A Tap Tempo Control Chip

[nelson]

What about folks that the price of postage makes this rather pointless?

Good point nelson.

If you send us proof of your purchase from SmallBear, we'll send you replacement chips.

Please email us directly rather than posting any information here.  Our email address is:

questions@MoltenVoltage.com

That's service

[moosapotamus]

Service indeed. Thanks very much, Karl! I'm sorry you need to look at updating your code, but offering to do it shows a lot of integrity on your part and is much appreciated!

While you're at it, any chance of also looking at handling more than just two taps at a time (maybe ignoring everything but the last two taps?), maybe?

Thanks, again!
~ Charlie

[kvb]

(1)   The chips can be easily reprogrammed, so anyone who wants the revised code can send their chip in for re-programming.


(2)    Just to be clear, the chip works as advertised if you tap sharply with your foot using a heavy duty button. 

1. - sounds good to me.

2. - No problem, we're just trying to figure this thing out on our breadboards.  It took me a bit to see how quick a tap needs to be. My first thought was " that will be pretty tough to do with my foot"


Lastly, I hope you're working on something with a ramp output.

[MoltenVoltage]

We have thoroughly reviewed and revised the code and have made the following refinements to our Universal Tap Tempo Control Chip MV-52:

1) You can hold down the first tap as long as you like.  If you hold it down more than 4.2 seconds, the chip will time out and your original tempo will be restored when you release the button.  This is because the maximum tap interval is 4.2 seconds in real time.

As before, if more than 4.2 seconds elapse between the time you press the first tap and the second tap, the chip will time out and your original tempo will be restored.

2) You can hold down the second tap as long as you like.  As soon as you release the second tap, playback will begin.

 - What this means is you can tap in your tempo then hold down the second tap, releasing it when you are on the downbeat so you are right on time.

3) Playback always starts right after you let go of the second tap.

 - What this means is you can keep tapping as much as you like, as long as it is an even number of taps, until you get the tempo you like.

As before, the playback tempo is equal to the time between pressing the first tap and pressing the second tap.  The release times are not part of the equation.

4) Pin 3 is the pulse output.  The Pin 2 output (the on/off, [squarewave] output), now resets after a new tempo is input so that the pin always goes high as soon as you release the second tap.

The preliminary testing has shown the revised code to be every bit as accurate as before (1/1,000th of a second or better).  We are going to test it for a couple more days and plan to ship replacement chips either Friday or Monday.  We will let you know as soon as they ship and are once again for sale.  We will also post a revised datasheet which includes these changes.

Thanks again for your feedback everyone.  We have a much better product as a result of your help.   

[moosapotamus]

awesome!

[trendyironicname]

awesome!

agreed

[MoltenVoltage]

The revised chips are finished and we shipped the first replacement chips today.   

Please send us proof of your SmallBear purchase as well as shipping address if you haven't already done so.

The revised Datasheet and Application Note are available here:
http://www.moltenvoltage.com/molten_voltage_mv-52.html

After hours of testing and reviewing the chip code, we determined that the proximity of the decoupling capacitor (C1 ~ 0.1 uF) to pins 1 and 8 makes a HUGE difference in accuracy.  Even a relatively short distance (.25 inches) changes the accuracy from better than 1/1,000th of a second to 3 or 4 thousandths of a second.  For best results, solder the decoupling capacitor directly to pins 1 and 8 on your socket on the bottom of the circuit board.  If that is not feasible, put C1 as close as possible to BOTH pins.

Because a number of you live overseas, and it takes a couple weeks for shipments to get through customs,
we have decided to extend the deadline for contest entries until June 30, 2009.
(Contest details are on page 4 of this thread)

We will be shipping replacement chips to SmallBear early next week, so they should be for sale late next week or early the week after.

We also sell MV-52 direct:
http://www.moltenvoltage.com/mvcart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=215

Please email us if you are interested in commercial quantity discounts.

Thanks again everyone.