Does it have to be an iPod With the fancy controls in modern iPods it's
probably not worth the trouble hacking them when you can get inexpensive
noname mp3 players with normal pushbuttons that could be hacked in the way
you describe with relatively little effort. Sure, you might already have
iPods galore lying around, but we're talking a lot less than the cost of a
module if you can live with "only" a gigabyte - more than enough for hours
of live performance, even if you run it constantly.

But I must say I really like your module idea - I might implement it or
something similar with a non-iPod player.

Cheers,

Silas

On 7/3/07, ersatzplanet < the_ersatz_planet@... > wrote:
>
> I had an idea for a wacky module yesterday and thought I would share it.
> Maybe a person
> with better electronic chops than me can make one.
> I offten play with ambient sound backgrounds. I used to use a reel-to-reel
> with custom
> tape loops, then a Tascam Porastudio, and now a retired iPod. I have a
> bunch of them that
> were given to me by co-workers when they broke. A new hard drive and they
> work fine. My
> girlfriend just got a iPod Nano and the thing is so small and compact that
> I thought one
> would be great mounted to a panel on my modular. Connect the dock cable to
> give it
> power and get the audio from it. Then the good part - control it through
> the connector
> too. I see having just the basic controls made CV-able. Have a trigger in
> that does the
> previous song selection, a trigger for the next song selection, and both a
> trigger that
> toggles play/pause and a gate in that plays on the gate high. The iPod
> controls are serial
> in the latest units so that's the circuitry I can't hack but I have an
> older iPod from when
> they used the remote control/headphone connector and I may try just
> "pushing it's
> buttons" via a electronic switch module. Worth a try. The older hard drive
> iPods don't react
> super fast but the flash based units are pretty snappy. it would be fun
> for timed sound
> effects or ambient noises. I'm sure Doepfer would not be interested in
> making one, but I
> sure would love to have one.
> For those with the chops here is a site that has the pinouts for the
> connector and a brief
> discription of the serial protocol used in the remotes:
> http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/ipod_pinout.shtml
> I can see it as a panel with the nano clipped to it and a connector cable
> rinning into the
> panel and 6 jacks below - 4 control ins and 2 audio outs.
> -James
>
>
>


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