digital musical instruments,
effector units,
and
sequencers.
"sigboost" is a programmable digital musical instrument. You can design your own music synthesizer or effector units using "Cycling'74 Max", and you will get hardware synthesizer or effector units instantly using our "sigboost HLS".
"sigboost HLS" converts from "Cycling'74 Max" source code to HDL (sourcecode of circuit description) , and synthesis RTL and implemetation to FPGA automatically. The synthesizer or effector units that your designed, works as circuit completely so that works with hi-performance and low-latency.
will launch this project in 2018.
Overview
"sigboost" is a hardware and software framework for developing a "programmable hardware instrument".
Sigboost can be used as a standalone hardware sound source or as an effector units. You will be able to program your own instrument on your PC by using a visual programming language such as "Max", developed by Cycling'74 and other node based programming environments.
Your hardwareized instrument will be implemented on a programmable LSI, "FPGA" as a digital circuit. This allows sigboost to operate fast and stable, thus reliably supporting your live performances on stage.
sigboost HLS System
High-level synthesis/logic syntesis system. This synthesizes Max batch file to HDL, and perform a logic synthesis using Vivado, and outputs a binary for writing into the Processor. This runs on the sigboost cloud server.
sigboost Processor
A hardware. In the prototype we support 1IN/1OUT for MIDI and 1IN/2OUT for Audio.
Fully Max Compatible
Sigboost supports a duplex mode of messaging and signaling with Cycling'74 Max using a USB. By this, you can partially hadrwareize any part of the Max batch.
2 Ways to GO
with Max
Design your own original musical instruments or effector unitss using a visual programming language.
standalone
You can also use presets or binaries designed by other community members to perform instantly.
How to Use
1
2
3
- Create a patch referring to sigboost support page, and upload the patch to our server using the form. Conversion will complete in about 10-30min.
- Download the binary file and copy it to a MicroSD.
- Insert the MicroSD to the sigboost processor and turn the power on to complete your instrument.
※ sigboost is currently under developent, and only a small part of the test users may use the converting function. If you wish to help us or you have any interest in our work, please e-mail us at support@sigboost.audio or tweet us at twitter using @sigboost.
Acknowledgements
University of Tsukuba
https://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan
https://www.ipa.go.jp/jinzai/mitou/Hongo Tech Garage
https://www.hongotechgarage.com/CYCLING'74
https://cycling74.com/Xilinx, Inc.
http://www.xilinx.com/Digilent, Inc.
https://www.digilentinc.com/Microsoft, Inc.
https://www.microsoft.com/DMM.make
http://make.dmm.com/Masason Foundation
http://masason-foundation.org/Roland Corporation
https://www.roland.com/global/Credits
| Kai Aoki | Project Leader |
| Yoshihiko Ozaki | HLS Engineer |
| Masaya Tsuruta | Graphic/Product Designer, Web Engineer |
| Naoya Sakabe | HLS Engineer |
| Etsushi Nozaki | OS Engineer |
| Yuu Sunahara | Web Backend Engineer |
| Shota Moriguchi | Device Engineer |
| Toyoki Kondo | Web Backend Engineer |
| Masahiro Yamashita | Technical Sales |
| Minatsu Takekoshi | Supporting Product Designer |
| Hirobumi Tomita | Supporting Hardware Engineer |
| Kento Furukawa | Supporting FPGA Engineer |
| Akihito Fujii | Former Mito Project Manager |