STEP400

A 4-axis stepper motor driver for creative coders

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Apr 28, 2021

Project update 14 of 14

Getting Started & Field Reports

by Kanta

After an unexpectedly long wait at the warehouse, STEP400 has finally started shipping from the warehouse to our supporters. Thank you for your patience! In this update, I’d like to share some resources for getting started with STEP400.

How to get started with STEP400

Tutorial

For the first steps, please follow the "Tutorial" in the documentation. The documentation is now fully translated to English, thanks to a great contribution from Yuske Goto.

We have example files for several programming environments:

The Max sample file is the most comprehensive so far, but we will be updating the TouchDesigner sample project soon.

Forum

We’re going to use the discussions in this Github repository as a forum, so if you have any questions or ideas, feel free to post them there.

Slide

The repo also contains a slide presentation that follows the tutorial above and includes basic knowledge and a selection guide of stepper motors. This slide was used in a hands-on workshop of STEP400 and stepper motors in Tokyo, so only a Japanese version available at the moment. We hope to have similar events soon that will generate an English language version.

Firmware Update

Unfortunately, we found a bug in the firmware after shipping was completed: the "current mode" is selected in the configuration tool, but the setting is not implemented properly when the STEP400 is started. In most cases, this won’t be an issue, but please update the firmware if necessary. The update also corrects some typos in the diagnostic tool. We have online instructions for updating the firmware.

Calling for Field Reports

If you have done any experiments or projects using STEP400, we’d love to hear from you! Please send them to Crowd Supply Field Reports. If you are selected, you will be featured in our newsletter, on our website, with SNS, and on the Crowd Supply campaign page. You’ll also receive a $25 credit at Crowd Supply!

For example, here’s one use case from FANCY FUTURE INSTRUMENTS ltd.: an automated-scratch vinyl record player named "chrono=phonograph". You can see behind scenes of this project from his Twitter feed.

Since vinyl records are heavy and have high inertia, high torque is required for rapid acceleration and deceleration, while accurate rotating speed is important to maintain pitch stability. STEP400 can drive the motor with high current and uses an accurate crystal oscillator as the master clock, making it perfect for this kind of application.

This project is currently undergoing a crowdfunding campaign in Japan Check it out!


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