I bought one of these Line6 ToneCore DSP developer kits about 6 months ago. I finally got around to implementing something interesting on it in the last couple weeks. I really like the kit. I wouldn't say it's easy but the Motorola assembly language is straight forward and the toolchain works fine.
It isn't all roses though. The Line6 dev kit forum is pretty dead. I know of only two other developers who have actually produced something noteworthy so far. Here's the best example (best part is half way in):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R7PeDA1S00
Anyways, just wanted to see if anyone else out there was playing with one of these, how far you've gotten, what you've got planned, etc.
wow! Sounds really good. But $190 is way out of my price range. And I know nothing of programming this stuff.
It's actually a really good deal for what you get. They give you a compiler, IDE, example code, tools to download your code and debug. You don't really need to muck around with anything, just write your code and download. And when you're done your effect can plug into anyone's ToneCore dock. In theory at least... I don't know anybody else who has a ToneCore pedal.
I meant the cost of the module of the person you linked to.
The development kit is great, but I really know nothing about coding at all. Which is why I've held back.
Ah, I didn't see how much he is selling it for anywhere. How much?
Coding on this platform isn't for the faint-hearted, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to someone without a solid coding background. It's one of the harder things I've worked on. But man is it cool when you finally get something working.
Quote from: audioartillery on January 28, 2010, 06:38:31 PM
Ah, I didn't see how much he is selling it for anywhere. How much?
Coding on this platform isn't for the faint-hearted, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to someone without a solid coding background. It's one of the harder things I've worked on. But man is it cool when you finally get something working.
He hasnt listed prices for the synth pedal yet, but the Arpegiator is $190.
Both pedals sound awesome though.
"Line 6 ToneCore Mono Dock Guitar Effects Pedal
We're sorry, this product has been discontinued."
???
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Line-6-Tone-Core-Mono-Dock-Guitar-Effects-Pedal?sku=150445
Yeah, actually the docks were dirt cheap so I tried to order a bunch but my order got cancelled. I called MF, they said the mono dock would not be restocked. They said the stereo dock was only sold out. Maybe the mono docks don't sell well? Or maybe the ToneCore line is going the way of the dodo? Dunno.
I doubt the Tonecores are being discontinued, but I suspect the idea of swappable modules and docks may not have really caught on, and they may just be dropping the sales of separate docks and modules.
I've looked very seriously into getting this kit but, after looking in detail on the unit, I own, with the echopark unit docked-in, I decided to move away from it due to the inability of the reprogrammable unit of providing switches ( selecting patches as an example) and the lack of sufficient memory. Today I'm "hooked" to the FV-1 chip for my echo developments.
-P
www.echotapper.nl
I'm a major nerd and I love these pedals. Dev kits for DSP-chips are usually really hard to come by, so these were pretty neat when they hit the streets... but there is obviously a very niche market for them. I really hope they don't go completely belly-up, and I want to help pick up where the forums/wiki left off...
Couple thoughts to stoke the fires of inspiration:
[1] Last spring I worked on a delay pedal for a class at the University of Miami (you can dig a video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtt3jW9CE2k). Point being, these things are sweet in the academic environment, even if the community isn't that large/organized. If you're a EE/CE/CS student, beg your instructor to use these. This is way more fun than hacking on i386 assembly, and potentially more useful if you're into embedded signal processing.
[2] The mono development docks getting discontinued isn't a good sign, but not the end of the world (yet). It makes sense to consolidate the product line when the market dictates... but... fingers crossed.
[3] I'm fixing to push a good deal of informative content to the interwebs over the next couple weeks, probably both on my site (http://ejhumphrey.com) and the Wiki (http://www.tcddk.com/). Really, these pedals suffer from two huge hurdles: a general lack of documentation and a daunting learning curve in assembly. I don't think it would be that overwhelming to address both of these with a little effort. Ideally, it'd be nice to take advantage of the C-template provided on the wiki, but due to some compiler issues you can't (last I checked) write to external memory. So, we either fix the C-compiler (gross) or make it easy to code in assembly.
Thoughts, comments, or if you just want to help... PM me directly.
Happy hacking,
-ejh
It appears the ToneCore docks have not been discontinued, they are still available from Line6 directly or their Amazon store. They must just have not been very profitable.
EJ, I sent you a PM.
FYI: Any Line 6 tonecore dock module can be modified to add a USB connector (3 wires: GND, USB+, USB-) and with the Tonecore programmable module ($35), you pretty much have the developer kit.
I picked up a Constrictor module used for $25 and modded it to add the USB port. Works fine with the Tonecore developer kit (free download)
Total investment: $25 (pedal) + $35 (programmable module) + shipping/tax + USB cable
Cheers,
Mike
Quote from: mjkirk12 on January 17, 2011, 12:07:25 PM
FYI: Any Line 6 tonecore dock module can be modified to add a USB connector (3 wires: GND, USB+, USB-) and with the Tonecore programmable module ($35), you pretty much have the developer kit.
I picked up a Constrictor module used for $25 and modded it to add the USB port. Works fine with the Tonecore developer kit (free download)
Total investment: $25 (pedal) + $35 (programmable module) + shipping/tax + USB cable
Cheers,
Mike
Very interesting. Any info on where exactly to land the 3 wires?
Thanks,
-- T. G. --
May have answered this one myself. There are some schematic diagrams in the hardware guide available HERE (http://line6.com/community/docs/DOC-1840).
-- T. G. --
That's awesome. Gonna see if I can grab one of those on eBay and attach a USB cable to it. I read you can program these in C as well, and since that's what I'm most familiar with, that sounds good to me. Only I assume I'll have to learn some sort of assembly as well.
From what I've heard, there are actually two processors on board: one that handles the basic functions of the pedal and moving the audio data in/out/around, and one that handles the hard-core DSP function. I believe the former processor is programmed in C, but the latter has to be programmed in assembly.
I've never actually worked with one myself, however, so this is all hearsay.
-- T. G. --
ASSembly hurts my brain. CALL, XOR, AND, $FF62 BLAHbah barf.
Sorry to bring back an old topic, but can anyone explain or post/send images of how to mod a ToneCore pedal to have a USB plug? Thanks in advance!
Seller on eBay has several Tonecore developer kits for sale $55 + free ship.
I have one as well, guess I'll see if that one sells. That was a pretty frustrating exercise. If you want to try to get their development system running, it's exceedingly difficult as it's tied to a very specific (old) version of Java or something like that. I actually have a Windows XP hard drive with everything removed except for the Symphony studio app. I wasted a lot of time trying to figure that out.
Seller is now selling just the programmable modules as well - appears to have at least 25 available.
Wow, so I recently resurrected my ToneCore dev kit. I've been googling for things related to this kit and this thread turned up... which apparently I started like 10 years ago. So I'm necro'ing my own thread.
I still really love this kit but even though I'm somewhat competent at assembly programming I'm not very familiar with the 56k architecture. I've been eyeballing some ARM-based solutions (Teensy 3.x + Black Addr guitar interface is the best I've found so far) that I can build a pedal around but it's so nice to just worry about the software and have to build anything.
Quote from: Digital Larry on September 16, 2017, 11:29:37 PM
I have one as well, guess I'll see if that one sells. That was a pretty frustrating exercise. If you want to try to get their development system running, it's exceedingly difficult as it's tied to a very specific (old) version of Java or something like that. I actually have a Windows XP hard drive with everything removed except for the Symphony studio app. I wasted a lot of time trying to figure that out.
I just went thru the Windows XP hassle with a VirtualBox VM on my Mac. Everything working fine but I had to tinker with different Java versions to get Symphony Studio to run (in case any poor soul happens across this thread: JRE7 doesn't work, JRE8 won't install... JRE6 works).
Quote from: mjkirk12 on September 29, 2017, 01:22:03 PM
Seller is now selling just the programmable modules as well - appears to have at least 25 available.
Yeah, I just snagged a NIB module off eBay for $14. If I get some really good effects going I may hunt down some more docks and just give them to friends. The ones I made 10 years ago were interesting but not that novel.
If you do not bother to do not use a graphical interface, I have a solution to deal with programming Tone Core modules.
I have designed a small application using libusb to program Tone Core modules. I have successfully compiled it on Linux and Windows XP.
If anybody wants to try, it is here:
https://github.com/hgamal/OTCDDK
Using the code above, you can also compile DSP codes, using git command line interface on Windows.
Sadly, I have not tested yet it under Windows 7, 8 or 10, but I have not seen any reason to it do not work. It works fine under Linux, but to compile DSP code, Wine must be installed.
All binaries are there, assembler, linker and the Tone program application. It is a small size package (must to be downloaded using git from github), fast to setup and do not occupy much space on disk.
I use it at home without any problems, but use it at your own risk. I take no responsibility over broken modules using my application.
All source code are available, under GNU license.
I hope it could be helpful. Please let me know about any improvements I can do.
That's really handy, thanks hgamal. I don't have too many complaints about using a Windows VM once it's all set up, but the older the official toolchain gets the less and less viable that is. Your toolchain will be a lifesaver to someone.