nebula

I found the flip-flop answer, I've set it up on a breadboard, trying to get this to work right! Link: http://www.vias.org/feee/counters_04.html

Oops ... I had about 2 minutes to spare last night and I didn't go back to see what measurement I had to take. I was mainly concerned about the gap because my SEQ is getting a thick panel.

P301 0.27 inches P401 0.27 inches Albs "Waldorf" 0.232 inches sorry for the inches, I blame my equipment. These measurements do not include the tab of the encoder. Link to datasheets is earlier in this thread I think ... but I'll see what I can dig up

The blue is soft touch, the black is not, however the proposal is that we order the black in soft-touch. In fact, that's the primary focus of this order. I have mixed feelings about it ... it sounds nice, but the sync is sketchy and it doesn't have any swing function. But the sequencer is neat, the way they achieve a 16-step TR-style sequencer with only 8 buttons ... google "MFB-502" and read the instructions if you're curious :D

Here are some shots I took a few weeks ago of my other Re'an knob samples, which I received a few years ago. These are pointer knobs, as you can see. I want to buy some of these to completely replace all the knobs on my (filthy) Korg MS-2000.

Sorry in advance for the graininess, etc etc, but I didn't take time to set up nice lighting, and didn't realize how nasty some of the shots were until I viewed them full-size. First we see some P401, then some P301, finally a "Waldorf" knob beside a 301 beside a 401, on and off a Soundwell (Voti-style) encoder. Note that the P401 is the slender knob in blue and black. The black one is the hard variety, all other knobs are soft-touch. The plan is only to get soft-touch knobs. If you must see my full-res pics in order to decide whether you want to buy any of these, click here and be very patient.

I'm not suggesting we hire somebody to break his thumbs, I just think we should try to call him! After two weeks a simple call to ask "are you OK" isn't offensive. If he has bought anything from anybody here, then somebody should know his name and address, from which we can probably get his phone number. Like everyone else I hope he's OK, but two weeks is cause for concern.

I haven't been able to snap any pics yet. My wife has had me busy the past few nights (Christmas trees, that sort of stuff). Today i brought my camera and the knobs to work (the only place i get to relax) and the battery is dead in my camera. So I'll try again tonight. I'm not in a huge rush to do this, with the holidays coming up and all. I say let's get the ball rolling within the next few days, but we probably won't start collecting money until January.

I have nothing but patience (as a guy who already paid Sasha), but I am concerned for those who have paid Jaicen. Has anybody dealt with him who might have a phone number, address, real name, etc? Maybe we could contact him.

You're ... RIGHT!!! GAME ON!

I'm using the same switches as MB-6582, but changing the footprint would be a snap. My design uses a plexiglass panel and homemade enclosure.

I received (from Switzerland) several of each: P401 in black, P401 in blue, and P301 in black with a few different accent colours. I am not completely sure why yet, and I'll probably be emailing Werfo about this, but the P401 in black seems to be the only knob they of all the samples that doesn't feel like soft-touch. The blue ones do. All the P301s feel soft and rubbery. I need to look at the part numbers of what they shipped a little more closely. If we're to order P401 in black, the group will be dissatisfied if they are the same as the sample I received. If the black P401 is the correct part number, then I have received samples from a bad batch. They just feel hard and cheap compared to all the other knobs they shipped. :( More details to follow (I'm at work right now)

I am unfortunately NOT super busy with this. I am super busy with other stuff in my life right now, including holidays coming up, and I wish I had more time to spend on this :( The backplane board would fit into a rack enclosure without modification, but if you wanted to do that you'd just need a longer ribbon for the board with all the action/general purpose buttons, and figure out a place to put it. No... There is a big PCB with CORE, IIC modules, power, jacks, banksticks and DOUTS. It has header sockets for two 40x2 LCD (so no ribbon required, just some long pins). It has header sockets for front panel boards to be screwed right down on top of it, just like the LCDs. The front panel boards (which have encoders and buttons) have their own DIN IC's. Just so y'all know ... this most certainly will not be for everyone, although it's probably a great starting point for certain people - like those interested in etching their own boards, and those interested in a highly integrated, compact SEQ. I would be flattered if my design ends up being a springboard for somebody working on their own SEQ, so I will happily accept suggestions (i.e. making it possible to fit an AOUT into this whole mess), but I strongly encourage you to not wait for my work. It may take longer than expected, I keep making changes, and it may not be what you want.

No real advantage to that IMHO. Different people design differently - I am from the school of thought that DINs belong on control surface PCBs. It drastically reduces the amount of interconnect between the boards.

Good news - my wife just phoned me to let me know the samples came in today. I'll take a couple of pics tonight, and I'll get them posted to this thread, hopefully tomorrow, along with my opinions.

OK ... I have made some progress since I last posted here, but my work so far isn't ready to be looked at. I'm getting much closer, so let me explain where I am right now: - I am considering NOT laying out the components for a full CORE on the backplane, because I'm only designing a single-sided board, and Smash's CORE module puts all the headers right where I want them without having a routing nightmare. So I think the backplane board may incorporate some SIL/DIL headers to that Smash's CORE can sit on top of like a daughterboard. I haven't gotten around to laying out the CORE components yet, so don't quote me on that - it's just a consideration. - The IIC MIDI modules, power rectification/regulation/filtering (including a second 5V regulator dedicated to both display backlights), and all of the DOUT is on the backplane. - The backplane has headers for 2 primary daughterboards, each with 8 encoders and 8x4 tactile switches. It would be possible to redesign the daughterboard to include the LEDs for the matrix, but I have decided to only put the switches on the daughterboard while the LEDs will be soldered to the backplane. My button/encoder daughterboards will have holes drilled in them for the LEDs to poke through. This is due to my thick panel material being too close to the daughterboard PCB when mounted, leaving not enough room for LEDs. Still, the backplane is designed with additional headers, so if you wanted to put LEDs on the daughterboards you could (I'd recommend SMT LEDs or illuminated switches for this purpose though). The DOUTs required for this are on the backplane, while the DINs are on the daughterboards. When you see this it will make sense. Each of these daughterboards is measured to precisely line up its control columns with the Optrex 40x2 LCDs recently bulk-ordered. (And I have more - PM me if you're interested) - All jacks are mounted to the top of the backplane, to appear at the back panel of the enclosure. LCD brightness and contrast pots also make an appearance here. - There are then headers for the V3 track group, track select, layer and trigger layer buttons on the left, and the remaining general buttons in another 4x8 matrix layout on the right. The left board hovers above the backplane and uses the same LED method as the matrix board. For the buttons on the right, the same "LEDs on the board behind the button board" scheme applies. The LEDs are driven from DOUTs on the main backplane, but the buttons have dedicated DINs. A very short ribbon cable or two will be required for this. The main reason why the backplane doesn't go all the way to the right is that I don't have a piece of copper-clad PCB material big enough. But others who decide to use my design also gain the advantage that they can put the general-purpose and transport buttons wherever they like. - There will be space to mount an AOUT, AOUT_LC or AOUT_NG board behind the left display. You will need to run leads from the module to a header at the CORE, and run the outputs to one of two general-purpose PCB-mounted DB25. I haven't considered AOUT's power supply requirements yet, but I will. - I'm in the middle of relocating DIN circuitry from the backplane to the daughterboards, where I now believe they should go. This cleans things up a lot. - This layout is ideally suited for those interested in etching their own circuit boards. Everything is single-sided and there are no traces that need to run between pins and the like. If I was planning to have boards fabricated I'd be using a real PCB design package and I would run micro-thin traces. I haven't shown my work yet because it needs clean-up. There are a couple of very obvious oversights and errors I have made that I want to resolve before I show my work-in-progress. Sadly, I won't get to working on it again until Wednesday night. The fact that people are interested is motivation for me though! In my experience, when you create something like this, you work from the exterior to the interior, otherwise you end up compromising your device's form factor to accomodate your electronics. As it is, this is shaping up to have a panel about 7" x 24", including LED tempo display, 4x16 trigger matrix and all internal electronics in a device that will be exactly 1 inch thick (back panel to front panel - protruding knobs and buttons don't count).

Need to know, perhaps somebody here can help me: The Six Trak and the Multi Trak essentially have the same CEM3394 synth voice. Back in the mid-1980s I rented a Multi-Trak and loved it... and now I'm in the market for a used one. The question: is the Multi-Trak able to do real-time parameter changes over MIDI? I really would like to make a MIDIbox64 with a full knobby representation of the Multitrak voice, but if it can't do real-time by CC or Sysex, then I think I would be better off getting a Six-Trak (which are a little more common, does real-time parameter changes via CC, has the same CEM3394 voice but lack a few of the Multi-Trak's features).

I listened to the demo on the Japanese guy's site and really liked the drum sounds. Very pleased to see that the schematics are posted here ... but of course it doesn't say what the op amps and transistors are. So, if anybody happens to be gandering around inside your CMU-800, please try to make a note of those semiconductors. I think CMU drums would be kind of exotic :) --- Just had a chance to look at that pdf manual, too. Don't snicker too loudly when Roland proudly exclaims: At first I chuckled, then when looking through the manual, I realized that this may well be the first mass-marketed, personal computer-based sequencer capable of synchronizing with other sequencers and drum machines, and controlling external pro synths. We're talking 1982 here! This is awesome!

I used to dwell on the ethics of tearing apart C64's for parts too. But I think I've figured it out: At this point there are probably still more C64's in the world than people who would have interest in turning one on. Anybody who wants to be a C64 curator probably is one already. For example, I have a mint C64 stashed away that I will pull out and set up for my grandchildren one day. (And an Intellivision too!) It's still good to see great music made today with the one component of the C64 that is not obsolete. But remember, folks: if you strip a C64, use what you take. Don't do it to make a showpiece MIDIbox / whatever that you will never play - that would be akin to going hunting, only to leave the deer you shot to die in the woods. Make some awesome tunes. Pogo Joe, Frantic Freddie and Dr. Creep would have wanted it that way :)

Your points are taken... there is likely room for an AOUT. The big board is smaller than the panel will next to be. All the brains fit behind the displays and under the button matrix, so there will still be space underneath the remaining buttons - an AOUT could easily be put there. This isn't rocket science, it's just moving some components around! @Sonicwarrior: all my designs so far are on paper, except my halfway done PCB layouts (which are in AppleWorks drawing). My PCB creation methods are primitive (but effective). I'll see if I can show you a sketch by tonight.

I'm putting together my SEQ design and I'd really like to have an encoder next to the tempo display, whose sole purpose is to adjust the tempo. Has anybody done this? Is it possible?

I've been working on a MB-SEQ "backplane" PCB. It has a CORE, 1-3 IIC MIDI modules, banksticks, and a bunch of DIN and DOUT. It has sockets for some smaller boards to sit on top of it with banks of buttons and encoders. The LCDs plug right into it too. The aim is for a MIDIbox SEQ with very few, if any, wires between boards. As an added benefit, the finished product should be pretty thin as a result of this. I don't have plans to build an AOUT of any sort into the enclosure, although I will likely add the drum triggers on a DB25 jack. My design isn't ready for prime time yet, but I could see how others might want to use my layout as a starting point, so I will be sharing. The cool thing is that uses the least possible amount of space for two displays, the 16 encoders, and the trigger matrix, and you are then free to decide where to put the remaining buttons/LEDs and datawheel. I expect to be etching this next week. In the meantime I have temporarily diverted my attention to putting a MIDIbox CV together. After all, a guy's gotta do something while the JB Weld cures... and his order from Smash is in the mail ;D

Wow, crazy fast shipment. I had mine shipped to USA and they arrived last week some time. I just picked them up yesterday. Top notch. Good find Wilba.

^^ not in the current MB-FM implementation, and I don't know of anyone's plans (other than mine, possibly) to make that happen. As I see it, the SID was used in video games as a 3-voice instrument. In MIDIbox SID, it is generally used as a 3-oscillator voice. The OPL3 was used in video games as a multi-voice instrument as well. I'd like to try using a chip per voice.

Hey, chipforbrains is selling 3372's at 12 for USD $72 + $14 shipping. That's $86 for 12, i.e. under 8 bucks a pop, shipped. http://cgi.ebay.com/12x-sequential-circuits-T8-Xpander-cem3372-vcf-chip-NEW_W0QQitemZ300177585039QQihZ020QQcategoryZ20080QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem