smashtv

hehe.....not a silly question at all! I pulled a few kits from the same batch to make sure....The possibility for errors on my end is always there. (but I do try to be accurate) Lets start with the power pack, I'm assuming here that it's actually 0.8A DC (800mA), .8mA won't run much or act well when connected.....Are any of the parts in the power section getting hot? The first two possibilities that come to mind (assuming external power is fine) are the bridge rectifier is in the wrong way, or the voltage regulator itself is inserted the wrong way. I know this is probably something you have checked over and over already though..... This is possible.....and even likely if you use a super high wattage iron. ;)What reading do you get between ground and pin 1 of the regulator? Another thing is to try another power pack, some of them just don't work well with the core due to the design of thier own internal regulation (some give symptoms like this.....basically the switching hash interferes with the normal operation of the bridge rec.) Don't worry, let's find the cause first so we can let others know what to watch out for, Then I'll send you out replacement parts (my cost) to get you going. Best! Smash Almost forgot, email or pm me so I can associate you with your mailing address (I don't know my customer's forum names, I need to add a line to the order page for this.....)

I'm not attacking open source here....Just people who use open source stuff without following any terms of the license it's presented under.....That's called infringement and its against the law in all the countries involved in these little tests of my patience so far. Jamram did not follow any of the steps laid out by the GPL for legal or proper use of anything MIDIbox related. Nor have any of the others who have stepped up......well, except maven. It's important to note that the current GPL does not trigger the license for companies who make changes but do not re-distribute on floppy or CD, so the Maven does not even trigger the GPL (as a single box not for sale). But it does directly go against the clear statements made by TK about non-commercial use since it was built and sold to Sasha. This is purely a symptom of the age of the license, written in 1991 there are minor changes needed to keep things right today. Any open source preachers here watched thier code get sold or claimed by others as thier own? I would think the OSS fans around here would be pissed about the blatant disregard for the GPL rather than wonder why I'm causing such a stir about "free" stuff......You can't side with the open source concept and with the ones who ignore and violate it. Best Smash

It's important to note that he (who's name -should- be lost forever) did not pull the plug until he realized that he could not publish the information on his forum for his great book of audio secrets. Profiteers act like this when you yank thier stolen retirement out from under them..... I was there, watched that battle, and The Lab is now a much stronger community for having fought it. Best! Smash

Comparing the MIDIbox to the stuff on The Lab is like apples and oranges..... -Most- of the designs found @ The Lab (I love that place BTW) have no clear and defined "father". Here we do. Most are obvious extensions of existing technology (has anyone really done anything truly original with any analog audio path since the 50's? show me something good and I'll show you prior art, they figured out what makes good sound a long time before most of us were born) We are talking about designs that are copies of many companies implementation of other existing concepts, that most of those people got from modding existing equipment.....few of these designs could be pantented or protected due to the existence of massive amounts of prior art.....and all of the companies who manufacture these boxes know they are selling borrowed designs, else The Lab would be full of lawyers already. Besides Rupert Neve, nobody can claim true ownership of most the designs @ the lab. MIOS is Thorsten's work, there is no question of the lineage of the design, or who wrote the firmware, etc. Which brings another point, none of the projects at the lab have xx thousand lines of code that were written by one man. One man who has specified that it's free for everyone, just don't use it to make money. Why is this requirement so hard to comprehend? Thorsten just wants you to get up off your ass and learn something new, so he shared his work to inspire. The fact remains that this project is open source, and it is free, as long as the use is non-commercial. Most people define commercial as anything that makes a profit...... all these arguments have already been hashed. Why are we still discussing this? Because people can't seem to realize that no matter how many hours you spend with building your box, using your craftsmanship and originality, etc TK himself has more time invested in your box than you do. Let's say you decide to build a custom car. It's an expensive adventure, and you have never built an engine, so you share the effort with a friend. You both have equal work, You do the body, etc. while your friend does the engine and drivetrain. Now when the car is done and ready to show, you realize you spent too much this month, short on cash, so you decide to paint it another color, and put some speedholes in it (cause they are cool), and offer it up on eBay without talking to your buddy or even simply asking if it's alright with him first. And on top of that, you offer to sell your friends tools with the car just in case the buyer needs some extensions for the car in the future. Oh yeah don't forget that your friend told you not to sell it before you started..... How long you think your friendship will last? I know it's not the best analogy, but I grow weary of all this thought that it's alright to sell anything anyone was cool enough to share with you for free, just because you have it in hand or because you find yourself in money trouble. Thanks so much to the guys who pointed out that I don't have a the store for an income. I'm a fan of the builder, the guy who's cutting fader slots in his garage. I just happen to be in an easy position to keep people from having to deal with PCB etchant in thier homes -and- stabilize prices for MIDIbox parts at an artificially low level, so it's reasonable for people without a commercial agenda (building for fun!) I invite anyone to do the math before accusing me of protecting interests in my store. The truth is each of these little scrapes kills parts sales at my store for at least a few days (quite understandably so!) Best Smash

Added above to wiki, feel free to edit for best reading.....(quite understandable on it's own though) Best! ;D Smash

The wiki likes to do that a lot, I installed it, it worked like it should for a day or two, since then it acts like you have seen (PHP and LDAP errors) I am actively searching for a replacement wiki script, I have not found one yet that I could modify share the user database with the portal for login. Login to edit is a crucial feature for the next wiki script, I'm really getting tired of cleaning up the comment spam. There are tricks to editing the wiki, one is that you don't have to login to do it, instead of a username it tags the changes with your IP address. If you do want your name associated with the changes, from the edit screen, put your name in the login field at the lower right, hit the button, and on the next screen press cancel. The page you were editing will now reload (with your changes still there) but the changes will be tagged with your alias. I know this is a sad workaround, and I am open to all suggestions on the next script for the wiki! Best Smash

Hehe, Jack Handey was credited as writing this and many other "Deep Thoughts" that ran between segments on Saturday Night Live, so the first time I saw this it was presented in a rather serious tone on national TV, and I fell out of my chair..... :D Best! Smash

Put on your welding goggles people, this is about to get rough.....If you don't want to get agitated today, don't read any further. I really don't want this to be a place of hostility, and I really don't want to start a big flamewar, but some things need said before this fades from view....... First a rant about sampling parts: This type of crap is exactly why I begged the fine people at Microchip to quit sampling DIP versions of what we use, you have to examine cause and effect of this type of sampling for your own MIDIboxes.......if the sampling to actual sales ratio on a line of chips looks like everybody tried but did not buy, the chip will be discontinued much faster than if samples vs. sales has a healthy balance. Availability of our beloved '452 in the next few years should not be made an issue for future 'boxers. Anyone think Microchip is going to be happy knowing samples are showing up on eBay? Don't tell me they won't know, they are quite aware of what we do here..... Part samples are for new designs not tested ones! Now directly to you jamram: I bet whoever manages the lab there at FH Wedel would like to know thier stuff is on eBay and that you are contemplating PCB fab services using thier resources...... That's the little voice in you head telling you "bad idea". Listen to it next time. I'm sure the college will be mighty happy about this. And in your next post, the commercial outlook seemed to change drastically: THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE SOLD IT AS PARTS. Don't use the mechanics of scale (1 box vs. 50) as a defense, I have a self-built MIOS lighting desk that has some extremely valuable parts in it, between the motorfaders, sunlight-readable gas plasma touchscreen, redundant internal and external UPS power supplies I have several thousand dollars in this box. On the open market this box along with the max patches I use would fetch $15,000 in a hearbeat...... Instead of a sid where I might make $50 over the cost of parts on eBay, I could reel in around $10,000 over the cost of parts..... You can see the problem here, what qualifies as acceptable exploitation of the MIDIbox -seems- to be open for debate. It is not. Replies to others: Man you should see my inbox.....People would rather try to drive a dump truck full of money up to my house than follow a link to learn how to solder.Maybe it's time to post the best begging emails and my replies on the web somewhere......Like you this makes me feel a bit sick. I do have to admit though that this is easier to tolerate now that I use a canned response for the always whiney second requests: "get bent f*cko, never gonna happen, go shop at guitar center" seems to cross all language barriers much better than any other english sentence I have ever seen. ;) Of course first request is always met with a non-threatening and quite friendly explanation of how it's all free and the only price of admission is to pick up a soldering iron, explaining how good the forum is at helping newbie builders, etc. Everyone who's been here a while or shown pics of thier box knows this drill..... I was trying my best to let this issue die until I saw this post this morning, and it fired me right back up about it. To the newbies or old schoolers thinking about selling: Don't. There is no way you can justify bending the rules in a way that won't get -me- directly on your ass. That said, anyone in Germany (near FH Wedel University of Applied Sciences) want some free hardware for simply handing this entire thread in printed form to the right people (lab master) at the college? This would: A) be cheaper than me hiring unknown local goons to serve it up B) get one builder free parts C) provide some resolve for everyone who has not taken the offers to build for money D) provide some resolve for those who's work was exploited without consent Again I'll say, we have to defend the non-commercial/open/free attitude, with teeth, else there is no motive to share any innovation for anyone involved. And as usual I only speak for myself, these are my own opinions (and actions), nobody else's. If I offend or anger anyone I'm truly sorry, my intent is to try to get people to understand the concept that the MIDIbox is free and -will not- be exploited. As the popularity of MB grows we are in for a constant flood of eBayers and commercial attempts if we don't set a precedent now. I know crap like this should be dropped, forgotten, etc. so we can get on with some engineering, but enough is enough and Jamram's self-started, new found trouble will serve as an example for the future kids low on beer money..... Best! Smash

New WIKI entry: http://www.avishowtech.com/midibox/wiki/index.php/Soldering If I lived back in the wild west days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody would get real quiet and ashamed, because they had made fun of the soldering iron of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink. - Jack Handey Best! Smash

From this auction: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=7797&item=7317281354&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW As a community, is everyone happy about supporting the buyer of this box when the auction ends? Is it ethical to say on ebay: i can make anything from ucapps for you? Smash

Ok, The MIDIbox and "quicker and easier" are mutually exclusive terms.....You are looking for a retail experience, this is not it. This free info does come with a price, not money but learning. I know in this profiteering world it's an outdated concept, but if the MIDIbox is cool enough for you to publicly beg anyone to build you one isnt it cool enough to learn some basic soldering and do it yourself? And maybe learn something in the process? You already have some great guys there offering local help, and the help here is phenomenal......What are you waiting for? Please no more trade offers, it reduces the value of our community and sours the whole experience for a lot of the others here...... Best! SmashTV

Heya Adam! I clipped this: [tt]| C4 | Ceramic Cap 470 pF (471) | 1 | | C1-2 | Polystyrene Cap 470 pF - for 6581 | 2 | | C1-2 | Polystyrene Cap 6800pF - for 8580 | 2 | | C3,6 | Ceramic Cap 1 nF=.001uF (102) | 2 | | C12-13| Ceramic Cap 100nF=.1uF (104) | 2 | | C10 | Ceramic Cap 330nF=.33uF (334) | 1 | Polystyrene caps are marked with actual value in pF not code[/tt] from this file. My site needs some updating..... ;) Moebius has it right on the code, all ceramics (and some others) are marked this way. best Smash

[ipxx-xx-xx-xx:~/desktop] smashtv% java -version java version "1.4.2_05" Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.2_05-141.4) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.2-38, mixed mode)[/code] Running on OS 10.3.8, with plumstone installed. I typed: [ipxx-xx-xx-xx:~/desktop] smashtv% java -jar MIOSStudio_beta2.jar and nothing showed up in the console until I selected MIDI routing: [code]apple.awt.EventQueueExceptionHandler Caught Throwable : java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.sound.midi.MidiDevice.getReceivers()Ljava/util/List; java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.sound.midi.MidiDevice.getReceivers()Ljava/util/List; at org.midibox.miosstudio.MidiDeviceRouting.getReceivers(MidiDeviceRouting.java:295) at org.midibox.miosstudio.MidiDeviceRouting.devicesConnected(MidiDeviceRouting.java:425) at org.midibox.miosstudio.MidiDeviceRoutingGUI$1.paintComponent(MidiDeviceRoutingGUI.java:130) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:808) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:647) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:817) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:647) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:817) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:647) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:817) at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(JLayeredPane.java:557) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:647) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:817) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:647) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:817) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:647) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:817) at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(JLayeredPane.java:557) at javax.swing.JComponent._paintImmediately(JComponent.java:4707) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintImmediately(JComponent.java:4489) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:436) at javax.swing.SystemEventQueueUtilities$ComponentWorkRequest.run(SystemEventQueueUtilities.java:117) at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:178) at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:454) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:234) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:184) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:178) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:170) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:100) apple.awt.EventQueueExceptionHandler Caught Throwable : java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.sound.midi.MidiDevice.getReceivers()Ljava/util/List; java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.sound.midi.MidiDevice.getReceivers()Ljava/util/List; at org.midibox.miosstudio.MidiDeviceRouting.getReceivers(MidiDeviceRouting.java:295) at org.midibox.miosstudio.MidiDeviceRouting.devicesConnected(MidiDeviceRouting.java:425) at org.midibox.miosstudio.MidiDeviceRoutingGUI$1.paintComponent(MidiDeviceRoutingGUI.java:130) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:808) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:647) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:817) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:647) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:817) at javax.swing.JComponent._paintImmediately(JComponent.java:4707) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintImmediately(JComponent.java:4489) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:436) at javax.swing.SystemEventQueueUtilities$ComponentWorkRequest.run(SystemEventQueueUtilities.java:117) at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:178) at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:454) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:234) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:184) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:178) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:170) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:100) Sorry for the big quote.....Hopefully 10.4 will fix all of this and make us mac users very happy. ;D Best! Smash

I need to gather more info but I will be including the pcb sizing/mounting hole info on my pages soon..... Quick answer for the question: Material FR-4 Thickness(inch) 0.062" Copper Weight 1 (oz) Pad Finish HASL COREr3, SIDr2 = 82.000x64.000 (mm) AINr2, DINr2, DOUTr2, JDMr2 = 100.000x45.000 (mm) LTCr2 = 64.000x48.000 (mm) OPL3r1 = 100.000x65.000 (mm) MFr1 = 88.000x64.000 (mm) best Smash

Great thinking, dunno why I forgot about doing that....except I do this with eagle x11 in 10.2.8 all the time so if that works it would run for all of us not on the bleeding edge of os updates..... Completely true I'll fire up and test everything mentioned tonight......getting spin dizzy from all the different os versions ;D Smash

I like the individual transistor method myself, but it's your box and both ways work fine. You might be able to lose the relay coil diodes also with the ULN....with some of the ULN drivers these diodes are not needed. best! Smash

The Chemtronics "CircuitWorks Rubber Keypad Repair Kit" is what you need, anything else and you will be doing it again...... (at the vending company I performed several hundred repairs on NSM jukebox remotes that had been dunked in water/beer, stepped on, melted, thrown or otherwise abused.....This kit would always bring back the dead keys....) If you have trouble finding Chemtronics stuff locally (wherever you are) let me know. best Smash

You are looking for "center detent".....The surplus dealers are the best place to find these since they are usually custom manufactured at build time..... Good luck, please post your findings! best Smash

Wow any way you figure it that's at least $150USD more than the street price here.....crazy. I have often wondered why Apple complains of grey market issues while still using regional pricing..... I'm having a hell of a time getting anything more than: Out of it.....the console (where the dump should show up) shows nothing, and I'm too much of a newbie with java to slap it around enough to get some info (tried everything I know and methods found on the web, to no avail). Sorry to be anti-help on this! Still trying to dig up the tiger GM, I'll shift testing to that asap. Let me know if you want to try to get it to run on anything pre-tiger, I have been told there are java core audio calls that are easy to implement (easy for who? :)), but that would probably require OS specific releases, unless environment detection+OS specific I/O calls can be added. best Smash

hehe yes on my old coinop site www.coinoptech.com there is a schematic for an arkanoid controller, and www.happcontrols.com has all the parts and complete assemblies. That old site of mine has not been updated in years, think of it as the digital ruins of past info sharing..... ;) best Smash

Hehe.....Let the teasing begin...... ;) Too bad I can't change the artwork on the board to read "Design ©2005 Thorsten Klose, Layout ©2005 D2K, Errors ©2005 SmashTV" :) To my customers/friends around the world assembling these boards, if my errors have caused your kit to burst into flames, caused you to question the meaning of life (42), or just not work when you are done please let me know, I want to make it right (else I won't be sleeping too well). Best Smash

jinx! ;)

More info from the past: http://69.56.171.55/~midibox/forum/index.php?topic=3065.0 http://69.56.171.55/~midibox/forum/index.php?topic=2926.0

hehe hopefully I can work out a rosetta stone or magic decoder ring before the next generation, so they can easily see through the overly verbose answers (never thought I would be a novelist!), run-on sentences, and my terrible daily flogging of english grammar...... ;D Where do ya live/what country? (trying to figure out what postage will cost me to mail you an xtal and caps) best Smash

Made the doc changes on my site, I had made the partlist from the schematic, without correcting the designations on the board to match when I worked it over.....too much going on..... Let me know if you notice any other errors, and I'll do the same. Again my apologies for the errors and confusion......I should have stayed in bed that day, instead I took the short bus to my desk..... :) If my flawed docs have already screwed up your build, let me know and I'll make it right...... best Smash