Got this wired up and working tonight.
It’s the Mutable instruments MidiPal, which I ordered in kit form from France, then mounted behind a blank 2 space MU panel and DIY’ed eight 100K pots and two CV inputs.
If you are not familiar with the MidiPal, it’s an ATMEGA based Midi processor with a number of apps including a Polyphonic note dispatcher, MIdi Clock, Arp, drum sequencer, and the killer app for me, the Analog input to Midi CC converter. (Oliver simply provides 8 pads on the MidiPal circuit board in addition to 3.3v reference power and ground; you can wire it up anyway you like but of course it’s up to you whether or not you want to risk the magic smoke scenario.)
The tie-in between my MU modular and Midi may not be obvious but for me it was more about have a mounting location, powered from my modular power supply (+5 rail) and the addition to the hands on pots, two of which also accept CV (control voltage). Styled to look much like my other Moog gear (STG Soundlabs modules, synth.com, etc) the spacing was tricky because of the footprint of the MidiPal, it’s Midi cables which are not particularly flexible, and the desire to have all of the controls accessible.
The biggest issue was cutting that dreaded rectangle hole for the LCD but it worked out well enough. I may be looking to do a few at panel express with some laser art and text.
The Analog inputs work great. I used them to control some soft synths (SonicProjects OP-X) and some other gear. It’s the hands on control that many VSTs lack. Sure, I could simply used the pots integrated into one of my keyboard controls but the up-front accessibility of the 8 pots right in front of me and alongside LFOs, my clock dividers, etc. is useful. It’s also handy to drive the OP-X’s filter Cutoff (for instance) from sequence sync’ed LFO.
Other apps like the MidiClock are also useful in this format. I don’t have to worry about desk space for another box and power supply, or firing up a DAW in order to start my sequencers (driven via SYNC24 through a Doepfer MSY2), just choose the app on the MidiPal panel and click start.
And here is some additional background on the MidiPal’s note dispatch function (for Polyphonic control of midi capable mono synths) posted a few weeks ago: http://forum.moogmusic.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14065&p=102055
