Jidis
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Posts posted by Jidis
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I'd gladly do it, but I'm overseas, so it's probably not worth it.
FWIW- I built one of those Willem programmers a couple years ago which has been really fun. It'll do Atmel's, PIC's, all sorts of BIOS flash chips, and the old style 27xx-type EPROMS like you find in a lot of old electronic music gear.
I'm sort of pissed now, because he evidently opened up the design recently for commercial use or something, and there's a whole slew of them on eBay for like 35 bucks. I'm sure I paid that much just in parts, and the board was a bit of a hassle at the time. Then, to add insult to injury, they refine it every so often, and those mass produced ones are not only on really nice boards, but some of the designs will have onboard support for more chips (PLCC's and stuff), USB plus the parallel like mine, the parallel's on a regular centronic-type printer jack, the boards are smaller and more rugged looking, and who knows what else. >:(
I wasted about two days not long ago, trying to put together a PLCC to DIP32 adapter for that, and I don't even think it worked right. They're quite useful things to have around, especially at that price. It's gotten me out of quite a few jams, and I've had to resort to risky "hot-flashes" and stuff without it, in the past. If you're interested, just check the listings under "Willem".
George
PS- Double check that chip number in the current support list to make sure. I'd imagine it's in there.
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I wonder if that's what screws up MOTU's parallel interfaces in 2K/XP so badly. ???
Or you write your own driver which is not easy.Homer Simpson once said something along the lines of "If something is difficult to do, it's God's way of telling you that you're not supposed to do it".
I wouldn't be surprised if MOTU's Windows guys shared some of his work ethic.
BTW- Wasn't it one of those PIC/Flash apps that required another such driver to run on 2K/XP? (not one of the two you listed)
Thanks!
George
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Don't you want some yourself?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I've built an etch tank, bought two different piles of copper clad PCB (DS & SS), am building a dedicated PCB drill, bought a box of .033 carbide bits, made an ironing attachment for the toner, am looking into a laminator, and have been hanging around the Yahoo Homebrew PCB group a lot.
In other words, I have to be careful not to step on core boards when I'm walking around the house. :o
;D I think you and I may face some of the same dilemmas,
George
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No problems!
I sort of assumed it was understood that there probably weren't any people in here that would think like that. 8)
BTW-- I meant to ask: Why are you getting rid of all that stuff? Sort of sad when I saw it. :'(
I have piles of different junk from projects I was working on here, and have nightmares about the idea that I may not have time to do all of them in this life, and of being forced to make the same decision.
Hope you're still on one somewhere,
George
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NorthernLightX --- You do realize I was being sarcastic right? ;D
Sort of making fun of those "Rambo" fools we've got over here.
Sorry if that didn't come out right. :)
George
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Alright, hope I didn't screw up like I did on those diamond burrs. :-[
Saw some 2x40 displays up on eBay last night, which "appear" to be the one Thorsten said he liked (a faster chipset). They're the ones with the KS0066 (& KS0063?) chipset, if that's it.
Maybe there's something wrong here, but it was a bulk auction thing, where they were only 99 cents for a pair. ???
Being a compulsive pack-rat, I went ahead and grabbed seven pairs, figuring maybe someone could use them.
I could probably use two, so I planned to keep three, and a fourth I'm giving to someone. If that chipset is the right one, only catch I can see, is that maybe they're the type that needs a BL inverter. The three I grabbed a while back have a small "choke coil" looking thing that the BL lines pass through, and they only needed the 5v +/- supply. These ones are totally unwired. I have no idea how difficult it is to DIY a BL, if they need one, but I've seen you guys talk about it. I think "dakro69" used to have some real ones on his store, and I may be ordering some LED's from him soon too.
Unless this is the wrong display, or the guy gives me the shaft, I should have ten screens soon for whomever wants one. I'm still pretty "shipping illiterate", and I know a lot of you guys insisted on not being born in the US, like normal people, but I can probably figure it out if you want one. My sister says moderately small stuff can ship in a "mailer" envelope thing which isn't too high, but I'm not sure how much the screens are worth anyway if you got them locally.
Looks like he immediately re-listed the remainder or something:
I told him in the PayPal note that there may be people who could use them, and to let me know if he wanted to sell the other half in the same order, but I'm not sure what price he was actually hoping they'd sell for.
Here's his PDF link (they're a Seiko model "L4042"):
If these are no good for anything, don't tell me, I DON'T want to know. 8)
George
----> After mentioning accidentally teaching a neat "Bonanza Fire Hole" trick to one of my 3- 2x40's I got for $9.95 a while back....
Hoping for another 9,95-deal for you! ;DGreetz!
Looks like you cast the wrong spell PayC. They lost a digit somewhere. But Thanks! ( ... I hope)
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"Roland" reminds me,
I overheard a girl behind the counter in a Barnes&Noble Starbucks here talking about Roland a couple months ago, and it pulled me in for a second. Was indeed about MIDI keyboards, but I'm not sure how serious she was.
Alright man, we're getting sort of chauvinistic now. 8)
-George
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There's also been talk here (I think) of the issue with not using the exact load they expect, and the possibility of ruining them. In ATX supply testing stuff I've read on the web, they're usually using some "dummy" load with them (lightbulbs,etc.).
George
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makes me want to throw a dart at the map, just to try to find a culture with a little more reasonable balance to become a part of
Man, I hear you on that. :(
I'm actually not so much bothered by the economics here as I am the priorities and values. I've gotten even worse after spending so much time in recent years, frequenting all the DIY and technical areas online. At times, it feels like 90% of the progress and innovation is coming from areas outside the US, although there are citizens from all over the world living here. It sucks to think about, but here, you're actually perceived as a "loser" or "freak" for choosing to spend your time focused on anything other than socializing or staring at other people. I've come to the conclusion that a lot of that is an inevitable result of more "densely populated" areas here. If you look back to some of the historical innovation and discoveries here, they seem to have frequently been from more "isolated" individuals, sometimes even in rural areas.
Funny, but I've also actually considered "throwing a dart" at a U.S. map before, just to find somewhere with better values, but I haven't traveled enough to know where I would want to go, and I still have my family and all here. Despite what some might guess, it almost seems like the more "distance" you put between people, the more open minded and "unique" they become. People packed too close together just tend to feed off each other in really nasty ways. Then again, it could just be a typical "sheep" factor, which would happen on a smaller scale, no matter what the population.
George
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Cool stuff!
I had some some designs for little "baby" transport/mixer and track arming functions thrown together in thread a little while ago that remind me of that HD24 control. Don't guess I'll ever mess with them, if I can't even get my regular boxes done though. ;D
George
PS- If Rasmus is here: What are those knobs in the MB64 box picture (kind of fuzzy here)? I fell in love with the black plastic D-shaft knobs on the suck-a$$ Alesis 3630 a while back, and wanted them for something here, but Alesis would only sell me a handful. I did rip the ones off of one here, but would rather have more.
FWIW- From a side view, the 3630's are a "slightly curved" conventional trapezoid shape, but have a sort of "semi-gloss" texture with only a few, barely noticeable shallow grooves down the sides for grip. It's a hi-tech "plastic" look, rather than rubber. The top also isn't perfectly flat (a bit convex). I probably don't even want the indicator mark, so I might be just as well forming them from a fiberglass mold, but I have no idea how people go about getting the shaft-mount inside part formed.
? ????????? ?
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Apples or Oranges, Jidis?
Any complaints on Apple harware?
I hope you're joking on that Moebius. Getting hard to tell these days, and I thought I was weird ;D.
no apple no
bad frown apple
apple angry bad no
George
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Also, keep in mind, the lower values you'll see in certain diagrams, like for the segment displays and stuff, provide a higher current for some weird percentage of the number of lights. They're actually rapidly cycling through the necessary segments and looking as if they're on because of their slow decay rates. So, I guess they'll all handle higher supplies for brief periods or something.
I personally prefer to live more dangerously with my non-critical LED circuits, and am a bit less "scientific" while picking my values. I'll pretty much grab anything from a 220 up into the high 600's. I think I've even seen 150's on something, but it was probably a digit/scan deal.
My sympathies are with you Villadon, but I couldn't help but laugh about that "smell" part (been there myself). 8)
Hope your switches are OK!
Take Care
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I think you see that in general, with products which lacked proper "testing", or have poorly written drivers, so I wouldn't be too quick to blame it on any particular standard. I'm also guessing that USB2.0, or most of the current FW flavors, have more than enough throughput for most multi-tracking needs, but if the developers don't do their homework, you'll end up with those nasty "host specific peculiarities", or stuff that only happens when you get the right load on it. This, of course, takes us back to my vendetta against MOTU. They've actually managed to create unique "bugs" which span several different types of interface connection. In the right places, you'll hear stories of devices failing to be detected at boot, or disappearing during use, with their parallel, USB, and occasionally even PCI cards or their attached interfaces. I've even wondered if some disgruntled ex-employee left some weird "virus" type crap on their systems, which they can't detect, and it's being compiled into everything they develop. Then again, could just be a common symptom of poor Windows driver programming. ;Dothers with Asus (mine is an Asus) notebooks had similar problems...<snipped> get a refund so I can buy a USB devise instead.Take Care
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Tyler,
I'll keep an eye out for you, but if you find one, let us know.
I've got two here (a Cooper MSB+ and a Yamaha), so I doubt I need it ;), but I'd be interested to look at some of the design. I've been nagging people about a DIY parallel interface recently, and couldn't seem to find one, so if you should see that, please bring that here too (maybe in miscellaneous). I've had a dream about some guy who had worked on a parallel circuit coming in here and mentioning it, but there doesn't appear to have been any "reality" behind it. :'( Your question has now made me wonder whether it could have actually been a patchbay that he mentioned, but with my two, I don't think I would've been as interested in the discussion.
FWIW- The impression I've gotten from the two I've used is that the "1 to 1" routing, or the "1 to multiple" output splitting, is a lot easier (or less expensive) than trying to merge streams or do any elaborate "matrix-style" routing. Could just be the serial nature of MIDI, and it's bandwidth limitations, or it could be something which would involve a heavier or more specialized CPU to coordinate all the different bitstreams, but I think both of mine can only handle one merge operation at a time. A heavier setup may only be something you could get where all the serial streams were being combined into something more "capable", like with the MIDI/computer interface, where they all come in via USB,etc. and are processed from within the computer from that point on.
Don't know. ??? (and someone please correct any of that if it's wrong)
Good Luck,
George
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I've heard that too.
I think as long as you avoid clicks and junk you're fine, and it sounds like it's a "non-issue" now.
Good Luck!
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Don't know, but it's like that in everything, just with a few different common opto types. I almost think I've seen that listed as part of the hardware spec. or something.
Maybe it's just required on that end of the link, so where it's on it's way out, the isolation is expected to be taken care of in the next (receiving) device.
FWIW- In digging up various output circuits in the past, there was a wide assortment of techniques for cleaning up/boosting/inverting the line and what not. I think some cheap stuff, or adapter cables, may even omit certain parts of the circuitry.
George
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FWIW-
Hanging in the Nuendo hardware forum a minute ago, a few are now raving about the RME fireface and MADI interfaces (both pretty far up the ladder price-wise). BrianT and Bullmoon both have nice setups (BrianT ran that ridiculous Paris rig in Nashville years ago, with the four giant monitors integrated into that black and oak workstation, in someone's magazine ad).
I guess that answers the question about reliability or uninterrupted throughput. ;D
Makes me wish I had that Fireface800. May be something to save for. :'(
George
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Hi Asbak!
Don't use firewire enough here to know the M-Audio or Tascam. I've always been sort of wary of it for important "uninterrupted throughput" applications (but not like I am with USB). I've heard some things about certain FW interfaces polling the bus, or some other sort of brief processing, behind the heavy audio streaming, which has caused spikes and such for a few people, but that may well be old info from earlier chipsets or FW drivers. Also, make absolutely sure either of them isn't known to drop off the host unexpectedly or ever go "undetected". That's actually my main fear of the newer "non-PCI" formats for audio. My multi-tracking needs are pretty modest (less than 15 simultaneous In's, usually more like 8-12). On mixing I'm usually only a few, but they may be spread between the 3 banks of my 2408mk3.
I'll toss in a vote for that Behringer. :) I grabbed one a while back, and haven't had anything to gripe about. The pre's IMHO, sounded better than my other cheap junk (MackieVLZ,Alesis12R,Symetrix528), and the only thing I noticed much of an improvement with, was a modified Symetrix SX-202, and the sounds were "different", so the ADA may have even been better on certain things (didn't get much listening in). It definitely won't hinder most people, and ADAT converters are always welcomed these days. They give you lots of options on cheap computer cards, plus since they're bi-directional, you can get a whole pile of returns going back to your tracking room for headphones or whatever.
If I were shopping right now, and needed 16 analogs, I'd almost be likely to go with (2) of the ADA's and the cheapest multi-ADAT card I could get (with a good driver). I really only use the two control room outs on my interface, for my mains, and all the other i/o is in the tracking room via ADAT.
If you go FW, be sure to get some good online comments pertaining to specifically what you're trying to do. You have to keep in mind that a lot of the FW and USB interfaces are bought and used by more musicians, where the throughput requirements may not be quite so heavy. With plans to stream 16 audio tracks at a decent rate/res., make sure you get somewhere with people who've used it for that. I've seen plenty of FW audio boxes listed on large systems, so I know you can do it, but I'm still sort of "old timey" about the internal cards. For good multi-analog DAW examples, the Nuendo hardware forum has some pretty heavy hitters. Some of their system profiles make me feel like I'm on a 386DX.
With whichever brand or model you pick, you obviously should do what it takes to get genuine "honest" firsthand user feedback on it. Register for whatever user groups or forums they may have, and read some complaints by actual users and see how, or if, they were ultimately resolved. I'm really starting to hate the info you'll get in most of the magazines these days, mainly due to a recent realization that a certain "unnamed" party, who holds a permanent monthly reservation on the most expensive (back cover) advertising slot, across ALL major recording and electronic music magazines, seems to have a public image with the media and music stores, which it has done very little to deserve. It goes way beyond that, but I'll keep it out of here for now, and just try to make a few "unbiased", "impartial" shopping suggestions: Just make sure you get something which isn't known to "fail" or "disappear" in any way, and which doesn't use "lower quality parts" like cheap displays and pots, or poorly ventilated cases, which might be slightly more susceptible to "heat problems", further jeopardizing the lower quality components. Also, try to look into whether or not the company has "frequent returns for specific failures", possibly from "rushed production", or too many "corners cut in component cost or design". And try to find reports of anyone receiving multiple "defective units", or "poorly assembled" ones, or ones which may be "suspected" of being "refurbs", or "unsuccessful repairs", or "high failure rates" on recently purchased, out-of-warranty units, with very "few moving parts", which began "failing" or "malfunctioning", while merely "sitting in a rack". Also, make sure you get something from a manufacturer who is genuinely bi-platform, not like a Mac company who writes some "barely adequate drivers" and stamps Windows logos on all their stuff, while refusing to research or conform to any of the standard PC OS, audio, and plug protocols, or who stops developing after the first couple driver builds seem to somewhat work, and then "blatantly ignores" reports of any hardware or software specific incompatibility which many users appear to be suffering, while they scramble to prepare for the next line of "prematurely released" hardware, which has already been announced and advertised, or worse yet, discovers (or is informed of) some ridiculous, "convoluted workarounds or boot sequences" which "some" have reported "may sometimes work", so there's no further need of any programming effort, or who will persist in draining the last drop of blood from any previously written driver code or software, rather than "rewriting" anything to make it "properly comply" with modern systems. And be careful with companies who won't officially claim "support" or "compatibility" with current OS revisions or software, or with some of the "common chipsets or hardware" frequently found in modern Windows DAW's, and who will "blame" those manufacturers or developers, and recommend against their use, or insist that they won't work, in an effort to "avoid driver issues" or any further overdue tweaks to the driver code, while they move on to the "next product". And watch out for places with an "insufficient support staff", or techs who "know little to nothing about Windows PC's", or who occasionally answer support questions with insulting "direct quotes from their poorly compiled FAQ", or with responses which prove they never actually read the customer's question or details. And try to get a product which was "properly tested" on a "substantial" amount of "test systems" and "configurations". Oh yeah, and make sure you get something from a place which has "multiple phone lines", and who actually "responds to most emails or letters". And look for places who don't allocate more resources to "advertising", "flashy packaging", or their "feature sets", than they do to "development & support". Then, the only other thing I can think of is to go with a manufacturer who has a decent "active presence" in their own "user community", and who's staff is well regarded as being "knowledgeable, friendly, & easy to contact", by most everyone who's needed their help.
I could probably come up with a couple brands I frequently hear good stuff about in the Nuendo forums, but unfortunately, right off the top of my head, I can't really think of any particular manufacturer that I would recommend "not" buying anything from. ;D
Good Luck
George
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I sort of like 'em myself. ;D Gives it kind of an "industrial" flavor (as long as the slots aren't sharp). I guess it's one of those "different strokes" deals.I would have countersunk those screw holes.That is a cool style too. I like the contrast between the black/green screen and the silver. I had no idea the top half of that case wasn't metal. :o I've got a Lacie ultrawide SCSI here which looks almost the same but it's the standard beige metal from back when computers were color-impaired. I'm in the process of getting the internal out now and using it as a single drive in my G4, since it's the only machine with an ultra card and it doesn't deserve any of my beloved IDE's. >:(
I'll have the case leftover for however long it stays in there, but I don't have enough need for a SID to go carving it up. (I'm only a drummer ;) )
Be glad you got a good IDE to USB circuit out of it (useful item). Hope it's 2.0! ::)
-George
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Just saw this announcement elsewhere if anybody didn't already know.
Looks like it showed up Feb10th.
George
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Wilba,
That was quick! :)
Thanks for the tip. I've heard that name, but never ordered or fished around there. Looks like they may have chips for a little bit less than DigiKey, but I'm not sure I'll be needing enough to make it worth the difference.
Main reason I was asking is that I run across things where they needed a whole bunch of SR's or often even pairs of them and mux chips. I ripped up an old JLCooper fader unit a while ago, which has 20 faders, 20 buttons, and 40 lights. The inside looked like a bunch of MBHP boards. IIRC, it used 4051's, but the shift chips were something else (74HC164's or 138/139's ??). They were all neatly socketed and left with no argument. ;D
-George
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Hi,
I was wondering for a while if anyone knew right off of any acceptable common alternatives to the 165/595? I see lots of common shift reg. chips on old crap (sometimes even socketed), but didn't know if they were all 100% unique. I see some of the same basic descriptions (8-bit parallel out,etc.) on a bunch of them, but how much else is involved?
Also, an eBay guy's got a good deal on 165's right now ($50 for 372), but they're HCT's (TTL?).
I'd go ahead and get them, but then I'd have to order the other 28 chips for my hundred D.In boards from DigiKey and pay shipping to two different dealers. ;D
(actually I think he also does best offers on other quantities too)
Thanks!
George
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Hey again,
The buttons, lights, and knobs actually connect to a small network of synchronized "merge" type chips, which carry the event signals for all those different parts to and from the core module, on a much smaller number of lines than would be required if all the parts were wired directly to it (nowhere near enough PIC pins for that). However, with a very small number of lines, it may be possible to use such a "direct connection" system, but someone here would need to verify and get the exact details on it. I'm guessing there may be a couple banks of pins you can use like that, but I do know that the pot/fader lines merely need some changes to a couple MIOS parameters in the application's main source file to switch them to a direct connection (8 pots or less). There's also an example PDF in the downloads section, with a diagram for connecting a weird, smaller number of pots directly to the core as mentioned.
If it's easier for you, or you need one or two more than the direct thing will allow, I think you can always use one of the regular D.In,D.Out, or A.In modules with only 1,2,or3 of the chips installed on it (the chips handle 8 elements each). You'll just need to be aware of the different termination requirements for each chain. Usually a pin on the last chip will need to be grounded, pulled to 5v, or left open. All of those signals will be available somewhere on the MBHP boards.
The whole MIOS/App thing is pretty deep and flexible, so depending on how far you wanted to get into it, or whether there was already some existing function or an edit by someone, there's likely even a way to use some large LED bank indicators (not numeric LED's), just from the regular D.Out pins, so you wouldn't need the screen, and could see from up high. ** As many will often note here, the screen is pretty useful (or necessary) for making some edits and setting your box up initially, so try to have one on hand, even if just for temporary connection.**
The app edits and stuff are described pretty well on the uCApps site. You'll just be finding a specific section in one of the application's source files (plain text), where there will be a parameter setting and a brief description of what it does. You can directly edit the numeric value of the parameters listed there for your specific needs or configuration. Afterward you will run the freeware Microchip compiler (MPASM) to create a file with your program in it, which you will transfer to the MIDIBox. You can go grab some of the "skeleton" apps or the complete MB64 app from the downloads section and read through some of the parameter options to get an idea of what all that means ;) (the file "main.asm" is likely where you'll find everything you need).
Sorry I can't elaborate more, but it's about 6AM, so I'm kind of groggy.
Good luck with it all!
George
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but i do believe its a him.. but i agree its hard to tell..
I'm pretty sure most of those others where he came from were "her"s, but I didn't actually look or anything. ;D.
Din-Synch (sync24) output from PC
in Design Concepts
Posted
Davo,
"Clock only" from what I remember (definitely not note data --way too lo-tech). Don't suppose it could carry any type of song position pointer crap either. Probably like the original old FSK tempo sync.
BTW- I grew up with an Oberheim DX, with no MIDI, and all that "old-timey" clock junk. Had it for years, and eventually ran into someone selling the MIDI one in a local paper. I think I explained the situation, and offered them fifty bucks or something (maybe even less back then), and traded them mine, so they could sell that one. Back then they were only good for practicing guitar and stuff, and I explained that anyone who bought it wouldn't give a crap about MIDI. The "synthy" drum machines were just starting to get "collectible value", and the DX wasn't one of them. Still got it, but the PS or something seems to be acting "fishy".
@ Stryd_One,
PC Driver + MOTU = yes, perhaps a possibility. ;D
Are you saying a "properly" written parallel MIDI driver for XP is not affected by the issue Raphael mentioned? (parallel MIDI is a favorite subject of mine ;))
One of the things I recall reading while I fought with my MOTU, was a programmer who mentioned signs of antique driver code somewhere in that or another "current" driver, which pointed to a way back OS (like 95 or 3.1). He sounded like they made some sort of wrapper for it, to keep from having to develop a new one (not surprising). They have a thing with "dropping off" the parallel port, or having Windows boot up without seeing them, and MOTU even supplies some funky "port detect" app, to go out and try to retrieve the interface (...well, bless their hearts :'(). They're also known to jump ship while apps are running, and you have to run some prehistoric looking patchbay utility behind your space-age modern DAW app to keep anything from grabbing the port out from under the MOTU. (any of that make any sense to you?)
Thanks!