nebula

VFD's look great, but aren't they generally limited to displaying ALL CAPS? Or is this a dot-matrix display?

I usually cut prototyping boards down to size with a hacksaw, then file down the rough edge. It takes about 30 seconds. You can also score it with an x-acto knife (hobby knife or carpet knife) a few times then just snap it. If you choose to score it and snap it, however, do it on the side with the traces!

Just because you use the newer, modern, more modular firmware and hardware platform does not mean you need to make a box with a zillion knobs. But the newer designs are more mature, and you end up with useful "building blocks" if you need something different in the future. To me it doesn't really appear significantly cheaper or simpler to go with the older design. You can make a MBHP knob box with only one knob if you like.

You still need a rugged momentary pushbutton switch suitable for foot operation. It might be tricky to find something for a good price. You probably also want a nice low-profile, wide enclosure about the size of a computer keyboard, but not plastic. You could go a long way with a home-brew enclosure made with plywood and a sheet of metal. Since you're going the DIY route, I would consider mounting the core, DIN, DOUT electronics into the amp and run a single multi-conductor cable to an otherwise "dumb" pedalboard - this would reduce cable clutter and give you the added advantage of probably being able to draw from the amp's power supply. BTW while Doepfer's option excluding case & controllers is 90 euro, SmashTV's price for a complete core, DIN and DOUT kit is US $48.95.

I see an analog-style sequencer like this as really more of an instrument than something you would use to create a complete composition. Regardless, loops are easy to avoid. If you were to use a second core for a button matrix, and really wanted a controller keyboard, you would obviously need to do a merge - not the end of the world. I would possibly even use a third PIC for that - what the hell, they're cheap enough!

Well, the 16 buttons correspond to the 16 LEDs. So they can only show 16 steps of a track, then the buttons would correspond to the same steps. By not having the software merge the core's input to its output. Interesting. Is there anything about this with more depth? Is the problem that it can't scan quickly enough? If so, maybe latching would resolve this?

Well as it turns out Moxi built a SEQ with a 4x16 LED matrix, and after looking at the pdf on TK's site on how that's done, perhaps a similar matrix could be done with DIN's and buttons. I have much learning to do in the coding realm.

The "vintage" design is based on the MIDIbox64 and uses 64 pots. The V2 design uses 16 encoders, and of course the software has far more features.

Here's a thought: MB SEQ with some modified code to allow MIDI CC # 0-127 on a given channel channel to toggle its drum mode memory bits. For example, if it receives a message on CC #4 it will toggle the 4th step on the 1st track. If it receives a message on CC # 20 it will toggle the 4th note on the 2nd track, etc. A separate core with MIDIO128 sends each of these controllers from its front panel buttons, and receives controllers from the SEQ core to toggle its 128 LEDs. The two cores are connected via MIDI (should be plenty fast enough), and there is still enough i/o on the SEQ core to build an entire MIDIbox SEQ, complete with encoders! Uh-oh, I think I might be about to start looking for some buttons ... and one big-ass front panel

That's the $64000 question. I have been trying to figure that out for some time - the SEQ does have a 'drum' mode, but I have really always craved something with a matrix of buttons and LED's - in the style of the Doepfer Schaltwerk. It has long been a desire of mine to build a SEQ and then see how I can configure / hack it, but I find it unclear as to just how many buttons a single core can handle. To be useful, a SEQ button matrix would need (IMHO) at least 4 rows x 16 buttons and LED's, and in a perfect world mine would have 8 x 16.

That 6582A sounds sweet with the resonant BPF .... very suitable for Infected Mushroom-type stuff .... I like. Does it sound much different from a 6581?

Re tinning your board: There is another product called "liquid tin" which is used for exactly this purpose. I have a little bottle of it and I just keep reusing it. Another method, a little messier: heat your soldering iron up and load the tip with solder. Brush some RMA flux all over your traces, and quickly run the iron over all of them. Add a little solder to your iron as necessary - It really only takes a few minutes. This is only tricky where you have a great big copper area (like a ground plane), because it's difficult to get enough heat to do this efficiently. Regardless, even though it won't look great, you don't have to worry much about covering such large areas anyway. Cheers!

Did you try a different pot, just to be sure?

Here's a thought: If you would like to make an alternative main index page (and I think it's a great idea), why not create a link from the main index to a new page called 'AlternateIndex" or something. Make this new page your own! Organize it the way you think it should be organized. Get some user feedback, and make the "right" decision: replace the main index with your alternate index, or abandon it. Personally, I'm a bit more concerned about how fragmented I'm finding the Wiki to be. It is still very young and I am still exploring it, but there are too many pages with one line of info, or with just a link to another page. I'm more concerned about being able to find relevant results by searching than a good index page. But hey - that's me.

I see one cool use for this, and it's not MIDIbox related... If you have a device that only has inc/dec buttons for some function, it sounds like it would be pretty easy to drop in one of these to use an actual knob. Just parallel it up with the existing buttons!

Seems to me like the Wiki has the potential to be the very best "single point" for researching MIDIbox stuff. I have been lurking and occasionally offering input over the past couple of years and have finally found a bit of spare time and $ to start building stuff. This has led to me actively seeking out parts and stuff! So I got into the Wiki and so far I find it lacking. It just needs content. So .... Everything that I discover (with confirmed info, of course) over the next short while I will add to the Wiki. It's mostly going to be parts-related, for now. I am going to take a few liberties and copy small passages of text from this forum and from TK's site as necessary to add what I believe is most beneficial to people who have the same questions as me. I will keep in mind that the Wiki is a supplementary resource to the official MBHP/MIOS specs published on Thorsten's site. If anybody has any problem with this please let me know.

For Logic, wouldn't you just create this in the Environment?

Has anybody else had success with multiple rows of buttons for programming drum patterns? 4 rows is enough for me (although more would be awesome) - I would love to build a couple of boxes with 4 rows of 16 button/LED combos, and a box with encoders, put 'em all in the same rack and sync them together.

Is it possible in MIOS if you design a panel with say, 64 LEDs, to flash some of them very quickly so that they appear to have different intensity levels? This would be similar to a TR-909 instrument which can be programmed with two different dynamic levels, and the coresponding step's LED appears "dimmer" if it's a soft hit. Just wondering.

I would advise against putting all those bankstick jacks on the same surface as your controls (as shown in some of your designs) because they will protrude and become an annoyance. Apart from that your designs are gorgeous! I'm jealous! >:(

Ah yes, thanks -- I actually have an Abra catalogue and I keep forgetting about them! They have a decent selection of basic stuff for good prices, but I couldn't find any PIC18F452's in their catalogue. Still, they are just big enough to have (almost) everything you could need (their selection of stuff like switches and pots is somewhat lacking). And they will put together kits! These people might be a great choice for a Canadian vendor to maintain parts lists, like Mouser does.

very minor suggestions: line up your filter knobs with your osc knobs, and your lfo knobs with your env knobs. your finished box will look much nicer when viewed from the side. re the "scroll" title on that knob... personally i just wouldn't label it. i think your use of colours and fonts is excellent. very nicely designed.

Nat, I find Digi-Key prices to be fairly reasonable, and I'm in Canada. I find Electro Sonic's selection to be somewhat lacking and their web site (www.e-sonic.com) is crap. Digi-Key's site is so easy to search too. (www.digikey.ca) I'm in the Toronto area. What other places would you suggest? I do agree with the Iain though - Mouser is cool, but they're not terribly "Canada-friendly". If you order from Mouser you will have to pay a big brokerage bill, and their prices are all in US $.

Be forewarned: The TX81Z sometimes stutters if you send it a lot of continuous sys-ex while it's playing. Also some parameters (like operator frequency) can be tweaked while a note is sounding, but you won't hear the results until the next note plays. This could be a little weird if you are trying to tweak, say, a really busy bass line. The other thing: with motor faders, your controller will probably cost more than your TX81Z is worth!!! May I suggest you consider rotary encoders, optionally with LED rings.

IMHO the real advantage to building something like the MIDIBOX LC is not in the cost savings. Believe me you will spend a LOT of time putting something like this together. Electronics are only a portion of the battle -- if you want your project to look anything close to half decent you will spend a lot of time designing enclosures and panels to make everything fit. But if you're a crafty person, you can start to gain the true advantages of DIY: customization. If you haven't already, look at this LC which was custom built into an older mixing desk: http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=gallery;action=display;num=1050012551 WOW!!! But-- continue to read the thread, look at the toil that went into this creation. Those weeks of overtime turn into weeks of sweating over the tiniest details. Obviously in this case the results are beautiful. But, consider: how long, and how much trial and error is required to get those LCD displays to line up perfectly with their associated "channel strips"? All those little buttons with the LEDs beside them, aligned perfectly? How do you plan to make slots in your enclosure for the faders? The results of a really great job can be well worth it, but if you're not careful or experienced a DIY project can yield very clunky results, and in this case after you buy all the parts, enclosure, and hardware, the savings might not be as great as you think. (Food for thought). Cheers!