Sephult

Hello All!!!! I am finally back, it's been a long time since I have been to the site....been busy with my career, my studio and such... but I will be around more often.... I have to agree with Smash......fully I remember the first thing that I saw and the first rule I followed was to not profit from the midi-box. I still am using a Midibox Plus.....which I probably could have sold many times, but I have sentimental attachments, not just because I had built it, but sentimental attachments of what I went through, and the help thorsten gave me. I definitely had been tossing around building a monster....which I spoke with TK for along time about, but my money situation didn't allow it, and was a lot of designing work that I didn't have time for. I could have definitely started it if I sold my MB PLUS, but "NEVER" did I once think about doing it. I also had tons of help from TK on my senior final project, which I built a nice forklift controller....I could have had the option of selling it....but never did I once think about it......Instead I tore it apart, and kept the really nice PCB's that Smash had prepared for me, and will recycle them for debugging. I am a little worried about how things have evolved with members of this community....I don't remember any issues like this coming up before as we all had the same goal.......to learn..... If you justify your Midibox sale as money to build a bigger better box, I believe you are substituting competition for education...... Have some sentimental value for all the hard work that has been put into these projects.....I doubt even 3/4 of the people who run around through this site daily have intellect and patience to do even 1/4 of the work TK, and alot of other long time members have provided to the public. If you can't wait for something good or work hard for it, you probably will never have the appreciation for it anyways..... The only solution to this matter I can also find is to get an approval for sale, would be nice to offer it in a forum to the community first, then if no go, an approval for ebay........this issue is definitely a big circle otherwise ;)

Norman Smith

reel to reel

(finally the game starts again ;) ) sweep

Did you send MIOS within the 2 seconds of the bootloader boot string? Do you get correct checksums (OKs)? If you did: Do the test string I gave you if no reply from the PC, check your midi connections. Also check your MIDI-OX settings, and watch the verification when you upload. This is where I would check first. I think there is a logfile in MIDI-OX, if you want to have somepeople check out what your seeing go ahead and paste it up...it might help When you had the LCD reversed what was reversed? If mios seems to give you the correct reply string when you ping it, I would think maybe your LCD fried, or you still have bad connections (which you said you fixed). I had an anomoly problem once on the earlier version of mios. I kept having problems getting it to work. It kept on rebooting, or freezing... weird stuff. This was a prototype done on a breadboard. Thorsten suggested wiring the crystal to the PIC, maybe because of stray capacitance. But no luck. Come to find out, I popped a resistor in in the lcd somewhere (Cant remember) and it worked. I have also heard of problems similar when there was a problem with midi connections. Hope this helps out!!!

Yeah you can set it up for an external box.... I would probably leave the din in the main box and just use a connector for the buttons/encoders etc.... When you disconnect however...you must somehow pull up/ pull down, so you wont get floating inputs. Just make a termination connector with all the pins connected. Most people just use regular d-sub connectors, but If you are willing to pin a connector, and need a bunch of pins, circular connectors are nice. (Lockable)

I agree with goyou... Check the testing/troubleshooting forum for a post named testing strategies.... This should give you a basis to test your hardware before you burn anything up ;D

Did you configure your PIC for using the display?

I am unsure what configurations you would have to set up, but I am wondering why your regulator is soo hot. What type of transformer are you using? I would suggest unhooking the backlight once, and see if your regulator stays a little cooler. I would check your current too. Might need to use a different regulator. just suggestions, let me know... - ;D -S

Hey Smash! Remember that little animatronic guy in showbiz.......the one that was in the tree stump on the front of the stage.... When I was little, I used to have nightmares about him ;D My dad used to take me up to the front and he'd always pop up and scare the sh*t out of me.... Pretty scary stuff, however out of the funny memories... I just wanted to add that I find it interesting that you worked on animatronics for these companies... ;) I am "very" interested in animatronic projects, and can't wait to see your pictures paul.....

The faders normally used in the midibox are 10k ohm faders. There are ways to utilize other rated faders, and I believe there are other posts in the forum about them. You could just use a core and an AIN module and setup the fader for a midi controller.. This setup is only for midi use (not audio/midi fader), although you could probably find a way using motorized faders. I am not shure what problems you would run into tapping the fader for the AIN and running audio through however. -Hope this helps some

Great! It's good to hear success stories rather than troubleshooting problems sometimes ;D I would love to midify one of my grandfathers organs for him, but he is stubborn and wont touch computers. Maybe I'll snag one off of him and try it myself ;)

Thanks smash! I knew it was around here somewhere.... I always am on the run, and I can never find the material when im trying to help others out ;D God I love this community ;D

Heres the string I was talking about... It was moved under the WIKI ----------------------------------------- How can I test if MIOS is running? After the startup phase, you can send this message "F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F F7" to the core, MIOS should reply with the same message immediately. You could also try to upload an application, after every code block a checksum message will be send which acknowledges that the stream has been received correctly. --------------------------------------------- I would try this first to see if your MIOS is really running properly, I had problems back on the first releases and this was a lifesaver for troubleshooting ;D How hot is your regulator? Burning hot?

I would suggest double checking your lcd connections. Check your contrast pot Do you have a backlight? Will your core respond to midi? There is a sysex string you can send, and the core will send it back to midiox if your core is running properly. I'll look around for it and post if I find it.

I know there is a post and a link here on the site for testing. I personally would just do the core, put in the parts for the psu regulation, test the regulator to see if it is working right. Then solder the rest of the components, including sockets. Leave the ICs out and the lcd unplugged, and do another test to see if the voltages are right. If I find the link with the test info for the core I'll drop it in the post, I am heading off to work so I don't have time at the moment to search for it.. Good luck -S

If your talking about using a musical keyboard rather than a computer keyboard. Your midi setup would be Keyboard---Midibox----computer----back to keyboard One core module, but you will have to disable the midithru so you wont get feedback. I would set the midi thru off on the computer. (Echo in Sonar) That way you can play your keyboard through your controller so both can be recorded in the sequencer, but the sequencer stops the notes from playing back through it's outputs.

I agree with moebius! There would be alot of programming to do. It would probably be more feasable to use a design such as the missparker or some other developed project. The chameleon dsp rack seems to me like a fun device to tinker with, if you want to mess with dsp effects. However they cost quite a bit, and you still would have to know more about programming. You could probably just buy some outboard efx units for the same price and time it would cost you to make your own. Gut some efx boxes and hardwire them in your midibox, buy some digital pots and replace the hardware knobs and make it midi controllable if it isn't already ;D

what program are you using for midi ;D I was just wondering if there was some way to buffer your midi out. Sonar has some items in the menu for buffering, and there are a couple tricks with settings in a file that you can make. Maybe there are some software settings you can change ;) Might want to check with the company Well hope you get your problem solved, maybe the midiman will help. Best of luck

splat!!!

I would hate to have OC disorder. I took some medication once that gave me side effects similar. Couldn't sleep without putting my 9v from a guitar pedal back into the fire alarm ;D I did some crazy things that night! I couldn't stand worrying so much about germs, I doubt if anyone is can really stay "clean".

;D Funny post, Did it ever occur to you that you touched the paper towel with your dirty hands before you even washed them ;D So in effect you are actually washing your hands, then contaminating them, then contaminating the faucet ;D

You probably could post them through portal.midibox.org. I cant wait to see them :) I don't know the maximum notes, sorry. I will look around though ;D

Myke Predko's Programming and customizing picmicro microcontrollers is a really good book. It gives alot of information regarding the architecture of the pic microcontroller. It also gives the usage of instructions, and has a bunch of experiments and projects to go along with the material. I believe he has articles which were some of the basis of his book, on rentron.

I also agree with the midiman They have been building interfaces for a long time. I have used them in the past, and they seem to be a very decent interface. Also you should be able to pick up one fairly cheap. Check ebay.