# Seedbox

A generative rhythm and melody machine for a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W. One 32-bit seed grows a whole tune: a drum part for any sampler or drum machine and a bass, melody and pad line for a poly synth, both over MIDI. Built and tested with a Roland SP-404MKII and an Arturia MiniFreak. You don't program steps. You pick a seed, turn tracks on and off, and steer it with two knobs.

**Status: v0.1.** The engine and the controls are settled in a browser simulator that drives the real gear over Web MIDI. The stripboard layout has been checked by script and by an independent review. The Pico firmware is not written yet: that's the next step.

## What's in the box

| Part | |
|---|---|
| Brain | Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W (RP2350), powered and flashed through its own USB port at the back |
| Screen | Nokia 5110 LCD (PCD8544, 84 × 48) |
| Controls | Encoder with push, ENERGY and DRIFT pots, SEED button, 11 track buttons in a 4 × 3 grid, with the RUN toggle in its top-right corner |
| MIDI | IN (for learning drum pads), OUT KIT (sampler or drum machine), OUT SYNTH. 3.5 mm TRS (Type A), MIDI 1.0 3.3 V spec. |

## Repo map

```
sim/            the browser simulator: index.html, engine.js (portable engine), app.js (UI, Web MIDI)
test/           golden vectors and the scripts that make and check them
hardware/       layout.js (the stripboard, one source of truth) and check-layout.js
tools/          bench pages: wiring.html, bom.html (tick-off parts list), panel.html (panel layout)
docs/           concept, controls, MIDI setup, hardware (BOM, pinout, wiring, panel, SVG drawings)
firmware/       the port plan for the Pico (C, Pico SDK)
```

## Run it

The simulator is a static page. Web MIDI needs a secure context, so serve it over `localhost` or HTTPS rather than opening the file directly:

```sh
npx serve .            # or: python3 -m http.server
# open http://localhost:3000/sim/   (Chrome or Edge; Firefox needs a Web MIDI add-on)
```

GitHub Pages works too: enable Pages for the repo and open `/sim/`.

Checks (Node 18 or later, no dependencies):

```sh
npm test               # golden vectors + stripboard netlist
```

## Docs

- [Concept](docs/concept.md): how the music is made
- [Controls](docs/controls.md): the panel, the screen pages, the gestures
- [MIDI setup](docs/midi-setup.md): kit and synth, learn mode
- [Hardware](docs/hardware/README.md): parts, pinout, stripboard, panel
- [Firmware plan](firmware/README.md)
- [Design decisions](docs/decisions.md)

## Licence

None chosen yet. Add a `LICENSE` file before making the repo public (MIT for code and CC BY-SA for the hardware docs is a common pairing).

## Credits

The track model leans on Eric Lyon's paper "Techno Counterpoint", an analysis of Aphex Twin's tracking practice. The AMENIZER plays a re-voiced Amen break pattern (The Winstons, "Amen, Brother", 1969).