Help needed for SyncrhoMuse / CODEC install

[electronguy]

Greetings,

I am new to the Procyon (rx today) and have installed the USB drivers and the editor software without problems. Also, the firmware has been upgraded to 2.1.4.4. Everything seems to be working fine with my Procyon but I'm stumped as to how to utilize the digital audio interface/CODEC of the unit (for DAS/SynchroMuse?) under Vista OS.

I have a terrific headphone amplifier (HeadRoom Desktop Portable with DAC) that can interface with my PC as an audio CODEC and I was thinking that the same thing would happen with the Procyon. However, no matter what I do (and I'm very computer savvy) I don't get a CODEC installation so that I can use the DAS feature.

For AudioStrobe adjustment, I can put the Procyon on AS and adjust the levels, etc., via the Procyon AVS editor (way cool), but alas I don't have independent control of all three channels.

When I'm in DAS mode, I have no response from any audio input (via USB or Aux.) and the Procyon editor doesn't have any special features for DAS control.

Is there an explanation of getting the digital audio interface to work under Vista and/or further information on using the SyncrhoMuse feature so that I can listen to a CD on my laptop, for example, and flash all three light channels in time with an AVS program?

Thanks for your help; loving the Procyon so far...

--Scott

[Andy]

Hi Scott and welcome!

DAS is the mode the Procyon is set to for working with Syncho-Muse encoded music that you create yourself. It essentially consists of a music file with a header which tells the Procyon which session to play while the music is playing. You would typically create a custom session for the Procyon that has changes that are timed to various changes in the music.

There's a tutorial and example on the support site: http://www.mindplacesupport.com/Procyon.htm

Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

-Andy.

[electronguy]

Okay, I get it now!

I read through the SyncrhoMuse tutorial and installed Audacity so that I can quickly convert the .raw file into a .wav file (so I don't have to write any code to do that). I do all my editing in Sonar and prepend the high-frequency coded signal so that it triggers the (timed) Procyon program that I manually create.

Before I received my Procyon unit, I believed that it acted like a sort of "light show" or visualization to music that would sync with the built-in (or other) programs. All audio is input through the AUX input connector--not via a USB audio CODEC.

The analog AudioStrobe mode ends up acting sort of like a color organ, and I can adjust the various gains, gate levels, etc., to achieve an interesting effect. I was hoping for something similar with SyncrhoMuse and the RGB color capabilities.

=== in an ideal world... ===

In an ideal world, it would be great to have a VST plugin that could control the Procyon via MIDI control messages. Then, I can use Sonar, ProTools, etc., to create track envelopes on the audio signals, which would automate the RGB parameters of each section--allowing graphical tweaking using the powerful MIDI/audio capabilities of the digital audio workstation.

If the Procyon editor has command-line options, would it be possible to pass it a .txt or .midi input file and have it parse it into a suitable .PRw file?

Finally, Audacity seems to allow VST plugins, so if MindPlace made the VSTi (maybe with SynthEdit or similar for cost reduction?) and then provided the shell interface to communicate via Procyon's serial protocol, we could create some awesome SynchroMuse materials with relatively little effort...

Regards,
--Scott

[synaesthesia]

Electronguy, As an electronic music enthusiast I have similar interests to control light frames.

As Synchromuse system is basically synchronisation of a preloaded seession with your music ( I think ) it doesn't have great possibilties for real time performance/recording not yet anyway.

Re VST's there are programs around that allow you to build custom VST synths : this may be a way to build at least an Audiostrobe outputting synthesiser. ( I'm thinking something like Native Instruments Reaktor 5 ( have a look at the downloadable demo )

Using Audiostrobe , the AS Designer is cool because it allows you to asign all the audiostrobe functions to the mouse axes and buttons for real time control . Technically you could use a joystock/mouse remapper to do this on a joystick or for that matter asign the mouse movements to MIDI controllers with the approprate freeware programs..

[electronguy]

Thanks for the input. I see that I'll have a bit of a learning curve wrt colorspaces, etc., and incorporating those with Procyon programs ala SyncrhoMuse.

For a color organ effect, I think I'll interface one of my existing analog designs with a separately purchased RGB ganzframe.

The Procyon has already come in handy twice on campus today, and I'm going to spend a good bit of time putting together some SynchroMuse sessions that will aid my between-classes focus/rejuvination and some that will allow me a sense of peace, safety, and healing.

Cheers,
--Scott

[Marisa]

The Procyon has already come in handy twice on campus today, and I'm going to spend a good bit of time putting together some SynchroMuse sessions that will aid my between-classes focus/rejuvination and some that will allow me a sense of peace, safety, and healing.

Cheers,
--Scott

Sorry to butt in on your conversation Scott. I was wondering if you could tell me - in what way did your Procyon come in handy? What programs did you use and what were the results?

M.