The Beat707 XXL LE – a DIY, open-source Arduino-based drum sequencer – is now available.
Beat707 is a project developed by Guilherme (William) Kalfelz of Wusik.com. Here’s what he has to say about Beat707 XXL LE:
The initial version is BIG, hence the XXL name. LE is for Limited Edition, since it does not feature the LCD and SD Card that the next version does. Still, the feature list is great!
Beat707 XXL LE has only MIDI output, no LCD and no SD Card. It uses the ATmega328 EEPROM to store data.
This unit can handle 8 drum tracks, 2 accent tracks and 6 patterns. Each pattern is actually a combi of 4 x 16 steps plus extra double steps. So in total we have 128 steps per pattern.
We have setup a very easy way to edit all those steps. We have steps A, B, C, D for each set of 16 steps. Also, you can set a set to “double-step” and it will blink instead of light-up.
All options are set into the program itself which can be altered and uploaded using the Arduino IDE.
Additional versions of the Beat707 that include on-board sound generation are also planned.
Specifications:
- Uses only Two ATmega328 Chips and basic components.
- Work with a 500mA 5V power supply.
- Can use 4 pin mic left and right connectors, instead of 6 pin mic connectors.
- Settings such as track drum notes and midi channels are set in code, while BPM and Steps# can be changed in the interface itself and is saved along the other data into the internal EEPROM.
- Multiple units can be side-chained.
Beat707 XXL LE is available as a DIY Kit, with full kit and barebones options. They say that the kit is easy to build because it does not use any hard to solder components.
See the Beat707 site for more details.
How many more drum machines do we rally need… Software or Hardware ?
many more
Looks like a very fun project.
Its very rewarding to be able to play gear that you built from the PCB up, you understand your gear in a different way!
😉 Indeed, that’s the idea, not to mention that you can hack/mod the thing as you want. 🙂 I really hope people will understand the idea behind the project. The video shows the LE (Limited Edition) version, but on our site you can see that we are nearly finished with the Full Master + Slave editions too, which uses the same PCB and case, but the Master has a LCD on it for better editing and also the SD Card interface. 🙂 This is going to be a great project!!!