The OpenStompTM Coyote-1 is an open source audio effects processor built for guitar players. With the Coyote-1 users can develop custom audio effects in software (like distortion, echo, chorus etc.), mix multiple effects to build "patches", and exchange those effects and patches with the OpenStompTM community.
A companion Windows application (OpenStompTM Workbench) allows Users to combine effects into patches graphically, and to move patches and effects between the Coyote-1 device and their PC's disk.
The Coyote-1 O/S is open source so users can tweak it to behave any way they like, and the hardware is fully documented so that developers can take control of the whole pedal, dedicating all available system resources toward the implementation of unique custom solutions.
Inspiration Strikes
For years I'd wanted a guitar pedal I could program myself. I wanted to write weird effects that nobody else in the industry was making. I wanted it to be rugged enough to throw in a gig bag and knock around on stage. I dreamed that a community of effect artists might one day spring up and be able to share their work with each other.
On the night of June 22nd 2007 I climbed into my car with a huge cup of coffee and set out for a three hour drive to go camping in Santa Barbara. By the time I stood on the starlit beach at 1AM jazzed on caffeine, the Coyote-1 was in my head and I knew I had to build it.
Propeller Powered
At the heart of the Coyote-1 is one the coolest, most innovative, and just plain knock-your-socks-off fun microprocessors to come along in a decade; the Propeller from Parallax. The Propeller contains 8 independent processor cores running simultaneously at 80MHz with a unique architecture supporting a high-level byte coded language called "Spin", and a low-level assembly language with an amazingly versatile instruction set.
The Propeller development tools are all free, and the Propeller architecture allows users to develop firmware with nothing more than a simple USB cable.
Its revolutionary architecture allows the Propeller to generate video in software by adding just three external resistors, so the Coyote-1 includes a video out port which can be used by developers for debugging or adapted to implement things like graphical tuners, spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, or light shows.
An Audio Sandbox
The Coyote-1 is designed to be an "Audio Sandbox" where people can try out effect ideas, share them with others, and take them gigging. Its third bi-directional quarter-inch audio in/out can be configured either as an output for stereo effects, or as an input for modulation effects (like vocoders, where one audio input is used to modulate a second).
Open StompTM Workbench
The Coyote-1 ships with Open StompTM Workbench; a Windows application which allows you to create patches by graphically "wiring" effects to each other and
to pedal resources such as knobs, buttons, LEDs, inputs, and outputs.
Modules and patches are saved from / loaded into Open StompTM Workbench as stand-alone files. To share content with someone, just give them your Coyote-1 patch
file (*.c1p) or module file (*.c1m). To publish the source code for a self-authored or modified module, just provide that module's single Propeller Spin file (*.spin).
Patches and modules can be exchanged on the Parallax Propeller forums, and I'll be working to create a user patch/module library on this website.
Join the Mailing List!
If you'd like to receive notification when the Coyote-1 is released please register here: Mailing List Registration
