[HN Gopher] An affordable, portable and focused device for music...
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       An affordable, portable and focused device for music, writing and
       coding
        
       Author : alsetmusic
       Score  : 61 points
       Date   : 2024-07-31 20:15 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (tulip.computer)
 (TXT) w3m dump (tulip.computer)
        
       | grackle2 wrote:
       | I work on this! AMA if you have any questions. I think it's
       | really cool and has been fun to hack on. the main github w/ all
       | the specs and code is at https://github.com/shorepine/tulipcc
        
         | beepbooptheory wrote:
         | Is it easy skip all the Python/AMY stuff and just run sclang on
         | this? Maybe even just through terminal emacs? Just because
         | maybe scide is asking too much here (too tiny of a screen for
         | it perhaps)?
         | 
         | Another idea I would have is to go all the way and just try to
         | put a norns image on this https://github.com/monome/norns
         | 
         | Guess I am just trying to say a cheap computer like this with
         | good midi and dac is worth it in itself, and is probably ready
         | for a lot ecosystems that arent python.
        
           | grackle2 wrote:
           | This is a pretty bespoke thing -- stuff made for an RPi /
           | linux won't directly port over. It's running Micropython and
           | has got custom code to handle the screen, there's no obvious
           | framebuffer or terminal. But anything is possible and I bet
           | you could take the bits of the firmware you need to port over
           | your own stuff!
        
             | beepbooptheory wrote:
             | Ah gotcha, that makes a lot of sense and love that its
             | close to the metal like that!
        
       | scudsworth wrote:
       | lots of power for the price point! pretty cool. nice to see like
       | . . . a creative design targeted at enabling creativity, as
       | opposed to yet another chat bot.
        
       | dakiol wrote:
       | Looks nice, and for a good price.
       | 
       | Off-topic: is it just me or it would be very hard to see anything
       | being typed in the screen from a relatively short-medium
       | distance? For instance here https://tulip.computer/img/tulipcc-
       | writing.jpeg, if I put myself in the place of the one who took
       | the picture, I can barely see what I'm typing. I guess I'm
       | getting older.
        
       | dmitrygr wrote:
       | It took 5 clicks and a moderate amount of reading of links to
       | find what SoC is used (ESP32), but at least "code of conduct" is
       | one click away.
       | 
       | For those interested in _tech_ : website -> "github" -> "build
       | one" (hidden in a wall of text) -> "I want to build a single
       | board Tulip and know how to solder SMT" (below a huge image, at
       | the bottom of a wall of text) -> recognize foot print or image of
       | ESP32-s3-wroom module
        
       | ladyanita22 wrote:
       | How's rust support on this?
        
         | grackle2 wrote:
         | There are ways to write Rust code for the underlying MCU -- the
         | ESP32-S3, but Tulip itself is Micropython with a lot of C glue
         | code to handle the audio, display, UI, and MIDI. People that
         | get a Tulip will be writing Python on Tulip, and Tulip itself
         | is C + Python.
        
       | ComplexSystems wrote:
       | Wow, super interested. Can this be used for realtime audio, like
       | guitar effects? Could you use this to make synths and etc? What
       | OS is it and what CPU?
        
         | grackle2 wrote:
         | It doesn't really run an OS like you may be used to. It runs
         | FreeRTOS, which schedules tasks. One of the tasks is running
         | Micropython. (Other tasks are for audio, the display, MIDI,
         | touchscreen, the sequencer, etc). There's no BIOS-level code to
         | use, we have to manage our own screen (including drawing in
         | groups of scanlines at a time to save RAM.)
         | 
         | Yes, you can use this to make synths. It's powered by our own
         | AMY under the hood, which is a low level oscillator bank with a
         | LOT of features https://github.com/shorepine/amy . And then you
         | manage them in Python, including MIDI, note stealing,
         | polyphony, sequencer, etc. See more here:
         | https://github.com/shorepine/tulipcc/blob/main/docs/music.md
         | 
         | You can NOT do audio input effects -- there's no audio input.
         | You can load samples from WAV files and play them back.
        
       | psobot wrote:
       | Really excited to see this - very nice work Brian et al!
        
         | grackle2 wrote:
         | WOW, praise from caesar! <3
        
       | egypturnash wrote:
       | I'm sitting at a coffee shop taking a break from getting creative
       | work done on my laptop and looking at this thing with all its
       | exposed contacts and a cable you have to connect the screen to
       | the keyboard with and imagining the chaos when someone spills a
       | drink.
        
       | digging wrote:
       | Is writing synth music in python more enjoyable or practical than
       | a visual virtual synth like VCV Rack? Granted I don't like
       | python, but for me writing music in pure code looks tedious.
        
         | fragmede wrote:
         | for loops lend themselves quite well to certain kinds of music
         | 
         | http://gibber.cc is a different music programming project
        
       | ofalkaed wrote:
       | This looks like great fun and the price is almost good enough to
       | make me not care about getting yet another device, and it might
       | get me, looks to be the perfect match for one of my projects.
       | Nice work.
        
       | ryandrake wrote:
       | Who on earth flagged this article, and what was your rationale?
       | The device looks so cool and fun!
        
         | enjoyyourlife wrote:
         | The current title "An affordable, portable and focused device
         | for music, writing and coding" reads like an ad
        
       | enjoyyourlife wrote:
       | The title should be "The Tulip Creative Computer"
        
       | pmarreck wrote:
       | python makes it a "no" for me
        
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       (page generated 2024-07-31 23:00 UTC)