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Zeke

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Posts posted by Zeke

  1. On 5/26/2021 at 3:08 AM, Reubenclarke.jpg said:

    Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.

    Only Issue I have found is the clock only has 30mV between the two contacts.

    What voltage should the 10.000Mhz clock run at?

    This may not help but I had all kinds of issues until I attached all the faders to the PCB. using one to test doesn't help. I learnt that the hard way. I would suggest doing that.

  2. I haven't posted in a while but I did get mine working after all. I'm using mine for automation of my channel strips, I record the levels into my DAW and it recalls with every session. so I don't really need any other buttons. My whole desk is custom so unfortunately, it's not in my desk at the moment because I would have to make a new desk, which will happen next year. So it's just sitting behind my desk out of sight. I end up controlling both fader banks with my avid artist mix or through the DAW. I will try and make a video so you can see it working.

    @totoRaymond are you trying to build a DAW controller or an automation system for a mixing console? Do you have all 8 faders attached to the module? I found that once you have all 8 faders populated, wired and grounded properly that if you power the modules at 7v this reduced the noise. There are some settings also that may help. I'll try to find them.

  3. @Zam Feels good to solve a problem, that's for sure. Especially since I am very new to all this. You are right though, I may have confused the concept of grounding. As an experiment, I will try later today to scratch the case I have because it might be the coating that was causing it not to ground properly. I'm using Front panel designer and the materials that I can use for making the face plate aluminum anodized or aluminium powder-coated. What if I used Aluminum Raw is that conductive enough?

    I'm going to do more research on earth/ground but my understanding is grounding is done by going to a chassis and earth is going to..... well earth. My limited understanding is the way you earth is via the power receptacle but this board only has 2 holes, a negative and a positive. So I'll have to figure out how to earth it.

  4. Just as I was giving up hope, I got it to work.  I spent all last night reading every post I could find and in one post in another thread @Zam talks about the fader plate being to thin for grounding or something along those lines. Anyways, as I was ready to pack it all up and thought let me try one more thing. Everything I tried was grounding to the case which is about 1mm thick but every time I grounded anything to the chassis, nothing got better. So I thought let me try something thicker, as soon as I grounded it to the rack rails of my desk (rack rails are 3mm thick) ...Voila! the noise was gone. @Zam was right all along. 

    On 6/23/2020 at 7:32 AM, Zam said:

    You'll have to try to chassis ground fader metal part to minimize EMI leaking and motor sparkle.

    As soon as I grounded the J14, the fader metal and the motor case everything was noise free. It was the temporary case I was using that wasn't sufficient to be used as a ground.

    @Zamgave me the best advise (and I didn't listen) which was:

    On 6/23/2020 at 0:50 PM, Zam said:

    As a global rules, as it is for console integration, I'll suggest to build the thing as close as possible to final integration, to minimise bad surprise at the end as loosing time to fix issue that will not happen in the proper frame/mechanical integration.

    So now I'm off to design my face plate and get it either in 3mm aluminum anodized or aluminium powder-coated. If anyone knows if there is going to an issue with either of these materials and grounding please let me know.

    Thanks again @Zam for the help!

  5. I've read most of the threads on this and checked and double checked my MF_NG board and still the same issue with the noise. I've come so far but that noise is terrible. I believe it is a grounding issue from the digital side (MF_NG). When I use the analog path of the fader there is no noise regardless of the fader ground or not. Here is what I tried today.

    • I've grounded the fader to the chassis, no change
    • I've grounded both J14 and J2 to the chassis, no change
    • I tried a different power supply, no change.
    • I unplugged the fader motor power supply from the board, still noisy
    • I unplugged the midi cables from the board to my midi device, still noisy.

    I'm at a loss at the moment and I want to try and figure where the noise is coming from but I just have no clue where to look any more. My only thinking now is.

    1. How do I ground the PCB chassis.

    2. is it a good idea to ground the negative side of the power (J1) to the chassis?

    3. Could the L293D be noisy? would a SN754410 be any better?

     https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/SN754410NE?qs=AMJt07B76uuZ4Fb3eRjJ6A%3D%3D

    Any help would be appreciated!

  6. Thanks for your quick replies, they are much appreciated. As you know I am very much a newbie at this electronics stuff. Also to give you some background, my mixing desk isn't really a console. I'm using a bunch of channel strips as a mixing desk. I have 14x API 7600 channel strips (soon to be 16), 1x API 7800 Monitor section and 3x API 8200 summing mixer. They all interconnect with each other via a ribbon cable at the back of each unit. The API 7600 was made to be either a standalone channel strip or part of a modular console which you can build and buy over time (which is what I've done). The API 7800 and the 7600 has a port at the back to add a fader (see attached pics). I don't care to add a fader to the Monitor section as I like the big API knob it has. The summing mixer I don't have anything on that so I just use them as Buss returns or for things I don't think require out the boxing mixing. It's just the API 7600's I want to add the faders to.

    To answer some of your suggestions, the dsub does not share fader 0V. I have wired it as per TASCAM pinout.

    The MF_NG is floating and not grounded. I don't see how to ground it though. Usually I see a label on pcb stating the chassis ground and connect that to the chassis but I don't see that on this pcb and so I'm not sure where or how to do that.

    I'm also looking into the code, I found the MIOS_SRIO_UpdateFrqSet in the main file. I guess I have to change the value to 30 and recompile the code?

    API 7600 fader.JPG

  7. I am back! I've got a good amount done since my last post. Thanks to @Zam and @novski I had fixed the problems I was having. I had calibrated the faders so they move smoothly as per a different post I read on this thread. So then I bought the rest of the parts and started to put it together.

    I bought Bourns faders PSM01-082A-103B2 ( https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/54/psm-778343.pdf ) they are a little nicer than the ALPS and I couldn't find alp dual track faders here in the US. I have wired it up, I don't have a face plate yet but everything works up until I connect the audio track of the faders to my mixer.  My faders are connected my channel strips via TRS, Every time I move the faders I can hear the clicks of the midi through my speakers and a buzzing noise. I've tried different cables and that hasn't helped. I've tried moving the faders without the module connected and the audio track doesn't make noise. I've noticed that when the faders are at 0% and 100% I don't hear the buzz or click, its only when its in the middle between 10%-90%. I think I may have a ground issue but I can't figure out where. I tried connecting the J14 touch sensor ground to the chasis but that didn't help. I'm at a loss.... the only thing I can think of are that I didn't solder the little holes on the pcb board but I'm sure that doesn't need to be soldered.

    I also noticed that when I calibrate the faders I'm now getting this jitter and noise when i click the middle button.

    [92053.191] e7 30 38   Chn# 8  Pitchbend -976
    [92053.191] e7 40 40   Chn# 8  Pitchbend 64
    [92053.499] e5 10 36   Chn# 6  Pitchbend -1264
    [92053.499] e5 30 40   Chn# 6  Pitchbend 48
    [92053.891] e0 30 38   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -976
    [92053.891] e0 40 40   Chn# 1  Pitchbend 64
    [92054.023] e0 30 37   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -1104
    [92054.023] e0 40 40   Chn# 1  Pitchbend 64
    [92054.063] e1 10 38   Chn# 2  Pitchbend -1008
    [92054.067] e1 30 40   Chn# 2  Pitchbend 48
    [92054.883] e1 40 37   Chn# 2  Pitchbend -1088
    [92054.883] e1 30 40   Chn# 2  Pitchbend 48
    [92055.107] e0 00 37   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -1152
    [92055.107] e0 60 40   Chn# 1  Pitchbend 96
    [92055.999] e7 70 37   Chn# 8  Pitchbend -1040
    [92055.999] e7 40 40   Chn# 8  Pitchbend 64
    [92056.467] e7 30 36   Chn# 8  Pitchbend -1232
    [92056.467] e7 40 40   Chn# 8  Pitchbend 64
    [92058.623] e1 20 38   Chn# 2  Pitchbend -992
    [92058.627] e1 30 40   Chn# 2  Pitchbend 48
    [92058.827] e0 20 37   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -1120
    [92058.827] e0 40 40   Chn# 1  Pitchbend 64
    [92058.915] e5 70 36   Chn# 6  Pitchbend -1168
    [92058.919] e5 40 40   Chn# 6  Pitchbend 64
    [92059.059] e7 70 36   Chn# 8  Pitchbend -1168
    [92059.059] e7 40 40   Chn# 8  Pitchbend 64
    [92059.107] e1 70 37   Chn# 2  Pitchbend -1040
    [92059.111] e1 20 40   Chn# 2  Pitchbend 32
    [92059.443] e0 00 38   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -1024
    [92059.443] e0 40 40   Chn# 1  Pitchbend 64
    [92060.767] e1 00 37   Chn# 2  Pitchbend -1152
    [92060.767] e1 20 40   Chn# 2  Pitchbend 32

     

    If anyone has experienced something like this before, please help! what could be causing the buzz and the jitter. I've attached an mp3 of the noise and midi clicks I hear. I've also attached a pic of it put together.

    THANK YOU IN ADVANCED!

    Fader Noise.mp3

    fader-bank1-8.jpg

  8. Thanks Zam and Novski for the help.

    I'm using an ALPS RSA0N11M9A0J, I know it's not going to help my long term goal but if I could get this cheap one working first then I'll invest in some good ones with both Servo + Dual audio. So I grounded the Touch Inputs to GND but I was still getting the Jitters. After much playing around the only thing that worked for me was to:

    • Disabling Touch sensor,
    • Disable midi merger,
    • set AIN DeadBand to 63 and set MF DeadBand to 63.
    • Operation Mode is in Emulated Mackie Controller

    Only then I get no jitters. When I change it to Mackie Hui then the below happens ever 2 secs or so.

    [ 750.591] f0 00 00 7e 4f 00 0f 00 f7
    [ 750.891] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 751.907] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 752.919] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 753.935] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 754.947] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 755.963] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 756.975] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 757.991] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 759.003] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 760.019] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 761.031] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 762.047] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 763.059] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 764.075] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 765.087] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 766.103] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 767.115] 90 00 7f   Chn# 1  Note On  c-2  Vel:127
    [ 767.443] f0 00 00 7e 4f 00 0f 00 f7

    I don't know if this is fixable or not? I don't mind using Mackie Controller for now but HUI would of been nice. Lastly, and the most important is once I close MIOS studio and reboot my pc and power off the MF_NG Module, the MF_NG module doesn't seem to remember any of the calibration or settings I have done. I have to open it up again, load the settings in to the MF_NG tool and then it starts. Is this how it is suppose to work or am I not saving this to the memory properly? How can I have it so I don't have to calibrate it all the time.

     

    Thanks in Advanced!

  9. Well, so far it has gone well. After some initial issues with getting the MIOS firmware installed. I finally managed to get it running but I'm kind of at a loss. So I connected 1 fader only without the touch sensor. When I open up the MIOS Studio midi messages are constantly running in the midi in. looks like this:

    [1604719.907] f0 00 00 7e 40 00 01 f7

    [1604766.299] e0 10 07   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -7280
    [1604766.304] e0 00 04   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -7680
    [1604766.304] e0 60 01   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -7968
    [1604766.304] e0 30 01   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -8016
    [1604766.304] e0 50 01   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -7984
    [1604766.307] e0 00 00   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -8192
    [1604766.307] e0 00 00   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -8192
    [1604766.308] e0 00 00   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -8192
    [1604766.308] e0 40 03   Chn# 1  Pitchbend -7744

    the midi message just keeps going non-stop. When I open my DAW the volume on track 1 is following the midi and it's going up and down like crazy. So I'm pretty sure that isn't right. hehe. I don't know why it's doing that. I tried to calibrate it but I've had no luck. Any chance someone has encountered this before? 

  10. Thanks @Zam 

    I'm glad you confirmed my thoughts on the power positive and negative. I was planning on using this AC/DC Adapter Switching Power Supply with 8 Selectable voltages for 3V to 12V (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7RS0NG/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_4f72EbWV5B7NS) [Also see attached pic] I see now that it is DC I guess this wouldn't work. Also, I'm curious if being in the US do I have to change out any parts for the power to work? I don't know if anyone can help with that.

     

     

    I've populated the PCB (see pic) with what I think will be sufficient for 1 or 2 faders. I'm just hesitant about power it up with out knowing if this plug wiil work.

    Power-2.jpg

     

    Fader-Module-Built 2.jpg

    Fader-Module-Built.jpg

  11. Hi Everyone, I hope someone is still watching this thread because I do need some help. I've been reading through this forum and I decided to go ahead and make this mbhp_mf_ng-module to automate my API custom console. I don't need anything more than fader recall for my 16 channels. No Mutes, no other buttons. Just fader recall via midi. That would be GREAT. I bought 3 of the boards with much anticipation of ruining the first one I make as I am a noob at all this. I know how to solder, I've made my own mics, op amps and a few other projects.

    I plan on using this module standalone directly working with my DAW. I hope this is the right solution for me. I wasn't able to find a preloaded PIC for this so I bought a pickit 4 and I'm going to try and load it myself. (fingers crossed). If anyone knows where I can get a preloaded on in the USA that would be great too know in case I mess this up.

    I bought all the parts for one board and realized I bought some wrong parts (SMD instead of through hole etc) so I am awaiting the new ones. But the first thing I realized is :

    • J1 is the power inputs I can't tell which is positive and which is negative. I looked at the schematics and I think that the left pin is positive and right pin is negative. is this correct? (see attached pic)
    • Also, I'm not sure which is the positive side for the LED. I assume its the left also. (see attached pic).
    • is the LED status of the board being powered on or does it blink for midi transmission? 

    That's all the noob questions for now, I hope someone can reply. Oh and please be gentle! :grin:

    MF_NG Power.png

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