smashtv

hehe.... :) Ok, then -they- are doing PIY (Plan It Yourself) and hiring -you- to build it, ignoring the DIY nature of this community. It's not DIY if the end user is not doing it themself. The doing it part of DIY means you as the end user build it yourself, and there is no way you can call anything DIY that you pay someone to build for you. Stop and think about this for a minute....Your -service- creates a -product- the instant you accept money for it. I understand time is money, etc. but it's not your fault they aren't close enough to directly help, etc. It's also not your responsibility. It's their own to gain the needed skills/tools, if they want to keep it DIY and follow the intent of this community. Not in the wrong by interpretation of the GPL, but it will have a negative effect on the community. You must understand that people won't release third party stuff, and the usual bears that live here won't release new stuff or stick around to answer questions when they know someone else is pocketing cash from exploiting thier designs. The point is when people take the time to post help for someone else here they should never have to wonder if they are answering a question from someone who has a bought box instead of answering a real builders question. I have to take offense on this, I invite anyone to sit down and do the math to figure out what it costs to do what I do vs. what I sell it for. Clearly profit is not my motivation.Also I will never knowingly sell boards or kits to anyone but an end user (or group of end users doing a bulk buy to save shipping or build party, these are encouraged!), as that is not the way to support a DIY community...... It has been said before that nothing is truly free, and that like everything else this project has it's price. Thorsten set that price (which is learning) by declaring it DIY. I have had many offers from people wanting to drive dump trucks full of money to my house to build them a box. Some of them are now happy community members here, and have thanked me for pointing them in the right direction to learn something cool. Some of them are now owners of whatever control surface that Guitar Center had in stock at the time, and then there are the rest who are afraid to try something new and learn a new skill and are still waiting for someone to come along and do it for them. Those in the last class need to go spend $10 at radio shack, get a soldering iron, and practice on some boards from dead electronics. Soldering really is one of those things that takes hours to explain but minutes to show. It's not that hard people! If you don't have steady hands (I sure as hell don't with all the sodas I drink and all the Marlboros I smoke) all you need is the edge of the table for a wrist rest. Again no offense, just providing the flip side of the coin as needed. Best! Smash

Heya Paul! Here is a link to get you started: http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_midi_2/ (good explanation of message types) More specific links: MIDI Note Numbers versus Note Names Defined MIDI Controllers A chart listing all defined MIDI controllers, and their respective controller numbers. The best way to learn this easily is to use midiOX or other monitoring tool to show you what is coming out of the keyboard when you press a key. A typical MIDI message that I use with my stage lighting stuff is: 90,01,7F Here is what these numbers mean: 9n,x1,x2 9 tells the device that this is a "note-on" (other messages) n is the MIDI channel it is sent on in hex (can be 0-F) x1 is the note number in hex (can be 00-7F) x2 is the velocity for that note in hex (can be 00-7F) So the example above of 90,01,7F on my system= 90=Note on, MIDI channel 0 01=Dimmer channel 01 7F=Full brightness (can be 00-7F) hopefully this helps ;D Best! Smash

Heya Paul! Just be sure to keep in mind that if you encounter any future funky behavior with I/O or random resets it might be a result of over driving the chip. A few people here have seen partial PIC failures..... I always program them for free so if it is an issue in the future just let me know and we'll get you fixed up. ; ) Best! Smash

My favorite new quote - "Don't poke the bear" applies here..... ;) <disclaimer> This is nothing personal, these are only my views, blah blah blah.... </disclaimer> That's a weak attempt at justifying your decision to make this DIY project a commercial project/product. Does not matter if it's one MIDIbox or a thousand, you are still trading cash for a finished box. Usually the only ones who argue this issue this far have already bought parts to produce thier commercial boxes. If this is the case please don't let that cloud your judgement further. whoa back up here a second. Ask yourself which you want to be, craftsman or cloner. I am a true master at soldering, I have a CNC that can cut front panels, all of the shop tools for woodworking, and the skills to bring it all together, just like you. The massive difference in thought here is that I only produce parts of the MIDIbox, not a finished box or module, without exception. This forces the end user to learn something, that's much more rewarding to me than any amount of cash. You have been granted a revocable fair use license to build a box for yourself, not for others. That's to keep this project around as a great learning tool, with a massive prize at the end for the builder (a working MIDI thing that is usually much more advanced than any commercial equivalent). That said, I know that this community would welcome a new enclosure supplier. Whether it's just a front panel with 7 holes or a full blown enclosure with wood sides ready to mount modules in and wire up. That would be the correct path for a true craftsman. Just be warned that you will have competition in the future. ;) Just to clarify the copyright thing here..... The MIDIbox is fully copyrighted, every step of the way, to the letter of the law. The difference with the MIDIbox is that the copyright owner has opened his plans up for the public to see, encouraging fair use (read up on the fair use laws, they prohibit anything but private use). This is to spur learning, discussion, and community engineering on something he has created and enjoys. If commercial use was ever his intent, why would he offer it up to everyone for free personal use? Again this is nothing personal, and if some of my statements seem sharp or angry it's because I have made this argument over and over, with each new person who sees the MIDIbox as a money opportunity rather than a fun-learning-community-DIY project. Best! Smash

Amen brother Jim! ;) That post belongs on the wiki, linked from every occurrence of the words "non-commercial", "DIY", and "profit", and maybe a few others! Best! Smash

I simply have not had enough time to try this yet. Hopefully I'll get some tinker time this weekend! :) Best Smash

1.3w is an unusual value, but you can substitute a higher wattage with no penalty (and a larger one might throw less heat depending on your application). 1N5355=18v 5w (but may not fit in a standard diode footprint) 5w is the next -common- size above 1w, but a small handfull of manufacturers make parts that are a closer match: 2EZ18D5DO41=microsemi brand 18v 2w Best! Smash

Thanks guys for helping me to understand what's up with this. Any suggestions on alternatives to PayPal for this type of situation would be greatly appreciated. This should be problem free for everyone everywhere. :) Best! Smash

OK by the letter of the law, but not ok in the fact that it is not DIY anymore. Cheating the end user out of the fun of putting it all together is not cool. Keep in mind here that if they can be bothered to build the actual modules they probably have the skill to assemble some type of enclosure for it. My personal opinion on this: Use your skills to custom manufacture whatever enclosures for anyone here, for whatever you want to charge. But when you load the parts into it for them, what if you make a wiring mistake? Would this community or you be supporting what is now a product instead of just parts? An enclosure supplier would be welcomed (especially if they also stocked knobs, LCD's, etc. to fit), while you can see the endless debate a "Plug and Play" module ready box maker would create. ;) Again nothing personal intended.....just punting the ideas around. Everybody say it with me.....DIY...... ;D Best! SmashTV

No clue what's up with the PM, my prefs are set like this, I never tinkered with them: I just shipped several orders to Germany in the last few weeks that were paid via bank transfer-> PayPal. Hopefully one of these guys could speak up now and let us know how it worked (Did you sign up for a PayPal account with just your bank account, etc). PayPal only shows me what's available in the US, so I have no idea where to find these options on the German PayPal site. Best! SmashTV

Hi Paul! I just completely clued in on your project, I -might- have helped design the control electronics for your show (I did some engineering work for one of the many incarnations of ASC, who built most of the Showbiz and Chuck E Cheese animatronic shows). I cut my teeth in animatronics on a showbiz show and went on to re-engineer things a bit for them so the techs (like me) did not spend all of our time changing triacs in the drive cart. 8) If it's one of my old rigs and you have the all of the parts to it, it's a simple jump from MIDI to firing the existing triac cards. : ) More info on your your rig please! Best Smash

heya pay_c! I used to use VOXciter (VST) on some things back in the day, but I switched to multiband compression, to achieve better/more natural results than VOX or a BBE box would ever give me. For me it takes way less time to get the type of exciter sound I want out of a tweeked multiband comp than with any of the exciters I have ever tried (and I have tried many, both real and virtual). BBE's should be left in the bass player's rack. ;) Best! Smash

Welcome to the backwards PCB club, It's a rather secretive group with many members, but it's relatively unknown since most members fear teasing if they speak in public about the club. ;) We prefer to be called "Reverse Engineers" ;D As members we fully acknowledge the way Murphy's law applies to us, ie: our best looking boards are the always the ones that come out reversed. ;) I have personally done this on more prototype boards than I care to admit, putting blame on the years of lead contact (solder) and drinking from aluminum cans.......What were we talking about? Best! Smash

Yes, the only thing technically illegal was use of copyrighted images. Careful with that term, public domain implies that copyright has been released or that the original copyrights have expired, neither of which apply here. Open source does not mean that the name gives up any copyright, just that he's cool enough to let everyone take a peek under the hood, and change what's there to fit thier needs. Notice the GNU license does not contain the words public domain.Obviously I agree with you that kits are good for the DIYers, but selling a finished ready to use box is not. There is nothing DIY about buying someone else's finished ready to use MIDIbox. Two things wrong with this: 1) It's not DIY anymore but paying a profiteer to collect the parts and build it for you. 2) Imagine what it will do to this community if the forum posts change from what it is today to full of questions from people who did not build thier own box but bought it. These users will expect the same support that a company would give, but from us, who do this for fun and learning. Needless to say that most of the old pros here won't stick around for very long, community over. Several of the DIY stompbox communities (and probably countless others) went away due to this. No matter what the open source license or copyright law says we have to do our best to promote and protect Thorsten's intent of non-commercial use. I only speak for myself, these are my own opinions, and I really don't know Thorsten's view on this since we have more important things to discuss (like board layouts) when we communicate. ;) It's also my own opinion that the only people who should own a MIDIbox are the ones that are willing to put the time and effort into building one. This is DIY after all..... If you agree with my opinions a "cheers" or "hell yeah" would be much appreciated right now, since all the legal lip-service I have been spewing has made the MIDIbox less fun for me lately, hopefully my statements have not had the same effect on others. Absolutely nothing personal intended, (read with caveman voice-->) Smash like Duggle. ;D Best! SmashTV

Just a quick note, on a lot of displays instead of A and C for the backlight you see A and K. Is Kathode an engrish word? ;) Best! SmashTV PS: check out http://www.engrish.com for a laugh.

Please if you have questions about this offer email me or send a private message, I don't like to do business on the forum. Not good for the signal to noise ratio. ;) If you are simply curious about total cost, use my order form to calculate exact cost, using the non-switched encoders as reference (the weight and price are the same). Then just email me to order, I'll generate a custom invoice via PayPal. Best! Smash

Very cool Meeshka! Your patronage is much appreciated. :) My next quest is cheap touch sensitive motorized faders. I'll have to scare up some serious cash for that though. Best! Smash

I use http://www.xe.com/ucc/ for USD to EURO conversions. $1usd each for the non-switch encoders on my site, right now, shipped from stock. This offer wont change. $1usd each for the switched version, but that is treated as a special order, and requires that you order a minimum of 50 from me. On Wednesday the special orders of switched encoders will end, and they will be added to my store inventory. Then they (the switched ones) will cost $1.25 from me in any quantity. The non-switched ones will be $1 as usual for as long as the price I pay holds (hopefully forever). The special order thing with the switched ones is an attempt to pass the good deal I'm getting on to my customers, without creating any inventory related overhead/cost for me so the price stays low and everybody wins. ;D Best! SmashTV

If I understand you correctly, you are wondering why the Eagle files for the R3 CORE are not available from my site? Two reasons: 1) When I released the V2 layout, this resulted me having to answer a constant flood of Eagle questions. Not that I mind, but my time is not best spent doing support for Eagle and the users who should take some time to learn Eagle to enable them to make the changes they want, not rely on me to walk them through it. 2) When I released the layout and Eagle files for the USB board, many people who home etched this board forgot to use the ratsnest command. Without this you don't have a ground plane. I had used that to provide ground to a crucial pin on the eeprom. Without this connection, it would not hold the firmware after power down. It's true that I should have run a dedicated trace for that from the start, but my point is that the layout worked as presented, but caused me issues when it was not used properly. So from now on I only release PDF artwork for the layouts, which is much easier for me to support. Way easier to help someone through a rare problem with printing a PDF than to have to explain the CAM processor in Eagle to someone who is just starting out in electronics. And I no longer have to ask someone who has noise/interference problems if the pcb's they etched have the proper ground plane. The Eagle files are still up for the V2 version on my V2 CORE page. It is linked to from the changelog on the R3 page, and won't go away unless there is a massive hardware change. Best! SmashTV

If I understand you correctly, you are wondering why the Eagle files for the R3 CORE are not available from my site? Two reasons: 1) When I released the V2 layout, this resulted me having to answer a constant flood of Eagle questions. Not that I mind, but my time is not best spent doing support for Eagle and the users who should take some time to learn Eagle to enable them to make the changes they want, not rely on me to walk them through it. 2) When I released the layout and Eagle files for the USB board, many people who home etched this board forgot to use the ratsnest command. Without this you don't have a ground plane. I had used that to provide ground to a crucial pin on the eeprom. Without this connection, it would not hold the firmware after power down. It's true that I should have run a dedicated trace for that from the start, but my point is that the layout worked as presented, but caused me issues when it was not used properly. So from now on I only release PDF artwork for the layouts, which is much easier for me to support. Way easier to help someone through a rare problem with printing a PDF than to have to explain the CAM processor in Eagle to someone who is just starting out in electronics. And I no longer have to ask someone who has noise/interference problems if the pcb's they etched have the proper ground plane. The Eagle files are still up for the V2 version on my V2 CORE page. It is linked to from the changelog on the R3 page, and won't go away unless there is a massive hardware change. Best! SmashTV

Check out this auction on ebay before it goes away: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=621&item=3746998792&rd=1 Found this on the Lab forum, too funny not to pass along. Best! Smash

Heya Jack! Check your email. Best! Smash

I have threatened and assured legal action, the next move is his. When you read my post at the Lab please know that I don't wish to make it seem like I own everything on the portal. This is just the easiest way to force this particular profiteering Canadian to rethink his actions and play nice. ;) If you contribute to the portal you own and control your contribution, that will not ever change. Axel if I have gone against your wishes in the use/representation of your work please let me know. The dangers of what this guy is trying to do: 1) People won't release improvements to the MIDIbox knowing that it will just be re-sold. Would you? 2) Anyone who buys a complete MIDIbox will eventually end up here, with tons of questions without any knowledge of the build. Users here who stick around after thier box is done (thanks so much guys!) won't stick around anymore when this happens. These profiteers should be dealt with quickly and with teeth bare, so others who are thinking of doing the same thing get the message. Questions, Comments? Best! SmashTV

Thank you! ;D

Cool! Anybody else for the switched encoders? Jack and Screaming Rabbit please email me with your paypal names, and I'll generate some custom invoices to make this easy. I'll add these to inventory in the future but the price will be higher when I do. Best! SmashTV