Just a bit of trivia for those who have an interest:

What does a company known for digital synthesisizers and DtoA conversion know about printers and milling machines?

They know all about controlling stepper motors.

Every time I consider the how the technology of the digital synthesis of analog waveforms for music and the digital synthesis of analog waveforms for motion control overlaps I realize how brilliant some of the EEs at Roland must be to have pursued not just one, but both technologies from such an early stage of either technologies development.


Cool stuff!



best regards,
mike

I'm not feeling the irony here McQ.

As Mooch tells me: Try Harder.

when I first got into electronic keyboards and synths (the 80s), Roland in particular , somehow I found articles on Roland Plotters. I thought there was another"roland" producing printer/plotters and such.

I mean how could or why would a musical instrument company dabble in such a small market as plotters??

bapu


I'm not feeling the irony here McQ.

As Mooch tells me: Try Harder.

wouldnt it have been ironic if 12 tones used roland plotters back in the day ??? wow, just wow...

Beagle

who being snarky, willis????

I forget when it dawned on me, but I was using my mini mill and somehow read that the controller was essentially a sound card sending pulses to the machine's stepper motors.

Then at some point I realized that my mini mill was based on the same technology that is in the cheap inkjet printers I had.

Then it all came together and I realized that it was really cool how these technologies both converged and fostered diversity.




I'll bet someone could make a robot, controlled by a sound card driving stepper motors with synthesized pulses of electricity that played a keyboard that controlled a sound card that made sound. Then you could pump that sound into a microphone, convert it too digital, analyze it with something like V-Vocal, and use that to script a program to control the robot.

If you got the latency down to the minimum, it might look like the robot is doing all the thinking.

I'll bet someone thought of that back in 1981 and I'm just catching up.


best regards,
mike



edited grammar

mike_mccue


I forget when it dawned on me, but I was using my mini mill and somehow read that the controller was essentially a sound card sending pulses to the machine's stepper motors.

Then at some point I realized that my mini mill was based on the same technology that is in the cheap inkjet printers I had.

Then it all came together and I realized that it was really cool how these technologies both converged and fostered diversity.




I'll bet someone could make a robot, controlled by a sound card driving stepper motors with synthesized pulses of electricity that played a keyboard that controlled a sound card that made sound. And you could pump that sound into a microphone, convert it too digital, analyze it with something like V-Vocal and use that to script a program for the the robot what to play.

If you got the latency down to the minimum, it might look like the robot s doing all the thinking.

I'll bet someone thought of that back in 1981 and I'm just catching up.


best regards,
mike

ONLY if the sound card is not a .........
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sound Blaster..

:-)

My favorite thing about Soundblasters is that they were made in such quantity that the sales drove the price of 2 way conversion down to something every one can afford.

Plus I always thought they sounded pretty good compared to any contemporary tech that was in the next price point.


best regards,
mike

mike_mccue


Just a bit of trivia for those who have an interest:

What does a company known for digital synthesisizers and DtoA conversion know about printers and milling machines?

They know all about controlling stepper motors.

Every time I consider the how the technology of the digital synthesis of analog waveforms for music and the digital synthesis of analog waveforms for motion control overlaps I realize how brilliant some of the EEs at Roland must be to have pursued not just one, but both technologies from such an early stage of either technologies development.

Cool stuff!

best regards,
mike

Stepper motors are amazing technology. I dealt with them all the time in the copier world. The big deal about them when they hit the copier world was, no more mechanical clutches to wear out, you could build a smaller and faster machine, and use one to control the optics scanner. The one that controls the optics is called a 'Flat Motor', but it's just a very short and wide stepper motor.

Some of the new washing machines that are coming out that you see advertised as 'Direct Drive', use a giant stepper motor to drive the wash tub. It's just a big circle of coil packs and the tub shaft goes through the middle. Looks like an old prop plane engine. They can change direction going 200RPM back and forth for agitate mode, and they top out at around 1300RPM for spin mode. It is truly amazing.

Just for kicks and giggles, the next time you are somewhere that sells appliances, and you see one that says 'Direct Drive', reach in and spin the tub. On some machines, it uses the motor as a generator and sends voltage back to the main board and the entire control panel will light up just by spinning the tub. Some manufacturers have put backflow protectors so it doesn't happen, but not all ... it doesn't hurt the machine to do it ... the salesmen who truly know their appliances will do it as a demo to impress the customer.