New SpinCAD Designer release with major usability improvements

Surprisingly, I was able to talk ChatGPT into inspecting a couple of SpinASM files generated from the newest release of SpinCAD Designer and it actually spit back out useable SpinCad Designer files. I told it (ChatGPT) to look at some of the older versions of SpinCAD files so it would know the difference between the old and new SpinCAD fie formats. (The latest version now uses JSON as SpinCAD Designer files.) Apparently, ChatGPT went out and found the different versions of SpinCAD on GitHub and explained some of the differences as it processed my requests. So in about 15 minutes I was able to get ChatGPT to work with simple SpinCAD files and SpinASM for the FV-1.

When I threw more complex SpinCAD & SpinASM files at it, ChatGPT did not seem to get all the nuances of the details of all the SpinCAD building blocks - especially the Control blocks - and fubar'd the SpinCAD Designer files it presented. But as I showed it where to look at how those SpinCAD control blocks behave/operate, (one at a time) it got better at resolving the connectivity. However, ChatGPT took it upon itself to rename some the SpinCAD building blocks which, again, fubar'd the operation of the file(s) it presented. Seems ChatGPT develops a "personality" and takes a bit of "artistic license" when presenting its work.

Overall, it was about a 3½ hour exercise that wasn't trustworthy with complex SpinCAD/SpinASM files. Most of that time time was spent burning the final resultant SpinASM files to an EEPROM for testing in an actual FV-1 pedal. I imagine that with some more training, ChatGPT could be taught to do them correctly, But I prefer to work with the SpinCAD Designer app as it is. It feels more 'hands on' than talking (typing) to a digital entity. Digital Larry did a great job with his last version.
 
Yeah my early tests with chatGPT a year ago to write the optimizer code were a waste of time. I started using Claude at work and tried that on the optimizer and it knocked it out of the park. I've used Claude quite a bit since then for a variety of things, and sometimes you get lucky and it is able to figure everything out just from prompting about the desired end result. If it starts going in circles you'd better know what you are doing underneath though, because it has a tendency not to admit it doesn't know what it's doing.

Anyway I'm glad you are getting some use out of SpinCAD. I'm probably going to set up an Easy-Spin pedal with some Mary Halvorson patches on it for my experimental steel guitar pedalboard (think "Fear and Loathing in Waikiki") and be done with the FV-1 for the foreseeable future.

I got a Chaos Stratus pedal because I wanted something I could program in Faust that was an actual pedal rather than a Raspberry Pi. That one offers AI programming as part of its ecosystem. I tried it once with a pretty specific request and have no idea what the end result did - nothing as far as I can tell. That company seems to be one or two guys in their spare time so getting help is hit and miss. And the guys at AudioFab who make the Easy-Spin FV-1 pedal built up a development tool using VS Code which also offers a means for AI prompting which I haven't tried. I've always wanted a "lush, transparent aliaser" though... maybe I'll give that a shot.

Much as I'd like to take personal credit for the improvements to SpinCAD Designer, the grunt work was done by Claude and in a few cases I'm sure I had to help it attend to some nuances. It's pretty fascinating and simultaneously unfortunate that this particular "advance" in software development appears to be having a negative impact on many people's lives, directly or indirectly.

As always, don't hesitate to ask questions about SpinCAD one way or the other.

Cheers,

DL
 
Mmmmmmm . . . . . . Mary Halvorson patches . . . . . .

Where can I find some more of them? (Are they found only on the Red Panda 'Particle' pedal she uses?) The one you posted previously is delicious!
 
Digital Larry said:
Yeah my early tests with chatGPT a year ago to write the optimizer code were a waste of time. I started using Claude at work and tried that on the optimizer and it knocked it out of the park. I've used Claude quite a bit since then for a variety of things, and sometimes you get lucky and it is able to figure everything out just from prompting about the desired end result. If it starts going in circles you'd better know what you are doing underneath though, because it has a tendency not to admit it doesn't know what it's doing.

Anyway I'm glad you are getting some use out of SpinCAD. I'm probably going to set up an Easy-Spin pedal with some Mary Halvorson patches on it for my experimental steel guitar pedalboard (think "Fear and Loathing in Waikiki") and be done with the FV-1 for the foreseeable future.

I got a Chaos Stratus pedal because I wanted something I could program in Faust that was an actual pedal rather than a Raspberry Pi. That one offers AI programming as part of its ecosystem. I tried it once with a pretty specific request and have no idea what the end result did - nothing as far as I can tell. That company seems to be one or two guys in their spare time so getting help is hit and miss. And the guys at AudioFab who make the Easy-Spin FV-1 pedal built up a development tool using VS Code which also offers a means for AI prompting which I haven't tried. I've always wanted a "lush, transparent aliaser" though... maybe I'll give that a shot.

Much as I'd like to take personal credit for the improvements to SpinCAD Designer, the grunt work was done by Claude and in a few cases I'm sure I had to help it attend to some nuances. It's pretty fascinating and simultaneously unfortunate that this particular "advance" in software development appears to be having a negative impact on many people's lives, directly or indirectly.

As always, don't hesitate to ask questions about SpinCAD one way or the other.

Cheers,

DL
Click to expand...
Mmmmmmm . . . . . . Mary Halvorson patches . . . . . .

Where can I find some more of them? (Are they found only on the Red Panda 'Particle' pedal she uses?) The one you posted previously is delicious!

As far as programming other DSPs goes, I figger I'll be sticking with the FV-1, SpinCAD Designer and SpinASM for the long term. My time is limited and I find a lot of joy building pedals and futzing with SpinCAD.

All the best in your ventures!
 
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