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NorthernLightX

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Posts posted by NorthernLightX

  1. I think there is a misunderstanding. In my last post I was not writing about the internal-"paddle-input"-A/D-converter, but about the minimum requirements for an extenal solution.

    You already proposed the implementation with existing MB Hardware (thanks for the link btw, I always overlooked that one). That implemenation would require software-downsampling to 4-bit to write to the registers of the SID.

    You are already 2-Steps ahead of me with you implementation ideas (thanks for that).

    I am still making my way throug the possibilites of the SID. I think I have to go that way, even if TK already knows about everything. That's why I wrote, that this theread probably won't be any news to the hardcore-Midiboxers, in the introduction to the long post.

    Sorry if I come across a bit blunt. I just want to point you to solutions that would require the minimal amount of effort, and use as much readily available hard- and software. Your question comes from a desire to make music ultimately, and as much fun as building this stuff is, developping something new takes a lot more time than you initially estimate.

    If you have evaluated all available midibox features and still have a feature that cannot be supported by the current hard- and software, then it's time to consider making hardcore changes. Keep in mind though that there are not a lot of people on the forum capable of doing so; most people (like me) just build the modules and make a custom frontpanel and/or some changes to the code at most.

    So, to answer your initial question if it's possible to build an MBSID with MS20 style patching: Yes it is, but you'll need to integrate an MB64 and the MBSID in one enclosure and hack te code of the MB64 to output the desired MIDI messages for CV input. MB64 with a Core8 is limited to 32 CV inputs. CV output is done through de addition of an AOUT module, and is limited to 8 CV outs currently. I don't think that patching the MBSID CV outs to the MB64 CV ins to control the MBSID paramenters would be a good idea though, so if that is how the MS20 works, I'd recommend to drop the plan. If you only want to have CV control from other equipment and/or control other equipment through CV, I think this is the way to go.

    Good luck!

  2. If the paddle iputs could be of any use, don't you think TK would have already written some code for them? I guess he found that the PIC already had better and/or more flexible support for analog input signals than the SID itself. His SID implementation is already way ahead of all the competition, so any future additions to the functionality will most probably be external to the SID.

    The standard Midibox64 firmware acts as an analog signal -> MIDI message converter.

    AIN Module

    J1 J2 J3 J4: Analog inputs of the 4051 multiplexers. Have to be connected with the sliders of pots/faders, or can also be used as CV input (0V/5V), see also the MIDIbox Extensions Page.

    This means 32 CV inputs with a cheap Core8 solution.

  3. remapping the register pins is very easy

    Yes, remapping is. Adding functions and/or replacing the current matrix with the proposed matrix isn't, at least for me :). I also highly doubt I'll use the matrix I proposed, it was more a case of "because I can".

    As soon as I have a proper case I'll see if I can cram some buttons under the LCD, for added fun.

  4. Would the use of the LPC17 core in V3 add more CV options?

    That depends on what Thorsten will code :). All CV inputs are handled by the core, so if he decides that more CV inputs are needed (and there are no processor or other hardware limitations) it might happen. There will probably be a feature request thread once designing starts.

    In the meantime, if you don't mind adding an extra core, you could use Midibox CV as CV input, and send the events via MIDI to the Midibox SID.

  5. I need 2 1U 28cm deep 19" cases as well. I like the cases from modushop, even if they are €50 without internal mounting plate (= additional €10). @Shuriken; if you are still in need of cases maybe we can combine shipping? I don't live very far from you :poke:

    Alternative are the cases from Musikding; they should be back in stock any day now (says the sales rep).

  6. Nice! I have looked up the shipping costs; Sweden is €8,50 per parcel, Norway is €11,05. Why the difference; I don't know.

    I'll copy/paste the shipping info from the Dutch post here; I didn't bother to translate all the country names so if anything is unclear do not hestitate to ask.

    Zone EUR1: - cheapest € 8,50 / with Track & Trace: € 13

    België, Luxemburg, Denemarken (exclusief Faeröer Eilanden en Groenland), Duitsland, Frankrijk (inclusief Corsica en Monaco), Italië (exclusief San Marino en Vaticaanstad), Oostenrijk, Spanje (inclusief. Balearen, excl. Canarische eilanden), Verenigd Koninkrijk (exclusief Gibraltar en Kanaaleilanden), Zweden

    Zone EUR2: cheapest € 10,20 / with Track & Trace: € 18,50

    Bulgarije, Estland, Finland, Hongarije, Ierland, Letland, Litouwen, Polen, Portugal (inclusief Azoren en Madeira), Roemenie, Slovenië, Slowakije, Tsjechië

    Zone EUR3: cheapest € 11,05 / with Track & Trace: € 19,30

    Albanië, Andora, Bosnië-Herzegovina, Canarische Eilanden, Cyprus, Faeröer Eilanden, Gibraltar, Griekenland, Groenland, IJsland, Kanaaleilanden, Kroatië, Liechtenstein, Macedonië, Malta, Moldavië, Montenegro, Noorwegen, Oekraïne, San Marino, Servië, Turkije, Vaticaanstad, Wit-Rusland, Zwitserland

    Rest of the World: cheapest € 17,10 / with Track & Trace: € 24,30

    This immediately implies that if you don't live in one of the mentioned EUR zones and/or you want your parcel tracable, it's probably cheaper to order from Mouser unless you want more than one PSU.

    Last time I ordered these the price was €23,80, and they charged a flat fee of €25 for shipping to my address. Let's say we get 10 PSUs ordered, and the price drops to €20 per PSU (this price is just for indication and not based on anything). With shipping to my address included, the total price would be €22,50 per PSU. Add your preferred shipping method and decide if joining the bulk order is preferrable above ordering from (for example) Mouser.

  7. Hi all,

    I am in need of an additional RPT-60B PSU, and thought maybe I'm not the only one. I have already successfully powered an MB6582 and an MBFM with it, so it's a versatile enough PSU for most midibox projects (for an MB6582 with 8580 and/or 6582 SIDs just place a 7809 on the +12v line to regulate it down to 9v).

    Short overview:

    - Outputs +5v, +12v and -12v

    - Small form factor

    - Attractive price (price ex. sales tax and ex. shipping should be less than €25 per piece)

    - High switching frequency (100KHz)

    - Datasheet

    The price per piece will go down at multiples of 10; ordering at least 10 units gives a small discount, ordering at least 20 a bigger discount and so forth. Exact price will be requested once it is clear how much demand there is.

    I have done a few (small) bulk orders before, and have always used the same formula: Everyones expresses interest -> bulk order starts by wiring money to me by bank transfer (I don't use paypal, but if neccessary a workaround will be found) -> order is placed -> items are received by me -> items are repackaged and sent out to fellow midiboxers.

    Please post interest (or questions) in this thread. Thanks.

  8. Hello xarolium, please specify Reunion, there are several places named that. :) Do you mean the Island east of Madagaskar?

    The LCD weighs 95 gram, with a bit of proper packaging the total weight will probably be just over 100 gram. International shipping outside the EU, from 100 to 250 gram costs about €6.

    Cheers, Alex.

    [edit]

    Funny, I just found out that the island Réunion is in fact member of the EU :blink:

    It doesn't change the shipping charges though, Corsica is the only French island that has the cheaper "EU" charges...

    It is an Optrex PWB40267-CEM by the way, this site has a few pictures.

  9. Necro bump! :hairy:

    Change of plans completely; the enclosure will still be 1U, but the control will be limited to one encoder only (for selecting patches). The sound editing is much easier from a computer screen anyway. I am not saying TKs 2U interface lacks (I couldn't - I have never used it) but I don't want to make it a 2U box, and cramming all controls in 1U is not feasible.

    I have most of the modules ready and wired up, an enclosure is in backorder and inquiries for a frontpanel have been made. With a bit of luck the box could be finished in a few weeks :angel:

  10. I am sorting my midibox stuff and come across stuff I'm not going to use anymore, that holds little to no value to me, and maybe I can make someone else happy with it.

    This time it's an Optex 2x40 LCD display WITH A LIFTED TRACK AND SOME LEFTOVER RUBBISH ON THE SOLDERPADS. It is however still possible to solder directly to the (SMD) pin of the IC for this particular track and/or other tracks that turn out to be damaged. A DIL connector was soldered to this module previously and removing that did the forementioned damage.

    It's free of charge of course, shipping can be done cheap. Let me know if you're interested.

  11. with Aout_NG's you'd need one for every sid pair.

    Whoops, I misread that completely. I read 1 SSM2044 per SID pair, and one AOUT total. It does make sense though, that 1 AOUT per Core is needed. I have a few spare MAX525 chips, but not enough for 4 AOUT boards, let alone the footprint of 4 of those (and the other parts needed; precision trimmer hell!).

    I don't expect TK (or anyone else for that matter) to modify the MBSID firmware so that Filter info is sent to the master PIC Core. Maybe in a future version where for example all PIC cores act as slaves to a single LPC Core (if slave PIC cores are even necessary in an LPC solution), the LPC Core could generate all the Filter info and the total solution could function with only one AOUT or AOUT_NG, but if that ever happens I expect it will be many months before it's released.

    A daring option would be to do a trace cut on the CS, SI and SC lines on the AOUT board, and feed the left side of the board from Core1 through J1 and the Right side from Core2 through J2. This way no CV channels are wasted. It would still imply I need a second (also trace-cut) AOUT board for SID pairs 3 and 4, but that still sounds better than 4 AOUTs with 6 unused channels per board. The trace cut on the original AOUT board is feasible (I don't think it is feasible on AOUT_NG though). If it is "allowed" to run an AOUT board with only one set of MAX525 and TL074 stuffed, I think this might work :drool:

  12. In the clone schematics, some opamps miss the +15v/-15v supply, but it is clear that they need them just as the others

    Hi Peter,

    I see no fault in the opamp part of the schematics; if you look at the pin numbering the schematic uses dual opamp ICs (U1a and U1b for example are 1 IC) and these have only 2 supply pins for both the opamps.

    Cheers, Alex.

  13. i haven't done it yet. but from what i've read with Aout_NG's you'd need one for every sid pair.

    it's been explained to me couple of times, but some time ago and i have to read back again to understand it -again.

    That is what I was hoping, but I have not found any useful docs to verify this. If you can find the info you were given and post it here I would be very grateful!

  14. Hello,

    I am still in the planning phase for the internals of my build. I have run into an unforseen issue:

    I have 4 SSM2044 boards and an "original" AOUT board. I made a slight miscalculation, as the AOUT can only supply 8 CV outputs, and 4 stereo filters need 16 CV inputs (both Cutoff and Resonance). What would be the best solution in this case?

    1. I could splice the AOUT outputs to have the Left and Right filter channels respond to the same CV output. I have read that this can produce weird issues with polyphony though, where MB6582 will not retrigger the filter envelope after 3 notes; it plays the 3rd note on the other SID so it expects that there is a dedicated AOUT channel for this SID. Are there options to circumvent this?

    2. I could build another AOUT board, but I do not know if daisy-chaning is supported in the firmware. It is most probably not within my skillset to implement it myself.

    3. I could settle for 4 SIDs with external filters and the other 4 SIDs without.

    Currently I am leaning towerd option 3, and implementing a patch matrix on the frontpanel to have some added flexibility with routing which SIDs get external filters. If you know of a better solution, or have anything to add otherwise, please chime in.

  15. That looks very sweet indeed! And since you have already done the driver hacking it's no more than a recompile of the code for me, right? :w00t:

    If I may be so blunt; where did you buy yours? I have had too many setbacks in the past years, I'd like to go for the threaded paths as much as possible this time.

  16. The cyan coloured LEDs of the MB6582 were never bought as "cyan", instead they were bought as "bright green" iirc. I just bought a lot of bright green 3mm LEDs off Ebay, with a 520nm wavelength. This should produce the same colour.

    Now, for the VFD displays, I found some on Ebay but am unsure if they are compatible. Digikey sells some as well and these are compatible as far as I can judge. I'm talking about this unit (datasheet).

    It is a graphical LCD but it should be 100% compatible with the HD44780 standard according to the manufacturer.

    I also found this 2x40 display, which should be suitable for the FM part.

  17. I agree that a VFD would look very cool with this LED color. Unfortunately I only found a compatible display for $80, and this would be for a frontpanel that I would no longer use eventually. If I would have had spare LEDs in the same color it would have been a no brainer to aquire VFDs for this build, but alas I do not have spare LEDs left.

    If I find LEDs in this color I will buy enough for the complete build, and go with the VFD displays. If I can't find the LEDs I will not buy a VFD just to pass it on to the next Midiboxer later. But thanks for the tip, I will keep it in mind :thumbsup:

  18. Can you attach a few pictures of the modules / pcbs / prototype board you are using, and list any components you deliberately left out? The Mean Well PSU delivers a good, stable voltage, but maybe your electrical installation at home is a bit quirky. Maybe you can pick up your set-up and try it at a friends house?

    One other thing that comes to mind: MIDI grounding. MIDI IN should not be grounded, where MIDI OUT should, even though MIDI IN has a 3 pin connector.

  19. Another tip of the veil:

    tipoftheveil_lowres.jpg

    On the left is the Mean Well PSU. I will make a power distribution board to supply all modules with their specific power needs.

    On the right are 4 SSM2044 filter boards, and an old style AOUT board.

    In the middle is my MB6582. This will be the center piece of the build, though I will create a new frontpanel for it, so essentially only the baseboard will be used.

    Not visible in this picture are the guts of my MBFM, who will also be integrated in the build. It will get a "modular" look. The MBFM will be pimped with some external FX as well, but I'm still in the design phase for those; they will be a simple pot-controlled fuzz and low-pass filter. The FX will be a separate "module" as well, enabling and disabling it will be as simple at patching cables to it.

    Essentially the build will be 3 midiboxes in one; MBSID, MBFM, and MBKB.

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