Hardware choices

Embedded system

The Jetson Nano dev kit, using SBC allows the use of libraries taking advantage of the GPU, which does not exist on a Raspberry Pi. However, a version of the hardware adapted to the SBC raspberry pi is still possible. One of the software-related objectives is, in the long term, to perform the same deep computation without the hardware GPU acceleration offered by the NVIDIA SBC.

Module inputs and outputs

The module must include:

• A graphical user interface arranged around a 1.3-inch OLED screen and an encoder button integrating an RGB LED
• A GATE input compatible with Eurorack standards, triggering 'playback and events'
• A mono audio output (with its volume potentiometer) (preferably a stereo output?)
• A number of CV input compatible with Eurorack format (currently 5)

Although compatible with standards, our CV and GATE inputs must be highly tolerant (+/- 24v) opening a field of possibilities for interconnections wider than solely in the world of Eurorack modular synths.

Design choices

The thickness of 30mm of the Jetson Nano imposes a width of 8 hp (or even 10) on the front of the module.

The Jetson Nano does not have an analog audio output an I2S dac must be present on the board PCM5102 or SGTL5000 seems to be suitable.

This screen seems suitable in terms of width

From the same supplier, an encoder module + RGB led

I turned to this supplier because it offers an interesting ADC module, which imposes analog inputs in groups of 3 and offers a 12 bit ADC on a + -24v range