bosone

I DID IT!!!!!!! ;D i mounted 2xSID 8580 so i could power the unit with a 12 V PSU 1A. (the old 6581 were OK, anyway!) this save me to use the 7812 regulator. now i have only a 7809 and a 7805 and everything works well. i think the 7805 was one i found in a cannibalized C64. don't remember the history of the 7809 but the specs says it support 1.5A (if i were using the old 16V power supply, the 7809 would become very hot!) the weak part in the chain was the 12V regulator. now everything is fine!

thanks for your help the SID (chip and synth itself) worked well before the upgrade to step C contrl surface, so i can exclude chip malfunctions... the fact that all the buttons/leds are working tells me that there should not be any shorts and that the connections are right.... from the fact that the SID decrease the volume when i connect the contron surface, i feel that the problem is really in the PSU or in the voltage regulator... i will wait for the test with the big stabilized power supply unit and we'll see...

also because everything works fine until i connect the DOUT moudule...

the noise seems the sound of the current patch with a lower volume (i will record it...) actually, i discovered soon after posting the last message that there are also other problems.... and i was thinking about them this night! :P i think the main matter is the power supply when i connect the LED (DOUT Modules), i observe a sudden decrease in the SID volume, coupled with an increase of th background noise. the DIN moudules does not have this behaviour. moreover, the current regulators become very very hot. i have a 16V, 1 A power supply and 3 voltage regulators: 12, 9, 5V connected in series (the 12 connected to the 9, the 9 to 5) now i will use only SID 8581, so maybe i can take off the 12V regulator, but i will also have to change the power supply (16V are a lot for a 9 V regulator, i think)... how much current draws a complete contorl surface with 100 leds (not all are lit...), 8 74H595 and 9 74H195 IC? is my power supply adquate or should i change the current regulators (i have the version with the attached metal heatsink, and i added an additional bigger cooler) with a more "powerful" one?!? i will ask for a stabilized "big" power supply from a friend to make some test, but this will take a while... meanwhile, can you suggest me something?? i found that the 78S05 could be better for power supply, will ask to my local electronic shop. and i will search also for the 9V version... thanks! PS: erverthing else is working correctly... at least!

i have almost finished my new step C sid 1.7 project but i have a big problem i have a strong background noise when i connect the control surface.... what can be the cause?? i have mounted the leds/buttons/encoder on the panel (no PCB) and i have connected all the grounds (for buttons / encoders/ led cathodes) with a single wire, without making a close loop, and with just one connection point to the DIN / DOUT module what can you suggest to overcome this problem??? thanks!

i once had the tg33, the "rack" version of this synth. nice sounds, this synth is very useful for pads and evolving textures . you can find a lot of presets on the net. definitely worth considering! :) (PS: i sold my tg33 for a bigger tg77, which is quite different...)

the effort is yours, then YOU should decide! :) actually, what styrd one says has sense (as usual...) if the use is in live, then the feature would be a must. in studio maybe is not so fundamental! i will try your suggestion. honestly, i don't know how it should works!! :P but what about a "restart button" to restart the track from step 1 at the press of this button? this would be useful also, maybe, for making live "breakz" (or whatever they are called!): example: you have a vocal singed sample saying: "midibox sequencer is the best" triggered by C3 at the first step of a track and with the duration of 4 bars. the sample is tempo synced to the song. you press this button repeatedly ad get the "disco-like-effect": mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-midibox sequencer is the best" ;D

i support the ideas expressed here! ;D i, too, have found problems while trying to live record a sequence... i solved by chaining Sonar (cubase/logic....) out to sequencer input look here: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php/topic,11453.0.html i have other ideas too.... 1) new chain mode for tracks 1,2,3,4 now you can chain: 1->2 1->2->3->4 what about: 1->2->1->3 and 1->2->1->4 or even 1->2->1->3->1->2->1->4 you would be able to program repetitions with fill variations! 2) I have found the track direction options very fun to play with. the "problem" is that they tend to "go out" and to create some madness when you repeatedly change the direction... i cannot explain very well.. but it's quite obvious that, if you tweak with pendulum, expeimental progression, reverse, etc... you will for sure switch the accents on the beat. this could be annoying and not very "musical". what about inserting a button, in the same menu, to make the track "restart" from step 1 - or n - (in sync with the tempo, obvioulsy!), in order to "recover" a right step? i don't know if this make sense, it can be experimented... ot maybe to constantly retrigger the progression to step 1 (or n) after 16, 32 or 64 steps, in order to always have some "regular" beat progression that fit a 4/4 tempo...

i filmed myself while doing the operation. i hope it is clear...

the keypad on the right makes sense! :P thanks! instead, i don't think that the encoderss above the keys are a problem. i tried a "simulation" of the synth and it seems to be OK

after some thought and after having assembled the matrix, i came to this new layout the leds will be above the encoders, the LCD is the piece of paper the c64 keys will reflect the actual functions, so for example: W: waveform select L: LFO F: filter etc... the function keys will select the SID (only 2 for now!) i still have to place the new sid 2.0 dedicate button.

in the following i will explain how to increase the power of the "record" function of the midibox sequencer. main idea: you can create a MIDI pattern in sonar / cubase/logic and "transfer" it to the sequencer, to be tweaked, edited, combined to your songs or to other patterns. maybe you are already doing this... but anyway! :) i will refer to sonar as a midi sequencer (cubase/logic/etc are the same). the "sequencer" is inteded to be the MIDIBOX SEQUENCER 3 (not to confuse with sonar/cubase/logic, etc) create a MIDI pattern on sonar / cubase . at the beginning let's keep its length to just 1 bar. it's a wise idea to quantize it to 16th. i noticed that it is better to create a several-bar-loop with that bar: so just copy that bar several times in order to create a seamless loop - now assign this track to the computer midi OUTPUT port connected to the sequencer midi INPUT. this is because we are going to send midi event from the PC to the sequencer. togli da SFP ogni uscita del sequencer: il sequencer non deve suonare nulla, se no si rischiano loopback! - pick up a blank pattern on the midibox sequencer and select its first track (lets mute all the other tracks for now!) - set up its length to 16 (no "chain" for now!) and the normal divider (clock=4). the track events should be note/vel/length - press the "utility" button and then the "Rec." button - the record menu parameters should be: record mode= realtime Astart= I tried both on and off and it works the same Step=1 recorded layers= note, vel, length - now, go back to sonar and put to "solo" the "SEQ CONTROL TRACK". place the transport 2 or three bar before the pattern you created. - press play on sonar - once the whole 1 bar pattern in sonar has been played, stop sonar (the midibox sequencer should stop by itself). - press "edit" on the sequencer in order to exit from the recording page - now, you should have the 1bar recorded on the sequencer. you can press play on the sequence and let it play. trick: if you select "transpose" as track mode you can change the pitch. try also "ForceScale", and tweak "Track Direction" in order to obtain variations. you can also act on controllers to change the sound in realtime once the loop is playing. now, lets expand our mind, and record a 4 bar loop into the sequencer. this is a bit more tricky. you can apply the same ideas to record an 8 bar loop. as before, lets start to record, in sonar, an 4 bar loop with variations. pick up a blank pattern on the midibox sequencer and select its first track. i will assume the other tracks are/patterns are empty, too. trick: set the length of the first and the second track to 32 (instead of 16!). do NOT set up chain mode now, split the 4 bar in sonar into 2, each consisting of 2 bar. you now have 2x2bar. the idea is: the first part will be recorded into track 1, the second part into track2, and we will chain track1 and track2 following the same method explained before, record the first part (the first and the second bar) into track 1. now, always following the same method , record the second part (the third and the fourth bar) into track 2. go back to track 1 length page and set up chain mode to 1->2 playback track ! you can apply the same tricks as before (transpose, track direction, etc) if yo uwant to record an 8-bar loop,. you will have to chain tracks 1,2,3,4 of the same pattern. the idea is the same!! IMPORTANT: i have found that, in some case the gate length is not appropriately recorded, so that some steps are recorded shorted on the sequencer. i cannot understand why, but some times i had to manaully adjust the gats of some steps. i have also recorded some waves explaining what i have done. in the following week i will upload them and, when i have time, i will create a wiki document maybe some images will help, also... let me know your comments!

you should imagine that there will be labels under each encoder/led: i divided the leds as suggested by the standard layout for example (in the left section): osc1,2,3 tri,saw,pulse,noise sync,ring env,misc,knob control i'm still unsure to put the leds vertically (if there is space) or horizontally i will also place some sticks on each button to identify its function

i'm planning to upgrade my SID control surface, waiting for SID 2.0 now i have a minimal control surface for the new design i will use part of the the original c64 buttons as osc, waveform, filter, etc selection. the C64 contrl buttons will select the SID (1,2) i will also reuse my existing step A control surface with LCD and menu contrl, so that i will not have to resolder a lot of things... the leds will be placed on the top, and there will be labels on every knobs/led/button (of course...) to use the c64 buttons, i will mount very very small PCB buttons like the ones you find in the mouse buttons (VOTI sells them). the encorders and led will be placed by holes on the c64 case, while the matrix led and buttons will be mounted on a pcb that we be place on the top of the case this is the GIMP image of my new design: what do you think? the only "problem" i see is that the buttons are "far" from the encoder and the various "section" (ENV; OSC; FILTER...) are not isolated and standalone... maybe is not very user friendly, but anyway... :P

well... i certain will not aim for a complex minimoog-type "screaming" filter... i imagine something with a good resonance, and with 24db/octave filtering... not just a passive lowpass/highpass 1 pole filter, for sure! thanks for the suggestion, anyway!

can you suggest a "simple" DIY analog filter to use with the SID? is there some design which uses only positive voltages, the one used by sid? +5/+9/+12 V? i have seen a lot of schematics with +/- 15V, but would mean to add other circuits for the PSU... using the same voltages as sid would be simpler... or, at least, +/- 12V!! :-) the filter should have cutoff and Q modulable by the SID engine itself... with the appropriate modules... thanks!

io alcuni li ho recuperati da una vecchissima tastiera di un PC, quelle che ancora avevano un interruttore per tasto e non una scheda PCB con i gommini http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php/topic,2769.0.html non è una buona soluzione estetica, ma è molto economica i pulsanti "normali" invece li ho presi in un comune negozio di elettronica, ma costicchiano... prova da www.voti.nl

what do you mean by "selected shuld do selected"?? is there a secret function i don't know!? ??? ;D ::)

i just noticed that while using the ALL button to change the notes parameters, the change affects also the events which are unselected for example: a particular step is set to OFF (so that the note itself is not playing). if i turn on the change button to change the pitch of the notes, even the notes turned off (as the one mentioned before) are changed... would it be possible to affect by the ALL button only the steps selected and not the muted ones?

associandomi alla risposta di cimo aggiungo: inizia leggendo le mie faq, se non l'hai già fatto... :P ad ogni modo, a grandi linee, un midibox controller è composto essenzialmente dai moduli: core (contiene il PIC ed è il "centro" del sistema) display LCD moduli DIN (digital input, per ricevere input da pulsanti ed encoder) moduli DOUT (digital out, per pilotare eventuali LED) moduli AIN (non necessari, per collegare eventuali potenziometri) le variazioni sono poi tante quanti sono gli utenti! ;D

i did better than that!! my very first midibox, in 2000, was built inside a shoebox!! http://www.alchemystudio.it/Foto/Old/Images/MidiBox2.jpg http://www.alchemystudio.it/Foto/Old/Images/MidiBox3.jpg ;D ;D

OK! I did it! ;D

i was wonder... how could i add to my site the nice player found on ucapps site? ??? i, too, would like to stream some mp3 (or other format??) music in my website!! :P

this means that MPASM could not be used anymore for newer developments or that we can ALSO use the new GPUTILS?

just as an idea: you could assigne a remote control for jumping to the mute page and then record the GP behaviour (which should be already automated by remote control) yes, you are right... just as idea: the user should start by a standard configuration (all tracks mutes, a particular scale set...) then, when the seq is started, play by himslef the first bass note and arpeggio chord (if transposed and arpeggio tracks exists...). then, as you play and record the performance, patterns are not saved even if they are modified, so that you can recall them loading the original ones... another though question! :P i think that user should reserve a particular channel for the sequencer recording, sacrifying one of the 16 channels of a particular port. if MB sequencer is set to receive channel 1 events, the remote control function should be sent to ch1, so that they could be correctly interpreted once the sequence is playback. obviuosly, no external midi device should receive on ch1 anymore (except if you want really randomized and avantgarde music!!! :D) just as idea.... Best Regards, Thorsten.