Suggest your ideas and feel free for ask about some feature!
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I hope you’ll keep 1/4 inch jacks in mind for i/o from other modular sources, even if it means we have to have extra daughter boards or something, vs 3.5mm 
sure! we use 1/4 jacks for Input Jack and Output Jack modules and later we are going to add an option to choose between 3.5mm and 6.3mm for Input and Ouptut modules
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If speaking of additional modules - here is a list from top of my head.
Brainstorming here, without deep knowledge of modular synths, therefore my thoughts are going mostly into “integration with other tech or getting more controls” rather than actual sound processing, so do not take it too serious.
Generic stuff or a low hanging fruit:
- Two-way adapter to 3.3v signal levels that would add compatibility with 3.3v arduinos/raspberry/stm32/esp32 gpio.
This might engage people who are not that great in analog electric circuits, but can program in python or C to do interesting stuff. For example, I have no idea how to make a randomizer in pure analog, but it should take not take too long on microcontroller
Might be same DAC/ADC with digital interface exposed, to be able to connect a microcontroller of user’s choice, I guess
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Expression pedal interface module
I guess a lot of people have these pedals. If microrack might be used as a guitar effect, using pedal hands free would make sense. -
Volume indicator. LED strip with volume.
Speaks for itself.
- 5din/usb/3.5 jack midi module.
Most of the portable keyboards (like Korg NanoKey) have only usb connection.
Also there could be a room for polyphony here? upd: there is supposed midi/cv on esp32, but it is not clear what midi does it work with
- If there would be any polyphony support, arpeggiators would make sense.
More exotic or complicated stuff:
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Theremin module.
Controls like theremin should play nice with a continous VCO pitch processing. I’ve seen that there are “mini theremins” out there, however not sure if there is still enough room for all these antennas. Probably only ultrasonic arduino modules are doable, and I already have seen that in microrack videos. -
How about music box punched paper strip reader? It is a most analog sequencer ever.
Something like this:
And if there would be a possibility to loop the strip…
For sure there are many more better ways to sequence stuff, but this one looks cool instead, I think. -
Breath controller module.
Pressure sensor like mpx5010gp might be used as another axis of control, at least I used one for a diy midi flute, and it seems to work fine.
- BLE MIDI esp32 firmware
There are some BLE powered midi devices out there. And as soon as there is already a ESP32 module with bluetooth capabilities, it might be possible to implement a wireless midi connection with pc or controllers as a firmare for it. Input lag might be a problem however, at least I could not get rid of it in my own project
- Maybe some “autonomy module”.
Let’s say it has a holder to draw power from a 18650 battery and provides a small speaker, so you could use microrack with no external connections whatsoever, like completely standalone. While i am not sure if that’s a great idea, but it might probably work towards portability.
My personal stuff:
I have a Mod Duo X guitar processor with CV input/outputs, but they work in 0/+10 range, so I would like an adaptor that would allow me to combine it with microrack.
Ableton Push 3 (which I do not have) - also has 0/+10 range CV ports, according to specs.
I do not know if a lot of other hardware has the same ranges, and that’s why I am not sure if such module might be popular in any way. Most probably I would end up making such an adapter myself, but would still need some external review on my noob schematics.
Other:
P.S. Also I hope there would be some how-to’s/ guides / workshop on basics of designing custom modules.
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You’ve got amazing ideas, we might say!
Tutorials are planned as soon as we can finish the production of our First Batch. We plan to have two track tutorial guides, one for beginners and another for experienced enthusiasts and hoping to let people continuously follow both.
Be sure to participate in our Gifts & Giveaway Contest we’ve just announced and share your ideas with us on your socials to help us promote and bring modular to the masses!
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I also have an idea which unfortunately looks complicated to implement, but something cool to have.
As soon as project seems to be related to idea of education, it might require some way of effectively sharing patches / modules composition / ideas.
There is a https://modulargrid.net/ site, which allows to compose a rack from the modules database, and save cable patching and knobs positions.
It could be nice to be able to do that with microrack modules in browser as well.
In this case sharing examples could be so damn easy. Maybe adding microrack to modulargrid is possible, at least they support multiple modular systems, so they might be willing to add microrack as well with some amount of collaboration.
Also, while I do not know how popular that site is, presence on moduargrid would somewhat increase microrack’s visibility to people.
P.S. There is also something called https://patcher.xyz/ and seems like it is possible to submit your own modules there, so it might be much easier to add something there. However interface looked rather confusing for me so far.
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