 255;      // ...

byte lobyte = 0;                // 5 bit...

byte hibyte = 0;                // and the other 5 bit of the value

// ===================================================================

void setup()

{

  for (count=0; count// clear Hysteresis-Windows

  {

    lowerLimit[count] = 0;

    upperLimit[count] = lowerLimit[count] + hysteresis;

  }

// -------------SETUP ARDUINO-----------------

  pinMode(APin, OUTPUT);        // Set 4051-Control Pins as Outputs...

  pinMode(BPin, OUTPUT);

  pinMode(CPin, OUTPUT);

  digitalWrite(APin, LOW);      // set the 4051 to Input 0...

  digitalWrite(BPin, LOW);

  digitalWrite(CPin, LOW);

  

  pinMode(latchPin, OUTPUT);     // 595

  Serial.begin(57600);

// -------------------------------------------

}



// =====================================================================================

// ===================================== M A I N =======================================

// =====================================================================================

void loop()

{

  for (count=(ctrlOffset-1); count<(numControls+ctrlOffset-1); count++)

  {

    switch (count+1)

    {

//     case 29: break;        // following inputs are not connected, so don´t check them!

//      case 31: break;

//      case 40: break;

//      case 41: break;

      case 42: break;

      case 43: break;

      case 44: break;

      case 45: break;

      case 46: break;

      case 47: break;

      default:

      {

// -------------------- set the MUXES ---------------------

        row = count & 7;        // wrap count between 0 and 7

        r0 = row & 1;

        r1 = (row >> 1) & 1; 

        r2 = (row >> 2) & 1; 

        digitalWrite(APin, r0);       // set 4051 Input...

        digitalWrite(BPin, r1); 

        digitalWrite(CPin, r2);

// ---------------------------------------------------------



        analogInputPin = count >> 3;       // div. count by 8



        value = analogRead(analogInputPin);



        if ((value<=upperLimit[count]) && (value>=lowerLimit[count]))    // no change...

        { }                                                              // ... no operation.

        else 

        {                                               // Otherwise set new Hysteresis-window...

          if (value>upperLimit[count])

          {

            upperLimit[count] = value;

            lowerLimit[count] = upperLimit[count] - hysteresis;

          }

          else

          {

            lowerLimit[count] = value;

            upperLimit[count] = lowerLimit[count] + hysteresis;

          }



          lobyte = value >> 5;                          // ... split value...

          hibyte = value & 31;



          Serial.print(startbyte);                      // ... and send out a packet!

          Serial.print(count);

          Serial.print(lobyte);

          Serial.print(hibyte);

          Serial.print(stopbyte);





          delayMicroseconds(10000);

        }

      }

    }

  }



if(Serial.available() > 2) {

data1 = Serial.read();

data2 = Serial.read();

data3 = Serial.read();

digitalWrite(latchPin, 0);

shiftOut(dataPin, clockPin, data1);

shiftOut(dataPin, clockPin, data2);

shiftOut(dataPin, clockPin, data3);

digitalWrite(latchPin, 1);

}

}

void shiftOut(int myDataPin, int myClockPin, byte myDataOut) {

int i=0;

int pinState;

pinMode(myClockPin, OUTPUT);

pinMode(myDataPin, OUTPUT);

digitalWrite(myDataPin, 0);

digitalWrite(myClockPin, 0);

for (i=7; i>=0; i--) {

digitalWrite(myClockPin, 0);

if ( myDataOut & (1<pinState= 1;

}

else {

pinState= 0;

}

digitalWrite(myDataPin, pinState);

digitalWrite(myClockPin, 1);

digitalWrite(myDataPin, 0);

}

digitalWrite(myClockPin, 0);

}

the sbx 16x4x3 files

2009-11-07T06:22:00.000-08:00

introduction to the 16x4x3

this post assumes that you have *some* very basic knowledge of electronics and programming. if not, google is your best friend, it is really easy to learn!

the 16x4x3 is a chase light step sequencer, capable of sequencing 12 voices. additionally it has 4 shift buttons which control different functions and 2 potentiometers. but first of all, its just a box with buttons and lights. the 16x4x3 is based on the arduino, a great open source / open hardware micro controller.
the arduino is used to read button and potentiometer/mode-selector data thru its analog inputs and to control the led´s thru its digital outputs. the actual sequencing is happening inside a max/msp patch. the reason for this, is that it allows us to easily change the functionality of the box and not bounding it to one firmware.

as we want to connect 20 buttons, 2 potentiometers
and a 12 scale mode-selector, we need a total of 34 inputs. additionally, we want to control 20 led´s, so we need 20 digital outputs. the arduino has 6 analog inputs and 14 digital inputs/outputs, which is obviously not enough, so we are going to use five 4051 analog multiplexers to multiply our analog inputs and create a total of 40 inputs, and three 595 shift registers to multiply our digital outputs and create a total of 24 outputs.

data sheet, info and arduino tutorial of the 4051 multiplexer

data sheet, info and arduino tutorial of the 595 shift register

daisy-chaining five 4051´s for button input schematics(click for larger view):

daisy-chaining three 595´s for led control schematics(click for larger view):

the arduino code:

// credits and respect to Sebastian Tomczak (little scale)
// for all the useful information and help ive found in his blog
// during the 16x4x3 project. openskinnerbox 2009

int latchPin = 8;
int clockPin = 12;
int dataPin = 11;

byte data1;
byte data2;
byte data3;
byte data;

void setup() {

Serial.begin(57600);
DDRD = B00011110;
pinMode(latchPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
for(int i = 0; i < 40; i++) {

PORTD = (i % 8) << 2;

data = (analogRead(i / 8)) / 4;

Serial.print(data);
}
delay(5);
if(Serial.available() > 2) {

data1 = Serial.read();

data2 = Serial.read();

data3 = Serial.read();

digitalWrite(latchPin, 0);

shiftOut(dataPin, clockPin, data1);

shiftOut(dataPin, clockPin, data2);

shiftOut(dataPin, clockPin, data3);

digitalWrite(latchPin, 1);

}

}

void shiftOut(int myDataPin, int myClockPin, byte myDataOut) {

int i=0;

int pinState;

pinMode(myClockPin, OUTPUT);

pinMode(myDataPin, OUTPUT);

digitalWrite(myDataPin, 0);

digitalWrite(myClockPin, 0);

for (i=7; i>=0; i--) {

digitalWrite(myClockPin, 0);

if ( myDataOut & (1<<i) ) {

pinState= 1;

}

else {

pinState= 0;

}

digitalWrite(myDataPin, pinState);

digitalWrite(myClockPin, 1);

digitalWrite(myDataPin, 0);

}

digitalWrite(myClockPin, 0);

}

the sbx 16x4x3

2009-11-02T16:06:00.001-08:00

arduino based step sequencer with some cool functions..details, schematics and codes are on the way!

hello world and a channel arpeggiator

2009-11-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

as a first post, we proudly introduce the "skinnerbox ch.dis" which stands for midi channel arpeggiator. this simple little patch takes midi note data from your favorite host and reproduce it with a changing midi channel per note.
like-so one can play multitimbral content using one midi track to send
midi data and up to 16 midi tracks to receive the notes in a"arpeggiating" fashion. we´ve initially programmed this patch to produce "octopus bigband"
which appears on our upcoming album "king of spades and marmalades".

download the patch here.
requires max/msp 5 runtime, get it here.