monokinetic
-
Posts
325 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
5
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Posts posted by monokinetic
-
-
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
-
HI TK,
thanks for the info, it helped guide me to trace the signal along SCLK and guess what, there was a short just as you suggested. I found this last night and today I just used an encoder to skip through all 32 LEDS!!!
Thank you very much for this hint, it helped me track down the problem very quickly ;) which means now Im off to start soldering in the buttons, huarrah!!!
Kind Regards and happy new year
Dave mK
-
Hi all,
I have all my DINX4's working for my sequencer, thanks as ever to the help here. However Im having DOUT issues now :)
Im running the DOUT tester application, I have connected one LED to the D7 connector of each 74hc595 to check each chips behaviour. The problem is that all 4 chips are lighting when I use the encoder to scroll to the D7 output. It looks pretty but not what I would expect!
Using my basic logic tester I seem to have a problem with the connection running from the pin labelled 08 on the schematic of the 1st DOUT chip to the SFR input of the next chip. It seems the connection between the core S0 and the 1st DOUT SFR pin is working fine. If I understand correctly the 08 pin of the 74hc595 is used to multiplex the chips and allow the pic to address lots of DOUT's?
But my chips seem to only have a logic signal on the 08 pin when I send the appropriate message from MIOS using the encoder. I have therefore removed all the ICs and PIC from their sockets and measured between the 08 pin and SFR pin of each DOUT and the +5v and Ground pins. This seemd to be the logical way to test for a short as found in my DINX testing! However I can find no short and the hardware behaves as described above.
Hmm any ideas anyone? are my assumptions correct?
In the meantime, happy new year ;)
I shall not expect a reply for a few days.... :D
Kind Regards
Dave mK
-
Allo,
well after days of scraping flux and building yet another DINX4 and it still not working I rebuilt a very simple logic tester (i will post the link later).
Using this I could really measure what was going from the PIC to the DINX4, and vice versa! What I discovered was that the bottom pin of my PIC was infact not sending out any signal :(
Luckily I had some more PICS :) and with a quick refresher in how to burn the bootloader I just burnt another MBSEQ PIC and it reads 32 buttons ;)))
Phew that was a battle, but well worth it. Off for sleep and looking forward to lots of lights n buttons....
Dave mK
-
Allo,
so Im starting to go slowly insane from searching for shorts :) To fill you in I built a second DINX4 PCB from mike, exactly the same behaviour :(
However I built a DINX1 on veroboard to try and eliminate things one at a time. Strange thing is that after a bit of scrapping off flux the DINX1 works fine! Which is a start as that eliminates the possibility that the chips were playing up. And obviously this also means that it isnt a short on the core. I am still using the technique of touching a cable between ground and the inputs on the 74HC165 chips to eliminate any problems on my switch boards.
Having gone round in circles for a few days I have just one quick question, the potential problem here is that there must be a short between SC, RC and S1. However my multimeter has a function for measuring continuity (ie it beeps to tell me that there is a connection between X and Y) and I can measure no continuity between the CLK and LD pins on the DINX4's. Am I right in assuming this means there are no shorts?
Only other thing I can measure is that between QH and SER there is 20k resistance. But I assume this is correct because there is R9 on the core which is 10k and then R33 which is also 10k.
So now I really am running out of ideas, anyone?
Oh and moebius thanks a lot for always answering, the logic probe I built was very simple and didnt detect pulse trains, just logic high/low. If I cant sort this out I will build a more complex one. Anyone recommend a suitable logic tester?
Regards all
Dave mK
-
I just reread this thread which I had contributed to over the summer and it seems that someone took my comments about going to the beach the wrong way.
Because this is my favourite forum Im upset to think that FX3 would consider my comments worthy of getting upset about. I really was off to the beach. I spent over 6 months very carefully testing 2 JDM pcbs and could never get them to work. Any time I posted up for help I ensured that I had searched the invaluable forum well before posting caffeine induced sulky posts.
Then martin very kindly posted this helpful solution and I did manage to burn the PIC chip at gone midnight knowing full well that my flight to Spain was less that 6 hours away. So I wasnt being flippant :) it was true I was taking a well earned rest to read and relax. Thats how come dont need to post aggressive replies to such a wonderful community....
Just setting the record straight as some may have misinterpretted my summer post!
All I can say is that this is the most helpful web community I was ever part of and it would be a shame if it developed into another forum for sulky people ;)
regards
Dave mK
ps the suntans faded now!
-
Hi all, thanks for the various suggestions.
Just for information I found that if I drill a hole in the veroboard I can poke the leg of the encoder through and then use this to clamp the encoder to the veroboard a lot more securely than the solder would have done.
Plus I dont have to remove 32 legs from my nice new encoders :)
regards
Dave mK
-
Hi moebius,
thanks for taking the time to answer, I tried to idiot proof my 1st post so atleast others can learn from my mistakes ;)
So I removed all dinx's from the core J9 connector, I then measured the resistance between each pin, particularly the SC and RC pins. As expected there was no reading which would suggest I have no shorts... no? The only resistance I can read is between the 5v pin and the S1 pin but that is just the 10k R9.
I built a simple logic tester to try and work things out. It seems to work fine (the tester!) so I measured first the SC and RC pins of the core J9 (still no dinx connected) and both light up the diode to say there is a pulse there. What seems a little strange to me is that there is also a pulse on the S1 pin. I followed the schematic and there is the 5v connection to this pin so maybe that is lighting the tester?
Oh and also if its of any help I tried to monitor what the midio128 application transmits when I hook up the DIN and short the only functional pin to try and work out if the core is reading all buttons being pressed (which would suggest a short between SC and RC) but it only transmits one midi event when the button is pressed.
I have treid all of the 74HC165's I have here (9 of them!) but all except one display the same behaviour, so I assume all but the 'dead' one re functional, I will buy new ones to eliminate this tomorrow.
So now Im really stuck. My core seems to be transmitting the SC and RC signals but still no button action for me....
Anyway Im off to make some music rather than trace signals, if anyone has a suggestion what I can do now I would be extra grateful :)
regards
Dave mK
-
I hope it doesnt seem pretentious to answer my own message (Im quite used to talking to myself!)..
but to confirm I have spent three days now building 2 different button boards, populated another DINX4 PCB from mike, exactly same problem.
Tried breadboarding a DINX1, same problem..
In each case there is no resistance between pins 1 and 2 of the IC socket, the chip is getting power and the pins are being grounded when a button is pressed.
Me I duuno!
Off to bed to read something analogue (with pages and everything...)
D
-
Wow I'm really amazed it worked ;)
If you really want to be sure that its worth ordering another board (and lets face it the photo suggests smashTV should expect the order!) then if you try removing the chips from the DIN board and use a multimeter set to the settings you would use to check resistor values (ie ohmeter) and then measure between the 1st and 2nd pins on each IC socket. (check the DINX schematic to identify the pins).
AFAIK if you get any reading other than 1 it suggests you have a bridge between these tracks and therefore the core cannot shift the stae of the pins...
However let me reiterate just incase noone saw my post of Friday:
I do not measure any resistance between the tracks on my DIN board and yet still it only picks up the D7 pin/IC pin 6. Im going to build a logic probe to try and detect if there is any output from the core along the tracks of the DINX4. Am I heading in the correct direction???
Anyone?
Good luck mb944 with the new soldering iron :)
regards
Dave
-
Hi there,
It sounds like you have the same problem as me which I have described in a post here:
http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=troubleshooting;action=display;num=1101405166
Im afraid I cannot offer a solution as I have had this problem for over 1 week now! So if anyone is reading this and can explain how to use a logic probe to try and trace this problem I guess we would both be grateful :)
Have a look at my post to see what I did to try and solve this problem...
By the way which piece of software do you have loaded onto the box (and how did you upload it if you have no midi interface!)??
Lets hope someone can help us ;)
regards
Dave mK
Yahoo! Success at last.
in MIDIbox HUIs
Posted
WOW a full HUI emulation huh? Great just what I need :)
I look forward to testing this one....
D