New Teensy MicroMod based Guitar stompbox!

Blackaddr

Blackaddr

Well-known member
Aviate Audio just launched a new programmable DSP guitar stompbox called Multiverse that uses a Teeny MicroMod. It has a comprehensive framework for easy development of plugin-like effects, but more about that later.

Importantly, the Teensy isn’t locked down, so you can program it with your own custom programs using the normal Teensyduino tools. As the maker of the TGA Pro board and BALibrary, one of the most common questions I get is about enclosures. As a premade stompbox, the Multiverse is a pretty good hardware platform for making your own Teensy based effects.

To make things easier, I’ve added board support for Multiverse to my BALibrary. I’ve made a demo program here to show how to exercise all the basic controls and OLED display.

LIMITED TIME DISCOUNT: The Teensy community here and the amazing work by Paul is what makes things like Multiverse possible, so Shane at Aviate Audio has agreed to provide a special discount to PJRC forum users. You can use code “TEENSY50” at checkout to get an additional $50 off the launch sale price for a total $100 off.

https://aviateaudio.com/products/multiverse-pedal

Multiverse Framework:

The framework is designed to provide an web-store like experience for audio plugins on Teensy hardware using a customized and extended version of the Teensy Audio library.

Effect Creator is a developer application that lets you build plugins (called EFX) and make graphical GUIs for them, similar to VST plugins. You then use these EFX on your own pedal, or can upload them to their website for others to download.

Designer is the user application where you arrange your effects into virtual pedalboards and presets, then upload them to the Teensy. The application allows you to assign the switches and encoders on the pedal to various effect params, as well as realtime control of the effects using the Designer application itself.

Some videos of Shane showing off the Multiverse: vid1 and vid2

BlackaddrAudioTremolo.png

DesignerDesktop.jpg
 
Teensy powered audio at NAMM today!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrBiapmIJSQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The second player (Ryan from Aviate Audio) is showing off a simple audio chain made entirely of effects from Teensy forum members!
In order they appear in the signal chain:
- Distortion (by forum member Transmogrifox)
- Analog Delay (by yours truly!)
- Spatial Reverb (by forum member Pio)

I tried to grab a screen shot as best I could from the reel.
Untitled.png
 
Hi Jay Shoe,

I did help develop it as a collaboration with Aviate Audio! I am the maker of the TGA Pro, an audio shield for Teensy, and the author of the open source library BALibrary. The Multiverse uses a customized version of that CODEC board, and it's software is based on my BALibrary.

This made it easy for me to add support for Multiverse hardware to my open-source BALibrary so that you can still use regular Teensyduino stuff along with my library for a full open-source use of the hardware platform to make whatever you want out of it.
 
I'm curious, but too lazy to read the manual (which might not even answer the question) ... for the Multiverse, do you / Aviate have a technique for uploading multiple topologies (pedalboards) simultaneously, of which only one consumes CPU at any given moment depending on the selected options, or do you need to re-program the Teensy if you want to change topology? Obviously the settings / parameters for each can easily be changed on the fly and saved.

Not expecting any commercial secrets to be revealed!
 
h4yn0nnym0u5e said:
I'm curious, but too lazy to read the manual (which might not even answer the question) ... for the Multiverse, do you / Aviate have a technique for uploading multiple topologies (pedalboards) simultaneously, of which only one consumes CPU at any given moment depending on the selected options, or do you need to re-program the Teensy if you want to change topology? Obviously the settings / parameters for each can easily be changed on the fly and saved.

Not expecting any commercial secrets to be revealed!
Click to expand...

Hey h4yn0nnym0u5e, no problem, happy to give the summary. You use the Designer desktop application to create various arrangements of effect chains and store them as presets. A preset stores:
- the effects used in the preset, and their arrangement (ordering)
- the settings for every parameter in every effect
- which controls from which effect are mapped to the hardware knobs and switches (if any).

The Designer application is looking at all the effects you are using across all your presets, looking at all the different effect orderings (topology) in all the presets, then generates custom C++ code as baremetal program to implement what you have just designed. This code is compiled and uploaded to the Teensy.

Once the custom program is uploaded, if you are connected to the pedal via USB, the pedal and the Designer application stay synchronized, so you can continue to play with effect controls in realtime in the GUI. If you are not connected from the Desktop application (e.g. on the stage), you get realtime control of your effects using the hardware knobs/switches based on the mappings you created. And of course you can easily switch between presets on the hardware when disconnected.

Regarding CPU usage, when a given preset is activate on the pedal, only the effects that are in that preset and not bypassed are consuming CPU. Bypassed effects in the preset will transmit audio through as you expect as bypass would. Effects not in the active preset at all are completely disabled and not part of the dynamic AudioStream updates ensuring they consume zero CPU.

A couple final key points
- each preset has it's own set of hardware control mappings. So for each preset, you choose what the hardware/knob switches will do.
- even if you didn't assign the control for an effect to one of the hardware controls, you can still go into the menu and adjust the settings of ANY effect parameter at any time on the hardware.
- if you adjust an effect's settings on the hardware while disconnected from the application, you can save (update) the preset directly on the hardware, no need to reprogram the Teensy.

The only limitation is you cannot change the ordering of effects directly on the hardware. To do that, you create/modify your presets in the Designer and upload the new program. Luckily uploading a new program takes only a few seconds.

If you're interested in picking one up, make sure to use the discount code "TEENSY50" offered to the PJRC community!
 
Sounds good. Technically it would be possible to re-patch the effect ordering (now that patchcords are dis- and re-connectable, and indeed new and delete'able), but it'd be a UI nightmare on that tidgy screen!

Thanks for the reminder of the discount. I suspect I won't be a customer, as the pain of importing it into the UK is excessive...
 
Blackaddr said:
The discount code for PJRC members is "TEENSY50" at https://aviateaudio.com/products/multiverse-pedal
Click to expand...

The Multiverse software itself isn't open-source because it allows developers to publish their own effects, both free and premium, on their webstore, and this requires security.

However, Aviate Audio doesn't lock down the programming of the onboard Teensy, so I support the hardware natively using the usual Teensyduino with my open-source library BALibrary.

It's up to developers whether they wish to publish their effect source code or not.

Some developers publish the source code for their effects, some do not. I have published some of mine and so has ChowDSP.

https://github.com/AviateAudio/BlackaddrAudio_AnalogDelay
https://github.com/AviateAudio/BlackaddrAudio_Tremolo
https://github.com/AviateAudio/ChowDSP_ChowCentaur (Note: this is a pretty complicated effect using very advanced techniques).
 
Thank you very much, this is exactly what I expected.
I am looking for this not in order to change the multiverse (which looks really cool btw) but to use the effects for my own digital pedal project that I'm working on (mostly for fun, using the teensy 4.1 and audio shield), so is there still a need to install the library?

Not really related, but I also saw lots of mentions of using a preamp. what's the need for that? doesn't the actual amp do it? Or is it needed only when going from the teensy to headphones/pc/anything which is not an amp?
 
Blackaddr said:
Aviate Audio just launched a new programmable DSP guitar stompbox called Multiverse that uses a Teeny MicroMod.
Click to expand...

Super cool project!!! I've used the ChowCentaur as a daw plugin – pretty cool to see it in a hardware implementation!

I'm super curious –– how has your/their experience been using the MicroMod? I've seen (and experienced) some issues with MicroMod early on. Has it been mostly stable? Or has their been issues traced back to the MicroMod side of things?
 
Regarding issues with MicroMod, when it first came out we had some failed in the small testing batches we ordered. However the first volume order did not seem to have these problems so I believe Sparkfun worked them out.

Regarding ChowCentaur, Jatin at ChowDSP has also recently released a free AI based fuzz pedal for Multiverse that uses neural network modelling. It models a germanium fuzz.

Fuzz.png
 
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