smashtv

The legend matches the caps you would pull from a C64 board, I did not have a specific cap in mind when I re-designed these for production and easier home etch (a very long time ago) ;) Thanks for the positive words! Standardized quality at the best price possible is my goal. I enjoy the benefits of operating out of my house, but I try my best to act like a big company with good service...... :) I have changed this....But with a stack of the R2 boards still here it will be a while before the R3 board. The video that shows me inserting resistors flat is on a CORE board, and the lead spacing on the SID is much smaller (like for a 1/8w resistor). The resistors in the kit won't lay flat on the SID board. I should have explained that a little better.....my apologies...... This is caused by the HASL plating. Unfortunately the electrical short/open tests at the factory and my quick drill alignment and tearout checks just don't always catch blocked holes....... Thanks again and have fun! Smash

Wow that's some solid work...... That sound (and other sounds in the song) comes from a Casio VLtone. Set the user defined sound (adsr?) up for like 29997655 and it sounds like this...... I wanted to hit it with a hammer when that da..da..da volkswagon thing came out (or at least tear -that- button out with pliers just for fun), but not so much now after hearing this tune....... ;D Best! Smash

Try is the key word here, maybe this link can do better: http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/audio_isolator.html has specific info about isolation as it relates to us. In the real world I use a few custom made panels with Jensen transformers and connectors mounted for isolation between the FOH/monitor/recording consoles......Each one of these transformers cost several times the price of a complete core+sid, so that's not an option here but at least I know what a SID with iron in the output should sound like done right....... ;) So far the http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=270-054 Radio Shack ground loop isolator sounds fine, but I have not yet correctly tested response..... I have a couple of ebtech boxes, sescom, etc. plus some other random transformers in Dallas with the rest of the sound equipment, so I'll grab those up for testing on my next trip. I'm looking for mutually exclusive things with this, cheap -and- good. More info as I tinker further..... Best Smash

No not dumb, these things are not obvious....The best way is to use the cam processor to kick out an EPS file, and use any graphic software you have that will properly open (or import) an EPS for printing. To generate the EPS file: Select File:Cam Processor Then under Output set Device=EPS, Scale=1, and your chosen path and output filename (you must set the path!). Under "Style" de-select Fill pads, Activate layers 16 and 17, deactivate all other layers in the list on the right, and finally select the "Process Job" button at the bottom of the window. Dismiss the "Pads and vias should be active" error with OK, and you have a 1:1 EPS. You might already have graphics software that will import and print an EPS, if not Ghostscript is a great free package available for all platforms. I'm on a mac and just open them in preview, back in OS9 I used pagemaker and acrobat to pass them on to the printer. Sorry I missed this when you first posted it..... Best Smash

hehe 8)

Whoop Moebius beat me to the reply button! :P SID= Sound Is Dirty? ;D As noisy as they are, that nasty S/N ratio should not include a few db of hummmm...... ;) Best Smash

Heya Mikael! Sorry about the lack of specifics on that post.... You have two connections that make up the SID audio out, one ground and one positive. Temporarily disconnect the ground wire, leave the positive wire connected, and see if your hum changes or goes away. If it goes away completely you have a ground potential mismatch (ground loop!) that can be easily corrected with an isolation transformer. Ground lifting is an old soundman trick for finding loops/hum in sound reinforcement rigs...... Best SmashTV

Wow start a fight then run and leave cause you don't have time, good one. I'll step up and say that while you might have a lot to offer this community, your attitude probably prohibits any reasonable dialog or contribution. Please learn some manners, and come back when you are all grown up. ;) I guess I'm destined to be a moron, but at least I'm a happy moron without having to read anything else spewed by you. The box works and you would rather burst into flames than prove an easy concept to me, we are done here. A little hint about communication, be absolutely sure to spell a mans name correctly when you insult him, otherwise you run the risk of looking like an ass..... Good thing! you won't be hurt when I say Bye, "so", whatever. Get lost so we can discuss this issue without getting beaten up by your "free help". SmashTV

Give me the specs on your power supplies/transformers, Voltage, current rating, AC or DC output, etc. Disconnect the ground wire between SID out and preamp temporarily and note the change in sound. If the hum goes away completely you can use an isolation transformer to kill the hum and have a great fat sound.....More on this later as I mash various transformers onto my favorite SID ;) Don't leave it wired with just the positive audio lead, as this will give bad sound also...... What are you guys plugging the SID into? preamp? mixer channel? make/model? Be specific so I can re-create this here please..... Best Smash

The answer is yes it will. On a bad day this trace can handle around 5A of constant current at this voltage without thermal issues. My definition of a bad day is: Thinner copper layer than the laminate I use (.75oz vs. the 1.5oz laminate I used for those, crucial to make it home-etch friendly), Constant loading (not the intermittent load as it's used in real life), Much higher than normal operating temp. (the best way to cope with thermal issues). PCB fab variations can kill a design, so I test assuming the worst case to find the needed trace width vs. pcb real estate ratios. ;) Best! Smash

It runs on a linear supply (no switch mode noise to battle), it uses HC class chips (near rail to rail operation enhances noise immunity exponentially vs. other logic families), I/O is properly debounced by MIOS, etc. So what issue exactly are you wanting to fix here? ;D Throw a handful of ceramic caps at a Core+SID or FM, watch the noise floor rise drastically, and listen to the difference in sound with all of the new baby ground loops..... My own testing of bypass vs. none did not show enough benefit to require them or add them to the designs, and with the SID (and probably other MB audio projects that share a ground with a Core) can hurt performance a bit. Please don't take my word for any of this though, believe what your scope shows you if you don't believe your ears. ;) Time for the pros to step up and prove the "needed" values, so I can pass some out, let everyone decide for themselves. I could use a written spec for these new design requirements I need to follow with the needed changes......oh wait......explain to me again exactly what is -not working- like it is supposed to? KD have ya built a box yet? MIDIbox is proven.....Your turn. Best SmashTV

Whoop I should have been more specific, I'm working on just the plot of real estate with the resistor ladder itself, not the rest of the design (yet). Just making options not compromises for when it is time for the whole layout..... ;) Best Smash

Yes yes, sorry my post was a bit sharp....I'm working on the "sounds like other synths" thing but from a different angle, sound quality. By putting some iron on the sid (adding an output matching transformer) I'm really getting a good fat warm fat sound. I'll post about this when tinkering is done, and I'm using only cheap easy to get transformers for testing (even though I'm tempted to throw a sowter or api at it!) I feel your pain (asm), in the 7th grade I was very good with 6502 asm (the only way to do anything fast on a commodore), now after many years of not coding, it seems like a foreign language to me again. I can honestly say I have forgotten more than I remember! Please don't let me scare anyone from posting or asking questions, that is not my intent.....a few years around the MIDIbox watching some interesting people come and go, I'm a bit quick with the post button sometimes. Part of that comes from my frustration that more people are not coding new apps for themselves, or making serious use of MIOS other than TK's apps. No offense to you guys who are coding! Best Smash

webhost ;)

Cheater have you actually built a SID yet? just curious.... Time to end the endless feature requests and start coding if you have a better way. This is not a company who's goal is pacifying people who want feature X, but a talented engineer/programmer sharing his tinkering with us, and probably now having second thoughts about doing that in the future. It gets tiring watching the endless stream from people who either have not taken the time to soak up all the info available or have not really actually lifted an iron to build..... All of this talk about PIC DACs for audio etc. shows that nobody is doing their homework before bringing these concepts to the forum. Let's talk when you have DIY'ed a working low-jitter clock for these miracle designs (Pilo excluded, he did it!) No trying to discourage new ideas, just trying to discourage the poor ones that seem to show up over and over like clockwork, forcing someone to waste yet more time to explain over and over why a new slant on the same concept won't work, when a forum+google search will show more than just a guess at the specifics...... "glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity" - Rush Sorry for the novel length rant! I'll shut up now and go grade my SID chips with the new tester app. :) SmashTV

Please don't take any of this personally, it's impossible to know what any host will do to you until you are already paying them and hosted. Don't let anyone tell you that your effort has been wasted, this is a learning experience for everyone involved (if not, they should have stepped up to fill the need). You have done nothing wrong! That said with a quick look at newista its easy to understand why they can't provide much support, They are in Istambul Turkey and the machines they sell space on are in Dallas Texas. Hopefully the flood of leaving customers will serve to either put them out of business or force them to fix the problem(s). My words were a bit strong about this, but it seems every host(s) current excuse is DOS for anything. I realize it's a real problem, but DDOS attacks don't typically last for weeks. Anyone is smart enough to know that if you shut the server down for 24 hours (removing the attraction) that the attacks will eventually go away. A good host would be shifting into another block of IP's. I guess it is hard to flip the kill switch when it's thousands of miles away...... Not accepted, you did nothing wrong, feel good about helping, and know that anyone holding you personally responsible should remember that they were quiet when it was their chance to step up and do it their way. People forget that a lot of effort and pocket money go into providing all this free information, and that goes away quickly when only complaints are offered instead of help. whoop 2 posts while I was writing this novel! (I love that "new posts while you were editing" warning!) Watching newista try to pass the blame completely on to ThePlanet is funny, Their support is the best in the game, with a live human there 24/7 ready to reset servers and get things going. Hell they are cool enough to allow outside techs to work on machines in their colocation racks, loan out conference rooms to their clients for unrelated business, etc. so I don't believe for one minute that ThePlanet has any part in a long-term issue like this. Companies with bad service don't invite their clients in to hang out! Children playing in the street....Interesting comment.....One look at their connection map shows how serious they are about hosting..... :) Best! Smash

Heya Davo! You are on the right brainwave, just in the wrong thread...... ;) http://69.56.171.55/~midibox/forum/index.php?topic=4037.0 Best Smash

Hi Twin-X! Sorry you have to play the part of punching bag for issues out of your control on this.....I definitely know how that feels! I see the issues with the forum myself now, and the downtime is not a real issue unless you are a frequent poster (like Moebius), It's instantly angering when you spend a few minutes (or a few hours in my case!) writing a reply to help someone just to watch the connection timeout when you hit the post button. I might be able to push this into getting fixed, but I need a little info..... Who are you paying for this web space, a reseller or are you dealing with ThePlanet directly? Who exactly told you this was the result of a DDOS attack? The reason I ask these questions is I have the portal hosted on a server in the same data center as the forum is hosted now, and I have the ability to watch some of the traffic and issues with the netblock the new server resides in....(don't tell the hosts this!) No traditional DDOS is happening to cause this, and none of the addresses in this netblock are getting hit hard enough to with any traffic to cause this level of unavailability. As a matter of fact I can't find any evidence of a DOS -during- the forum's downtime, or enough of any kind of traffic load to cause this. We are looking a configuration issue, plain and simple. And depending on the answer to the reseller/direct question, the reseller might have caused it. (could be as simple as running the latest version of PHP-a very bad idea). It's also possible that your reseller is co-locating (renting rack space and a network drop) and have oversold space on the machine that hosts this, etc. The cool thing about all this is that I'm in Dallas almost every week on business, so I have no problem sitting down in person with people at ThePlanet to resolve issues as needed. Taking care of issues becomes a priority for people when you are sitting in their office showing them the issues on a TIbook.......:D I guess what I'm trying to say is this is a repairable problem, don't let your host BS you anymore about this now that you know what they are telling you is not true. And if it was ThePlanet that told you this, lemme go have a chat with them and get you a few years of free hosting while I help them fix the true problem. Even if it were a DDOS a good host would immediately identify the target and remove it. It really is not that hard to make a DOS more work than fun for the script kiddies. Let me know.......ready to help! Best! Smash BTW I still highly reccomend ThePlanet, their connection(s) and reliability are unrivaled in the southwest US, several of my clients from the design days still co-locate there, without issue. Of course a less knowledgeable reseller (basically most of them) makes ThePlanet look bad.

So am I! Hehe just kidding! ;D I'm tinkering with a layout to support both discrete resistors or an array in the same real estate. Trace tetris is on! Smash

Hey all! Another new board layout: LTC_R2 No jumpers required. ;) The usual questions: The new LTC boards will be shipping very soon, the LTC_V2 version is sold out and has been replaced by the new one (R2). The V2 docs are still up and won't go away. Yes I'm doing an OPL board, with soldermask & silkscreen, already designed and ordered (waiting on fabrication). I'm sold out of Core boards, more are in process though and should be available the same day as the new LTC and OPL boards. I stocked up in anticipation of this, but extra demand from a mention on the hackaday site wiped out that stock. Last time I estimated a ship date I got it wrong, and with unusual delays in fabrication (Chinese new year) I'm not going to guess about a shipping date on this one just yet...... Sorry for the delay, I'm anxious too, as I sold the boards I was about to use on one of my own boxes! ;D Best SmashTV

Maybe the MIDIbox TC? http://69.56.171.55/~midibox/forum/index.php?topic=611.0 You will have to compile the app yourself though (no ready made config for your setup) but its not hard if you read all the instructions.... I'm soon to build a similar controller for my Fostex 24 track. Tired of having to navigate UI layers to arm tracks......... Best! Smash

Wow now I'm confused...... As I was writing the novel (reply) above, I tested the portal signup with my yahoo address, it was all fast and as expected. The email showed up in my main box (but depending on your yahoo prefs it might have went to spam). I'll do more testing and email a friend at yahoo to see if he has any answers...... Best! Smash

man that's funny! Where is Captain Ecobox and the SID police when you need them? ;D

Yes. At the very least fuse one wire of the mains supply with no more than 2A fast blow. (don't use a slow blow here, your transformer will cook before the fuse pops) The fuse on the mains is the one that keeps it from burning your house down if you accidentally leave it on and go on vacation. ;) You can fuse the 12vdc side of the power supply also, Since the regulators are 1A I would use a 2A fast blow so that it only pops the fuse if there is a massive failure. One on each of the 12v lines, never on the common. The idea is to pick a fuse value that pops quick enough to save some of the parts on the board. Too high and everything cooks before it blows, too low and it will pop when nothing is really wrong. (and naturally this happens during performance!) Fuses are not just rated by current capacity, but also by time. The standard used depends on manufacturer and type, but a common glass slow blow fuse will open at its rated amperage after 15 minutes, and a fast blow will pop at it's rated current after 1 minute. Again there is no official spec for this, so ratings are subjective and different from one manufacturer to another. For the xformer on the 5v rail, I would go 9v if you can, While 6v works, its just is not much differential for the regulators to work with. 9v gives some breathing room and things run cooler. Personally I would not use a weaker transformer on the 12v rails. Every component in the power supply (and depending on load every other component on your box) will have to work much harder if the transformer is less than spec, and future issues will be very hard to troubleshoot if your power supply is straining.......Even if the underrated one works fine a larger transformer will cause everything to generate less heat....... Remember it's always ok to substitute a transformer with higher current output for a smaller one as long as the voltages are the same, and the end result is a more stable power supply. I pick mine for 1.5x to 2x the actual load needed, then fuse correctly. ; ) Best! Smash

Rheostat: Pros: Cheap Reliable Cons: Requires one per lamp (to do it right anyway!) Wastes energy as heat when dimmed (bad for battery operation) PWM drive: Pros: One device with multiple triacs can control all of your lamps Would easily adapt to different bulb types Cons: Expensive Relatively complex Zero-cross detection and switching required (or you will have EMI/noise in everything else) Difficult to failsafe (can't re-patch it to full output easily during a control failure) You should consider LED's http://www.littlite.com/products.php?category=10 the upfront cost is higher, but way cheaper in the long run since you won't have to feed the bulb monster..... Best! Smash