Talkie Eurorack Module – Part 1 : Concept

08/10/2014 By Jean-Luc Deladriere Off

Credits

This arduino based module works thanks to a clever library : Talkie from https://github.com/going-digital/Talkie 

I have already used this library to build a Talking clock

It is so simple to use that building a sound module requires only 5 pots and a button to get going.

Software

I have slightly modified the original library to allow hacking it with various pots. The code is hosted on my github I edit the code and library directly from my favorite IDE : UECIDE

Functions

Panel

Mode

For the moment I have added 4 modes or sound banks :

  • digits
  • voltmeter (reading the CV voltage)
  • frequencemeter (fake mode just saying “Hertz” instead of “Volts”)
  • alphabet
  • nato alphabet

I plan to add a 5th mode with a large vocabulary and a 6th mode with weird sounds

CV

CV signal change the words or phrase to be said

Gate

Pressing the button start the complete sound in trigger mode. (regardless of it’s length)
If the trigger switch is off, the gate will start the sound and hold it as long as the gate level stays up. Very useful to create crazy rhythms.

If the cable is plugged in, the gate is triggered via an external signal

Trigger

Choose between trigger mode or gated mode

Bend

If bend is on, the bend pot … distords the sound.

Speed

Change the speed

Pitch

Change the pitch

Sounds

First test of the differents functions. Manual gate via a button

Looping a sequence in Ableton Live to trigger gate & cv while I play with the mode /speed /pitch / bend knobs

Next

I am now working on a PCB and a panel.
I will upload these details and the schematics in a next post.