Open source stompbox!

[chipaudette]

Hi All,

I just got my May 2009 issue of Nuts and Volts magazine and, on the back cover, is an add from Parallax Inc (makers of the Propeller line of embedded processors). The winner of their annual design contest is the "OpenStomp Coyote-1 User Programmable Open Source Audio Effects Processor". Sounds intriguing. I checked it out...

http://www.openstomp.com/index.html

For $349, you get a fully-built pedal with all sorts of audio inputs and outputs, switches, pots, etc. It's even got a nice little LED display. The best part is that you also get the open source software including routines for common guitar effects. Since it is open source (including the development environment), you can jump right in and roll your own effects software. You download it to the stompbox via the built-in USB port. I think that this is a pretty cool idea.

I can do a bit of programming, but starting from scratch on a new hardware platform is usually pretty hard. But since this product includes a fully-operational software build, one can "mod and tweak" working code instead of starting from nothing. That really reduces the barrier to entry...just like modding and tweaking a working amplifier is a lot easier than building one from scratch. This is exciting.

Has anyone heard of it or seen it live?

Chip

[elipsey]

Thanks for the heads up about this, it is insanely cool! So cool, that it actually represents a serious hazard to my productivity during my college semester (I'm a computer science student). I might put this on my xmas list so I can't buy it at least until break. If I try it, I will report back.

[Enzo]

Careful, the web site is still up, but his "store" is no longer in operation. There is a note that a link will be put up for some other solution, but no date. Most recent post on the web page I could see was 2012. So I recommend you establish a correspondence with him before trying to buy one.