smashtv

I'm on it....... Have fun! Smash

I bumped my hosting account up a level a few months ago (in space and bandwidth) for more room for MIDIbox stuff. That's where the portal and Wiki are. The gallery script that is already there allows for the addition of new file types, so we could use that without much extra effort and keep security decent (the easiest way to hack any CMS is through uploads). This is also the easy way for an uploader to make something immediately available for download via a link from the forum, Wiki, etc.... On file formats for schematics and PCB artwork PDF is king. Print to pdf type drivers are available free for every platform. But I agree with Jim, any format is fine, if needed we can convert stuff. ;) Best! Smash

Hehe maybe I need to step off my rant box for a minute here....I think that any new docs are a good thing, and I totally understand the desire to always make things better. My ranting is more about poking fun at the whole situation more than anything. If you search back through the forum you won't be able to count the number of unfinished (but announced!) documentation efforts with both hands. That said I'm ready to help with whatever I can, just let me know. I would be happy to make up whatever 3D board images you need (like the ones on my site) etc. Also on this topic......what software is used to make the LCD "screenshot" type images here on ucapps? Keep in mind too that the video production part of my production company could be used to create a DVD showing soldering/desoldering technique and other things that can be instantly understood on video but are hard to explain otherwise. It's all up to how far you want to take it, just know that I would not have opened my big mouth if I were not willing to help. :) If you can enlist Jim Henry and a few other's help we will no doubt end up with something that is fun to read and not just educational. I need to get "in the zone" for writing some docs soon anyway. I have been collecting testing/measurement data from various apps for some time now, and I would like to do some destructive/failure mode testing at the start of the year. All of this needs to be written up and related to real failure modes/symptoms..... Best! Smash

wow holy war indeed! ;D I started several mixes on a set of Genlecs in a local studio quite a few years back and was never really happy......I have always cheated by swapping in my own speaks, amp, room EQ and crossover when things don't sound good in the room I'm working in. :-/ (I don't mean to sound like a gear snob, but when you arrive at a studio and find KRK(?) speaks on top of a M*ckie console, does it not make sense to use better gear instead if you already have it?) That said a pair of decent Tannoys and an Crown/Amcron D-series power amp are the low-cash way to a pretty open and true system. Seems the B*ringer monitors burn through drivers, the Alesis sound like......well......built for cost not sound quality. In some of the high end studios a Tannoy/Hot House rig was the usual thing, and those sound really really good. Way too much hype and audiophoolery on this stuff. listen, compare, repeat. :) Best! Smash

Several thoughts about documentation: It takes usually ten times the amount of time to document something in a way that everyone will understand than it originally takes to create it. Don't believe me? Pull any schematic from the net, and tell me what the components do. Start with a graphic of the schematic, and write some text about every component. Naturally the parts of the documentation that you fully understand how to explain will take almost no time, but the remaining few things that are harder for you to explain or simply more difficult to conceptualize will take the rest of your time. That said Thorsten has done an amazing job of documenting the MIDIbox, and most people who are eager to learn walk away with a much greater understanding of electronics than if there were a bunch of PDFs attempting to explain every detail. He has given up loads of his own free time to give us what is here, and nothing should be said to even hint that it's not good enough. I'm sure there are a few guides that could be written to make it easier on some people, but I would rather we spend development time on new apps and hardware than on trying to learn how to teach basic electronics. People needing a snap-together solution should be at the local Guitar Center store looking at the fader boxes, or shopping with doofer (who cares how it's really spelled) ;D This statement should be included with any future discussion about more documentation, it's important to know that there are a lot of builders who have never posted a question, they found all the info needed to build their box from the same sources of info that we answer questions with.....and for the parts that aren't so easy to learn (different for each builder) we have this nice forum where Moebius is gracious enough not to flame the n00bs as they poke their heads up asking for a complete hand holding and answer the same question over and over again........Dude I hope to buy you a beer some day. ;) On a related note, I have been telling many of the people who email me tech questions lately to make sure to set the forum search for 2 years back instead of the 7 day default. This seems to be where a lot of the new kids get derailed when we tell them to search the forums. Best! Smash

Cool, my chance to write some fresh documentation! The Meaning of Life = 42. If this answer further confuses you, read this from "Frequently Asked Questions about the Meaning of Life". Best! ;) Smash

Your almost there....8 buttons or 4 encoders per shift register, each DIN module has 4 shift registers. Best! Smash

You might also shop around the local production companies, one might have a rental system that is perfect and fits your budget. Some of the video production rental houses in Dallas have rental wireless IEM setups that match your spec., your looking for the same type of setup they use with the "talent" at a sporting event for TV broadcast. Might be an easier sell to the PopKomm management also..... ;) I wonder if any of your latency is related to the DV format? Not knowing much about Jitter is it reading the frames through quicktime via a standard codec? Also have you tried sampling a lower frame rate? Humans have fairly predictable movement speeds..... ;) I think you are on the right track for this with the different frequencies. You should look around the net for DIY laser tag sites and info, Some of those guys have surely spent time on engineering around the LED throw angles...... Let me know how it goes, and I'll help if I can! :) Best! Smash BTW Here is a motion tracking system that uses RF, Not a suggestion just interesting reading - it does what you need to do using different technology...... http://www.wybron.com/Entertainment/AutopilotII/

Heya Dave!With the right holes the tabs are there to snap the encoder in to a circuit board, and if you have a copper pad around that larger than usual hole, soldering these tabs to it will strengthen the whole assembly. But working with veroboard, I would say its safe to clip off the tabs as long as you mount it to the panel with the nut and washer. Let the encoder shaft/bearing take any force/pressure/abuse, not your connections...... ;) The portal has easy picture uploads in the Gallery, send it up and link to it from here. Best! Smash

Wildly asymetric loading will cause a lot of DC wall warts to act up or shutdown when they share a ground rail. Justin has it right, Try feeding the 15vdc supply into the unregulated power inputs on both the CORE and the SID. If everything runs super hot this way, the 15v PS might not have enough current to run your box, if this is the case switch to a suitable transformer with AC output and your problems should go away..... ; ) Best! Smash BTW no smarts here, just a few rowdy brain cells that still talk to each other through all the muck and my big mouth..... ;D

There is no way you should be handing out commercial IEMs to anyone but performers needing a foldback/monitor system.To match the midrange consumer technology's sound quality with a real IEM will cost you at least $1K for the earpieces alone, and they need to be custom fitted for comfort. That's up to the laws where you are. In the US, you can transmit on unused FM up to a certain transmitter power before without breaking the law or FCC rules or needing any license. I don't know if the laws there are similar. As long as there are at least a few gaps on your local radio dial you can do this without walking on anyone elses signal. IEM's are way behind consumer technology on sound quality. You could buy quite a few great sounding digital tuning FM radios with headphones for what only one of the cheapest Sennheiser IEM recievers will cost.It would be very cool if Sennheiser would help you out! Just food for thought....Seen FM work as well and sound better than way more expensive solutions..... Also you should consult your local nameity about health practice/requirements for allowing people to share headphones. During your show with a health code officer would be the wrong time to learn these things...... Best! Smash Almost forgot to ask, what tracking technology are you using?

You might look at some of the FM transmitters from Ramsey electronics, you could use 10 transmitters all on different frequencies and use standard consumer throw away priced jogging radios on the headset end. You want digital tuned transmitters though, otherwise your channels will be walking on each other. Its also a great way for a church to save thousands compared to the cost of a standard hearing assist system. Used to work great for the drive in movie theatres here before they all went away, if you had a decent system in your car! ;D Best! Smash

Cool. You are on the right track here for the only way this can be done safely. A dead man trigger, line of sight to ground zero, and keyswitches are all law everywhere. As long as your main firing system follows this and the other laws, and every device that's controlled by that panel could fire safely in one massive mis-cue, you should be able to build a rig like this -and- stay in compliance with the laws where you are. If you don't own your own copy of NFPA 1123 get one, don't trust that the practices you are learning are legal or safe. It's one thing to lose some fingers or your own life cause nobody told you a static strap was a good idea when you weighed your lift charge, but it's totally another when a misplaced sandbag lets a mortar rack tip and fire all of your 5 inch shells into your crowd....Both of these were scenarios that I was hired to analyze and report on after the mistake happened. (note I say mistake not accident) I don't have much of anything to do with pyro these days, got tired of even consulting after all of the analysis and reports on the Great White/Rhode Island club fire. Don't ever dismiss radio interference, even if they are banned from your sites, you can't explain to someone's next of kin that someone snuck a radio in, or that someone on site fire/police/security used a radio anyway. Even a powerful AM radio station several miles away can dump enough interference into the ground to generate several volts per hundred feet of cable laying in the dirt, enough to fire an electric match. Every -safe- pro firing system uses transformers on cable runs to try to eliminate false triggering from too much interference. The full/half duplex communication reference is the best way to think of what's proposed and whats needed. Only a full duplex protocol can truly verify that a fire signal is correctly received by the match end before the match is fired. Dig around on the web for a look at the old pyrodigital rigs and others that use this scheme. It's worth noting that the printed DMX-512 specification specifically says not to fire pyro or move scenery with DMX. And it's a much more robust protocol than MIDI. Sorry for the lecture, but the safety of your crowd and crew is worth my time in spewing this crap and your time in learning everything you possibly can about firing systems before you build one. Don't let me discourage you though, seek the "expert firing group" mailing list, they specifically discus building firing systems. Best! Smash

Lots to reply to here so sorry for the long post...... First off, firing any pyro device or moving scenery over a certain weight via any half duplex protocol is not legal in most parts of the world. Even if there is no law in a particular area pertaining to this specifically, you won't be able to find correct show insurance for this method. The only time good inspectors (city, state, federal, insurance) allow this type of system for control (firing via any multiplexed line or wireless) is when the entire show, every device, can be safely fired all at once, same cue. That said, I know that when I key an old Motorola/Nextel phone up next to any MIDI cable over 5 feet, or any DMX line over 100 feet, there will be random data at the other end. Not much you can do about it. There is no way to truly failsafe anything half-duplex. I don't know what country you are in, but the NFPA rules on outdoor displays will cover the electrical and mechanical specifics, and those rules are used as law by many areas worldwide. I used to do a -lot- of proximity pyro in clubs, sports arenas for hockey/football/concerts, and there is nothing like that instant gratification of watching the whole crowd's jaws drop and having fans tell you they felt the heat from the last few rows..... ;D I did my share of arial display work also, but I learned to stay clear of those shows because most of the time these were so unsafe due to practice by the existing crew or venue that it put my license on the line just by being there.... I got tired of paying the insurance, dealing with the fire marshalls, and the constant worry about the stupid @*#& musicians, house/band crew, and security who could not remember something as simple as no smoking on the stage until after the third song since there is 4 pounds of powder up there. ;) Just the thought that an all notes off signal has to be used by anything should rule out MIDI for this...... Best! Smash

Please tell me you are not planning to trigger pyrotechnic devices via MIDI...... Sorry for assuming the worst but I have to ask. ;) Best! Smash

That's insane!I could maybe understand if this was rarely used technology (like a motorfader) but mechanical encoders are used in everything consumer. The locals: Need new sources or Need to quit profiteering Best! Smash

The quick answer: Both are for filtering noise out of the power, and each value catches a different type of noise, better than a single capacitor can. In this case, the 10uF cap serves to catch some AC ripple and noise (and harmonics of that noise) caused by the regulator. The .1uF serves to catch switching noise caused by the IC's (to help keep this noise from showing up on everything else on the power rail). Even though the output of the regulator is linear (way less noise than a switching power supply design like in your PC), it is most certainly not noise free..... :) Long answer: In -most- designs you will see the .1uF cap next to each chip, but since the CORE only has one IC that generates switch noise C3 can effectively catch it before it shows up in the power to your other modules. Before it is asked: Why don't the modules need a .1uF cap next to each chip? HC class chips have a higher power noise immunity than their standard counterparts, and with unused inputs pulled up or down, there is nothing sensitive enough to be affected by the switching noise. Best! Smash

Heya Defred! The USB spec says this (roughly): The USB 1.1 specification allows a device to draw a maximum of 100mA (at 5V) from a USB port during configuration. When the device initializes and communicates with the PC, it may request to draw up to 500mA maximum. This is possible ONLY if the device communicates over the USB port AND the power is available from the port. Thus the maximum _guaranteed_ current that may be drawn from a PC USB port without communications over the USB bus is 100mA. Most USB ports have limiting circuitry to enforce this current limit but some do not. This means that on -some- machines you can get 500mA just by hooking up to the power lines. So if you can reduce your total current draw to below 100mA (hard to do with potentiometers eating a bit of current) -or- if your laptop gives up 500mA without current control, no problem. Keep in mind that the devices specify how much current they want during configuration, this is software/OS work around for machines without current limiting hardware on the ports. So it is entirely possible to damage a machine by pulling too much current (over 500mA) through the port if the PC completely relies on the OS to control power management instead of hardware that actually senses the power load at the port. Best! SmashTV

Thanks! These are on the improvement list for next rev. Very minor correction on this, The schematics are the same but the layouts are different. All of my modules are pin-compatible with the original layouts on ucapps.de at the time of this writing (R3 CORE). Everything will stay pin compatible from my end, but a few more design improvements (like holes for dual row connectors so simple IDC connectors/ribbon cable can be used, or loaded with the usual single row headers for drop-in wiring compatibility) are planned. Thanks so much for the kind words, and Have Fun! ;D Smash

whoop thanks Moebius! No business on the forum, except for group orders...... ;) Best! Smash

I don't think I would be willing to accept a chip packed like this, non-conductive plastic bags are a bad thing (anti-stat bags are never clear). Just imagine how much vibration happens during shipping, and how much of a static charge that does build. I know it's on a astat foam square, but that will just ensure that a static hit is taken by all of the pins at once. If these were actually new old stock replacement parts, they would be on a bug tray or other anti-static carrier, and he would not have several different generations (R2, R3, etc). These are likely pulls from scrap machines, but maybe packaged long ago and maybe not by the seller. Buyer beware indeed. That said, this guy's deal beats the hell out of shipping C64's and 1541 drives all over the planet, even if one of every two bought is dead you still probably won't evilbay a SID for less money. Best! Smash

Before you buy from this seller please read this thread. Best! Smash

That's my guess too. Very common on lots of 80's stuff, when companies used "chip clip" type test fixtures. I wonder if any of the C64 or SID history sites cover this? Best! Smash

Great! Congratulations! Don't worry, I have been soldering for money since the age of 14, now 20 years later I still miss a few (only when the planets are out of alignment, and I don't hold my mouth right!). I have a reputation in the coin-op business for people not being able to tell where I solder on a board when I'm done, even had clients accuse me of not changing the parts on the invoice! (that was easily proven by the bag of dead parts and the fresh date coded chips on a board from 1980) The method that works best for me is to keep a meter at hand while soldering. It takes less time to test any connection for a short or open than to look it over closely to decide if it needs tested or reworked..... ;) Best! Smash

Hi Rowan! Sorry to see these giving you problems..... Center pin is ground on these.... Yes! You are on the right track here..... From TK's SID 1.5 release notes I have not used it, but enc_speed_v1_3.zip from MIOS downloads/test apps/ lets you try the different encoder modes with minimal effort. See also Where does the encoder speed thing go ? And Heeeeeeeeelp!!! Yes, after you set up the encoder speed. Let me know how it goes! Best Smash