Tskguy

Zam, Like I said just thinking about ways to simplify things.. You have worked so hard on your design its most likely the best option! I will make sure and comment on your GroupDiy thread! Eric

Zam,  You may want to do a feeler thread over on GroupDIY.. The traffic on the mixer thread is small.. Also you may only have a small handful of folks interested like myself!! On another completely different note. I was looking at ways to do a faster D/A conversion or filtering on a PWM signal and I found an interesting chip that will take a PWM stream and convert it to smooth DC in 8us Linear Technologys LTC2645 . Not sure if it would simplify the design? I know your way past that stage of your design was just really thinking out loud!  Eric

HA, I am glad liked the link... I often remind myself while mixing my own music. I will be ready once you decide for some beta testing. I can help defer some cost for you as well group buying faders and PCB :) Eric

Zam, Thats an interesting issue.. Can you add another 5 volt rail? and just keep the regulation at the power supply? Not sure if that would keep the layout at the fader side less complicated? But I sense you are a perfectionist :). Maybe just leaving it as is will be fine!  And thanks for the measurements they will fit with no issues!  http://lifehacker.com/the-30-percent-rule-and-the-art-of-early-feedback-1619474527  

Pretty sure your approach is the best.. All of the Automation heavy lifting has been done by the Daw software. How is your progress coming along? My new board is fully installed and working great! plenty of room for adding multiple boards if needed.  Eric  

Zam,   Your most likley correct, but what I found interesting is that the MTC idea is not dependent on the DAW as well as a modern 32 bit motion control would allow for a much smoother more detailed motion. In terms of the software side I think the rec playback would be pretty straight forward but the error correction PID feedback may be a bit more challenging.As well as an intelligent GUI etc..More just thinking out loud really, your approach is most likely the best :)

Thanks Zam!! My neotek board is arriving this weekend and I will have plenty of things to do for some time before I will be starting this project, I just find it so so interesting I cant stop reading about this:) It combines motion control and audio... both very interesting. On a side note I have a very good friend who is a senior software engineer at Microsoft and I had a discussion with him regarding MTC and interfacing it through software and oddly enough he actually already wrote a piece of software for that exact reason. More for me to think about.  Eric

OK so i was looking at the specs of the L293D and I assume the noise issue with that has to do with the frequency of the PWM cycle is too low for the faders that pass real audio. I am looking to do something very close to what Zam has done but with a much tighter budget and less need for the led and buttons for mute etc. Is there a better alternative chip that would be a replacement in this board? .. I know Zam had more complicated solution/ circuit that I assume was based on an op amp type motor control. Or should I just keep asking Zam for his layout and pcb info :)   Eric

That's great, I will be buying some for testing... I have a few other motion control ideas from the cnc world.. May have some off the shelf pid control boards with good clear DC. May be able to interface with Aout? anyway may be a cheaper alternative.   Eric

Zam, Wow it looks to work perfectly!!! It's an exciting endeavor for sure!! I am far from starting this project I need to install my new neotek first and get all the bugs worked out on that front... And of coarse pay for it!! I am wondering thought the 4k of estimated cost?? Is it board production in small runs with the fader cost? It's seems a bit high to me.. Or am I grossly underestimating the BOM costs for your boards?? I have a very close friend who is an engineer for a midi instrument company and has great contacts to get pcb's and components at reasonable costs... Eric

Zam, I understand your hesitance in releasing pcb's without testing! Over at groupdiy most just to do it to and let the community help debug :) I think you approach is better :). I most interested in your pid controll :) I have PCB manufacturing contacts and can get small runs done if needed... In terms of fader panals I am pretty good in that regard. My capsule cnc machine engraves pretty well...  So to get started I need, MB_NG, midibox MBHP module, 1 AINSER, 1 AOUT_NG, 8 Din and 8 Dout. and a PID motor control.(.I have the schematic from groupdiy) ?? I may not need all of this for initial testing and learning?   I actually have a RFQ out with TKD local distributor to get pricing. Can you share the Alps fader you used initially? I am thinking it would be a good place to start testing but I cant seem to find one with all three tracks.  Do you think that the HUI protocol will work? What are the drawbacks? I am mostly interested in fader automation not mute or other actions really. I don't mind using a mouse now and then.  I am not sold on protools long term but for now its what I have.  This is cool stuff!!    

Most impressive!!  So if I read this correctly the Pid board and the 89 inout board is your design.. very good work, I know that isn't an easy task! Do you plan on producing them or sharing the files? I am very familiar with PID based control systems due to my capsule cnc machine is using a servo based system based on the same technology! I have considered actually going away from HUI based coms and coding a smpte based system but that would be very time consuming and the automation in daws is already pretty comprehensive! Seems getting a MB_NG board learning is a good place to start. I am also trying to source the TDK faders, seems a bit challenging in the states!   Eric

Zam,  Amazing work! So I am 100% newbie on here and would love to understand this fully from the midibox perspective...Your work is amazing and an inspiration to me to do the same thing. Please help me understand this from all of the hardware perspective. Cant wait to see more. Video?? Thanks!! Eric