[midiphy gates/clocks module]

awesome! i was just about to mount an AOUT_NG to a eurorack panel... but if this is based on the same schematic as the AOUT_NG, i might save the components and wait with building for this more compact solution :-)

[Troubleshooting midiphy SEQ v4+]

JPA0, this did the trick! thank you once again! 

also had to delete the previous MIOS32 entry in macOS Audio Midi Setup to bring it back correctly ... MIDI isn't really as smooth under Mac as Peter suggests...

time to sleep, those were enough careless mistakes for today... tomorrow i have to debug a real CAN buss system at work ...

[Troubleshooting midiphy SEQ v4+]

ok ... so i desoldered all the Matias (ripping off most of the pads on top ...), clipped everything on the Enc-Plate even more and also the resistor networks and soldered back in the Matias ... it works now :-)

(resoldering the Matias is not recommended - one of the more stupid mistakes i've made. it would probably be an idea to provide a kapton isolation sheet in the shop to prevent this?)

i loaded seq v4+ and started testing a bit. this went fine until i tried to go back to midibox ng where the flashing failed halfway and i got stuck in bootloader mode.

now when i powercycle the core is not detected any longer in a MIDI scan and does not show up in the USB device tree (i'm on macOS)...

the green led on the back of the Core still flashes slowly when i power the Core but i don't get the bootloader message on the screen.

maybe i'm stuck in some kind of low level boot mode? any suggestions?

thank you!

[Troubleshooting midiphy SEQ v4+]

yes i had everything working before i soldered the mathias, also before i installed the encoder caps.

but i probably shouldn't have tested DURING pushing on the encoder caps ...

i did cut the encoder legs but there seem to be a few possible other shorts, in particular between the resistor networks and the thru-board headers...

i guess i'm going to have to borrow my neighbours fancy desoldering station :-/

[Troubleshooting midiphy SEQ v4+]

Hi,

i have a problem on the LE-MEC LH after pushing on the left most encoder cap the leftmost row of buttons doesn't work any longer:

leftmost encoder click, leftmost upper and lower DIN and MEC don't work any longer.

leftmost encoder turning works and the LEDs are also ok.

i suspect something got shorted as i pushed on the cap. any hints at which components i should look at
(and if i can fix it without desoldering all the Matias switches ...)

Thanks!

[Out-of-stock parts for midiphy BOM tool]

that's actually a good point ... i might indeed be interested in peripherals like 8x AOUT_NG so i think i'll keep them for now ;-)

 

[Out-of-stock parts for midiphy BOM tool]

ah! hmm.... not sure what happened ...
but somehow Mouser put the 25 pack No. 595-MC3486NE4 in my cart after I imported the BOM from the midiphy page and I didn't question it sufficiently.
or maybe that was the previous BOM part No. before you changed it??

anyways, not a biggy, my purchasing skills are a bit rusty after some break from DIY

 

[Out-of-stock parts for midiphy BOM tool]

hi all,

should maybe be in market but since it's for SEQ V4+ i try here... i bought the Mouser mandatory min. amount of 25 RS-242 interfaces (MC3486N) and have 23 surplus now,
if somebody wants to trade for something or buy at very good price just for you my friends
 

[Out-of-stock parts for midiphy BOM tool]

Hi,

The Hirose connectors MDF7-10S-2.54DSA(55) are out of stock at Mouser with a 16 week lead time.

i found some at Digikey but maybe there is another store with more favorable delivery conditions?

(btw. sorry i didn't see this thread before i guess i should have posted my Tayda stuff better here)

Cheers

[midiphy SEQ v4+]

8 hours ago, Hawkeye said:

We appreciate alternative parts lists a lot, they can surely help to save quite some money!

One thing i've noticed while quickly browsing it: be aware, that some LEDs may have different specs regarding brightness, for example the 5mm RGB LED for the beat indicator looks like it is a "clear variant" - i've built an early version of the v4+ with one of those and it was a lot brighter than the diffused version in the mouser BOM - therefore different SJ resistors for that LED type would be required. Or you could use one of @Antichambre 's cool aftermarket beat LED diffusors :).

Generally, we'd recommend not to save too much on connectors (like MIDI ports), as your sequencer should live for many years and those connectors will be exposed to some mechanical wear and tear over time - nothing is worse than a MIDI connection going bad during a live jam! :)

Hi Peter,

I'm happy I can contribute a little bit back after lurking all those years :-)

Concerning the LED, i've marked it in red now which means parts where people should be careful in replacing.

And I checked my previously bought MIDI ports again from both Tayda and Mouser and it's true Tayda seems much cheaper and doesn't have a nice metal casing. I marked those, too.

Another thing I noticed, not related to Tayda, is that the MEC switches are out of stock at Mouser now. too many SEQ V4+ builders? :-)
I did find some at RS so might order from there (unless someone has a huge stock and wants to make a nice offer),
but i'll eventually add more columns for other vendors

Cheers,

Gerhard

[midiphy SEQ v4+]

On 17/12/2018 at 8:51 PM, Smithy said:

Just a little request for builders:

If you are ordering from a different major electronics supplier to Mouser it would be really helpful for people if you could share a BOM for that reatailer. 

A list of BOMs could be added to the wiki, a user on Reddit was asking for a BOM for Tayda for example, a retailer I never heard of before from Thailand but are popular on Muff Wigglers and in the Synth DIY community apparently.

 

Hi Smithy,

just saw your post. i was the user requesting (and now providing :-) ) the Tayda BOM.
it will be only a partial BOM since they only carry quite basic parts.
for now the BOM lives on Google sheets:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TFORmEMBbFG3oqMcv7UKvtxkn49CxaHfWDaHRXMIvfM/edit?usp=sharing

in principle i agreed with Hawkeye and Andy to share only once confirmed, but I've decided to go through my stock first (including scavenging
some unfinished midibox builds which are now on hold ;-) ) and use parts I already have instead of blindly re-ordering everything from Tayda.
so i will only order what I can't find at home, but maybe someone else finds this list useful in the meantime. 
most of the parts i have are actually from Tayda already. i can make this editable to anyone interested and you are free to copy
and host elsewhere if Google is not the preferred host.

Cheers,
Gerhard

[WTB: DINX4 and DOUTX4]

Great! Germany (need to update my profile ...) - i send you a PM!

[WTB: DINX4 and DOUTX4]

hi,

if anybody has some spare DINX4 and DOUTX4 boards (R5):
WTB - i'll take up to 4 of each if available, but singles help me already

thanks

[midibox_ng_v1 enable MIDI3/4 ports]

dear midiboxers,

i'm trying to get the midi port 3 and 4 extension for an MHHP_CORE_LPC17 board working.

the instructions say these have to be enabled in the firmware.

now i'm looking for where to do that, can somebody give me a hint?

it's probably some flag in a header file but i can't find it :-/

thanks!

 

[MB-SEQ V3/V4 Control Surface PCB and matching case]

On 11/03/2017 at 0:37 AM, jaytee said:

This is a five year old thread. You'll have to wait for them to come back in stock at @smashtv's shop like the rest of us.

hi,

may i ask why that is the only possibility? is there an agreement that only Tim may have the boards produced?
sorry if this info is somehwere hidden here, my archeology skills are lacking these days :-)
also if the gerbers are online somewhere i couldn't find them, but if they were, and it was allowed, someone else could have a couple boards made.

cheers

[can't compile trunk (rev 2417)]

hi,

i'm trying to compile the SVN trunk of midibox_ng_v1 for LPC17 under MacOSX 10.11.6 using the gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q3 toolchain but i run out of memory ("RAM overflowed") at the link stage.
any recommendations?
should i comment something out, or go back to a recommended tag, or can it be a problem with my setup?
i started fresh from scratch (no residual build files messing up the linking)

thanks!

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

Hi Dugan,

 

good point. it's true that all devices i tested with the second port worked apart from the PC so i'll leave R26 in for now.

perhaps a flexible solution would be to include a jumper on future revisions of the CORE_LPC17 board

in order to short R21/R26 if neccessary for the particular users setup.

 

Cheers,

Gerhard

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

Hi Thorsten,

 

First i would like to report that also for me the LPC17 communicates normally if i bridge R21 :-)

 

Thanks for all the help!

 

I guess I have to also bridge R26 to get OUT2 working?

 

Second, i did the tests you requested (before bridgeing):

 

1) Connecting a synthesizer (Korg EM-1, not really a synth but a fairly standard toy...) works,

    in both directions

 

2) loopback through MIDIpal works even with R1 in - looking at the MIDIpal PCB it has written 3.3V all over it,

    so i'm guessing its also 3.3V. i can see two 220 Ohm resistors close to the 6N138. not sure about the acutal

    schematics because Olivier has taken them down i think, but probably MIDIpal is prepared for 3.3V operation

    so that could explain the success.

 

so, it looks as if only the connection between the Roland and Prodipe USB-MIDI interfaces did not work.

last test i did before soldering in the bridges is to test the Roland in "iPad mode" (a small switch on the cable) ...

i thought this maybe switches the device to lower currents/voltage, but it didn't work

 

Thanks again, I'm happy to finally have learned more about MIDI :-)

 

Gerhard

 

 

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

Hi Thorsten,

 

I tried with another MIDI Interface (Prodipe 1in/1out) which exhibits the same problematic behaviour.

Also, I tested MIDI loopback with another device (Mutable Instruments MIDIpal) which also

includes a MIDI monitor and MIDI thru feature and it works just fine with both interfaces, the Roland

and the Prodipe.

(Not sure if the MIDIpal uses a 5V signal on the output though...)

 

Another thing i googled is that apparently many MIDI interfaces still have problems with MacOSX Mavericks

since it is quite new.

however, since i tried with two different MIDI interfaces, and I have no problems with the MIDIpal (or any

of my other synthesizer I connected previously) I doubt it is a driver issue.

 

I am therefore ready to try your level shifting idea :-)

 

Thanks,

Gerhard

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

Hi Thorsten,

 

Further test results:

 

- Your proposed loopback test works (routing USB1 --> OUT1 --> cable --> IN1 --> USB1) : more progress :-)

 

- I also tried to just route USB1 --> OUT1 (leaving IN1-->USB1 open) with the same loopback cable to IN1

  and can see the events come back via IN1 in the midimon in the terminal

 

- These tests I repeated with permuting the cables between IN1/2, OUT1/2 and got the expected results in each case

 

--> the LPC17 seems to be able to talk to itself just fine

 

- I repeated the "jumper" loopback test (taking out the LPC17 and shorting Rx/Tx  on both with two different MIDI interfaces
  (the Roland cable and a no-name cable), it also works flawlessly 

 

--> the Mac seems to be able to talk to itself just fine, and going through the octocouplers etc also seems to work

 

now, what does not work is any test that sends MIDI data via IN1/2,OUT1/2 between the Mac and the LPC17.

some data do get transmitted, but they are wrong and incomplete, bytes get lost. i see that in the MIOS midi monitor

and on third-party midi monitors.

 

from these tests i conclude there might be a problem in synchronizing the

communication between the Mac and the LPC17,

perhaps the MIDI baud rate is not set correctly, or something like that... ?

 

thanks,

 

Gerhard 

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

hi thorsten,

Ok, i will do this routing test a bit later, but i can immediately explain my setup to you in more detail,

sorry for assuming this was unambiguous, you are of course right it is not ...

I have a laptop (Apple MBPr with Mavericks) with a USB cable in one USB port going to the USB port in the CORE_LPC17,
and a USB-MIDI cable (Roland UM-1) in the other USB port going to the CORE_LPC17 MIDI_IN1 and MIDI_OUT1 sockets.

all ports (MIOS32, and UM-ONE, respectively) are correctly recognized by MIOS studio and other MIDI monitor applications

running on the computer.

when i set the in/out ports in MIOS Studio to "MIOS32" (the MIDI port assigned to the USB cable),
the LPC17 is correctly recognized and communication is possible.

when i send MIDI data from another virutal keyboard to the UM-ONE, i can see it in the LPC17 terminal on IN1.

when i set the in/out ports in MIOS Studio to "UM-ONE" (the MIDI ports assigned to the Roland UM-1 interface) no communication is possible anymore.

this is how i conclude only the MIDI OUT is not working.

 
for the previous (hardware) loopback test i removed the CORE_LPC17 and shorted the pins in the empty female headers.

this worked.

 

i'll write again once i did your suggested routing loopback test.

 

thanks,

Gerhard

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

Hi Thorsten,

 

I'm a little confused now that you say by default no data are sent to MIDI OUT?

It was my understanding that it should be possible by default to communicate with the CORE_LPC17

via the MIDI ports only, and use USB only for power? it is written everywhere in the instructions

that MIDI can be used to upload MIOS32 etc... so i thought for this data have to go through MIDI IN and OUT

by default already when the bootloader runs?

 

I did your routing suggestion and indeed a few occassional bytes are being sent to MIDI OUT now, so a little bit

of progress :-)

but the data are not the notes sent from the virtual midi keyboard, only very few bytes arrive, mostly FF and FC,

not complete and correct MIDI messages.

 

i see two possibilities now, either it looks like the path to the MIDI port might be buggy but then it is strange why

the loopback test (shorting RX and TX) worked just fine.

 

second, the LPC does not send MIDI OUT messages correctly (due to hardware issue on the LPC board,

or due to a MIOS software issue that has for some reason not been seen yet...)

can i somehow read the MIDI messages directly at the TX pins?

 

thanks,

gerhard

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

 

hi thorsten,

 

the voltages i mentioned above were measured without and IC or the LPC inserted.

when i insert everything an run normally, i get 3.3V at all four TX pins - as expected.

 

i am 100% sure the LPC17 runs MIDIBOX_NG correctly, i can communicate via terminal

and also have an LCD attached. when i switch on the MIDI monitor i can see MIDI sent

to MIDI_IN1 via USB on the terminal.

Only MIDI_OUT is not working...

 

for good measure i reflowed now almost all solder points (that were connected to something),

images are attached.

 

thanks!

gerhard

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

hi thorsten,

sorry, i measured again more carefully this morning, and counted the pins more carefully.
so, with the USB plugged in i measure 5V on P2.1/RXD1 and 0V on P2.0/TXD1
(also i checked P0.1/RXD3 and P0.0/TXD3 and get also 5V and 0V respectively).
the voltage directly at the MIDI socket is 3.3 V at J12 and J20
(between middle/GND and square via / middle left pin of socket in rear view).
this confuses me a little since according to the schematic i would expect 3.3V on the right side (M+).

these voltages are the same with and without the ICs (IC1,IC2,IC4,IC5, LPC17) or jumpers (apart from J17) in their sockets.
to me the soldering looks clean, all blobs look concave, shiny and covering just the pad ...
and i also thoroughly cleaned the board with alcohol
(if it is possible to attach images here i could attach a picture of it?)

do you have further ideas of points where i could measure to find a short if there is one?

thanks,
Gerhard

[LPC17 MIDI out trouble]

hi all,

 

this is my first post so first i would like to say hello,

 

and then immediately ask for help :-)

 

the problem is, MIDI OUT is not working on my CORE_LPC17.

 

i've built the CORE_LPC17 module and got USB and MIDI IN working,

i.e. i was able to install the bootloader via USB, and then the MIDIBOX_NG

application. commands in the MIOS Studio terminal work fine.

 

i tested the loopback as described on the MIDI troubleshooting page, and

it works if i take out the LPC17 and short RX and TX via a jumper directly

at the LPC socket (i installed female headers).

so it looks as if there is no problem with the circuitry between the MIDI socket

and the female headers...

 

MIDI in works correctly with the LPC installed, if i send MIDI commands to MIDI IN

i can see them via USB on the terminal in the midi monitor.

 

but MIDI out does not work, there is no data transmitted.

 

i put a LED against the MIDI out socket, and it flickers only briefly directly

after power-up (i think no data is transmitted at that point)

 

if i measure the voltage directly on the TX pin on the LPC board, it seems to

be constantly at 5V...

 

any ideas how i can proceed further?

 

thanks!