goyousalukis

Looks pretty interesting - $3.51 at digikey. From the picture it appears that the touch pad is split into 18 different zones - is that high enough resolution for a mixer? Regardless it looks like a nice add-on to the midibox platform. Justin

Thanks a lot Seppoman, I do have the datasheet for the display - it has the control codes. Thanks for the help... Justin

Hey Seppo, Thanks for posting your driver. I just got a IEEE VFD - it's pins are labeled: D0-D7 (of course) Busy Write Strobe Reset +5 Ground These are slightly different that the ones in your driver: Would it be possible for me to use this driver as a starting point? If so what would the connections be? Thanks, Justin

gabz - you only need to supply the core with voltage on one jumper. Normally you use J1, but if you already have a nicely regulated 5v, then you could connect it to J2. Normally J2 is used to supply 5v to extra cores. If you do this, then you wouldn't connect anything to J1 at all. Justin

Well, good news and bad news... I wrote some nice routines for phrase storage and they were working great... but then all of a sudden I get no audio output from the speakjet!! I wonder if it is because I was running the audio out straight into the audio input of my korg microkorg? Is it possible that I blew the SJ because of this? I wasn't running it loud or anything. Now I can't get anything out of it - from the midibox, or from the serial port. I also tried hooking it up in demo mode, but nothing. The only other thing I can think of is that I was testing a loop that cleared the first 16 bytes of the eeprom - the phrase address bytes. Perhaps I inadvertantly messed up address 237,238,239 - the chip control bytes? Could this cause it to stop responding? I've tried sending some values to those bytes, but I'm not positive what to put there. Either way, I think that demo mode would still work though. oh well - I guess I'll play with it some more and take a break... Justin

That was it... perhaps that file should be incuded in the skeleton app? Thanks again Justin

That is a great example Michael! - I was happy to get mine to sing "Mary had a little lamb" - you are quite ahead of me. I am still a bit confused - when I load the first allophone into the phrase storage eeprom at address 16, I have to send '1' and then '6', but when I want to put the allophone 171 into that space, I have to send 'A' and then 'B'. This seems odd to me. I would think it would be decimal or hex. I just got the max232 in the mail, so now I can use the software to play some more with the speech stuff. Justin

Thanks everyone.. I'll give it a shot. Justin

Hey thanks for the tips Michael - I got the phrase thing working. It seems weird that the address is in decimal and the data needs to be hex - that threw me off. But it definately works better. I also set up the mod wheel to change the speech pitch - that sounds cool... I'm wondering - it doesn't seem possible to control words with note on and note off events i.e. keypress and hold -> "heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" keyrelease -> "llo" I was thinking a sustain while you are holding the key down would be cool, but I don't see how that could be accomplished - unless you looped sending the allophones. I think that would require timing so that the buffer wouldn't overflow? Just brainstorming... Justin

can anyone tell me why I get an error with this: void send_word(unsigned char stuff[], unsigned int length) __wparam { unsigned int i = 0; for (i = 0;i < length; i++) IIC_SPEAKJET_TransmitByte(stuff[i]); } I get this error: error: missing definition for symbol "__gptrget1", required by "_output\main.o" The error occurs due to the reference to the array in the transmit function. If I replace it with: IIC_SPEAKJET_TransmitByte(141); no errors. Thanks for any help! Justin

Thanks Michael - I thought I should be able to do that - but it doesn't seem to work for me. I am still just playing with the code though. I haven't had enough time to do much yet. I haven't gotten to the phrase storage yet. I should have some more time tommorow to mess with it. I saw your post on the BCD function - I'll see what results I get from using it tommorow. Justin

Hey, quick question to any who have the speakjet up and running: I have mine saying the phrase "Can I Get Some Bootie?" - with each word on a different midi note. Most of the time it works fine but sometimes it stops in the middle of a word. For instance it will say "ge" instead of "get", leaving off the "t". I also tried to have it say "Booootie", with a bunch of the o sounds in the middle, but this exagerates the problem and it almost never says the "tie" portion. Has anyone else seen(heard) this behaviour? I am sending a TransmitStart and Stop before and after each byte - is this correct? I thought I could send it before and after each set of bytes, but it doesn't seem to work with out this. Thanks, Justin

Hey, I just got my speakjet all breadboarded up and running! It doesn't sound great-because I am just running the output straight in to the mixer (no low pass circuit yet) - but it works! I've got it responding to the midi keys as in the example code. Time to play with those c definition files Michael created. Thanks TK - this is going to be fun! Justin p.s. I just soldered up my first new SmashTV core design - I have to say it is phenomenal! Thanks a lot SmashTV! I can only imagine the effort you put into it's desig and construction.

No need - The next version should run fine with the same hardware, you just need to put in the new chip and maybe some minor mods. Justin

Congratulations on your MidiBox Plus - I remember those toggle switches from my first midibox years ago! As far as mounting the encoders, check out TK's pictures of the Midibox SID construction. Usually they are soldered on a PCB and then the board is mounted to the front panel with spacers, or to the frame of the case and then the front panel slides over the encoders. Justin

Resistors do not have polarity (It doesn't matter which way you place them) Same thing for the small capacitors. The 2200uf and 10uf capaciotors DO have polarity. One side of the capacitor is marked with a - sign in a stripe. This side goes to ground. If you look carefully at the picture on the core website you can see the stripe on these two capacitors. On the 2200 it goes to the right, and on the 10 it goes down. Of course this picture only applies if you have the older version of the core. If you have the newer version look at: http://www.avishowtech.com/mbhp/mbhp_coreR4c.html It has a nice graphic showing the placement of each component. The Diode does have a polarity -make sure you have the stripe on the correct side. Justin

Hey Tel3, you need to choose a patch that has the filter assigned to at least one of the oscillators. If you look in the upper right corner of the JSynth editor, you need a check box in one of the "O1","O2","O3" controls. I would edit the patch with JSynth instead of MIOS Studio, to ensure that you have indeed enabled the filter. Justin

Hey, have you tried uploading the test tone app? There is also a sid interconnection test. Also, if you have "Quick disconnect" cables between your modules, I suggest you unhook everything except the sid and core modules, and then test those. Then connect each module and see where the problem lies. Hope this helps... Justin

Here's a site that shows you how to convert a switching power supply: http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.batts/ps/PowerSupply.htm Justin

I know you don't want to hear this, but I would still build it on a premade PCB, if you care about reliability. The oldest project on TK's pages is the Midibox Plus - http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_plus.html , but this uses the 16F877 not the 84? Justin

Sorry, but I'm pretty sure the max is 64 for each core.... Justin

That looks right - make sure you check out this thread: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=1504.0 There is a bunch of info there... Justin

Hey Gil, Each set of 8 motorfaders requires 1 core, and 1 MF module. You would also need one DIN for up to 32 buttons. I also recomend you get an LCD, even if you don't intend to use one on your project, because it makes debugging so much simpler. If you want LED's to show mute status, you would need a DOUT module as well. So... 8 faders = 1 core, 1 mf, 1 din (maybe 1 dout) 16 faders = 2 cores, 2 mf, 1 din(maybe 1 dout) and so forth.. Hope this helps Justin

Ok, I'm dumb - I looked everywhere and I can't find the sysex message to link the 2nd SID to the 1st without any control surface..... I know i've done it before. Thanks to anyone who can point me in the right direction... Justin

You don't have to have the AIN hooked up to load MIOS and the application. It is possible you have a short that is preventing the PIC from starting. Use just the core, and see if you get that startup message. Then try to load MIOS, and then the Application(MB64). I doubt if you fried the PIC. I have done some horrible things to PICs (Accidentaly of course!) and they haven't fried, but it is possible. If at all possible, I highly recommend you get a LCD - even just a little 2x16 non-backlit type. It will make it so much easier to troubleshoot. You will know when you've loaded MIOS, and when you've loaded the application. Justin