jaytee

I am waffling between this and starting my own drum sequencer forms cratch (tough, but it'd be nice to have something tailored to my exact needs).

Did you end up with any spare PCBs by any chance?

What us the status of this?

Sorry to revive an old thread but I was just curious... kanji, do you have your veroboard layouts available? Been thinking about doing a clap circuit on veroboard but it'd be nice if I could build off of your work.

Can someone explain to me what the three options in the lower right of the OSC panel are for? Where you choose your SID, mono/stereo, and your filter caps? I figured it would be like a quick change to calibrate all your filter settings at once, but it seems to have zero effect that I can see. I checked the manual for these options in the menus of the synth itself and didn't see anything analogous either. On the other hand, they make my patch bay blink, so they're obviously sending *something*. Not a big deal, just curious.

Yeah, that's a really good idea, actually. No idea why I didn't think of that; the sammichSID would make a perfect prototype and I don't think I'd even have to open up the case to get started!

I would email and ask if they're expected to come back into stock...

The SKs have internal envelope CVs (already built and installed a module that modifies these) and MIDI is easy enough to install (Highly Liquid sells boards specifically for this purpose). ETA: the filters I had planned on installing were designed to respond to the SK's internal CV.

I've had this idea of creating a monster Casio SK sampler/ synth/modular circuit bent monstrosity for a few years now and I am finally moving it out of the concept stage to begin work on it. One of the most important features is the addition of a filter/filter bank to the Casios. Graham Meredith created a filter bank for his SK-8 and produced instructions on building one, but after two separate attempts, I can't get the durn thing to work, so I'm here looking at other options. My first thought was to build a different filter than the one Graham was using; I found some decent designs that run off 9v and should work nicely, but my lack of experience troubleshooting circuits and my failure on the previous builds has me worried. My second thought was to grab some SSM2044 chips and use them as ready-made filter modules. This is a bit more appealing, but the thought of designing a circuit around an existing chip is also a bit daunting. Still, at least these chips are well-documented, as opposed to the free schematics for filter circuits that are floating around. My third thought (and what brings me to this forum) was that maybe there are other chips around that can natively filter external audio and hey doesn't the SID chip do that and HEY A SID SYNTH AND AN SK-1 IN THE SAME CASE SOUNDS INCREDIBLE. So basically, I'm hoping that someone can let me know if what I want to do is impossible before I start buying up SIDs and PCBs and go nuts. I have two possible concepts in mind, one is truly polyphonic and the other is paraphonic. The first would be to build an MBSID around 4 SID chips (one filter per voice of the Casio SK). I am thinking I could hook up the envelope CVs inside the SK to the MBSID's analog inputs to modulate filter cutoff per note. How does this sound? Do the analog inputs respond quickly enough for this use? The other, simpler and cheaper idea, would be a paraphonic SID filter, whereby MIDI signals from the SK would trigger filter envelopes programmed into the MBSID patch. This should definitely be possible, right? I am possibly not explaining myself as well as I hope, so feel free to ask clarifying questions. Right now this is all sort of floating around in my brain, so I'm just as confused as you are, in all likelihood. Edit: Just to give an idea where I am... Like I said, I am not great at troubleshooting circuits, though I can follow a signal path through one alright. I built my own sammichSID a couple years ago, so while that was a no-fuss intro to MIDIbox, I'm familiar with the platform and have read the MBSID manual probably a dozen times. I don't foresee much of an issue building a modular MBSID (as opposed to possible problems that might arise building standalone filters), but I'm more concerned with integrating external hardware (Casio SK) into the concept. Basically, the end result will hopefully be an SK-1, an SK-8 and an MBSID, all housed in the same case, with the ability to freely patch the audio path as seen fit; ie, one could play any of the three individually, one could sample the MBSID into an SK, one could filter one SK through the MBSID to be sampled by the second SK.... Something along those lines.

I could swear that somewhere it was mentioned that the fan was added only for aesthetic purposes (the fan grille looks cool). No guarantees based on following this half-remembered piece of information.

Is the v3 project dead now? I'm more than happy with my v2 setup, but some of this sounds very interesting.

If I were looking to buy a SID synth on a budget and couldn't find a sammichSID, I would be looking into a C64 with MSSIAH cartridge. Everything else is too unsupported, expensive, finicky, etc.

Thank you! I don't know why I didn't think to search the forums. I wrongly assumed that a google search would suffice.

Does such a thing exist? Could it be created without too much trouble? I understand the utility of keeping it online, such that it can be updated along with the software, but at the same time, having seen my fair share of websites disappear from the web without notice or reason, it'd be nice to have a local copy for my own records. Doubt that MIDIbox is going anywhere soon, but all the same...

Just wanted to offer congratulations on getting it put together! How are things going so far?

Anything new on this front?

Reiterating interest, fwiw.

Imp, totally missed your response; you had it right on the nose. No idea how that automation got recorded, but it did. Thanks!

Ok found the issue. sammichSID is not at fault, thank goodness. For some reason a bunch of garbage CC data got recorded into my sequence somehow. Thanks for the help; even if it was just helping me rule out my hardware as the issue! The CC causing my issue was 22, which controls waveforms. Turns out there's a bunch of CC garbage on a lot of others too, just none that affecting the sound in this sequence on this patch. At least I got to open up my sammich again!

Can't seem to duplicate the results noodling on a midi controller, which I suppose is comforting. I have no idea what's going on in this midi sequence that's causing the sammichSID to bug out though. I tried deleting the notes and adding them back; I tried changing the note value, I tried changing velocity. I hit the same notes elsewhere in the sequence with no problem. Grumble,

All filter caps remain in place; I gave them a good little shove for good measure (and terrifyingly bent one over; seems fine though). Hmmmm... Now I seem to be getting the same clipping and distortion without the filter engaged. Always seems to be at the same two points in my MIDI sequence, although I can't understand why; there's nothing special about those notes that I can see. More investigation is necessary.

I was running my sammichSID through some midi today and noticed that patches involving the filter seemed to introduce significant clipping/distortion. I haven't done extensive testing, but it seems to happen at least with the LP filter, especially when the cutoff is turned down. Changing the patch to something else and then back seems to help for like five seconds. I am not even sure how to begin more extensive testing, any advice regarding that is appreciated. I just underwent a move that involved shipping the sammichSID; I could believe that some damage was done. It just seems odd that both SID chips would undergo the exact same damage at the same time. As far as I know, the filters were fine before the move. Both chips are 8580 btw. Am I missing something?

ctrlr doesn't seem to run on OSX 10.5.8, which is what my current computer is running. No other options for controlling an MB SID, short of putting together one myself, I'm guessing? Maybe I'll have to just bite the bullet and update the OS on this thing, although what I really want is a new laptop.

Each SID module holds a single SID. You just need two SID modules for a stereo setup.

No fuss, just curious about TK's take on sammichSID prices.