synthmania
-
Posts
18 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Posts posted by synthmania
-
-
Been looking at the manual for a while but can't get this to work.
When I turn on the device, it sets itself to midi CH1; which will be global for all the presets. I would like at boot to have CH5 set for all the patches. How can I do that?
-
Thanks! I was wondering why there was also a couple of banks that are not usable. And totally forgot about the bank reserved for the ensemble. Thanks!
-
I am troubleshooting an issue on my sammichSID; basically I see that all the 24LC512 memory chips are installed; there are 5 of them.
When using the SS, I can see bank A, B, C and D, but E, F and G give me the "no bank" message on display. I am curious how does the memory on the SS works, with these chips.
Is each chip hosting a bank? In which case I should see banks A through E; but the last bank seems to be D. Do I have to initialize again the chips, or maybe some went bad? Thanks
-
Found the issue; I had a newer version of CTRL; so the panel won't work.
Downloaded a version from few years ago and it works fine. Cheers!
-
I have found the CTRL panel for the sammichSID; which seems to work for wave shapes and other controls; but if I press buttons like the one to init a patch or to read the patch from the device, it just hang. I see the LED on my interface showing midi traffic but it never stops, it goes on and on.
I just started with CTRL so I can't just look at the problem and figure this out, so I wonder if someone can give me some pointers about what is going on and why. Seems that the panel wasn't updated for quite a while, although same goes for the sammichSID, so I wonder if this is somehting that can be fixed or if there is something else to troubleshoot, that goes beyond CTRL panel. Thanks
-
15 hours ago, Krizz said:
@synthmania Hi Paolo, I have a MIDIbox V1 with 4 SIDs: 3x 8580, 1x 6581 (3684). My old 6581 SID has the same characteristics as yours. I ended up replacing it for an 8580. So now I have 4 SIDs (each with its own output) for fat stereo sounds when I spread them out in the panorama. The 8580 sounds much better in my opinion and generates absolutely no unwanted noise or bugs. So consider replacing your 6581 SIDs with the 8580. I would do it.
By the way: I KNEW you would build a MIDIbox one day! :D take care Paolo!
@TK. Hatte Dir gestern eine PN geschickt
Hi Krizz, not sure who this Paolo is, but I assume you got the wrong person :)
Indeed I am going for the 8580 too; got 2 more SID chips since I am building also another midibox on top of the sammichSID ;)
-
Brilliant, thanks for clarifying things!
-
8 hours ago, TK. said:
Just set the ABW (ADSR Bug Workaround) flag on your sammichSID.
Search on this page to get more information about the consequences:
- ABW (ADSR Bug Workaround): an option which provides a less usual method to overcome the ADSR bug. Whenever the envelope is retriggered, the ADSR registers will be zeroed for at least 30 mS (time can be increased with the delay parameter). Thereafter the original ADSR values will be written back, and the gate will be activated. This results into a more deterministic envelope, but the latency makes it unsuitable for live playing. So, this feature can only be used in conjunction with a sequencer, which allows to compensate the delay (which allows to play the notes earlier by a given time).
Another way to avoid it: set A, D, R to 0 and let the SW based Filter ADSR control the volume - this will also work live - and is used by most sammichSID patches.
Best Regards, Thorsten.
Thanks Thorsten,
Tried as you mention, but somehow that ABW parameter does nothing fundamentally. I tried to load the init patch and the "techno PWM" and the background note that continue to play is still there,although I lose the glide when it is on. I can still hear the background play on any patch I tried, even turning on ABW.
One interesting thing is that there is a GSA parameter, that is also used to solve the ADSR bug, from what the manual says, and when I enable that; the outcome is like if I had a "hold"; so the note continue to play even after I release the key, at full volume. This is quite different from what I hear (very low volume tone after releasing the note).
BTW where do I set ADR to 0 and how do I tell MIOS to use the SW based filter ADSR? Thanks!
-
Hi,
Just finished to make a sammichSID; using 2x6581 original SID from 1982 (not sure the revision; I would assume R2?) sourced from my old C64 and the second was from internet.
Everything seems to work fine; although I noticed that there is a very prominent issue: the clearGate bit does not seem to be set when the note off is send; so while the sound is not that pronounced, you can see from the oscilloscope and hear from the speaker, that the VCO are still up and running. I have no idea what the problem is, since I am using MIOS, I didn't write the code myself.
Searching the FAQ on midibox2 manual there is a note about audio ghosting on 6581 and VCO not going silent, but there is no actual solution explained; I heard this is a common problem on sammichSID boards and it is solved by filtering the audio or changing the volume settings on the sammichSID, so the ghosting won't be perceived. Is this the only solution?
While searching online, I found this video that show the sid driven by an arduino, and to stop sound, the clearGate bit is set at the end, which silence the VCOs. Is there a way to do this in MIOS too? I noticed the only thing that get close to set the clearGate bit is to change the preset; although in a live situation is not really feasible, especially because some presets does cause an audible pop when switching preset. Attached the video below so you can see what the user here did. I know the sammichSID is not the same as this in the video; but I would assume that MIOS is talking to the SID using the standard registers, so there should be a clearGate instructions that can be sent somehow via midi, when noteOFF is send and the value of Decay parameter is honored, so you won't cut off sound ?
-
3 hours ago, the_duckchild said:
Just been updating my website a bit with some words and pictures about various making projects... maybe this will be inspiration? I only really started soldering things in late 2016, so totally possible to do this thing
:)
(you can teach an old dog new tricks it turns out)
http://www.robotriddims.com/makingmusing/2020/5/20/mb6582-midibox-sid-synthNice pictures! Those will come handy to get a comparison when soldering the components. Did you buy the kit including all the parts included? Would be nice to have an updated bill of parts for that kit, I just ordered the parts for the core and SID modules, not for the MB-6582 PCBs yet :)
-
9 hours ago, dwestbury said:
Yes, the button layout on the MB-6582 and sammichSID are different, but the main functions you’ll generally need are still accessible on the condensed sammichSID interface. The main difference is really the smaller screen and the missing routing matrix. The interface was really only designed for two rows anyway. The extra rows show secondary info, like scroll bars and progress indicators etc. I realized that I wanted the routing matrix however - that’s what ultimately lead me to build the MB-6582.
I don’t really use 6581’s, so I haven’t experienced the sound leakage thing. I’ve read that others have dealt with it by using a noise gate in their DAW.
-Darrell
Thanks for the clarification. In the end being a DIY project, I understand everyone can make it as they like :) What is routing matrix adding to the overall experience? Maybe it is more for live usage? I am planning to tuck the device under the table or somewhere around and use it as sound module mainly, so the lack of extra controllers or even a screen is not bothering me (for now) :)
So the issue is just noise? The manual seems to mention ghosting, when a note is pressed and released; which to me sound like a pretty big problem. I can do filters; so if that is all is needed that should be simple; but I would assume there is a way to totally silence the VCO on the chip, to remove ghosting but I can't find much on the forum either. Maybe a fast program change back and forth would stop the VCO ghosting? Or send a reset signal? Although if I remember correctly, that will reset also the current settings you have on the buffer of the chip.
-
Thanks; I read the manual but it is not a step by step manual, so it is more of a guideline about how to do things, and there are no reference to pre-made PCB ; that's why I was asking (there is a broken link referring to a kit, that's all I was able to find on the manual).
Since I want to try all solutions, I did order the PCBs AND got the sammichSID kit; hopefully it will arrive soon, since I paid for expedite shipping. I have 2 6581 so I can use one for each project and see which one works best for me; got all the components monday, so I can do all 3 implementations at this point and see which works best for me.
@dwestbury I was told that sammichSID has a different interface, even if it is using MIOS; in fact I saw that it has a row of buttons that is blank (I assume those are the #1 to #5 buttons for options, there is no label on them from the picture I saw), and a second row with F1 F2 and F3; the midibox V2 manual does not seem to have any reference to these. The other side has the shift, menu, and top-bottom buttons; which are in the manual. Is there a sammich manual beside the build guide?
Also as side note; using 6581, the manual warns about leakage of the sound after pressing a key; how bad is it? Is there a way to solve it? Because if I am recording audio that has leakage and background sound, I can't really do much to fix it (I can fix background noise with the audio tools available these days, but I don't think that will work for actual persistent audio that leak. I won't know until I actually build either solution so I want to be prepared about it
Thanks!
-
Thanks for the clarifications! So it is fundamentally a core with 2 SID modules then? I looked around and the prices for the few on the market are insanely high. The other alternative is ebay kits; which I assume are not "original", if the user didn't release kits anymore and he is not selling them from what I can tell. If it was in the 100-150 USD ballpark I may consider it; but I see that ModularAddict sell the PCB already, so that is a more practical way to get started I think.
Good point on the SID not being producing the same sound; I was curious why would someone use 2 in stereo, but since each chip has 3 voices mono, that make sense.
Would you say that to start, I should get the PCB from https://modularaddict.com/manufacturer/midibox ? I have no clue how to work with PCB, I can make breadboard circuits but that's the extent of it; having a PCB that is well made is probably the best route for me. I was planning to order the SID module, but there are 2 core modules; there is MB6582 - SID synth main PCB and Core8 PCB.Then I need the midi module too I assume, to be able to have the box to talk to my computer.
-
I am a beginner too and finally got the plan to build a simple setup with just the core and the SID module, and like others, I also found myself struggling to find step by step instructions that show how to do things; but the nice part is that the forum is pretty active and people are super helpful!
If someone has an updated bill of materials for the various modules, that would be awesome to have! Also I am not sure about PCBs... is ModularAddict selling PCBs for the different modules? I found one PCB that say
'SID synth main PCB", although it is quite large and does not look like the core one on the website. I am going for the basic approach; which is 1 core, 1 SID and the midi IO, so I can use it as sound module and make all the changes via midi/sysex.
I am hoping to find a PCB pre-made because I know how to solder but I never made a PCB nor I made a perforated board project before, so I would gladly skip that part :)
-
Thanks a lot! Will probably give it a go this weekend, once all the electronic parts will arrive (these days it is hard to go to a store to grab components).
BTW I have a question regarding the sammich box; which from what I understand, is a variant of the original midibox. Not sure if it is kosher to talk about it here, so I want to point out that I am not aware if there is any negative history about this box or not.
I noticed that the sammich use 2 SID; which is kinda weird; is there a particular reason for using 2 of them? I thought each SID is a 3 voices stereo device, so adding 2 give you 6 voices? Also considering that it takes 2 SID; does it matter if you use SID of different revision, like 4982, 2282 and so on? Being made in the same year should guarantee a consistent sound I believe.
-
Thanks for your reply; from what I can tell, there is not much about using arduino for builds; I just found few videos that were not even going in details about the process; hence my curiosity to know if that was the new way to make the midibox.
I am OK with using the original design; I just wonder why it was not updated, and the assumption that it is much easier to find the parts in the list for the barebone board, compared to support a commercial product like an arduino. Also I assume that it has to be hard to make, so nobody mass-produce it (as it happened with other designs that started as hobby/maker projects and became commercial).
Also good point on not having the MIOS studio at that point; I wrote few midi programs to interface with my hardware, so I am not totally new to the process, but having something that is solid is a great starting point.
I will give it a try :) I guess nobody made a video tutorial about how to go by with the build, right? :) Also what would you consider pitfalls for the build? Beside voltage (12V for the SID and 5V for VCC if I recall correctly from the schematics)?
-
Hi,
I just discovered this new world of SID standalone devices; and want to make my own SID Midibox. I used to have a C64 when I was a kid, and never got any idea how electronics did work, but with time got more and more into it; until the point where I became a programmer.
Searching in the attic of a relative I found a treasure of old hardware; like Amiga 600, a C64, an Atari 2600 and few other computers that for today standards they are fundamentally ancient. While nothing beside the 2600 was working; I found that people were using the SID in the C64 to make synths, and since I am a big synth nutcase, I thought why not trying putting together a midibox.
I did check the various solutions out there, and what did strike me is the fact that most implementation goes pretty low to the metal; while in some cases I saw people using Arduino or even Raspberry Pi to control the SID; so I was wondering if there is a "newer" way to make a midibox SID, using such devices, which offer native support for things like Midi, serial and usb; and has an easy to use IDE (like for the arduino IDE), that can be programmed in C and it is pretty straightforward.
I am OK going for the standard implementation but was wondering if there was a reason for not using something more "complete" like an arduino/ARM micro, or even a RPI, to drive the SID chip (not planning to build the whole thing, that is way out of my league; but I would be happy to at least get some sound out of the chip, and maybe control it via standard midi CC signals to give some retro-vibe to my music compositions).
Thanks!
Change the default channel at boot from 1 to another channel
in MIDIbox SID
Posted
Not sure if this is not doable at all, or if it is not worth to do :) Got no time to go in the ASM code of the OS, but if that is what is required, I can do that no problem.