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Crumar: Bit One, Bit 99 #48

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opened 2026-10-12 22:53:29 +00:00 by bcox · 1 comment
bcox commented 2026-10-12 22:53:29 +00:00
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Crumar: Bit One, Bit 99

Filled in on 2026-10-12 at Ben's asking, who filed it with the line above and no more. Everything below is from recollection, with no manual read; issue #20's list was wrong in several places for the same reason, so read the manuals first and correct this. The recommendation is Claude's and is Ben's to accept or not.

Recommendation: a new instrument, one for the Bit One, the Bit 01 rack and the Bit 99, as the JX-3P, JX-8P and JX-10 are one. It passes the rule of 2026-10-12 (#26): the line ran from 1984 to about 1987; the Crumar name is in use again today, on other things. Nothing in engine/ is missing for it. It is not a setting of mini-JX: another maker, and LFOs, waveforms and velocity routed another way.

The instruments, as recalled

  • Bit One (1984), sold in the United States as the Unique DBK. Six voices, 61 keys, with velocity.
  • Oscillators. Two DCOs a voice, at several footages, each a triangle, a sawtooth and a pulse that can be switched on together, with a pulse width; the second with a detune and an interval. Noise.
  • Filter. A four-pole low-pass (recalled as a Curtis chip), with an envelope amount, key follow and resonance.
  • Envelopes. Two ADSRs, with velocity to each one's attack and to its height, and to the pulse width.
  • LFOs. Two, each with a shape, a rate, a delay and switches to either DCO, the filter and the amplifier.
  • Keyboard. Split and double, three voices a side, with a stereo output that puts the two sounds on the two sides; unison.
  • Editing is by numbered parameters, as the Poly-800's and the JX-3P's is. About 63 programs, and MIDI.
  • Bit 01 (1985), the rack, and Bit 99 (1985), which are recalled as the same voice with more programs (99, with some for splits and doubles), fuller MIDI, and small additions to the voice that the manuals will name.

What is already here to build on

  • engine/analog_vco.h, which gives several waveforms at once from one ramp; engine/four_pole_filter.h; engine/envelope.h.
  • Zones, sounds and engine/seats.h for split and double; the SEM family's place between the two sides for each voice, for its stereo.
  • A panel.h of its numbers, with curves in rom/bit/tables.h, as the Juno's, the JX's and the Jupiters' are. Its MIDI numbers, if its manual prints them, would let a player's own dump be read later.

To find out and to decide

  • What the Bit 99 and Bit 01 add to the voice.
  • Ranges, which a manual of this kind may not give, as no JX manual does; then every curve is a placeholder.
  • Its factory programs are data and are not shipped (rule 4).
  • Its name. minibit suggests itself.
  • Crumar's other instruments were not asked for. The Performer, the Multiman and the Orchestrator are string machines, which engine/divide_down.h was written for; the Trilogy and Stratus are divide-down polyphonic synthesizers; the Spirit is a one-voice instrument. Each would be an instrument of its own and none belongs in this one.
> Crumar: Bit One, Bit 99 Filled in on 2026-10-12 at Ben's asking, who filed it with the line above and no more. **Everything below is from recollection, with no manual read**; issue #20's list was wrong in several places for the same reason, so read the manuals first and correct this. The recommendation is Claude's and is Ben's to accept or not. **Recommendation: a new instrument**, one for the Bit One, the Bit 01 rack and the Bit 99, as the JX-3P, JX-8P and JX-10 are one. It passes the rule of 2026-10-12 (#26): the line ran from 1984 to about 1987; the Crumar name is in use again today, on other things. Nothing in `engine/` is missing for it. It is not a setting of mini-JX: another maker, and LFOs, waveforms and velocity routed another way. ## The instruments, as recalled - **Bit One** (1984), sold in the United States as the Unique DBK. Six voices, 61 keys, with velocity. - **Oscillators.** Two DCOs a voice, at several footages, each a triangle, a sawtooth and a pulse **that can be switched on together**, with a pulse width; the second with a detune and an interval. Noise. - **Filter.** A four-pole low-pass (recalled as a Curtis chip), with an envelope amount, key follow and resonance. - **Envelopes.** Two ADSRs, with velocity to each one's attack and to its height, and to the pulse width. - **LFOs.** Two, each with a shape, a rate, a delay and switches to either DCO, the filter and the amplifier. - **Keyboard.** Split and double, three voices a side, with a stereo output that puts the two sounds on the two sides; unison. - **Editing** is by numbered parameters, as the Poly-800's and the JX-3P's is. About 63 programs, and MIDI. - **Bit 01** (1985), the rack, and **Bit 99** (1985), which are recalled as the same voice with more programs (99, with some for splits and doubles), fuller MIDI, and small additions to the voice that the manuals will name. ## What is already here to build on - `engine/analog_vco.h`, which gives several waveforms at once from one ramp; `engine/four_pole_filter.h`; `engine/envelope.h`. - Zones, sounds and `engine/seats.h` for split and double; the SEM family's place between the two sides for each voice, for its stereo. - A `panel.h` of its numbers, with curves in `rom/bit/tables.h`, as the Juno's, the JX's and the Jupiters' are. Its MIDI numbers, if its manual prints them, would let a player's own dump be read later. ## To find out and to decide - **What the Bit 99 and Bit 01 add** to the voice. - **Ranges**, which a manual of this kind may not give, as no JX manual does; then every curve is a placeholder. - Its factory programs are data and are not shipped (rule 4). - **Its name.** `minibit` suggests itself. - **Crumar's other instruments** were not asked for. The Performer, the Multiman and the Orchestrator are string machines, which `engine/divide_down.h` was written for; the Trilogy and Stratus are divide-down polyphonic synthesizers; the Spirit is a one-voice instrument. Each would be an instrument of its own and none belongs in this one.
bcox referenced this issue from a commit 2026-10-15 02:04:26 +00:00
Merge mini-Bit, for issue #48.
bcox commented 2026-10-15 02:04:32 +00:00
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Built as mini-Bit (minibitd and the rest, instruments/bit/, .mbit, port 8813), merged to main in 20c72cb.

  • Built from the Bit 99 owner's manual (version 1.0, June 1985) alone; the Bit One's manuals were not reached. Its numbered parameters 1–67 are panel.h.
  • Two DCOs, the VCF and VCA with their ADSRs and every dynamic parameter, two LFOs, split and double as two zones and two sounds, stereo out, a CLAP plugin and a place in the suite.
  • lfo.per_voice, on as it comes, at Ben's asking: off, a sound's voices share one pair of LFOs.
  • Envelope times, depths and most curves are placeholders; CLAUDE.md lists them and every choice made.
  • Not done: program memory and chains, cassette, SysEx, the MIDI settings 68–76, KBD SENS, and the Bit One's unison in split mode.

Ben played it on his laptop on 2026-10-14 and found it sounds ok. Not yet played or benched on the Pi.

Built as **mini-Bit** (`minibitd` and the rest, `instruments/bit/`, `.mbit`, port 8813), merged to main in 20c72cb. - Built from the Bit 99 owner's manual (version 1.0, June 1985) alone; the Bit One's manuals were not reached. Its numbered parameters 1–67 are `panel.h`. - Two DCOs, the VCF and VCA with their ADSRs and every dynamic parameter, two LFOs, split and double as two zones and two sounds, stereo out, a CLAP plugin and a place in the suite. - `lfo.per_voice`, on as it comes, at Ben's asking: off, a sound's voices share one pair of LFOs. - Envelope times, depths and most curves are placeholders; CLAUDE.md lists them and every choice made. - Not done: program memory and chains, cassette, SysEx, the MIDI settings 68–76, KBD SENS, and the Bit One's unison in split mode. Ben played it on his laptop on 2026-10-14 and found it sounds ok. Not yet played or benched on the Pi.
bcox closed this issue 2026-10-15 02:04:33 +00:00
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bcox/mini-800#48
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