smashtv

Keep in mind you are testing it in circuit, meaning your meter is showing you the continuity of everything connected to the bridge rec, not just that one part......ceramic caps usually show as shorted or very low resistance, etc. so the path you are seeing on the meter is probably not the bridge rec. You give up too easily.....this statement says you are not willing to learn, and I doubt that is true else you would not be here. :) I am still learning (and forgetting!) all the time after all the years. Back to the kit mill...... Best Smash

Hi guys Coin op buttons can be decent for cheap floor switches, but beware that if they drink a soda they like to bind and stick. Most can be completely disassembled for cleaning though. ;) Best Smash

Hi Sebo The CORE to SID interconnect is 1:1 for these PCB revs. See http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=7017.msg45467#msg45467 for more info. Best Smash

Probably.... ;)The best one I have seen is a process/method patent on swinging in a playground or tree swing, granted to a guy trying to prove how broken the US patent system is......US patent #6368227 Whether this makes you laugh or cry, everyone reading should pay attention to your respective govt. so that your system does not slip into this level of insanity...... ;) Best Smash

whoop actually that is info for my R3 Core PCB, also different from the Core V3 layout on ucapps. I moved from "V"ersion to "R"evision version numbering to help keep things clear......Official ucapps layouts are usually V and mine are R. Why/what are the differences? R2 improved on trace spacing and placement, and reduce wire jumpers. Such changes were also needed to facilitate pro fabrication. R3 brought the needed changes for MIOS 1.7, and the removal of the no longer needed (and often newbie puzzling) ISP header and jumpers. R4C is the the result of two things: Builder input/feedback and pricing for single-sided PCB fab rising to almost match that of double-sided fab. I saw a chance to eliminate a lot of build time, wiring errors, and expense by adding DIL header pads to everything, while leaving the SIL pinouts intact, for full backward compatibility (and preservation of TK's existing schematics/documentation/testing procedures). The end result: much less build time required, less expense on connectors to tie everything together. The on-board MIDI jacks address one of the most common build errors, incorrect polarity....an easy error to make. ;) In another thread I talked about the R4 (no "C"), where I did a fab run with DIN/DOUT connections swapped. Those were not shipped, with the exception of 6 boards, going to people who specifically wanted them (they work fine, but did not allow for 1:1 wiring on a DIN/DOUT chain). Now with a couple hundred R4Cs in the wild, the feedback has been -almost- completely positive with a few people complaining about the LCD connection pinout. While it would be very cool to simply 1:1 the LCD, it's still a roll of the dice as to whether the one (out of several) "standard" pinouts I use would match your chosen display....so that was left alone in the interest of back compatibility/existing docs. Any questions on the differences? Best Smash

Stryd is right, R4C is the current one. :) Best Smash

Yes....Let me add to a the quote from TK in the changelog: "Desolder the cable from junction CORE:J10:SC:PICpin22 and solder it to CORE:J10:MD:PICpin28." It does kind of throw you when you first read it. ;) Cool no heart transplant required. ;D Best Smash

I'll second Davo on the good results rating, I used the spray type on the day boxes in small coats, and was quite happy with the results. Two of the fire marshals that inspected my 'boxen were impressed also and asked what I had used. ;) Best Smash

Heya t_xen Sorry this has been giving you troubles.... :-\ As per the MIOS 1.7 hardware changes, "The SCLK line of the SID module has also to be connected to pin (#28/RD5) of the core module. Desolder the cable from junction CORE:J10:SC and solder it to CORE:J10:MD." On my boards the 1.7 changes have been made already, so with that in mind, the connection from CORE_R4 to SID_R3 is 1:1, Not like you have shown in your picture. Let me know how it goes..... Best Smash

Well, considering there was no R2 Core (just V2 or R3), you probably have a V2 Core. Docs for V2 are here. V2 was before the 1.7 hardware rev., R3 was after. Is the board green or brown? Also depending on which PIC it was built for it may have the wrong crystal. Best Smash

Whoop just noticed this thread...... You can get Plasti Dip in spray form, I used to use it to coat the inside of my pyro day boxes to make them non-sparking as the law requires..... http://www.plastidip.com/consumer/index.html Back to the kit mill Best Smash

Like ToS said, that really does sound like it was assembled with the polar filter in the wrong way. A freind of mine owns a car stereo shop, and he got a lot of clarion decks in once with the polars in wrong, the whole display lit green as shipped, flipped the lens and they went to black/green (normal). Best Smash

I'm pretty sure Roger is right, I have seen similar systems back in the coinop days. Special lenses might not be needed if discrete parts (separate emitter/detector) are used. Decent dynamic range would only be possible by blocking outside light completely, or tuning the code so the emitter is running at x frequency instead of always on, and reject everything not at that freq read by the emitter. This would be easiest to handle with a separate MCU that feeds string data to a Core via IIC, due to the critical timing on the optos. Best Smash

wow it's going to take one of my famous novel-length posts to reply to this. My apologies to the accidental reader! Been completely slammed (no time) lately, just noticed this thread. First off I will not have my friends trading any not-happy words with each other about me (-to- me when I need a reality check is expected though)....You guys are on my short list of favored (whoop favoured for you DB ;D) friends, some for years and some recently. I'm quite honored to have so many people hold me in such high regard, but don't get grouchy with each other over any of this..... :) I realize some of the posts have changed now, but I did get to read everything that was said. Is it too late to call a "safety"? ;) Stryd was just trying to get the point across with no misunderstanding, and you got it right man...I am spread too thin these days but that is temporary. No offense taken. ;) Roger as an old freind saw someone else opening the book of Smash, and sounded the alarm bell. Then he reminded everyone (including me!) that I should speak for myself. ;) Then there is the statement from DavidBanner, It took all the power I have not to die laughing when I told my wife casually "Dude in the UK thinks I'm a lovely man!" and she said "tell him I'm jealous, and that you are loverly, but not that lovely" with a smile on her face.... ;D Differences between our respective cultures are always going to make these things harder to correctly gauge, then you take body language out of the communication, replace it with a small set of smilie face icons and all hope is lost for constant peace. That said I'm not offended by anything that was said, and -everyone- is right on this one. Every last thing said was my buds watching out for me and can't be faulted. Not that I want to become a drop-shipper for mouser or the like, but I don't mind re-shipping parts from vendors I already have an account with for people who are ordering from me anyway....It just makes sense in cost and effort. You guys have to remember that I have been buying parts for many years now, and the volume was easily 5x this during the coinop years, so an extra package coming in or 5 minutes spent PO'ing a non stock part is not going to kill me. Depending on the vendor cost+shipping+10% usually covers any extra time involved, and for some vendors and small parts it's so quick and painless no markup is justified. Packing kits to fill the order is the time eater for me, everything else takes a tiny amount of time compared to that. Not that I'm all seeing with 20/20 hindsight or anything like that (not even close, I'm a stupid American!) but I stick by my words above about cultures and lack of body language.....Its important to note that everything said in this thread is as it would be if we were in person, something too many people forget to do these days. We are all here because we love this stuff, and we post because we like to help people. I already picked you guys, your on my team like it or not, and it's us against the newbie questions. Sometimes you have to knock their dick in the dirt, and sometimes you have to politely say "read this first" - for the hundredth time. That process at the very least breeds learning and self teaching, and there is nothing better than watching a newbie shed the training wheels and answer a question. :) So.....Everybody cool? None of this will stress me at all unless you guys walk away with bad feelings. Back to the kit mill with me, I'm trying to make a large enough stack of outgoing boxes to block access to my office tonight. ;) Best Smash

I guess it is time for me to speak about this....after repeated fair warning about his provocative posts I banned him. The final straw was watching him tell Twin-x to "piss off". Twin-x pays the hosting bill for this (forum and wiki) out of his own pocket. Donations? Last time I asked T-x about this I could not believe the answer....not one in many months. Sad show for such a good(?) community. Anyway......banning M was anti-fun, back when I could still get on IRC our daily chats were great. I still consider him a good friend. I miss that fellowship, and as soon as I get my IRC issues hammered out I'll be back (#midibox on efnet). That said trolling is still trolling no matter how right your statement is.....after a few years of this I also see the flipside....seeing the same questions posted weekly by excited newbies can take its toll on your patience. He -was- a huge asset to this community, and hopefully someday could be again....but with people becoming afraid to post due to fear of a flaming, something had to be done. Community requires basic civilized conduct, else people quickly decide there are better uses for thier time than trying to help others. Best Smash

I have to agree here.....set and forget is not the way of a pro FOH engineer, you would end up either under-utilizing the system or trying to make up huge amounts of gain in the subgroups if the trims are set where they will never peak. Live sound just has too much dynamic range for this. Don't take this as a vote of no confidence though, gain/trim can be done via remote, as long as there is visual feedback for signal level(s) at FOH. The ideal situation would be a meter per channel that is switchable between input level, insert input level, insert output level, bus feed level (PFL) etc. Any FOH console without at the very least per channel clip indicators is begging for a fader jockey to try to launch your compression drivers at the crowd.... ;) Shifting gears to your outboard rack for a second.....digital compressors usually suck compared to the real thing. And for the record an alesis dirty-six-dirty is not the real thing.... ;) Shifting gears again to summing......nobody has figured out how to make a mix done in the 'puter sound like a mix done with an analog sum......digital per channel is great, but it loses some power, clarity, and soundfield spread when summed in the 'puter, especially when done in real time. Don't waste time with digital for the summing when a handfull of 10k's making up a simple resistor sum/mixer will sound better.... ;) (and yes, I have listened to xx software and none of it sounds right when compared to a mixdown on my yamaha or any other decent mixer) Just my 2 cents after way too many shows at FOH and working to match that power/feel when recording. ;) Best Smash

Wow if it is just that I need to step off my high horse a minute and own up to my lazy html....I have no idea but I doubt "*" is any standard! ;D If you happen to have a spare minute and Internet Exploder open already, let me know if my SID page is working as expected now....I'm sifting through all of my sloppy html now replacing the * with real numbers.... Good eye on ya Stryd, thanks man! Smash

Easy button=stack regular sockets to clear close components for your ZIF socket. Would be insane for permanent use, but for a one-off test rig you should not have to make a wiring harness! ;) Best Smash

To be completely honest I don't know whether to fix this or not..... It's basically Microsoft bullying people into ignoring the html standards, for a browser experience that is less than you would possibly expect out of anything else. More Wintendo anyone? ;D Think of it this way: Someone wants to build their SID using the an ultra-spike 2000 ATX switching power supply because someone gave it to them for free when they were scrapping a doorstop PC. It will work, the SID will make sound, but the experience won't be great due to the noise and hum. Do we tell them to start stacking caps between the rails to reduce the noise, or do we tell them to get a linear power supply going like was originally intended? Not trying to bash MS, tech support puts food on the table for a lot of people. I was so impressed during the transition from DOS to win 3.1 that I went out and bought a mac. These days I'm so impressed with how secure/virus proof/stable Wintendo has become, how well it works with known standards, and how many junk/process patents MS likes to milk the industry with, I'll walk past all those BSOD havin' machines to buy my next mac. :) Maybe a small "get firefox" button on both sites would be the best fix? ;D Best Smash

What browser are you using? I'll have to take a look at it with the same one to figure out what's not working. I'm pretty sure I shorted you (and 7 other people) some caps.......Too many late nights trying to make up kits :-\ The SID will work fine without C13 or C14, and I'll happily send out the missing caps to anyone who has kits from this batch, but you have to let me know via my contact form (since I have no way to associate your forum alias with your order history) Yes. This cap is actually an "extra" .33uF, I had trouble getting the usual .33's, ended up with the blue ones, and since they are different than the usual ones were overlooked and loaded with the usual caps when they came in.....Sorry to add to the confusion! :-\ It really is, but reading and deciphering cap codes printed in the smallest possible type make it harder than it should be....And it does not help when I have loaded some with extra and missing parts... I don't mean to disappoint, If you want to source your own send me back the kit parts and I'll give you a refund for those, or if you want me to send you another .1mF no problem.....hit me with a message on my contact form either way, give me a chance to make it right. :) Now on to capacitor codes: All ceramics have a 3 digit code telling you the value....http://www.avishowtech.com/mbhp/caps.html shows how to break this number down into something relative. I have also added the codes on the parts list on the SID R3 page, for others who might be having the same issues with the live map thing. Let me know if you have more questions or issues! ;) Best Smash

These things are a nightmare to cut! I use some utility cutters from harbor freight tools, looks like they just discontinued them but there is still a google cache of the page here. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new way myself, I wear out a set of these every couple of months.... :-\ For the ones that like to shatter, heat them up slightly with a hair dryer before cutting and they will play nice. Those tubes deform easily with just a little heat though! The fine tooth saw thing works great too, I took that to the next level and loaded a fine blade in my electric miter saw, but even that is a headache unless you are re-tubing 5000 16 pin sockets at a time. ;) The fastest and cleanest way I know is a torch-heated razor blade in a scraper type holder, not practical for anything but a one-time setup. :) Best Smash

From the linked PDF: Switching power supplies generate tons of noise on the power/ground rails, and are not usually suitable for powering audio circuits.....A forum search will get you more info about this. You want a "linear" power supply, run screaming from anything switch-mode. :) Best Smash

As much as possible! ;D They are quick on this end, but the speed loss/gain is in the last mile (your local carrier). Most are suprisingly fast, but then you get the random one to Portugal that shows up more than a month after it is sent. It helps that I use the post office at the airport, skipping a few steps of route/sort. hehe I'm sure they are a bit of a pain to open! I pack them ready to stay intact even if soaked in water, or other abuse. I have seen every way imaginable of doing it wrong after a decade plus of recieving parts, and the "slacker packers" in the coin op biz were the worst. One of my favorite movie scenes ever is from Ace Ventura, where he's undercover as a UPS delivery driver.... ;D Best Smash

First off thanks Cyrille for the help on this. :)On lead times: some of my stuff comes from the east via slow boat needing a one month lead time, and some from a few hundred miles away needing only one business day. I can usually cope with demand spikes with the slower vendors by ordering double what current demand calls for, but if a long lead time vendor slips up and sends the wrong thing, loses a package, etc. that concept breaks quickly. Totally agreed on 6 weeks being way too long.....My time to convert bulk parts into kits has been limited by other things lately, but that is temporary. I have been blessed upside my head with a full schedule with double bookings for my production company -and- the most demand ever from the store. Factor in the time required to be a good father, and it makes even a bad 9 to 5 job look like a vacation. :) The barcode guns were not a total waste, they make quick verification of incoming parts much easier, and save me huge time and trouble keeping up with parcel and customs numbers. Already there on the FIFO thing, -everything- here was freshened up in recent months for RoHS compliance.....Anything that will bin over a few days gets heat sealed in an airtight bag with fresh silica gel packets. ;) Very cool, thank you!Caught up is the word of the day for me right now, this sitting was for shipping labels (and they are done) so I'm off to knock a few more off the list then grab the db stuff to send to you. :) Best Smash

This sounds a bit like two power supplies fighting each other....Without a deep technical explanation let's just say polarity -can- be an issue when dealing with AC-AC transformers. I have a powered firewire hub connected to my powerbook. The mac feeds the usual fw power down the cable also, but you don't really want to stack cable powered fw devices up on a rather expensive (in a laptop) fw chipset. Both the power adapter on the mac and the wal wart on the hub are 2 prong, no chassis ground. If I flip the mains plug on one of the two but not both, the hub will start to meltdown....It becomes a new and not engineered ground path (or neutral return path) for the rather beefy power supply on the mac. The hub enclosure is still a bit deformed from this lesson, and I'm really lucky I did not have to replace the mac motherboard, or burn my house down. :) My bet is your supply will run all day long powering only the FM module, but as soon as you connect other modules with separate supplies or other equipment (PC gameport cable? other MIDI devices with +5 on the MIDI connectors?) share a ground rail all hell breaks loose. I would try firing up all modules/devices involved without interconnecting them, and test for a large voltage differential between the ground rails. If it's there swap your primary lines to only one of the transformers and see if the readings change. This kind of scenario will leave a fuse on the primary "hot" wire intact even if the transformer is going balistic. Personally I would fuse all primary lines including chassis ground temporarily until the cause is hammered out, a look at which fuse blows next time will be a big hint to cause. I'm at a loss for a good way to explain exactly what is happening in these out of phase/sympathetic power scenarios, but it's way past time for a good wiki entry explaining what that ground lift trace is for on my Core boards. Best Smash