msi

I'm going to chime in really quick and then be quiet. I don't think this has been laid out clearly. When you sell a Midibox, or Mios device and make a profit on it, your not making money on your DIY design. Your making money off TK's work. You may have assembled the parts, and built the case and so on, but how much time did you spend programming the PIC, or designing the schematics. That is the core of the problem. The only way to sell a midibox on ebay would be to not use the schematics for your pcb's, not use any of TK's code or firmware, and not mention this site or forum. But then it's not a midibox. It's your own design, to do with as you desire. I've had a couple of people come up to me and offer to sell boxes that I have made. Then get upset when I mention that it violates the privlige TK has allowed us. It's the nature of the beast. Either you follow it, or you go somewhere else.

I haven't looked at the datasheet yet, (it's loading right now) but the thing I like about relays is I can keep the audio ground, and the digital ground seperate. But I'll check out the datasheet.

Yea, to prevent popping from the relays, I plan to have a fet attached to one of the pin's of the dout. When the core switches a relay, it will also activate the fet to shunt the signal to ground. This is the methode used in production amps. The other method would be a optoisolater/led combination in the same spot as I'd put the fet. The relay side of things is pretty sketchy right now. I'm thinking I'll use a buffer at the front, and a passive EQ at the output. I plan to keep the analog/digital grounds seperate.

Yea, it was my understanding that the ULN2003 would negate the need for individual transistors on each output pin of the 595. Or would individual transistors be a better route to go with?

I've designed a audio router to integrate into the dout modual. I'm looking for someone to take a look and see if I've messed anything up. As far as I can tell, it should work. The link is here, http://216.250.178.122/will/midibox/signalrouter/signalrouter.gif The interface is pretty simple. For my needs, I've set up three parrallel loops, and three series loops. The three parallel would be for my rack preamps, and the series loops for rack effects. There will be six buttons to either open or close the relay, and six LED's to indicate if its open or not. There will be two additional buttons to control patch change up, and down. Pressing both will enable the write function to save the settings for that patch. Finally a seven segment led will indicate which program its currently on. This should only need One core, a Dout, and a din. Does that sound proper? The other thing I'd like to do is a new footpedal design. For this I've got planned four channel buttons, a, b, c, and d. And a bank up and down buttons that go from bank 1-16. Thus programs 1-128 can be achieved. This works well for how I play anyways, because I generally only use three or four sounds per song anyways. This will have a graphical display so I can name the patches. Finally, a write button and a shift button for more advanced features. The reason for the shift button is to allow me to assing diffrent program changes to diffrent midi channels. So I can have say preamp 1 on program 4, and preamp 2 on program 43. I don't know if I will need this, but at least it will be there. Finally, I'm thinking of have two Ain's for expression controll. Again, that can be assigned to diffrent continuous controllers using the shift button. This should only require a Core, Din, LCD modual, and if I go with the expression controllers an Ain as well. Does that all sound kosher to everyone?

I have taken time to develop a schematic and a PCB layout for the relay module. It's basically the dout module with relay's rather than led's. The URL is http://216.250.178.122/will/midibox/signalrouter/index.html. As is now, I will be able to switch between Three Pre-amps, and three effect loops. The basic design I believe will be a Core module, Dout, and Din. The interface will be eight buttons, two eight segment Led's, and six regular LED's. The two eight segment Led's will be to show which patch its on, the Period will be to indicate patches 100-128. The six regular LED's will be to indicate which loops are active. Six of the buttons will be to activate the relay, and the last two are for patch up, and patch down. Pressing both the up and down button will be for saving. I haven't decided if I will let more than one preamp can be active at once. If I decide only one will be active at a time, I'll have it so pressing one of those three buttons will disable the other two. This will be mounted in a rack and controlled from a midi foot board. I will have to figure out how to program the core module to behave the way I need it to.

I wouldn't mind two sets.

I don't forsee any problems with construction, but programming may be an issue. Modifying the MIOS so that it provides the functions I'm looking for. The only construction issue might be noise from the crystall or digital noise from the digital lines leaking into the analog lines.

I'm about to assemble a rack system of some of my guitar gear, and haven't found a midi capable amp switcher yet. I've checked and it seems the 74HC595 can be used to switch a relay. Does this seem possible or am I wasting my time? I'm thinking one core, a dout, din, and an lcd.

So not to blur the line, but wouldn't it still be ok if the person assembled all the non MIOS parts into an enclosure, with the pots, faders, and lcds put into place. Then all the purchaser would have to do is build the nessacary modules for themselves. Might still be considered shady, but technically it seems it'd be fine as nothing being included would then be MIOS specific.

You might try something like this. The potentiometer would allow you to control the voltage range of the VTL5C1. A resistor between the LDR and the VTL5C1 may be needed. I could be wrong but it seems to me that it would work.

Would it be possible to have you load a pic with the sid instructions. I've got the hardware all ready, and three pic's but it's not going. I'm about to hook an lcd up to the core modual and see if that enlightens me but I'd like to have a pic preprogrammed with both the mios software and a bootstrap. I've got three here, and none seem to be working, yet the core modual is giving the right voltages.

I'm sorry, you misunderstood me. Not the acutall C64 powersupply, the improved schematic provided by thorsten for powering the sid moduals. I've tried twice to assemble it and both times I've recieved the same results. The voltage to about all connectors is appx 4.7v to 5.03v. I am not getting the 14vdc that I should be getting. William

I recently built the improved powersupply for the midibox sid but when I read teh voltage I am getting only 5 volts from any of the three connectors. I've rewired it twice now so I'm pretty sure I've assembled it correctly. I've tested it with three diffrent C64 adaptors and all have given me the same results. Anyone have ideas why this is?

I did a search for the max525 on digikey. The only parts the search found averaged at about 33 dollars. Are these the correct chips. I also did a seach on mouser and didn't have any results. William

I am building a Midibox to control a guitar effect. The effect requires a 1 Meg pot, but I can't find any SPI compatible pots that would work. All I have found thus far have been 10k, 50k, or 100k. I already have the effect built and just need to get the midibox portion working. William

Yes, my location would help, its Minneapolis MN, US. I'll cover return postage as well. William

I finally finished assembling my Midibox Sid today and Started working on getting the JDM ready to programme. Five hours later, the JDM still isn't programming the PIC. I've added the two batteries with the resistor, tried four differnt computers, and tried the end of my patience. I have two PIC's here waiting to be programmed, and was wondering if anyone could programme it for me if I mailed the pic's to them. Thank you. William

I know that there are digital controlled pots available and that those pots could be controlled using a Sid modual and the serial protocol. Unfortunatly I believe currently only one sid modual is possible for every core modual. I have been looking online and have found a method of a digitally controlled pot using ditigal switch's and LDR's. Would it be possible to utilize something like this with the current midibox design for controlling multiple LDR pot's? The goal would be to automate something like rack effects via midi, or even an amplifier or mixing consol. William

I recently finished the core modual and measured the voltages after the 7805 regulator and noticed I'm getting a regular voltage of 5.4v to 5.5 volts. I don't believe this is the proper voltage, and am wondering if its a problem with the 7805 or if its safe to use as is. The AC adaptor is measuring 9.4 volts before the rectifier, appx 11v after the rectifier, and then the 5.5 regulated supply. Thank you for your answers. William

I have an orderform I made for digikey for the JDM, Core, and Sid Moduals. I didn't include the capacitor or the resistors but those should be easy to find. [tt]QTY Midi Box Core Misc 1 PIC16F877 /20 p PIC16F877-20/p-ND 1 6N138 opto coupler 6N138T-ND 1 7805 voltage regulator 296-1974-5-ND 1 BC337 transistor 2N3904-ND 1 W04 or DIL Bridge rectifier W04GGI-ND 1 1N4148 small signal diode 1N4148DICT 2 5 Din - Midi Jack 275-1024-ND 1 IC-Socket for PIC ?? CRYSTAL 1 20 mhz crystal X439 CAPACITORS 2 33 pf ceramic capacitor ?? 1 100 nf ceramic capacitor ?? 1 330nf ?? 1 .10 mf ?? 1 2200 uF Cap ?? RESISTORS: .25 watt 2 1 k ?? 1 1.2 k ?? 3 2.2 k ?? 1 5.6 k ?? 3 10 k ?? 2 10 k vertical mount trimpot for LCD ?? 1 Resistor 100 Ohm ?? Midibox Sid Misc 2 74HC595 MM74HC595N-ND 1 W04 or DIL Bridge rectifier W04GGI-ND 1 Voltage Regulator 78L12 296-11132-2-ND 1 Selfrunning Oscillator, CTX101-ND 1 Transistor BC547 2N3904-ND 1 IC-Socket for SID ED6128-ND 2 IC-Sockets for 74HC595 2-640358-2-ND RESISTORS: .25 watt 2 Resistor 1 kOhm ?? 2 Resistor 10 kOhm ?? CAPACITORS 3 Ceramic Cap 470 pF ?? 1 Ceramic Cap 1 nF ?? 2 Ceramic Cap 100 nF ?? 1 Ceramic Cap 330 nF ?? 1 Polarised Capacitor 1 uF/16V ?? 2 Polarised Capacitor 10 uF/16V ?? 1 Polarised Capacitor 2200 uF/25V(!) ?? JDM 4 Diode 1N4148 1N4148DICT-ND 1 8.2V Zener Diode 1N5237BMSCT-ND 1 5.1V Zener Diode 1N4733ADICT-ND 2 Transistor BC547A 2N3904D26ZCT-ND 1 IC-Socket for PIC ?? 1 9 pin serial connector, female A23357-ND RESISTORS: .25 watt 2 Resistor 10 kOhm ?? 1 Resistor 1.5 kOhm ?? CAPACITORS 1 Polarised Capacitor 100 uF ?? 1 Polarised Capacitor 22 uF ??[/tt]

I have completed myself a jdm, core and sid modual. I have managed to test the JDM with success, and succesfully programmed one PIC, but when I tried again, I get the 00000h error that other people seem to be getting. It hasn't programmed anything since. My other problem is with my core modual. When I plugged it in, the 7805 got extreamly hot. Hot enough to desolder itself. I am going to replace it because I believe its probley been damaged. The AC adaptor I used was 9v at 850ma. I asked my father because he has more electronics experience than I do, and he suggested that it might be a polarity problem. I'm looking to get a second opinion now. Does anyone have any ideas on these problems. Thank you. I haven't tested the sid yet, but I'm thinking I might have problems with that one as well. :( William.

When I have sent things in the past to my friends in munich and Neu-Ulm there wasn't a duty added. Atleast not that they complained about. William

With the move to the pic18 is it possible for the Midibox to control devices via something like an analog out. Â I'm trying right now to figure out how to build a mixer using something like the Midibox MIOS to control groups and such. Â The dout modual can be used to trigger relays to open/close but controlling something like the level of the channels hasn't come to me. Â I'm going to work on this in levels, starting with a small distortion type box using solidstate components with midi controlled gain/vol/EQ and switching. Â Then move on from there if I succede. Â Anyone have any comments on how this can be done with the current state of the MIOS? Â Thank you. William

Would it be possible to mount 10k pots horizontally and attach some kind of wheel similar to a mouse wheel on the Pot's post. That in conjuction with a row of leds from the DOUT modual could then be used to show the fader position. Touch sensitivity could then be added the same way as a mouse wheel can function like a third button. The touch sensitivity part would require some skill I think, but the the pot alone would be easy to wire up. William