The end of an era: PanCon
How we will be handling the discontinuation of PanCon connectors.
For many years, we have provided customers a choice of Amphenol or PanCon connectors. PanCon connectors have been the staple of many control systems over the years (Ztronics and Classic come to mind).
Last month, PanCon publicly announced that they would be ceasing operations immediately. They claimed that they would fulfill open orders and that would be the end. They then notified us that they would not be filling our rather large pending order, and afterward their website went dormant and inquiries remained unanswered.
We began trying to find a way to purchase parts to assemble the connectors ourselves. Then we attempted to purchase the injection molds the connectors are made from. We have finally resigned to the simple fact that PanCon is finished and they (for whatever reason) do not want the products to live on.
Future systems will be shipping with Amphenol connectors (only). We have all crimp tools in stock for them, and have a limited supply of PanCon tools for those customers that need them.
It's Just Data...
The long-term plan for Opus-Two ARM controllers has included ethernet since the conception. Today we are announcing some progress on that front.
The long-term plan for Opus-Two ARM controllers has included ethernet since the conception. Today we are announcing some progress on that front.
The short term goals of the ethernet functionality include:
Direct iPad connectivity. Current iPad tuning or configuration setups are using a MIDI bridge. By making the Opus-Two controller a direct member of the ethernet network, third party components and bridges are no longer necessary. This significantly reduces cost and setup time for iPad interfaces. Future systems will have no additional charges from us to make this work - just plug in the ethernet network, connect an iPad, and apps like TouchOSC will simply work with the built in OSC libraries.
Remote configuration will allow a terminal program to connect to the controller over wifi or wired network, freeing the programmer from the USB link. This will allow folder renaming, track renaming, and any other things currently accomplished via the terminal to be done remotely.
MIDI over Ethernet will enable direct support of Hauptwerk without slow speed MIDI adapters. This feature is dependent upon further collaboration with the manufacturers of Hauptwerk.
The long term goals of the functionality are:
Backup and restore a piston, memory level, or entire folder directly to your computer.
Remote commanding via PC/iOS application including playback.
The prototypes are working on the benches today, and the CVA-M4 already has all the hardware on board to support these functions. Existing CVA and CVE sites will require an inexpensive hardware update kit from us and a software update. This will become a public feature very soon in the next Astrobe Toolset!
The CVA is Evolving!
The CVA controller continues to evolve!
The CVA controller continues to evolve. The original CVA was a proof of concept (C-I, C-II, C-III, and C-IV were all based upon PIC architecture; C-V was based upon ARM, thus CVA). The controller worked better than we could have imagined. It set new milestones in performance and despite the sky being the limit in software, the hardware was starting to feel cramped and undeveloped. A few features quickly became obvious as being needed:
Place to plug in hall effect key strips directly. The Opus-Two Hall Effect keystrips have not been mass market available because of the difficulty in making fine adjustments, but the Opus-ARM OS allows significantly improved configuration options and has successfully been used to bring legacy sites up to speed.
Additional A/D inputs for swell shoes.
Futureproof ports (such as Ethernet).
More PipeBus ports with interrupt support for sites with remote data collection or multiple consoles.
Additional MIDI functionality (this was waiting for announcements about the future of MIDI).
These items (and more) have led to the development of a CVA-M4, which is based on a Cortex M4 processor. This is yet another large leap in processing capabilities over the original CVA (which was, itself, a significant jump from the PIC architecture).
The CVA M4 is entering beta testing and will be used on beta sites in the near future.
Nano Controller
Small but powerful!
Originally conceived during the console-pipe-processing project, the nano controller is an inexpensive controller loaded with features:
USB Terminal interface that allows the technician to see average frame time, CPU temp, uptime, number of frames received, number of frames that failed CRC integrity, number of sync messages received.
The USB terminal allows the technician to see all card input and output states.
High speed PipeBus port, high speed Opus-Two cardchain port, microUSB connector, and DisplayBus port.
Reset button.
Link OK and Link Error LEDs.
Each nano supports up to 40 attached IO cards, but is economically priced for users who are failure conscious and prefer multiple chamber controller cards.
This controller will be available in mass Q1 2020.
The Midmer-Losh Has a Combination Action!
For the first time in over 85 years, the 7 manual console of the Midmer-Losh has a working combination action!
A collaborative effort with Historic Organ Restoration Committee, the project has quietly been in the planning and execution stages for about 9 months. Over 20 miles of wire interface the Opus-Two components to the 7 manual console. This combination action is built from the Opus-Two CVA that was already in the console running the relay, plus two Nano Controllers and over 30 High Output cards.
More information will be made available in the Grand Ophicleide, the members-only publication of the Historic Organ Restoration Committee. The following video is the initial demonstration of the working combination action that was released to the public today (June 20, 2019).