monokinetic

Wilba: thanks for the speedy response and the spacing advice! great help :) I will put some of them on my list to Santa....... D

Hi all, I am trying to find some cute knobs to finish of my MBSeq, I have used the VOTI encoders. I took one to my local electronics shop and they were surprised to see that the encoder has a flat part to the shaft. Personally I don't think its that uncommon.... after a bit of forum trawling and drooling over various options I think I am going to order the knobs mentioned here: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=6562.msg41366#msg41366 But before I spend the money can anyone confirm that these knobs will fit ok onto the VOTI encoder shaft with a flat edge? Plus if I remember albs.de has a minimum order, anyone want to do a group buy? Regards Dave mK

Hi Uriel, I did a little bit of research on the G2, I'm not sure you need to get so complicated with your Midi Box and make the MBUC. As I understand it, the MBUC is designed as a SYSEX editor. Sysex is the way many synths without front panels are edited, for example the Matrix 1000 someone is also working on in this forum (JackKaos i think). I played with a Nord Micromodular a few times and I remember being able to assign a simple MIDI Continuous Controller to almost any parameter. You can use just the simple MB64e application to send such messages. This would give you a front panel for the Nord that can be used to control any parameter you setup a Nord patch to respond to. I think you could also setup buttons to change patches with program changes. But I also read the page you linked: http://www.rattus.net/~packrat/audio/pages/g2-cont/ This looks like an application which communicates with the Nord through sysex because it gives you feedback ie the screen on the hardware tells you information from the Nord. This sounds cool but using the MBUC you would have to customise the application I think to achieve the same thing. So the question is: do you want to just have a hardware interface that controls your nord sound parameters for live tweaking of sounds OR do you want a more sophisticated front panel that tells you which patch you have in which slot on the nord? The main reason I am asking is because the screens are different between the MB64e and the MBUC.... dave m

Hi Tk, I have been lurking on the sequencer threads for a while. I think the mixer map suggestion as a solution for live use would be helpful because it is very often that I want to set up my equipment to play from one state (ie the mixer map) before a sequence starts. My MBSeq is sitting in bits waiting for some free time to be finished. So this idea may be implemented already..... But in regards to mixer maps with the sequencer, one thing I have been contemplating as a suggestion is performance controllers. When in song mode I would really like to be able to assign the rotary encoders to control parameters within a sequence. As an example one could then assign the 1st 2 encoders to control the note length of Tracks 1 and 6. The next 2 encoders control Transpose on Tracks 8 and 10 etc. I think it would even be useful to be able to set the encoders to transmit CC's to control synths live in addition to playing back the song. I feel this would help me to create very live sounding arrangements. Ok back to work, shame..... Dave M

Hi all, I followed this thread with baited breath..... and then nothing! I understand all the theory and am PRETTY confident to build it, but before I start I would like to ask: Has anyone built this design and used it successfully? If not then I guess I will have to be a guinea pig ;) d

Hi, In regards to buttons I got mine from my local electronics supplier in the Czech Republic. You haven't mentioned where you are in Europe, as far as I can tell! You may get more accurate advice with this information..... I have seen these round buttons mentioned in a few other catalogues as "DT 6" switches. I dunno what that means but if you go here: http://www.ges.cz/english/index-a.htm and put DT 6 into the search box you wil see how quickly they can be found. Their pages provide the exact dimensions so you can compare with other switches. I'm pretty sure this company can accept and ship orders within Europe and they don't seem to have a very big minimum. Maybe easier than reichelt, who knows. If not stick your country and DT6 switch into google and see what comes up :) Good luck d mK

cool, I was just checking, didn't want my nice shiney LCD's all frazzled ;D Thanks for alleviating my worries so quickly! D mK

ok I had read this briefly once but your forum message reminded me to double check...... WOW! That sounds rocking, exactly the kind of thing which will have me soldering again for many hours, wahooo :) thanks for releasing such comprehensive documentation, I'm looking forward to this one!! dave mK

Hello all, Well I have everything hooked up for my MBSeq but I think I have run into a power issue. I have a setup the same as TK's, so 2 x LCD's plus 32 LEDs. I have MIOS1.8 and the latest MBSeq app. The only "non standard" thing I have is that I replaced the B40C800, which is unavailable in the Czech Republic, with 4x 1n4007 diodes, as recommended on the forum. I supply the box with 7.5v from a 1000mA wallwart. Anyway, turning on the MBSeq with everything attached all loads up fine, but after 3 or 4 minutes there is a worrying "too hot" smell coming from the 7805 and its too hot to touch! I did a bit of research through the forum and this seems predictable as the 7805 is only designed to deal with 1a loads. I have checked my LCD's manufacturers website and trawled the net for a datasheet which mentions how much current they draw but I haven't come up with anything. To be sure I know I could break the power lines going to the LCD and use my multimeter in series to measure the current drawn, does anyone know an easier way of doing this though? Lets assume for a moment that my 7805 isnt happy :) I know maybe you are going to suggest clamping a heatsink to it but I'm a bit worried that it is going to blow, do you think that's likely? The only other strange behaviour I have from my setup is that when I try to adjust the backlight and contrast trimmers they make almost no difference to the brightness of the screens, which seems a little odd. I have looked through ucapps for an alternative power supply and I know TK uses the switching P.S.U. for his MBseq, however I don't want such a physically large supply if I can help it. What are other MBSeq builders doing for their power requirements? I know various people are working on the MBPSU in another thread, I have followed it and I must say it looks perfect for the MBFM which is sitting on my workbench next to the sequencer! But it still uses a 7805 so it doesn't get around this 1a limit. I did a bit of research about this and came accross the LM317, which seems to handle up to 1.5a so I put a post about this here: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=6300.msg39036#msg39036 It seems that maybe I was considered to be hijacking the thread, hence a new thread here! So what do you think, should I just risk heatsinking the 7805 and not worry about the heat? Or should I take the plunge and try to build a LM317 based PSU for heavy load Midiboxes? TIA for any help Dave mK ps I just found a message suggesting this as an easyway to up the current: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/samschem.htm#schslp2 seems a bit over the top though to me!

I was just about to start a thread on this and what do I find? Great coincidence, thats what I love about this place :) I did a bit of googling and found this: http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/power/010/index.html Which is a schematic for a variable power supply based around the LM317. They also have a calculator for working out the resistor values: http://www.electronics-lab.com/articles/LM317/index.html which I tweaked with a bit and the final value for R2 seems to be 720. I presume this is in Ohms? So I will play around with laying this out on stripboard but 1st I have a few questiosn for those more experienced - I have already bought a power supply for my Sequencer which is capable of outputing DC 5V-15V at up to 1000mA. From reading the above links and the national.com datasheet it seems that the input supply should be 1.5v more than the planned output, which is obviously 5v for the core. So if I input 6.5v that should be sufficient shouldn't it? I presume if I input more the Lm317 will convert this extra voltage into heat...... All the information I have found about designing this type of supply say using a heatsink is essential. I plan on following this advice but I havent ever used heatsinks before. Do I need to use heatsink compound between the LM317-TO220 and the heatsink? Or will it be sufficient to just clamp it on? BTW the stripboard layout found is here: http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showpost.php?p=32069&postcount=19 The image has 2 possibilities, the left one seems to be "standard" whilst the right is more for audio applications. I'm going to use the left one because the core only needs a stable supply. What do you think? I look forwrad to having my MBSeq on for longer than 5 minutes (ie before the 7805 is hot enough to fry and egg with all those lights and LCD's attached!) Dave M

WOW a full HUI emulation huh? Great just what I need :) I look forward to testing this one.... D

Hi all, Im just putting the bits into the OPL3 board and I seem to have found a bit of a problem. In the orderlist text file there seems to be 2 x 68pF caps. But looking on the board layout mbhp_opl3_v1.gif these are actually listed as 68uF. Plus around the TL074's there are some tight clusters of capacitors in the middle of each seems to be a 68 something cap (its too close togther for me to make sens of it). So do I really need 4 x 68 something F caps. And what is the somethings, nanofarads or picofarads? If you can calrify it then maybe we could alter the mbhp_opl3_v1.gif to make it easier to read the cap values which are close togther? Lookin forward to the help! Dave M

Hi all, I will be collecting together the final parts for my 1st MBFM and I'm being a bit cautious about the PSU because I already killed an amp project not understanding fully what I needed! I'm going to build a PSU as shown in TK's diagram here: http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_opl3_psu.pdf But I'm unsure how many VA I can use on the output, the diagram only mentions 200mA. Most of my suppliers transformers go up from 1.8VA. My logic is that having some VA in reserve shouldn't cause a problem. What do you think? I'm going to use a second transformer to power the Core and eventually I will run an LCD as well as some LED's as shown in Tk's design for the control surface. How many VA do you think I should aim for on this transformer? I look forward to some guidance, TIA and a happy festive soldering season :) Dave mK

Hi all, I am just putting together the parts for my FM and I have run into a problem. The case of the crystal in TKz picture seems to be HC49-U3H, the problem is my supplier only has the 14,318000 MHz crystal in a HC49-U case. This is the one TK seems to use on his core module pictures. Does anybody know, will it cause a problem if i stretch the crystals 2 legs a little and fit it to the PCB's 2 connections? There seem to be only 2 legs connected on the schematic Thanks in advance for any help Dave mK

Hi ya, yeah I know what you mean about gettin cheap stuff. My last soldering iron I had from M*plin and I tried to get a new bit from them 3 times without any success, so a massive block of plastic (oil) and iron went in the bin-> landfill :( Luckily I found out my Dad has bought a temp-control iron so I shall borrow it next time I'm home..... And then I will save up and buy a good one my self with a couple of spare irons for the many more hours of winter soldering ahead ;) D

Hi all, I'm just about to start soldering up my 1st OPL3 board from Mike. I have chips from airmailed so I didnt have to desolder them (thank goodness those pins are tiny!!) I have been doing some research into SMD chips and lots of websites seem to say you should use a temperature controlled soldering iron. I just have a bog standard 25w iron but I'm pretty confident with it after the hours of sodlering which gave birth to my lovely sequencer :0 Do you think I can risk using this iron or should I only use a temperature controlled one? TIA Dave mK

Hi TK, thanks as ever for such quick responses, I think you will always be faster than me :) I read through the messages from Willba and you and I think it looks like he is doing something very similar to me, ie using simple metal connectors hooked up to a DINX and using skin resistance to trigger a switch response from a MIDIBOX app. However please forgive me because I still have some questions: Your post mentions that no further digital logic is required with the DIN being used as a touch sensor. I have already tried using the DINX and the MIDIO128 app to see if the simplest touch switch (ie making the switch contact with my finger to link the VS and D1 pins) but it didnt seem to trigger any signal. You mentioned to Wilba the "MIOS_SRIO_TS_Sensitivity value", which I presume is in "midio_presets.inc" but I cant see any exact variable with that name though, could you point me to where to change this value? (EDIT: or is this the value in the MIOS_VECTORS.inc file in the MIDI128 fodler before recompiling?) If I understand your mails to Wilba then just adjusting this value to increase sensitivity should let me use this MIDIO128 app and a normal DINX4 to read my touch switches. But do I need the 10Mohm resistors shown in the schematic I linked in my first mail or can I just connect the appropriate DINX pins to my touchsensors (with very short cable!)? I look forward to your replies, If I can get all this working soon then it will be used for my 1st Midibox powered installation for a free exhibition here in sunny prague ;) regards D

Hi all, Im just in the process of laying out a circuit for this schematic: http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/sensors/024/index.html Its a touch switch, which is when you have 2 metal sensors and when they are bridged by human skin (electrocution hopefully avoided!) they send a logic on signal, this will go to a DINX4. I roughly understand how this works but I want to run it past some gurus :) My question is, this circuit is setup to send a 1 second logic high signal and the page name mentions you can increase the length of this by increasingt he capacitor value. What Im trying to do is set it up so that its logic on when then bridge is made and logic off when the bridge is released. This is to try and simulate note on/off behaviour. Any suggestions how to implement such a behaviour? Also from memory its possible to invert the DINX behaviour so it registers a trigger when it receives a logic on rather than being pulled to ground, which is the default. Does this mean I have to connect the resistors to ground instead of +5v ? Looking forward to the help!! Kind Regards in advance Dave mK

Hi adam, the chips turned up safe and sound, well packaged and ready for micro soldering ;) Just wanted to say thanks a lot, very good service and hope life starts to treat you fairly in return for such a positive effort!! Kind Regards Dave mK

Hi, Thanks a million, those pictures were exactly what I needed..... Now Im off to draw the aforementioned GIF so others dont have to repeat the boring hole counting I have been doing :) Regards Dave mK

Hi all, well last week I posted a message in the documentation section and have been keeping an eye on it. Seems not many people have looked at it so Im being a bit cheeky and posting here again. The reason is tk recently pointed out that its not worth ordering the front panel until the encoders, switches etc are all mounted on breadbaords/veroboards/perfboards (call it what you may!). So I have spent a long time looking at TK's front panel and creating a computer image to help all of us mount our buttons etc correctly so it fits the MBSeq frontpanel design found on ucapps. What I need now is someone who has this exact front panel and the appropriate mounted boards to just open up the MBSeq (I know its a drag but Im trying to help everyone speed up this part of manufacture...) and count how many holes between 1 encoder, 2 switches and the LEDs. Then I will happily draw an exact board and put it on the portal etc so others can quickly create this board. Anyone willing to help? Kind Regards in advance Dave mK

Aha! I hadnt thought of that one :) However the account I was trying to signup with was a yahoo account, so I guess maybe they have the domain name blacklisted. I just started looking through the 400 spam I received since monday in my "bulk" mail folder but gave up before I found anything from you. So I guess that means really blacklisted.... Lucky for me I have another much more usable account which I just tried registering with, and low and behold 30 seconds later my account is setup and ready for action, hurrah ;) Thanks for the help, Im planning on posting up a few bits n bobs I have found helpful.... Although Im still looking for someone to verify my layout for the sequencer boards to mount encoders etc. Come on everyone I know you are too busy playing with the Seq to think about opening it up again, but just think your 15 minutes with a screwdriverr could help reduce countless n00b postz :D (please check my post in the documentation section if you dont know what Im talking about!!!!) Regards Dave mK

Hello, I'm trying to sign up to the portal because I have a few files I would like to try and contribute in vague attempt at putting something positive back into the community. Problem is that I've been waiting almost 1 week for my confirmation mail to say I filled out the forms etc etc. Still nothing so, SmashTV are you out there? I filled out the application 3 times now, tried tricking it into sending me a password reminder, which generates nothing..... Also if anyone reads this and you have built a MBSeq and used TK's front panel Im trying to create a diagram for helping people layout the breadboards with encoders etc. Can anyone help me by looking at their boards and verifying my layout?? (I put a message in the documentation section but no answer yet....) Kind Regards Dave mK

Hi all, I put this under documentation because if someone can cooperate then I will hopefully be able to help TK (and the rest of the community!) a tiny bit by posting something to try and reduce the n00b dumb question quota by 0.23......... Well I spent the last few days with each free moment infront of "frontplatten" designer, tape measure in hand and breadboard (well thats what I call it, some prefer veroboard, perfboard etc) at the ready! I am designing the boards to mount my encoders, LEDs and switches for the MB Seq. I have decided I'm going to stick with TK's front panel design but it still hasnt arrived from Schaffer so Im filling the time with making the mounting boards. So here's the thing, I measured and remeasured and now Im 90 percent sure I have the dimensions right but Im a bit paranoid to start soldering. To pass the time waiting for my panel and in a vague effort to reduce other people from having to duplicate my tapemeasure work I have designed a simple GIF showing the relative spacing of the parts. Im just waiting for registration from the wiki and will post the 1st image. I wonder if there is anyone who built a MB Seq, who is using TK's frontpanel design and who wouldnt mind taking a look at their mounting boards to check my measurements before I warm up the soldering iron?? Kind Regards Dave mK

Hi there, been following the threads about this. Im lazy to try and desolder smd stuff so I would be grateful for 2x FM chips 4x dac chips. I will wait for you to post info on payment.... Good idea by the way :) Regards Dave mK