Gilesjuk

What happens if you asked for some PCBs to be shipped by Tk and some to by shipped by you Nils? Only I have my 4 chips from Tk and 2 5x5 PCBs, but I've heard nothing about the other two PCBs. It's no big deal as it will take me a while to build them all :)

The normal OPL board uses 12v and -12v OP amps. Which means building a more complex PSU.

PIC Core? it has a regulator and rectifier so it is pretty tolerant. Excess voltage is burned off as heat, so it can be worth trying to supply the minimum you need. I have a 7V AC transformer connected to mine. But if your PSU can't supply the current needed for the backlight then it won't light up. I would check the A and K connections of the LCD with your multimeter in continuity mode, being an LED it will pass current one way and not the other way. But if you get no reading both ways then the LED may have popped. You should get the backlight at the very least as that's a simple circuit.

Is your power source up to the job? the backlight does need a few mA of power, the rest of the circuitry isn't demanding in power.

Cool. Glad you got it going. An OLED display is next on my list, although it may go in the MB6582 first. I put one in my PreenFM and they are seriously impressive.

You can control the LED brightness with PWM. But three LEDs in one package is still three LEDs, you need extra circuitry.

Are you sure you have the cable connected to the core the correct way? there's two ways it can go on and both tend to light up the display.

This is the guide to follow: http://www.midibox.org/users/jim_henry/building_a_midibox_lcd_cable.pdf

Okay. Well the LCD wiring is easy to get wrong. I suggest double checking it?

When turning the core on it asks for you to upload MIOS to it if it isn't already loaded. You may only have the bootloader programmed on your PIC chip, so you won't see a ready message or the copyright message. This explains what you will see: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=mios

You might want to read this? http://joemaller.com/1424/worst-component-ever/

You mean the combined output of all the SIDs is low but the individual outputs are fine?

Some of the joints look like the solder hasn't flowed onto the pad properly. Look as them from the side and they'll look round like a toffee apple or something. They should look volcano shaped. You're using lead-free solder right? (only it looks dull, unlike 60/40 lead solder which is shiny).

The SID chip itself has a set number of features that both support, but just like C64 composers all had their own replay routine. Each device controlling the SID has its own features implemented in their firmware. It's not impossible to salvage some settings from sysex dumps, but it would require quite a bit of work.

Perhaps people don't turn down the pot before first switch on? meaning it could be set really high on first test.