smashtv

Interesting. Last time with this box I got a mailbox full telling me to back off and leave jamram alone. "not worth getting someone in trouble for something like this" was the idea pushed on me by lots of people. I'm thinking the many who suggested I continue making trouble for dude were right. ;) from the current auction: Now it's someone else's turn, And I don't want to hear anyone say anything about it unless they are willing to do something about it. It's not right, nobody is happy about it, etc. But whining about any of this now without action will only serve to offend me a little more. :-\ I officially don't care who decides to pirate the MIDIbox from this point......Without a clear policy on commercial production or even non-commercial resale there are no IP rights to enforce. And yes I understand what's laid out in the GPL, but the reality is that GPL has huge holes in it that allow for activity that we know is not good for this project. Maven is a great example, since it was not resold the GPL does not protect it, but now Sasha has offers from manufacturers who want to sell Mavens. Seems an almost perfect exploitation of the MIDIbox...Since Sasha and his hired gun tech friends (Chris Hawkes) did none of the hardware design or coding that makes the gear sluts drool. Smoke and mirrors my ass. Please understand that I love the MIDIbox and this community, and my comments about lack of policy are not aimed at anyone. I don't know what I would do if the license were left up to me, there just is not an obvious license or procedure for this to use as an example that would make everyone happy and keep it DIY (or an acceptable level of DIY at least).......... I like the idea for the public permission request in it's own sub forum, a yes or no could not be much more clear than from TK himself in direct response to specific manufacturing/resale requests. I know it would be extra trouble, and probably spark debate, but there are many here who can help people understand if they don't like the answer they get. It could also afford TK the chance to allow/deny based on mood, without having to explain anything, which is much better than debating with a newb who calls every policy of the MIDIbox and GPL into question in a quest to exploit. (pay attention to the past, this is what the argument always breaks down to) I keep thinking of the music business with this.....If you give people a way to legally buy something most will, but if you don't they will feel completely justified in pirating it. If iTunes would have come 6 months before napster, you would have never heard of napster or mp3 file sharing. Not saying everyone who can hack together some plexi and an old commodore case should be able to hot-glue a core inside and sell it, but a legal path to selling your unwanted "spares" could be encouraged and controlled. Hell we already have people trying to sell parts here in the forums that won't work easily with the MIDIbox, and while it's obvious to the old schoolers that these parts are not MIDIbox related, You know as well as I do that some newbies will come along and snatch up these "great deals" then send us in troubleshooting circles with questions about why it does not work. With a subforum dedicated to commercial requests this would be much easier to cope with. Not saying anyone is doing anything underhanded etc....I just know that the parts a builder selects directly effects the number of build issues that we try to troubleshoot here in the forum. Not intended to provoke a fight or criticize anyone, just food for thought..... ;) Back to the cave with me, orders to fill and a car to wrench on are my immediate future. (anyone have any 81' Trans Am parts they want to trade for MIDIbox parts?) ;D Best! Smash

Very cool..... I was wondering how all that works! It was strange to send one out packaged for US priority but with an international customs declaration attached. Best! Smash

Yes! Tuesday. 4 days ago. ;) Let me know when it gets there! Best Smash

Here is a direct mention: ;) From http://www.ucapps.de/midibox64e_changelog.html, under V2.1: Another direct mention on the MB64E page, almost the last sentence on the page. I have never wired a 64E this way, so I don't know about the connections etc. but I bet it's the same as connecting pots to a 64. Best! Smash

I added (solved) to the subject of the first post in the thread.....I -think- the original poster can edit the subject too (never tried)..... Best! Smash

Removing the 10k on RB5 -might- result in nothing on the display, not sure with this setup. A quick search for "RB5 LCD" brings back more info.... Best! Smash

No, on the primary (line voltage/220VAC) side of the transformer. (and do be careful!) :) You want the switch here also, so transformer does not stay powered when not in use.... Best Smash

I hope that didnt screw up your trip! I know it must have at least multiplied your stress level...... :-\I was about to enlist the help of a hacker friend and "steal" a login so I could update SMF..... :) (seen these errors out of other scripts when PHP is updated, some of which I still cant supress on the Wiki.....) Good to see -finally- these massive holes in PHP security fixed, been an issue for way too long considering its "standard" serverware..... Thanks TK! Smash

Added to Wiki, Thanks! Smash

Sorry to be of no help with burner issues, but I want to remind everyone that I will burn the bootloader to your PIC for free, no matter if you bought it from me or not. You only pay for actual shipping cost (which is usually very cheap for something this small). Programming a PIC is such a huge hurdle for so many compared to it's relatively small part in building a MIDIbox, I hate to see so many people get stuck at this step and lose their drive..... Best! SmashTV

Hi Kris Assuming you have a 4051 at IC1 + IC2, nothing in IC3 + IC4, J5:A2 and J5:A3 should be tied to ground. Is the jitter from only the pots/sliders connected to the half AIN, or is there random data from controls that are not there? If it's jitter only on your connected pots (no random data) it is a wiring/ground issue between the pots and AIN, but if you have random data from "ghost" controls the AIN/CORE is not setup correctly, and you will need to fix this before moving on.... Jack is 100% correct, just about every issue we see here is related to connections/wiring. Best! SmashTV

Sounds right..... It's probably for your SID kit, C10 if memory serves.... This is either flux from your solder or extreme overheating of the board when you are soldering. (Overheating the solder mask makes it turn milky) If you are not using a temperature controlled soldering iron, and your SIL headers get melty within seconds, then yes you have probably damaged a few things. Testing is the same for both versions of the CORE, just follow the troubleshooting info on ucapps.de Hehe..... ;D Best! Smash

No. This belongs at either C10 on the SID board, or C6 on the CORE. It will not burst into flames without these caps there, but if they are in the wrong place somewhere else it will cause problems...... Yes the direction matters. Match the stripe on the diode with the stripe on the symbol (silkscreen or schematic) and it will be correct. Long side up.... Have fun! :) Smash

Hehe I have to remember that one! ;) If http://www.avishowtech.com/mbhp/info.html does not answer all of your questions let me know! Have fun..... :) Smash

You can lose the 2200uF between the regulators: input>2200uF>7812>7809>100uF>output Best Smash

Now that this is fixed I can say DUH..... Caught me asleep in class again.... ;D Some days a diamond, but -most- days a stone.... ;) Have fun! Smash

Sorry for the obvious question: Is your PIC ID set for LTC data rate or MIDI data rate? Best Smash

I built a core recently with the same exact symptoms, and I noticed I could push down on the pic and it would boot every time, so obviously I'm thinking bad soldering on the socket, but it all looked great under the magnifying glass. After re-flowing the solder it works fine, and now gets a lot of abuse on my test rig. :) Also I have noticed that the MB64 app is hesitant to boot sometimes when the inputs are floating (nothing else connected) but what wouldnt act strange when seeing thousands of events a minute while it's power supply is ramping up..... ;) </edit>removed everything about power supply issues since pay_c beat me to it, now this post is kinda bare and worthless! He did a much better job explaining than my usual ramblings...... Best! Smash

Yes I have, I'm still behind on emails but it will ship asap. Best Smash

Well, I'm not really sure what to say about the price difference because I truly don't understand....Are you sure you are not comparing my price for a CORE kit with PIC vs. Mike's price without the PIC? From Joergs Midi-PCB-Kitsshop: [tt]MIDIbox SID 8580 + CS contents these module kits: 1 x MBHP_CORE 1 x MBHP_SID 8580 3 x MBHP_DINX4 2 x MBHP_DOUTX4 Art.-Nr.: Set-007 65,00 EUR[/tt] 65.00 EUR = 79.7546 USD From my shop: [tt]1 x CORE Kit W/O PIC $15.00 1 x SID Kit $15.00 3 x DIN Kit $30.00 2 x DOUT Kit $20.00 $80.00 USD[/tt] I know there are other differences, I sell MIDI jacks separately and Mike includes them with the CORE kit, differences in shipping costs based on location, etc. If I'm missing something here please let me know (I misunderstand quite easily, I am frequently not so bright....) ;) </meanwhile back at the ranch> If you want I can test, burn, and run test your '452s, but there might be someone closer to you who could also do this. As always I'll put the bootloader on a PIC for anyone at no cost regardless of where you bought the chip, but you pay postage (cheap for shipping just chips). I want to see you finish this box man! and I'm trying to </hijack topic>..... :) Getting the bootloader on to the chip is a major hurdle for many, it's such a pain vs. the relative ease of the rest of the build..... <topic derail> I wonder if an burner could be designed to use an old-school style data to tape interface instead of a PC driving a port.....Would be super easy to burn a special mp3 to a cd, plug a disc player into the burner and press play. Anyone know of any tape drive designs that use easy to find parts? Was that FSK that Commodore used? (been waaaaay too long...) </topic derail> Best Smash

It's all about static electricity, the kind of foam in the pictures self-generates static. Static is known to kill chips. The correct foam to use is conductive (and always black in color), so it passes a static charge to any better ground potential than the chip.Or you can lose the foam completely and use cut tubes and anti-static bags like me and the chip manufacturers do.... ;) Thank you!But can you mount Mike's board (correct mounting holes?) or do you have to drill some new holes? I sell pro made boards ready to use, and that's the way it should be. When I buy a kit I like to spend my time putting it together, not finishing the kit producers work so that I can get ready to put it together..... Right, but that does not mean you are not just lucky. Would you buy a SID chip simply stuck on a styrofoam packing peanut? The same caution applies here. I put on a wrist strap to transfer and handle my chips with anti-static equipment on grounded mats, just like the manufacturer does. The idea is for you to get brand new parts with some pulled from each lot and tested, not to have a question about whether a chip was already dead when you got it or if you killed it..... Not trying to start a flamewar or anything like that, but anti-static is the only accepted way, any other is wrong, and you won't see any pro electronic companies packing any static-sensitive parts this way. (20+ years in electronics has shown me this many times.) You guys are paying good money for these boards and kits from Mike, you should not have to ask for good quality! Best! Smash

Whoa horsey! ;DThats not my layout in the pic, but it did look like that before I slapped it around a bit. ;) After a bit of trace tetris I ended up with this: It's not that I really have anything against jumpers, but I do find some twisted pleasure in eliminating them from board layouts. Every board layout I do has "smashtv" somewhere on the copper side, I can't answer for any others......but you can see why I decided to make a new set of layouts before I started producing these boards. Best! Smash

Hi Renepela! Just curious, what programmer are you using to write the bootstrap loader to the PIC? -Always- suspect wiring first on LCD problems, but if you used LVP mode when you wrote the bootloader your LCD won't work since LVP mode permanently allocates a pin needed by the LCD for future isp/LVP mode programming. See these threads for more info: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=924.msg5189#msg5189 http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=4299.msg28163#msg28163 Hopefully it's just a lcd cable/wiring issue, but if not I'm hoping you have not programmed those other 3 PICs with the same burner.... Best Smash

Sorry about this, my ISP turned the spam filters back on and I'm slowly sifting through a few weeks of lost emails incorrectly marked as spam. If you have emailed me and not heard back yet, I have not seen your message, please email again or wait until I dig your message out of the thousands of untagged messages I have in front of me..... :-\ Dimitri please check your email, hopefully it has the answer you were wanting to hear. :) Best! Smash

Not cool....Anyone in the electronics business should know better. :-\ Maybe I should send Mike some 2mm carbide bits for Christmas..... ;) Completely agreed, but I just had no idea the same module from each store would be so different for the builder.....Please don't read any more into this, and know that I'm not after Mike's business, but I'm very serious when it comes to the quality of what I sell, including the way it is packaged. Are you sure about this? I pegged my kit prices close to Mike's to keep from creating any competitive environment (no plans to practice "predatory" pricing, when a price war would likely end in only one shop). Mike's prices have always been reasonable, and if profit were the main motive neither of us would be selling this stuff, or our prices would be higher......etc.....From Mike's: SID kit (parts and PCB) = 12.30EUR = 15.27USD From my shop: SID kit (parts and PCB) = $15.00USD = 12.08EUR I know my shipping to Europe is higher, etc. But I -thought- our kit prices were within $1 USD of each other, please correct me where I'm wrong (have not checked in a while) And many thanks for that (it's a huge pain to stop and shoot pictures!)I have been collecting parts to build a new box for a while now, and I'll shoot pics of everything as I go and post them here.....(anxious to build, not enough tinker time lately) Best! Smash