D-Lev Page Update
Added some stuff to the D-Lev web page: https://d-lev.com/.
Roger's spiffy logo, the features and technology lists are current, there's an updated UI doc, some sound samples (nothing new there) and some prototype pix (nothing new there either).
Face Transplant
Yesterday I swapped out my failing (and I mean failing) P3 encoders for the ones Roger sent me a long time ago, which were mounted on my latest compact 3D printed faceplate so I decided to swap that out too. I'm in heaven! Night & day! Might work on some new presets now that I can easily navigate the UI again. The lamers let me really bang on the debouncing and such, but it's sooo nice to have them out of there.
Just added a quick cello ditty to the D-Lev sound samples: https://d-lev.com/audio/2021-03-30_sunrise_cello.mp3
WordPress
OK, uncle, I give, the D-Lev website has been dragged into the 20th century and is now mobile friendly and whatnot via WordPress: http://d-lev.com/
Anyone got layout suggestions? I'm pretty new to this.
"Actually it's the 21st century, but even 20th century is a big improvement 
" - pitts8rh
Yeah but all the cool kids are into retro! I'm nothing if not behind the times, so look no further for the authentic deal! 
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This preset never gets old in terms of startling the crap out of everyone in the room:
http://d-lev.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-01_screaming_mimi.mp3
Deprecated HTML
The D-Lev website is entirely static, and it's been bugging me that the WordPress implementation requires so much code, directories, login, etc. for such a simple thing. I have no clue how to back it up / restore it, or what's running on the server side.
I couldn't log into my web page the other day and it took a ~3 hour live chat with my iPage to resolve it. WordPress wouldn't even let me reset my password, and gave me really cryptic error messages when it wasn't outright rejecting my username and subjecting me to captchas. The chat person at iPage finally just reset it and sent me a new login over the chat line, but it was a slog of screen caps and PrivateBin action getting to the point where they did what could have just done in the first place. I think what happened was, when I created my WP login (which I didn't fully realize was going on at the time) without my knowledge a WP plug-in snagged the info, and this plug-in let me login to WP via the iPage control panel. The editing sessions would oddly time-out, and after that I couldn't get back in via the WP login. I copied my login info at the time like I always do to a text file, but it seems you never really know what they want (user name, email, something randomly assigned you at some point, etc.) or if their / my page was broken (I got locked out when taking the security steps they recommended - coincidence?). So I'm back in business, but it seems I'm tethered to the WP login even with a simple static page.
This experience makes me want to edit the CSS sheets down to the bare essentials and go the bareback DIY route again, where I'd have a lot more control but it would still look pretty. WP seems nice, but it's like an atom bomb when all I need is a pea shooter. But CSS syntax is really strange - it's hard for me to tell what is going on, what's coupled to what, what overrides what. It obviously works because pretty complex web pages work, but those are auto-generated and not very human readable. This morning I decided to forego CSS for now and just use HTML tables for layout, but it seems all the handy table formatting codes have been deprecated! Nothing lasts on the web, including the language it's written in...
Still trying to record MIDI soft synth audio in Audacity, no love there either. MIDI itself is working great though! I ran through all the presets in Yoshimi yesterday and today and many are quite fun. 95% of them are positively drowning in delay & reverb, which gets a little old. The presets themselves vary widely in quality, most of the few that try to emulate real instruments are quite poor - I think it's generally tough to make a quality preset.
"The D-Lev website is entirely static, and it's been bugging me that the WordPress implementation requires so much code, directories, login, etc. for such a simple thing. I have no clue how to back it up / restore it, or what's running on the server side." - Dewster
I've never liked the exposed nature of Wordpress, but the advantages are so great compared to building a site yourself that you just live with it and protect it the best you can by using a few of the security plugins. For a while I used one of the offline editors because I didn't like the idea of in-progress work being live, but now I just set new articles to private until they are ready to be published. Going to Wordpress from my old custom HTML site was a load off my mind, and I could concentrate on content without worrying about structure and format. The separation of content from format does make backup and restoration more complicated with the SQL database, but just use one of the backup utilities and follow the instructions. For a static site with infrequent modifications it's a no-brainer.
"Still trying to record MIDI soft synth audio in Audacity, no love there either. MIDI itself is working great though!"
I was thinking I really should give this a try but then I realized that my Pro is obsolete already. I thought that I had a plan for retrofitting with the new (soon to be ordered) MAIN FPGA boards that include midi, but I guess I never thought it through to the I/O, because I have no space for a connector. And my PIII is still in pieces, so I guess I'll just rely on your vivid descriptions for now .
Ha! Give this a go (I deleted WordPress, but only after saving each web page it generated with Firefox):
The way everyone learns to code is through examples (even if they're in a textbook). I ran across this fantastic site yesterday:
https://www.w3schools.com/howto/howto_css_responsive_header.asp
where they have all kinds of simple, useful, working CSS examples that you can demo (edit & run) in the browser. I adapted their responsive header and fixed footer (which I made float) and their responsive picture layout. These were exactly the kinds of building blocks I was looking for!
I may polish on it more here and there, but for now I'm finally fairly satisfied with the situation. I guess I'm just a control freak, but getting locked out of my page and having to stay chained to my PC, glued to tech support chat for 3 hours, was zero fun.
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"I was thinking I really should give this a try but then I realized that my Pro is obsolete already. I thought that I had a plan for retrofitting with the new (soon to be ordered) MAIN FPGA boards that include midi, but I guess I never thought it through to the I/O, because I have no space for a connector. And my PIII is still in pieces, so I guess I'll just rely on your vivid descriptions for now ." - pitts8rh
I'm pretty anxious for you to try it, particularly with those physically modeled strings you've got. Maybe just run a wire out the bottom and deal with more permanent I/O it later?
Speaking of which, I think this is my best sounding cello yet:
https://d-lev.com/audio/2021-03-30_sunrise_cello.mp3
So much of it comes down to the resonator settings. The touch of outboard reverb helps too.
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Sorta on topic:
If the two big FPGA companies had to be snatched up by the two big processor companies (ugh) I'd have thought it would go the other way. Altera was more of an underdog, and AMD buying them would perhaps have been more ideologically consistent.
"Ha! Give this a go (I deleted WordPress, but only after saving each web page it generated with Firefox):" - Dewster
I would cap that flexible width at some number (narrow until you have more content) so that your description doesn't look like four very long sentences on wide monitors. Also consider centering it like you had before - I thought that looked pretty good.
And even though you intend to have a static site there will always be additions as it grows. I'm certainly no web designer so I don't know current trends but I think there is an expectation of a certain polish even on very minimal sites. If you are already planning to keep your structure and content separate as you proceed your time investment is protected if you should have to move to something like Wordpress later if you outgrow what you have. If not, a later transition might involve a complete rebuild rather than a simple CSS change and content upload.
BTW, I spent some time on the revised logo this morning. It should be quick and easy but I decided to do it in Blender, and I'm really struggling with the new UI after Blender v2.8. I thought it would be better to have it in both 2D and 3D formats.
"The way everyone learns to code is through examples (even if they're in a textbook). I ran across this fantastic site yesterday:"
I would have mentioned that but I was pretty sure you would have been on top of it. I still have that site on speed-dial on my bookmarks toolbar from over ten years ago. Agree, fantastic resource.
"I'm pretty anxious for you to try it, particularly with those physically modeled strings you've got. Maybe just run a wire out the bottom and deal with more permanent I/O it later?"
I'm within two weeks of having a fully finished PIII (if I order boards by Monday), so I'm still going to wait. Last night I was also thinking that there might be a mini MIDI connector out there that I could fit into one of the 1/4" jack holes that is redundant (I'll have to check this), reamed out if needed. I could also go non-standard if necessary, so I'll find a way. I want midi on the Pro, definitely.
"Speaking of which, I think this is my best sounding cello yet:
https://d-lev.com/audio/2021-03-30_sunrise_cello.mp3"
Is that uploaded to your files yet?
"I would cap that flexible width at some number (narrow until you have more content) so that your description doesn't look like four very long sentences on wide monitors. Also consider centering it like you had before - I thought that looked pretty good." - pitts8rh
Done! Thanks! Support links are now in a table too.
I lost more than an hour trying to figure out why my CSS file wasn't updating, turns out it was my local Firefox cache.
"And even though you intend to have a static site there will always be additions as it grows. I'm certainly no web designer so I don't know current trends but I think there is an expectation of a certain polish even on very minimal sites. If you are already planning to keep your structure and content separate as you proceed your time investment is protected if you should have to move to something like Wordpress later if you outgrow what you have. If not, a later transition might involve a complete rebuild rather than a simple CSS change and content upload."
I think the state of the web is periodic trashing everything you've got and rebuilding with the latest shiny whatever, a gigantic slowly moving target with a ruinous wake. I had a web site in college (encouraged by a professor), a web site at my job, a web site with my ISP (until they yanked it away), and they've all been basic but highly useful. This is my first exposure to CSS and it's OK and pretty and all, but it makes basic stuff that much harder.
"BTW, I spent some time on the revised logo this morning. It should be quick and easy but I decided to do it in Blender, and I'm really struggling with the new UI after Blender v2.8. I thought it would be better to have it in both 2D and 3D formats."
I really appreciate all your effort on the logo, it looks great!
Parts are slowly coming in for new builds, I've got 10 FPGA boards & 10 LCD displays. The Mouser order finally left the warehouse and arrived yesterday: the new higher endurance encoders look nice and don't click harder than the generics we buy; the flea-sized ESD chips might be solderable by humans, but it might be best to keep them as a DIP. Waiting on a bunch of connectors and LEDs and stuff from China which are past the import customs stage.
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