ilmenator

No, this is not possible without advanced programming skills. If you really want to go PIC then look at SEQ V3 instead. However, your argument about the added cost of US$ 25 is not really a valid one. Compared to other parts necessary, especially the enclosure, this is negligible!

Good job if they are willing to do further business with us!

All this "has to" take months because the community agreed on ordering jointly, to make sure that this source does not dry out on us. The reason is that ALBS will quit serving us once they get too many small orders from individuals, because it will not be cost effective for them any longer. Every individual order gets us one step closer to such a situation. Hopefully, yours was large enough for them not to re-think their policy.

Hola Comandante64, this is a no-name switching power supply - that means it might introduce some noise into the audio path if its switching frequency is not high enough. Cheap PSUs like that have a tendency to use lower switching frequencies (but buying an expensive one is not a guarantee for high switching frequencies either). The answer to your question is that no-one will know for sure. Try it out, it will be powerful enough, and if it turns out to be noisy then look further. At 8 Euros it's not a big loss, but be prepared for a disappointment. Saludos, ilmenator

I am not sure, to be honest - last time I checked a complete MB-6582 case, and that was roughly 70 US$. I would probably expect roughly the same for this panel only. However, shipping costs are rather steep from the US (for the MB-6582 case it would double the price), and the German Formulor don't have the black matte finish which is a must for me. Plus I have a 25% VAT as soon as the panels arrive here in Norway... The current rebates for the large P3 size panel amount to roughly 15 US$ per panel, so it's not really much to speak of. It's rather that I need to finish this now, or it will go in the closet again for another year or so. Anyways, I am combining a number of panels/cases to cut on shipping costs, too. The panel you see here is only the upper part of something that goes into an old Roland MV-8000 case. The lower part will house the original drumpads on the left and a Stribe on the right (if I get that thing working again...). Thanks for offering your help - it's very much appreciated! Best from up north, ilmenator

Great, that sounds good to me - I'll go for the extended bling then. I don't care about the added shift register count, because I will have to order custom made PCBs anyways, and they will hold the necessary number of shift registers. In the new design you can see from the mounting holes that the BLM is on a different board than the BPM/STEP/RTP section - this is mainly because of size restrictions imposed by the board manufacturer (they only do panelization up to a certain size). Shift registers will be daisy-chained from board to board. And yes, one row of the BLM will be redundant then, if I follow you. However, I think that's something I can live with. Also, as the BLM buttons will be Marquardts, and of different size compared to the Wilba-SEQ ones, it's (almost) impossible to properly align the BLM with the encoders and buttons above. Then it is good to have one complete set, I guess. FPD.pdf

Small update here: after going through the manual, I think it is quite pointless to have the Multimec / cursor cross as the menus are designed for a different kind of paradigm. I'll skip that and have space for something else, e.g. two additional buttons with status LEDs that could be assigned once I have developed my own workflow. I would have some space for some more blingTM - e.g. I could increase the relative track position matrix. @Hawkeye: I saw your early prototype was a 16x8 LED design, what made you downsize to 8x8?

Ok, so I'll check for the F1...F4 buttons and their default config first. I was going to order a Ponoko panel the coming week, as they have a special offer for large panels and I will combine that with an order for an MB6582 case, so I do not really have the time to experiment too much with my workflow, unfortunately. That's why I was asking for your opinions! (I know this is not what I should be doing, but I need to finish this now or it will have to wait until next year or even later...). I am using encoders that do not have a switch function, as they have been laying around in my desk for some time now and I am not going to spend more on parts than I have to. I need to get rid of some stock... I would prefer a software solution, as the original SELECT button is on Wilba's frontpanel PCB, and the Multimec assembly sits on a custom made, separate PCB. I'd really like to avoid additional single wires running from one board to the other. Not sure what you are talking about here - the LEDs will be dual color ones, and I was originally planning to add the 4x16 BLM directly connected to the Core32 board (the outdated way), not the scalable one with a separate Core8. So would this be possible then? Good hint, will do so! Thanks for your comments - any other thoughts? Best, ilmenator

...und das ist das Problem: Ohne angeschlossene Fader hängen die Analogeingänge in der Luft und dein Core-Modul sendet wilde Daten. Vermutlich hast du in MIOS Studio den "Operation Mode" noch auf "PitchBender Chn#1..#8" eingestellt, denn genau das sind die MIDI-Messages die du am MIDI Input siehst. Also: Fader anschliessen bzw. nicht benutzte Analogeingänge auf Masse legen und gut.

The voltage you measure is well within the specs, so there is no problem with that. Could you upload a hi-res, not blurry picture of your core board's front and backside? Sometimes another pair of eyes can spot something suspicious.

It's not on the blacklist, that's true. Still, looking at the data rate at which it uploads (and judging from the fact that it's a Firewire interface - are you on Windows??) I'd say this is problematic. However, what is still missing on the PIC is your application. Until now you have only tried to upload MIOS, the operating system (let's assume that this was successful, as you reach the 100%). You can find precompiled MIOS8 applications here, including the MIDIbox64 hex file.

Hi, so I am now in the design process for my SEQV4 frontpanel - I'll be using Wilba's SEQ board for the upper part and my own creation housing a 4x16 BLM and some extensions that Hawkeye suggested in the lower part. Also, I will add a Multimec cursor cross with center button (large round cutout in the lower left part of the front panel). This basically means that the Up and DOWN buttons of Wilba's design will be free to trigger other functions. I'd like those power users amongst you (you know who you are :ahappy: ) to come forward with suggestions which function those two buttons should trigger (or how to engrave the panel for those two buttons...). Also, the center button of the Multimec cursor cross whould probably trigger the SELECT function (or am I wrong?). For this one, I would probably like to keep the SELECT button on Wilba's panel in parallel. Can this be configured in software by just assigning the DIN pins with the same function in the config file? Thanks for your suggestions, ilmenator FPD.pdf

Where are you located?

Okay, let's make sure you get a proper connection between MIOS Studio and Core: 1) Connect MIDI In of Core with MIDI Out of your MIDI interface and vice versa 2) Make sure you select the proper MIDI interface ports (both IN and OUT) in MIOS Studio (if you only have one MIDI interface connected, only one shows up - however, there might be some virtual ports for whatever reason on your system) 3) With the Core switched on, press the "Query" button, with the ID set according to the sticker 4) Do you have other MIDI equipment that you can verify your MIDI interface with? If all that does not help, it might be the optocoupler on your core board that is at fault. You could try to measure its output while you send a larger block of SysEx data (or a continuous stream of e.g. controller data). Optocouplers have a tendency to be faulty for some reason. I have had a number of them dying on me or being DOA.

Well your PIC is not necessarily bricked, only bad MIDI interfaces have problems with large SysEx strings, see if yours is blacklisted. After the bootloader you have to upload MIOS, the operating system. After that, you upload the application you want to run on the PIC. From what I can read, you are still missing the MIOS upload. Also, it would help if you reported the MIDI messages you see in the MIDI IN window of MIOS Studio. Then we know what state the core module is in!

Bummer - of course you are right! I spent the last few days with the project, which is on the PIC core, and I totally went into retro mode... sorry!!

Just to be sure: I was talking about MIOS, the operating system, not the bootloader - do you mean the same?

But that is basically just the same as the above - you convert all that energy into heat, only that you don't do it inside the VREG but inside the resistor...

I am not an AOUT user myself (yet), but it sounds like some kind of incompatibility to me. I would try to update MIOS to the latest version first, and then go with the latest MBSEQ V4 version only after that has uploaded successfully.

Hi gregbo, welcome here! Have you set the correct PIC ID in MIOS Studio? If the PIC was purchased from SmashTV, it should have a sticker on with the ID. Are you using the latest MIOS Studio version? Has the core ever worked before? Can you connect an LCD to the core, does it show any message?

Hi Kike, welcome to MIDIbox! I am located in Norway, on the other end of Europe, so instead of sending PICs around I think we should try to remote solve your problem :-). Which PIC did you upload the bootloader_v1_2b_pic18f452.hex-file to? Was it a different model than an 18F452? Best, ilmenator

Hello and welcome! All that already exists as part of the MIDIbox platform, simply take a look here and then do some reading! You will find that the different input- and output-modules connect to a so-called core module, and that the latter comes in two flavors: the 8-bit core and the newer 32-bit core. Have fun pokin' around here!

Hallo waldemaR, da du noch zwischen altem und neuem Core schwankst hier ein paar Kommentare wie ich die Sache sehe. Die grundsätzliche Frage ist, ob du ein Gerät haben willst was deine jetzigen Anforderungen erfüllt und du das dann so lässt, oder ob du einen Controller haben willst an dem du später mal weitere Modifikationen selber programmieren willst. Als "Anfänger" ist diese Frage nicht leicht zu beantworten - das alte Projekt MB64e erlaubt dir eine Konfiguration innerhalb vorgegebener Grenzen, nicht nur was die Hardware angeht, sondern auch die Software (und damit zB der MIDI-Befehle, die gesendet werden können). Das im Kern zu ändern ist nur mit Assembler-Kenntnissen möglich. Das äquivalente neue Projekt MIDIO128 V3 läuft auf dem neuen, leistungsfähigeren Core und konnte deshalb in C geschrieben werden. Das Ganze ist sehr gut dokumentiert und kann eigentlich auch von C-Anfängern geändert werden, und zwar im Code. Damit ist jede erdenkliche Funktion möglich, über die "normalen" Konfigurationen hinaus. Darüber hinaus bietet das aktuelle MIOS Studio (das MIOS Kommunikationsherz für den PC/MAC) eine spezielle Seite für die wirklich einfache und schnelle "normale" Konfiguration des MIDIO128. Der Nachteil dieser Lösung ist, dass du zunächst ein wenig mehr investieren musst - der Unterschied liegt vielleicht bei 25 Euro oder so. Ach ja: ein Umstieg auf den neuen Core ist später natürlich auch noch möglich - du würdest dann quasi nur die eine Hauptplatine gegen die andere auswechseln. LCD, DIN- und DOUT-Boards und natürlich Encoder und Taster bleiben gleich. Grüße, ilmenator

Could you add a similar comment to the wiki page then? It might prevent others from repeating your bad experiences!

Die PICs von Mike haben üblicherweise den Bootloader drauf - MIOS und die jeweilige Applikation, hier also die MF_NG App, musst du selber per MIDI draufspielen.