robin303

There's no such thing as a stupid question. ;)

My 7805 has a heatsink already! :-/ I have set my 500 mA adapter to 9v, but measuring at the input pins of the core module, It is giving me around 10v. This is transformed to 5.04v. However, when I have more than, say 20 Leds, the voltage drops below 5v. When all my 54 leds are on, the voltage is around 4.5v.. Too low, right? Anyways, to make debugging these errors a bit easier, I have now disconnected my DOUT modules. So now I have only a CORE, 2x AINX, 2x DINX, LCD connected. My circuit now has a steady 5 volts, measured from the last DINX module pins. Still I have the flickering problems. So let's first focus on the DIN problems, withouth any DOUT modules connected. When I turn the box on, I have a steady LCD display, no flickering whatsoever. After some time, the flickering starts. It seems that I only get flickering when both of my DIN4X modules are connected. It doesn't mather which of the two I connect. Without the DIN modules connected at all, the flickering never starts. A colleague told me that the 74HC165 shift registers are probably starting to oscillate and advised me to solder some 10uF capacitors between pins 8 and 16 of one 74HC165 on each DINX module. I Think I will try this tomorrow.

Hi Everybody ! After months of work (yep, spare time is quite rare here), I have finally finished assembling my midibox. Wiring everything up is quite a challenge, but everything is in the box now and I finally applied power to it! ;D First of all I tried the ain64_din128_dout128_v1_3 and after fixing some small soldering mistakes I got all 64 buttons, 54 leds and 64 pots/faders acting the way they should. Phew. :P Now I have three questions: - When entering the midibox64 menu, when I press the menu_left button, the menu seems to rapidly scroll through all options, down to the first one. And when I press the menu_right button, the options all flash by again, all the way back up to the last option. It's as if the button is 'hanging'. I did change some settings in main.asm regarding the button locations (my menu buttons are on pins 60-64). Is there some setting that I forgot? - I had to crank up the voltage a notch because the leds and the 4x16 display, when all powered on, want some more juice. So now I give them 9 volts (from my standard 500mA adapter). My 7805 gets pretty hot now, even so hot that I can't touch its heatsink anymore without getting a burn. Is this a problem? I read about using a 7809 before the 7805, but I'm unsure where to place it. - My 4x16 display seems to flicker. Like it has a low refresh rate. Is this something that can be cured? BTW: I'm using Mios v1.7 (did the hardware changes) and Midibox64 v2.3 Thanks for any advice! ::)

Geloof mij, Schaeffer is spotgoedkoop. ;) Ik ken geen bedrijf wat ook maar in de buurt komt van de prijs die Schaeffer vraagt.

:o :D ;D :-*

For 5 bucks, it is probably quite a shitty display.. I would go for a bit more expensive regular display, make sure it is HD44780 compatible. My guess is that a good display will cost you around 20 bucks. :)

Hi everybody... After some long nights of tweaking and trying and measuring and all I have finally come up with a frontpanel which I really like. You guys convinced me, back in may (see http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=concepts;action=display;num=1052265794;start=0 and so I included faders. This has radically changed the design as well. ;D Now, before sending it off to Schaeffer, I wanted to see what you fellow midibox builders think about the design... Are there any mistakes, or small tweaks? Here's the image (too big for the forum): http://www.earandeye.com/midibox/forummsg/newBox_F.gif Note that all the buttons, except the two rows on the top right, have leds built in! Curious for your comments, Robin

The way I did it (living in Holland) was to arrange for a German friend of mine to pay the goods for me. So the billing address was different from the delivery address. You could maybe arrange it with one of the German people here to send the money naked (in a well-sealed envelope). Then you place your order, specifying the details of the German person and of course your own delivery address. As soon as the German person has payed, they will ship it to you, insured and all. Now all you have to do is find a nice person from Germany, that shouldn't be too hard ;)

The way I did it (living in Holland) was to arrange for a German friend of mine to pay the goods for me. So the billing address was different from the delivery address. You could maybe arrange it with one of the German people here to send the money naked (in a well-sealed envelope). Then you place your order, specifying the details of the German person and of course your own delivery address. As soon as the German person has payed, they will ship it to you, insured and all. Now all you have to do is find a nice person from Germany, that shouldn't be too hard ;)

I have downloaded the datasheet of the PIC18F and printed the part with the instruction set. I have also printed the whole MIOS Functions list. Now, I am walking throught the code of the Midibox64seq (Mios version), but I don't really understand what's going on at all. ??? Being completely new to ASM programming, where would one start? Any recommended websites? I do have a programming background, educated in VB, javascript and the likes.. Or.. is there maybe a way to program in a higher level language like VB and then compile back to ASM?

Sounds great! But, won't MIOS be supporting this kind of functionality in the future? In other words, do we need a new PCB for this? drDRM, I would love to see the schematics. Maybe I can already put 4 led holes in my frontpanel design, which I am working on now... :)

TK, I would love to do some testing for the mios version of mb64! The only problem is that my box isn't ready yet, and it might take another two motnhs before it will be ;)

Another option is to make the cutter go past the dimensions of the thru-hole. Here is an image to clarify what I mean: Does anyone have any experience with this type of thru-hole?

I have a few questions for all the "frontpanel designer" experts here :) 1) I want to place the buttons on vectorboards. Is it correct when I set Frontpanel Designer's grid distance to 2,54mm? 2) I am using the Reichelt DIT/DTL type buttons which measure 12,4x17,4 in height. The smallest (1 mm) cutter of Schaeffer Apparatebau needs at least a corner radius of 0,5 mm. Am I safe when I add 2*0.5mm and thus make the dimension of the thru-holes 13,4x18,4? 3) Should I align the buttons on the grid by their center or by their side?

The portal's gonna be cool! 8) I am documenting the building of my box very nicely with lotsa photos and all.. I will make sure to make a nice report when I've got everything up and running!

Alkmaar, The Netherlands! Â ;D /edit: Lots of cheese here.

Well my friends, it seems like I've finally got things working!  ;D What was wrong? I don't know. Did two things at the same time. I re-programmed the bootstrap loader and while waiting for the programming in progress, I decided to apply some extra (fresh) solder to some of the pads on the core module. So it was either a bad solder connection or a bad bootstrap loader in my PIC (I am betting on that last one)... Anyway, after re-inserting the PIC in the core and then while sending the Mios 1.3 sysEx (just released today) I started seeing acknowledge messages at last!! And then when I saw this, a big smile appeared on my face  :D Thanks for the help guys!

Thorsten, I have applied the settings, like you said. With my Roland MIDI keyboard attached to my PC's MIDI in and MIDI out ports I can now see the keys I'm pressing on the Roland appear in the Input monitor. Also, I can use the Midi Ox "play notes from the computer keyboard" option to trigger stuff on my Roland. So this means my Midi Setup is OK now I guess. Then I tied midi in to midi out (feedback loop), loaded a SYX file and pressed send/receive in MidiOx. Bytes received equals bytes sent. Must be OK as wel..! Then I tried to upload Mios to my Core Module. After the sysex send, the Core keeps resetting itself again with the Copyright T.Klose message. Oh, and during the sending of the sysex, no data (acknowledge messages) shows up in the input window of midiOx. However, the "start upload" message does appear when I turn on power to the core, so midi out IS working... ???

To make sure my midi is working, I connected my midi keyboard to the same midi plugs.. Both midi IN and OUT seem to be working just fine. However, I find it strange that when I press a key on my midi keyboard, it appears in both the input and output monitor windows of midiOx? After verifying my midi (It's actually my sound card's game port, dunno what you mean with "the USB-midi driver from microsoft"?) I applied the Low Level Output Buffer settings in the Sysex config of midiOx. Then I tried uploading MIOS 1.2 again. The same happened, but it seems that the time between the resets is shorter now... ? Connecting the MIDI-Out with the MIDI-In (feeback loop) results in a "0 bytes received" message. Thanks for your help so far, I'm sure we'll find a solution. Unfortunately I have to go now so I'll try more this weekend (saturday afternoon). Cheers, R

Thorsten, I have uploaded MIOS again: Turned on the box. The LCD is filled with ################ ################ Immediately pressed SEND in midiOx sysex window (where mios 1.2 syx is loaded) The screen stays filled with the #'s during the upload (where it would normally go on a show the copyright notice), so something is being received. When midiOx finishes, the copyright notice appears for one second. Then the screen goes blank for three seconds. Then the copyright notice appears again for one second etcetera. Here is a photo of my midi plugs, just for the record: I have emailed you the midiOx Output Monitor data.

First of all I have tried to up the adapter output to 9 volts. Nothing different. It really looks like the Pic is resetting itself all the time. I don't think it even notices that I am uploading an app via sysex, I don't see any error messages or ok messages...? The resetting cycle even continues while I am uploading a sysex file. Can there be a faulty connection? Is there a spot to measure for voltages?

Hi there everybody, Robin303 is back ;D I have finally recieved my Reichelt order and finished some modules of the project! I mounted these on a wooden board, for testing purposes: As you can see, only the LCD and the Midi IN/OUT are connected. I have programmed the bootstrap into the PIC18f with my JDM. After this, I turned on the power to the core and within 2 seconds uploaded MIOS 1.2. So far so good, but now, when I turn on the power, it just keeps resetting every few seconds, telling me this over and over: MIOS V1.2 © 2003 T. Klose While sending out this: I tried sending the ain64_din128_dout128_v1_1 sysex, but nothing happens. What should I do to get an application in the pic? Connect the other modules first? My plans were actually to build a MidiBox64 but it is only now that I discover that this will not run on a Pic18f? I need to write my own MidiBox64 mios application?

Darren, first of all, let me say that no flame was intended towards you. We are all here for the fun! What I don't understand is that the whole MBHP already IS a kit on its own. Thorsten did all the hardcore programming and component design (which saves you from taking an electronics course). Mike can make you the PCB's (so you won't have to mess around with chemicals yourself). There are even parts-lists provided so you don't get the wrong parts. All you have to do (well, it''ll be a lotta work ;)) is solder and design your box. What I see in your post is this: Which I read as: I want this functionality for less $$$. Or am I not right?

Darren, first of all, let me say that no flame was intended towards you. We are all here for the fun! What I don't understand is that the whole MBHP already IS a kit on its own. Thorsten did all the hardcore programming and component design (which saves you from taking an electronics course). Mike can make you the PCB's (so you won't have to mess around with chemicals yourself). There are even parts-lists provided so you don't get the wrong parts. All you have to do (well, it''ll be a lotta work ;)) is solder and design your box. What I see in your post is this: Which I read as: I want this functionality for less $$$. Or am I not right?

Dazzystar, your idea is WAY beyond the whole MBHP filosophy :'( This project is not just about the cheapest way of getting your hands on a control surface. It's not about starting your own business (utilising Thorstens hard work). MIDIbox is NON PROFIT and for FUN! ;) And my Reichelt order will be coming in any day now! ;D