Issues with ZEIT Version 02-12 are still on-going / work-in-progress. I've solved the issues with the mysterious crashes around the Midi FX unit, which now works as it should. The behaviour of the Random function took a while to resolve - calculating a random number whilst in interrupt state would cause playback to slip noticably. You'd get away with it if only one or two tracks were playing but the fault would become obvious after that. I've resolved the issue by using a new random number generator which has nothing to do with the Arduino Library function. It uses a JKISS routine and a fast look up table to reduce the calculation time to around thirty microseconds per sequence.
I still have around thirty bugs / issues to resolve before version 02-14 is released although a few more have been added in the last couple of days. Those that remain are non-critical i.e. they don't crash the unit.
All of the current round of ZEIT Replacement CPU's have been allocated to existing customers and will ship before the end of the month. There are no known issues preventing shipment.
Next, some really good news.
We made some major progress with ZEIT's Ecosphere over the last month.
The ZEIT Replacement CPUs are based around an Arduino Mega 2560 CPU which is still an active part even if it is looking a little pedestrian when compared with other microprocessors these days. We've been looking for a way to give ZEIT a bit more power for a couple of years now although the stumbling block has always been that ZEIT is essentially a +5 volt system and most modern microprocessors operate at +3.3 volts. It isn't possible to run the existing ZEIT hardware at the lower voltage.
We figured out a few years ago that the simplest means of modernising ZEIT would be to add an external processor connected to the MIDI ports and to use the existing hardware as a smart front end. The new processor would provide extra MIDI ports, a smart patch bay and, of course, USB support.
I'm delighted to report that we've achieved our main goal, which was to develop a smart external board that would bring ZEIT fully up-to-date. The board runs on a Teensy 4.1 processor running at (wait for it) six hundred megahertz compared to the Arduino's sixteen megahertz. The new board supports four extra MIDI ports, USB as standard and has outputs for MIDI clock, trigger and gate, and a few other features. And, no, this isn't vapourware. Here's a snap of ZEIT driving Alchemy inside Logic Pro...
The new board (dubbed Mozart) will also enable us to implement a better version of the Composer and some extended library functions. Best of all, it also runs the standard Teensy Audio System so we'll be able to add a series of software synthesisers and samplers to the mix.
We're absolutely thrilled with the new board. It has exceeded our expectations and we can't wait to get this product out there for our users to experience.
Special thanks to our beta-testers and friends who have helped and advised on this project. We're incredibly grateful for your encouragement and support. (And patience, too!)
